Lahontan Home Values Stay Strong

Despite rising interest rates and a volatile economy, homes at the Lahontan Golf & Country Club held their value this year, finishing 2023 on par with the record prices we saw the year before.

With just 13 homes changing hands all year (and one more set to close Dec 29), the volume of sales in Lahontan is just two-thirds of what it was last year. But the median sales price is holding steady at close to $4 million, bolstered in part by the sales of brand new homes fetching upwards of $1,100/square foot (SF).

The Lahontan Tradition

Lahontan is the oldest of Truckee's gated golf course communities. Having been developed in the late-1990s, it was a success story soon to be replicated at neighboring Martis Camp, and…

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Customize your finishes

Why go through the cost and headache of building your own home, when you can buy Brand New, and customize your finishes to match your taste?  The photo below offers an idea of what can be ... 

Tahoe Donner Home with views

Prefer a Stone Hearth over Blue Rolled Steel?

No problem.  Work with one of the region's top builders to customize finish materials and colors that match your palette.

Dreaming of a Sonos surround sound system?  Let's talk!

  • 4-Bed
  • 3.5-Bath
  • Chef's Kitchen & Wine Bar
  • 2-Car Garage w/Tesla Charger & Generac whole house generator

Current finishes include:

  • Wood Windows w/black exterior cladding
  • Modern, trimless windows and doors
  • Knotty Alder 2-panel shaker w/bronze hardware - Or  - White 2-panel…

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Winter Sales Down by Half

Low inventory, high interest rates, and unprecedented snowfall left the Tahoe Truckee real estate market with a sluggish start to 2023.

Throughout the region, the volume of sales was roughly half of what we had seen in the first quarter of last year. On the California side, including Truckee and the ski areas, only 98 homes changed hands in the first quarter of this year (compared to 182 the year before).

Most Sales in Tahoe Donner

As in past years, the majority of the sales were in Tahoe Donner. The median sales price there fell to $1.2 million (down from $1.3 million the year before). More than half of the homes closed for over $1 million, reflecting an emerging trend toward luxury in Truckee’s largest subdivision.

…

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Home Values Double over a Decade

It was an idea ahead of its time. 

The year was 2004, and the idea was to create a new community near downtown Truckee to fill the niche between the more affordable (and higher elevation) homes of Tahoe Donner, and the more exclusive, gated community of Lahontan, where some of Tahoe's most celebrated architects were designing homes that felt like a page out of a Craftsman Bungalow on a scale approaching the Ahwahnee Hotel.

The community was named for Joseph Gray, a Truckee founding "father" of sorts whose cabin still stands as an historic landmark downtown. Early lot sales were brisk.  Grays Crossing Real Estate Market DataInvestors and spec home builders gobbled up the early offerings, and by 2007, some prime lots were fetching more than half a…

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Real Estate Sales Slow in Incline Village

While many real estate markets around the Tahoe/Reno region have adjusted prices downward from the 2022 highs of the Covid era, Incline Village on Lake Tahoe's north shore continues to reach high on pricing, leading to a precipitous drop in sales volume from last year.

Moving into March, we saw only a dozen homes change hands in Incline Village for a total sales volume of a little more than $18 million. That's just a third of the sales we saw by this time last year.  

Waterfront Lake Tahoe Condos Sold in 2023

The Incline condo market fared a little better, thanks in part to two lakefront condos that sold for hefty price tags:

  • A beautifully remodeled Stillwater Cove condo listed at $4.250M had an…

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Guide to Tahoe Truckee Ski Resorts

So you've decided you don't want to wait in the long lines on I-80 for fresh powder this season ... how to choose the right ski resort for you? Here's a couple of questions to ask yourself:

  • What vibe do you prefer?  Big Resort with restaurants, dining & shopping? Or are you more into nature, privacy & the solitude the mountains offer?
  • How far do you want to drive?
  • How much do you want to spend?

The links above offer a quick guide to some of the area's more popular resorts, from the Mega-resort, largely intermediate mountains like Northstar, to homes & condos in Olympic Valley (now home to Palisades Tahoe with a gondola connecting some of the region's most advanced terrain at the former Squaw…

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Real Estate in Tahoe City

It's tough to talk in global terms about the real estate market in Tahoe City because the options for a Tahoe vacation home here range from some of Lake Tahoe's finest luxury properties to more affordable waterfront condo options, and everything in between (read more ... )

Tahoe City is located on the CA side of Lake Tahoe


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The Waldorf Astoria is coming to Lake Tahoe

And you'll never guess where ... 

If you've ever driven past the old (crumbling) Tahoe Biltmore on your way to Incline Village and wondered why such a prime location features such a dilapidated building, you're not alone. Plans to redevelop the property have been in the works for more than a decade. 

Trex co-founder Roger Wittenberg bought the property in 2007 through Boulder Bay LLC (namesake of the luxury townhomes you can see from the road at the east end of the property), and shepherded an earlier version of the redevelopment through the Tahoe Regional Planning Committee's regulatory process.

Then, in the fall of last year, California developer Ebbie Khan Nakhjavani acquired the property with a…

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Reading the Fed's Tea Leaves

I read an interesting op-ed piece recently. An economist on a cross country flight from NY was sitting next to a homemaker (he didn't exactly call her that, but that's what he meant), and when she realized what he does for a living, she peppered him with questions about Jerome Powell and the direction of the Federal Reserve. He didn't mind talking about it; that's what he does for a living. But he marveled at the fact that an average American was so studied in the politics of the Federal Reserve; that spoke volumes.

Beyond knowing the names of the past Fed Chairs, I can't say that I gave it much thought before now either. But 2022 changed all that.  Like a lot of Americans, I'm now hanging on Powell's every word because…

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Tahoe Donner HOA Fees Explained

With 6,500 homeowners in the hills above Truckee, Tahoe Donner is one of the nation's largest homeowner associations. It's governed by a 5-member Board of Directors who are elected by the owners. The Board voted recently to increase the annual HOA fee to $2,624 a year. 

Tahoe Donner HOA fee

Everyone who owns in Tahoe Donner (even vacant lot owners) is responsible for the annual HOA fee, which pays for staffing and subsidizes the operation of many Tahoe Donner amenities, some of which rely on the subsidy to pay operational costs. Various Tahoe Donner amenities are open to the public. These include:

  • The Lodge Restaurant & Pub
  • The Downhill & Cross Country Ski Areas (as well as the restaurants & bars at both facilities)
  • Tahoe…

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