South Tahoe homes

North Upper Truckee

South Lake Tahoe real estate buyers looking for properties with a quiet county setting and a good possibility of privacy should check out the North Upper Truckee area. The North Upper Truckee area begins just southwest of the Y, off of Lake Tahoe blvd.. The area extends south until North Upper Truckee intersects Highway 50. The South Lake Tahoe mls has divided North Upper Truckee in to two areas, North Upper Truckee 1 and 2. North Upper Truckee 1 is the South side beginning at Highway 50 and spans north to Zuni. North Upper Truckee 2 begins on the north side of Zuni and spans north to Tahoe Mountain road.

Many of the lots in the North Upper Truckee area back to National Forest land. North Upper Truckee lots are also larger than most other lots in Lake Tahoe, averaging about 10,000 square feet. Towering pine trees and mountain viewsare very common in the North Upper Truckee area. Homes located at the top of Tahoe Mountain Road in North Upper Truckee 2 have some of the best views in Lake Tahoe. Fallen Leaf Lake, Lake Tahoe, and the surrounding mountains are some of the sights that Tahoe Mountain homes may overlook. Although the Tahoe Mountain views can be breathtaking, the amount of winter snow in this area is substantially more.

In June of 2007 South Lake Tahoe suffered its most destructive fire, and it was in the North Upper Truckee area. The Angora Fire began on June 24th west of Seneca Drive and continued north. The Angora Fire ended up burning over 2700 acres of National Forest Land and 250 structures. Click here to view a map of the area burned by the Angora Fire. Although some homes in North Upper Truckee 1 did not survive the fire, the North Upper Truckee 2 area saw the most devastation. Some streets such as Mule Deer, Mt. Rainier, Mt. Olympia, Pyramid, and Granite Mountain lost almost all of the homes to the fire. Currently there are many new custom homes being built in the areas where the homes were lost. The North Upper Truckee area will be the only area in SouthLake Tahoe that will have streets with all new homes. Although the houses that are being built are big, new, and beautiful, the landscape will take a long time to recover from the fire.

The average size home in the North Upper Truckee area is 1800 to 2000 square feet and sells for between $280,000 to $500,000. Newer view homes on the top of Tahoe Mountain have sold for as much as $2,500,000. North Upper Truckee also has many newer homes that sell from the $500,000’s to the upper $800,000’s. There have been some recent foreclosure and distress sales of smaller cabins and homes in the mid $200,000’s.

Gardner Mountain

If you are looking for a neighborhood with low to mid-priced homes in South Lake Tahoe, the Gardner Mountain area is a great place to buy. The majority of homes in the Gardner Mountain area are smaller homes and cabins priced in the $300,000 range. There are some houses available in the mid $200’s, and range all the way to new houses can be found up in the $800’s.

View Larger Map

Gardner Mountain has a quiet mountain like setting and is still with-in the City limits of South Lake Tahoe. As the name implies, the area is located on a small and forested mountain. Gardner Mountain has easy access from HWY 89, and is less than a mile from HWY 50 and the Y. Gardner Mountain is one of the closest areas to Camp Richardson, Fallen Leaf Lake, and South Shores best beaches. There is a great bike trail that leads to Pope beach , Baldwin beach, Kiva beach, and all the way to Ski beach from the bottom of Gardner Mountain.

National Forest land boarders the west side of the Gardner Mountain area, and to the south is the South Tahoe High School. Gardner street, on the west side, is one of the best streets in the area to be located on because it boarders the National Forest land and offers both privacy and views.

Most of the lots in the Gardner Mountain area are 5,000 to 10,000 square feet in size. The 10,000 square foot lots are usually 50′ wide by 200′ deep, so many homes in the area have very large back yards. There are also a few big lots near the bottom of Gardner Mountain that are an entire acre in size.

Vacation homes in Lake Tahoe Full for Presidents Day Weekend

There must have been a lot of occupied vacation homes in Lake Tahoe this weekend from the looks of the traffic leaving town this afternoon. With chain controls from Meyers all the way to Kyburz, traffic was backed all the way past the Y. I was surprised that the chain controls were all the way down to Kyburz, because the roads were only wet from Kyburz to Strawberry!

