Taxes or ...?

One question I often get from buyers looking for property at Lake Tahoe: Why is Incline Village so much more expensive than other areas around the Lake?

The easy answer is: Taxes

With no state income tax, no inheritance tax, and favorable treatment for many businesses, the Nevada side of the Lake has a strong pull. For years, I found it perplexing that the the highest median sales price for a Luxury Home in Incline Village/Crystal Bay (1M+, which rules out PUD housing) was 2009. When the rest of the nation's housing prices fell to rock bottom, the median sales price of an Incline home inched over the $2 million mark. Hmm ...?

Then Covid hit, and in the scramble to pick up a place to escape the confines of city life, Incline sales…

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Looking for a Deal in Tahoe?

Meeks Bay Home

What $6 million buys at Lake Tahoe (a small 1950s cabin with a priceless view).

Buyers are back in the driver’s seat in the Tahoe Truckee real estate market.

With more homes to choose from, and fewer buyers leaping at new listings, sharp pricing became key for sellers this summer.  Homes that were strategically underpriced continued to receive multiple offers, but roughly half the homes in any given market lowered their asking prices to make a deal.

In a new twist on the summer market, high-end buyers gravitated away from Lake Tahoe and toward Martis Camp.  The tony gated community at the base of Northstar’s Lookout Mountain saw 11 homes change hands this past summer (more than half of them at or over asking),…

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Music at the park, concerts at the Lake, and live events everywhere ... it feels like the long 2 years of isolation are behind us, as communities all around Tahoe Truckee roll out a series of events, concerts & gatherings for what promises to be a fun-filled Summer!

Lake Tahoe Shakespeare Festival

Here's a quick guide to what's happening:

Incline Village - from Kids Hip Hop classes to Jabber Walkie hikes for the 55+ set, Incline offers something for all age groups this summer. (Click here for class schedules)

Truckee - Music in the Park is back on Wednesday nights at Truckee River Regional Park & downtown will once again be closed on Thursday nights for the popular street faire with food trucks, music, and merchants galore. Visit  truckeethursdays.com for the full schedule…

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Despite rising interest rates, high prices at the pump, and the war in Ukraine, buyer demand for Tahoe Truckee real estate remained strong in the first four months of this year.  Some markets showed impressive gains over last year, and some presented the opportunity to negotiate on price.

Overall, buyers showed a strong preference for the very old (or new meant to look old), and the very new. 

One example of this is a Carnelian Bay lakefront that sold for more than $23 million. With pine paneling and a great room framed by log scissor trusses, it looks like it was built in the 1940s, but it’s actually less than 10 years old.  A Bruce Olson masterpiece, it captures the unique charm of homes built with organic materials like granite and the big…

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Thinking of Spring

The Fairways at Gray's Crossing, like everything now, are covered in snow, but Hey, I can't help dreaming of Spring, when the golf season will be in full swing again.

And speaking of Golf, my wonderful Chase colleague & I will be hosting a Hospitality Tent at the Barracuda Championships at Old Greenwood again this year. 

Great food with open bar service all day long, and front row seats to this fast & fun PGA qualifying tournament.

VIP passes will be limited, so if you think you'd like to join us, shoot me a note!

Here's what's currently for sale at Gray's Crossing, Old Greenwood, Martis Camp, Lahontan, and Shaffer's Mill ...

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Median Home Sales Price up 40 percent in Tahoe Truckee

Despite the smoke that kept many would-be buyers at bay through much of August, 2021 was a record-breaking year for Tahoe/Truckee real estate sales.  The median sales price in many of our major markets rose to levels never seen before.

In all of Tahoe/Truckee, which includes Donner Summit, the ski areas and all the neighborhoods around the Lake on the California side, the median sales price rose almost 40 percent over what it had been the year before to $1,175,000

How about a home in Incline Village or Truckee's Martis Valley?

Offered at $4,450,000, this Mountain Modern 4 bd/4.5 ba is currently the best priced "Contemporary" home for sale in Lahontan: Click on the Virtual Tour link to see…

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Unprecedented Christmas Week Snowfall

With more than 9 feet of snow, and precipitation levels exceeding 250% of normal, Christmas week in Tahoe have been tough for travel, great news for skiers, and better news for the drought!

Check out the roads in Tahoe Donner this morning (Dec. 27, 2021), and give a big Thank You to all of our dedicated plow teams with the Town, and the local private plow services!

Here is what it looks like on today's chart from the Sierra Snow Lab:

Tahoe Snowfall

And Tahoe Lake Levels are inching toward the Full Pool of 6,225

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If you're a foodie who like mountains & snow, and appreciates diversity ... Or someone who likes snowy winters with mountains, plus great restaurants close by, the New York Times says Incline Village, Nevada should be on your Top 10 places to live.

Those are the results of the NYT's new interactive "Where You Should Live" quiz.  Not totally on spot because most folks considering Incline Village are not also looking at upstate New York, Anchorage, or Connecticut, which are also recommended "best spots" if you start adding criteria like 'jobs' or 'health care' into mix.

Nonetheless, it's sort of a fun app if you're curious to see where the algorithm would have you move.

That said, if you are considering a move or a vacation home in Incline…

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A Seller's Market

In a real estate market that's rumored to be otherwise cooling, Tahoe Donner is bucking the trend.

The median sales price of a home in this community above Truckee rose for the first time ever to more than $1 million this year. And it's been inching up steadily.

By Sept 30 this year, 236 homes changed hands in Tahoe Donner, and well over half of them (58 percent) sold for more than $1 million.  That's a whopping 43 percent increase over last year's Q3 median price of $769,000.  And even more impressive when you consider that just two years ago the majority of homes (84 percent) fetched less than $1 million.

Luxury Homes Now the Majority of Tahoe Donner Sales

The scales have literally tipped, and thanks to the…

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As we move into Fall, I keep hearing one question from my clients: Is the real estate market cooling down yet?

On the heels of last year’s pandemic shutdowns, the value of Tahoe/Truckee real estate skyrocketed. The volume of sales tripled in some markets, and the median sales price rose for the first time ever to more than $1 million in most of our markets.

What goes up must come down. That’s what my clients keep telling me.

But that’s not what the data shows … at least not so far.

We are not seeing the sort of panic buying we did amid the Covid shutdowns last year. Anecdotally, there are definitely fewer buyers in town than we saw earlier this summer. Schools are back to live learning in many of our Bay Area feeder markets, parents are…

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