There were 3 condos sold on the East Shore in February this year compared to 2 sold February last year.  Total sales for the month were $1,055,000 this year vs. $587,000 in 2007.  We saw an increase in both the average and median prices.  The average price for sales in February increased from $293,500 to $351,666 and the median price increased from $293,500.  The bad news is that the average days on market for the three properties sold was 346!  This compares to only 91 days on market for the 2 sales last year. 

Year to date there have been a total of 5 condos sold compared to 4 last year.  Total sales Continue reading this post…

There is plenty of entertainment scheduled for the month of March as evidenced by this list of shows scheduled for The South Shore Room at Harrah’s:

                   March  7         Huey Lewis and The News

                   March 8          Jonny Lang

                   March 15        Taj Mahal

                   March 22        Richard Lewis/Richard Belzer

                   March 29        Queensryche                         

Like in January, it was not time consuming to research the MLS for February sales in the Genoa area.  Once again there was only one sale to close escrow this month for $729,000.  That brings the total for this year to two homes sold for total sales of $1,249,000.  That compares to just one sale for the same period in 2007 for $600,000.  A very interest statistic for the two sales this year is that the average “Days on Market” was just 105 compared to the one sale last year which on the market for 254 days. 

There are still three homes currently in escrow with average listing prices of $744,633. 

The Genoa market is obviously much smaller than that of the East Shore of the Lake.  It did not take a lot of research of this market to be able to report the sales.  There was only one sale in both January of 2007 and 2008.  The 2007 sale was for $600,000 and the 2008 sale was for $520,000.   However, there is still 11 months left in the year and there are currently 3 homes in escrow in the Genoa area with an average listing price of $744,633. 

Let me provide some quick inventory numbers.  Today there are 142 single family homes listed for sale on the East Shore.  Ranging in price from $395,000 to $100,000,000.  The latter of course being Tranquility listed by Shari Chase and Susan Lowe at Chase International.  Of the 142 listed, the average single family home listing price is $3,131,823 and the median price is $1,397,000.  If you remove Tranquility and one other listing for $37,000,000 the average price is reduced to $2,197,992 and the median price is $1,395,000.  In 2007 there were 74 single family homes sold so the “snap shot” look at the inventory suggests that there is approximately 23 months of inventory on hand.  As stated in the previous post, this is just a snap shot for the total market and does not take into account the price, condition and location of a specific home. 

In the condo segment there are currently 89 properties listed for sale.  Prices range Continue reading this post…

Heavenly Mountain Resort recently announced that they had received a record 167 inches of snow in January.  This was the most snow received in any month since they began tracking snow fall in the 1975-76 season.  Because of this Heavenly announced that they have pushed the scheduled closing date back from April 20th to May 4th.  This will provide an additional two weeks of spring skiing.  For current conditions and more information go to their web www.skiheavenly.com . 

As of February 14th (Happy Valentines Day) there are 39 single family homes listed for sale in the Genoa area.  The listing prices range from the lowest at $349,000 to the highest at $2,595,000.  The average and median prices are $1,000,676 and $799,900 respectively.  Based on the number of sales in 2007, which was 15, there is currently 31 months of inventory available.  Please keep in mind that this is an estimate for the entire market and spans all “price bands”.  Each price band, i.e., homes listed at similar prices, will have different “months on hand.” 

So does this mean that if you list a home today you should expect it to be on the market for Continue reading this post…

President’s Day Weekend starts this Friday and Lake Tahoe will be busy as usual with skiers enjoying the last three day holiday of the season.  Visitors and locals alike can enjoy some special entertainment this weekend.  Appearing at Harrah’s Lake Tahoe on Saturday, February 16 is Canadian rock singer, guitarist, and song writer Bryan Adams.  Also appearing Saturday is “Mr. Warmth”, Don Rickles, at the MontBlue Theater. 

Like the East Shore of Lake Tahoe the single family home segment of the Genoa area experienced an increase in average price and median price in 2007 vs. 2006.  The average price increased 5.6% from $748,222 to $790,153 and the median price increased only .9% from $721,000 to $727,000.  However, unlike the Lake both the number of units sold and total volume decreased.  Total homes sold decreased from 20 to 15, a 25% decline, and total volume decreased from $14,964,450 to $11,852,300, a 20.8% decline. 

Not all of the news regarding real estate sales at Lake Tahoe is bad.  In fact, on the East Shore we experienced increases in total sales volume, median price, and average price for single family homes in 2007 vs. 2006.  Single family home sales volume rose 4% from $154,620,650 to $161,304,237, the median price rose 14% from $915,000 to $1,045,000, and the average price rose 25% from $1,737,310 to $2,179,786.  We did however experience a decrease in units sold from 89 in 2006 to 74 in 2007 which represents a decline of 17%.  This was certainly not the case in other areas of the Lake

Continue reading this post…