South Lake Tahoe real estate

Real Estate in South Lake Tahoe Inspired by Good News!

This fall has been a great season for real estate in South Lake Tahoe as well as the rest of California. The housing market has been jump started by first time home buyers taking advantage of the $8,000 tax credit, low prices, low interest rates, and great selection of homes to choose from. Investors, speculators, and second home buyers have also entered back into the market targeting distress sales such as bank owned foreclosures and short sales.

Positive news about the housing market and the economy has also motivated buyers to purchase homes. According to the California Association of Realtors California Housing Market Forecast for 2010, California’s housing market continued its strong sales rebound this year resulting from the continued pace of distressed properties coming to the market. “After experiencing its sharpest decline in history, we expect the median price to rise modestly next year,” according to C.A.R. President James Liptak. “2010 will mark the beginning of the ‘new normal’ likely will feature a steady stream of sales driven by distressed properties in the low end market, coupled with moderate home-priced appreciation.”

According to the forecast the median home price in California will rise 3.3 percent to $280,000 in 2010 compared to a projected median of $271,000 this year.

The South Lake Tahoe real estate market continues to be very active. Currently there are 104 single family houses on the South Lake Tahoe mls that are in escrow. There are 17 bank owned foreclosures in escrow and 44 short sales that are in escrow bringing the total “distress sale” escrows to 63. In October 2008 there were only 35 total single family homes in escrow, 15 homes in 2007, 55 homes in 2006, 69 homes in 2005, and 122 homes in 2004. With 104 houses currently in escrow, the South Lake Tahoe real estate market is on the rebound!

South Lake Tahoe Real Estate Review for September

There were more single family houses in South Lake Tahoe sold in September than any other month this year. There were 46 homes that were reported as sold on the South Lake Tahoe mls last month, up from 44 in August. First time home buyers are taking advantage of the $8,000 tax credit before it goes away, and investors and second home buyers are getting deals on foreclosures, short sales, and motivated sellers.

Statistics for the Houses in South Lake Tahoe that sold in September

There were 46 houses in South Lake Tahoe that sold in September
There were 13 foreclosures in South Lake Tahoe that were sold in September
There were 7 short sales in South Lake Tahoe that were sold in September
The average sales price was $371,058 (down from $461,951 in August)
The median sales price was $292,500 (down from $325,250 in August)
The average sales price per square foot was $215 (down from $259 in August)
The median days on the market was 110

In August I was happy to see that there were 4 short sales that had closed escrow, so I am thrilled to see that there were 7 short sales that sold in September! The median days on the market for the short sales that closed escrow was quite high at 222 days. The short sales that sold had a great average price per square foot of 202 considering that some of the short sales were very nice.

The foreclosures in South Lake Tahoe continued to sell for very close to list price, the average percentage of list price received was almost 98%. The foreclosures on the South Lake Tahoe mls sold for an average of $196 per square foot. The median sales price for the bank owned foreclosures was $284,000 and the median days on the market was only 66 days including the escrow period.

The inventory of single family homes on the South Lake Tahoe mls is now much healthier with 21% of the inventory now in escrow. There are currently 497 houses listed in South Lake Tahoe, and 102 of them are in escrow. Of the 102 houses in escrow, 39 are short sales and 18 are bank owned foreclosures.

For more information about South Lake Tahoe real estate please call Brent and Jill Johnson today!

New Lake Village Condo Listing in Stateline Nevada!

Just Listed by Brent and Jill Johnson!

11 Manzinata Ct., Stateline Nevada

Offered at $319,000!

Fully remodeled and tastefully furnished 2 bedroom Lake Village condo. You will enjoy cooking in the new gourmet kitchen with granite counter tops, maple cabinets, stainless steel appliances, and a Bosch dishwasher. The bathroom remodel includes a stainless steel vessel sink, granite counter tops, and new tile. New oak hardwood flooring, open beam ceilings and great forest views make this the ultimate Tahoe retreat. This condo is sold turn key fully furnished. Lake Village property owners enjoy use of the pool, spa, sauna, club house, and tennis courts. Why deal with a foreclosure or a short sale that needs work when you can have a turn-key Lake Village condo at this price!

1072 Square Feet
Fully Furnished
Washer and Dryer
Vaulted Open Beam Ceilings
Huge Under Floor Storage Area
Recently Remodeled!
Click Here to see the Virtual Tour!

Please call Nevada and California South Lake Tahoe Real Estate agent Brent Johnson to schedule an appointment to see this new Lake Village condo listing today!

South Lake Tahoe Real Estate for the Month of August

The South Lake Tahoe real estate market has been so busy this last six weeks that have not been able to keep up on my Blog! With the summer winding down, the real estate market just keeps on picking up steam. The attractive prices, low interest rates, and better economic news seem to be fueling the housing market recovery in South Lake Tahoe. There were 44 single family homes that closed escrow in August, up from 37 in July.

