Real Estate in South Lake Tahoe

Real Estate In South Lake Tahoe Is Getting Creative!

Buyers and Sellers of Real Estate In South Lake Tahoe are getting creative!

I was recently received an offer on one of my listings that has been on the market for about 180 days. After countering back and forth with four counter offers, we finally came to an agreement. This property is now in escrow, so I can not disclose the exact terms. I can discuss the creative part, which involves a trade. The buyers came in with a combination of cash, a loan, and a vacant lot as a trade. A vacant lot for a trade probably would not appeal to most sellers of homes in South Lake Tahoe. My seller does not want another lot, he already has three, but the holding cost of a vacant lot is quite a bit less than a million dollar spec home.This is the first time that I have sold a home in South Lake Tahoe that involved a partial trade for another piece of real estate, but I am sure that it will not be the last.

My seller seems happy, he will be able to pay off his construction loans which are costing him almost $6,000 a month!

I have a feeling that he will be putting the lot on the market as soon as this deal closes escrow. Sometimes you must get creative and be flexible to buy or sell real estate!

Will This Help Real Estate In South Lake Tahoe?

Will the economic $152 billion stimulus bill affect Real Estate in South Lake Tahoe?

President Bush signed the bill last week in an effort to stimulate the economy and the National real estate market. This bill includes a temporary increase in loan limits for Fannie Mae, Freddie Mac, and FHA until December 31, 2008.

According to NAR president “The loan limit increase should help 138,000 Americans purchase homes and could help 200,000 home owners refinance, and potentially keep there homes.

The FHA loan limit will increase in “High cost areas” and will increase up to 125% of the local median home price, or up to $729,750. The temporary loan limits should be published by March 14th.

This loan increase may help the South Lake Tahoe Real Estate market a little, but I do not think that it will turn it around. There is a large inventory of new homes in South Lake Tahoe that have been on the market for a long time. The loan limits should increase enough for some buyers to be able to afford one these new homes. Sellers with resale homes priced over $500,000 should also benefit from the increased loan limits.

Sellers beware! Even though I feel the loan limit increase will help some buyers in the South Lake Tahoe Real Estate market, sellers need to be realistic. Pricing your home right in the current market conditions is, and still will be crucial!

2007 South Lake Tahoe Real Estate Review

Real Estate in South Lake Tahoe fared better than most other Real Estate markets around the country. One reason that the South Lake Tahoe Real Estate market is primarily a second home market. The second home market is a much stronger market. Other resort destination areas like Lake Tahoe will continue to be stronger than metropolitan areas. South Lake Tahoe Real Estate still experienced an overall decrease in both single family home and condo sales in 2007 in most price ranges. One exception would be single family homes over one million dollars. Single family homes over one million dollars increased 18% from 2006 to 2007.

Single family homes in South Lake Tahoe experienced a decrease in total volume of 11% from $250,960,911 in 2006, to $222,771,475 in 2007.

The total number of single family homes in South Lake Tahoe sold decreased 14% from 446 units in 2006 to 385 units sold in 2007.

The median price of sold single family homes in South Lake Tahoe decreased 7% from $475,000 in 2006, to $440,000 in 2007. The average price actually rose 3% from $562,693 to $578,627. The increase in the average price was likely due to the increase in sales over one million dollars.

There was a 16% decrease in Single family homes in South Lake Tahoe under one million dollars. In 2006 there were 412 and in 2007 there were 345. It was the 18%increase of units over one million, from 34 in 2006 to 40 in 2007 that caused the average price of homes sold to actually increase.

What happens in 2008 will be very interesting and exciting. It is still a buyers market, and there are some very motivated sellers out there. We are even finding some great foreclosures in South Lake Tahoe. I think that those who can afford to take advantage of the current buyers market, and invest in the South Lake Tahoe Real Estate market for the long term, will beat the market!

Real Estate in South Lake Tahoe