The Statistics for the August Sold Houses in South Lake Tahoe are as Follows

There were 44 single family houses in South Lake Tahoe that sold in August
There were 10 foreclosures in South Lake Tahoe that sold in August
There were 4 Short Sales in South Lake Tahoe that closed escrow in August!
The average sales price was $461,951 (up 14% from $395,570 in July)
The median sales price was $325,250 (down 8% from $353,000 in July)
The average price per square foot was $259 (up 8% from $238 in July)
The median days on the market was 80

Going into August there were 33 short sales in South Lake Tahoe that were in escrow, 4 of them ended up closing escrow last month. Four sold short sales out of 33 short sale escrows does not seem like much, but is an improvement over July when only one short sale closed. The average selling price for the short sales in South Lake Tahoe that sold was $298,500. The median sales price was $209,000. The average price per square foot was $243. The median days on the market for the short sales was 292.

The foreclosures in South Lake Tahoe continued to sell quickly with the average days on the market at 49, including the escrow period. Another interesting statistic for the sold foreclosures is the average selling price to list price. The foreclosures that sold in the first 30 days sold for 104.37% of the list price. The foreclosures that sold from 31 to 60 days of being listed sold for 102.10% of the list price. The sales from 61 to 90 days of being listed sold for 96.14% of list price. There was only one foreclosure that was on the market for over 91 days, and it sold for 84.82% of asking price. The reason that the foreclosures in South Lake Tahoe are selling over the list price is that there have been multiple offer situations on most of them. There have been as many as 10+ offers on a single bank owned property. The bank owned listing at 705 Sand Harbor is a great example. 705 Sand Harbor was listed for $243,300, there were multiple offers ( many offers!), and it ended up selling for $305,000!

Statistics for the Sold Bank Owned Properties in South Lake Tahoe for the Month of August

There were 10 single family foreclosures in South Lake Tahoe that sold in August
The median sales price of the bank owned properties was $283,213
The average sales price of the bank owned properties was $323,203
The average days on the market was 49
The average price per square foot for the sold foreclosures was $186

Activity on vacant lots in South Lake Tahoe was very slow. There were only two lots that closed escrow in the month of August. The two lots that sold were 221 Jacarillo which sold for $87,000 and 2124 West Way which sold for $145,000.

Condos in South Lake Tahoe was the slowest sector of all with only one sale in August. The condo that sold was a short sale at 3344 Sandy Way unit #14 that sold for $138,000. Now that detached single family homes are at prices below what condos were selling for, buyers seem to be choosing the homes.

September is shaping up to be another month of strong sales activity for single family homes. With 43 homes already sold this month, it should surpass the 44 homes that sold in August.

South Lake Tahoe Short Sales

Closing escrows on short sales in South Lake Tahoe is still proving to be a difficult task. Out of the 227 single family houses in South Lake Tahoe that have sold so far this year, only 16 were short sales. It has also taken much longer to to get those short sale escrows closed. The median days on the market for the sold short sales was 174 days including the escrow period, and was only 93 days for the non short sales.

The difficulty of closing escrow on the short sales does not seem to be scaring buyers away from the short sale listings. Currently there are 103 single family houses in escrow on the South Lake Tahoe mls, and 34 of those homes are short sales. With 1/3 of our current escrows as short sales, it will be interesting to see how many of those escrows actually close. For buyers looking to purchase a short sale in South Lake Tahoe, there are still 51 active short sales currently available on the mls.

For the short sales that have sold so far this year, the average price per square foot was $225. The average price per square foot for the non-distress sales was $264, and the price per square foot for the sold foreclosures was only $193.

If you are thinking about purchasing a home in South Lake Tahoe, I would definitely not rule out short sale listings, but I would recommend asking your real estate agent about the pros and cons of short sales before writing an offer on one!

Real Estate in South Lake Tahoe for the Month of July

The South Lake Tahoe real estate market had another solid month of activity on the sale of single family homes. There were 37 houses in South Lake Tahoe that closed escrow in the month of July, there were 38 homes that had sold in June. With three consecutive months of increasing home sales across the country, South Lake Tahoe seems to be following a similar story.

Statistics for the single family homes in South Lake Tahoe sold in July

There were 37 houses in South Lake Tahoe that sold in July
There were 9 foreclosures in South Lake Tahoe sold in July
Only one short sale was sold in July
The average sales price was $395,570 ( up 11% from $352,555 in June)
The median sales price was $353,000 ( up 12% from $310,000 in June)
The average price per square foot was $238 ( up 4% from $229 in June)

Foreclosures in South Lake Tahoe were still popular with home buyers in the month of July. Currently there are 38 foreclosures listed on the South Lake Tahoe mls, and 20 of them are in escrow. The foreclosures that sold in July had an average sales price per square foot of $204, a median sales price of $305,000, and an average sales price of $320,767. The foreclosures in South Lake Tahoe that sold in the first 60 days sold for an average of 105.7% above the listing price. The multiple offer situations that the bank owned properties are having is causing the homes to sell for above asking price.

There are 472 single family homes that are available on the South Lake Tahoe mls, and there are 96 homes that are currently in escrow. Out of the 96 homes that are in escrow, 33 are short sales and 20 are foreclosures bringing the percentage of “distress sale” escrows to 55%.

August should be another strong month in terms of home sales with the number of current escrows at close to 100. There seems to be continuing good news about the economy, and it will be interesting to see if and how it will affect the South Lake Tahoe real estate market.

Please give Brent and Jill Johnson a call for more information about real estate in South Lake Tahoe!