The fresh snow must have attracted all of skiers that have been waiting for one of the best powder days of the season. Heavenly Valley reported 25″ to 33″ of new snow in the last 7 days, and Kirkwood reported 82″ to 108″ of fresh powder!

Jill and I had a couple of clients looking at South Lake Tahoe homes on Friday and Saturday which went very well. We also had showings on a couple of our listings, so there were other buyers looking at houses in Tahoe also.

It was great to see all of the people enjoying our great town and all of the fresh new snow. There are a lot of vacation homes and second homes in South Lake Tahoe, and I think that a lot of them were full this Presidents Day Weekend!

South Lake Tahoe real estate blog post by Brent Johnson on a snowy Presidents Day Weekend. For more information regarding homes in South Lake Tahoe for sale, please contact Brent and Jill Johnson today!

January South Lake Tahoe Real Estate Review

The lack of new snow in January was not good for the ski resorts or the lake level, but the warm weather seemed to bring out the South Lake Tahoe home buyers. South Tahoe home buyers were out in force last month opening up 35 new single family home escrows. The savvy home buyers were not out just buying anything though, out of the 35 new single family escrows, 17 were foreclosures, 2 were short sales, and the rest were re-sale homes.

Here are the January statistics from the South Lake Tahoe MLS for the new escrows:

There were 35 houses for sale in South Lake Tahoe that went into escrow.
17 of the houses were bank owned foreclosures (51%)
2 of the houses were short sales
Average list price $393,414
Median list price $314,975
Average days on market 126
Median days on market 67
Average square feet 1678
Median square feet 1536

There is such a big statistical difference between the foreclosures in South Lake Tahoe and the non-foreclosure homes that I separated them into two different categories for comparison. The comparison between foreclosures and homes non-foreclosures for the new January escrows is as follows:

The average list price for the foreclosures was $295,434 (41% less than non-foreclosure homes which had an average list price of $499,832.)
The median list price for the foreclosures was $279,000 (35% less than non-foreclosure homes which had a median list price of $429,000.)
The average days on market for the foreclosures was 55 (72% less than non-foreclosure homes which had an average days on market of 196.)
The median days on market for the foreclosures was 40 (77% less than non-foreclosure homes which had a median days on market of 177.)
The average price per square foot for the foreclosures was $194 (31% less than non-foreclosure homes which had an average price per square foot of $281.)

As you can see, the foreclosure sales were much quicker, and the prices were much lower than the non-foreclosures. The average size of the foreclosures was less than the non-foreclosures and the price per square foot was 31% less than the non-foreclosures.

There were only 16 single family homes that closed escrow (sold) in January. That is down from 26 sold houses in December 2008, and 26 sold houses in January 2007.

The January sold single family home statistics from the South Lake Tahoe MLS are as follows:

16 closed escrows
7 of the houses were foreclosures (56%)
Average list price/selling price $353,768/$329,142 (93%)
Median list price/ selling price $310,500/ $296,500 (95%)
Average square feet was 1345 sf.
Median square feet was 1254 sf.
Average days on market was 108 days
Median days on market was 94 days

Current escrows and recent sales in the South Lake Tahoe Real Estate market are still being dominated by foreclosures. Foreclosures only account for about 8% (37 out of 439) of the houses for sale in South Lake Tahoe, but account for over 50% of the escrows and sales. South Tahoe home buyers are looking for good deals, and are finding them on foreclosures. Short sales are also getting more activity. With lenders beginning to negotiate more with short sale transactions, I expect to see more short sale listings and closings in the future.

The statistics for this blog were taken from the South Lake Tahoe mls. South Lake Tahoe Real Estate agent Brent Johnson wrote this post on Super Bowl Sunday! For more information regarding foreclosures for sale in South lake Tahoe, the South Lake Tahoe mls, or South Lake Tahoe Real Estate contact Brent and Jill Johnson for an appointment today!

Houses For Sale in South Lake Tahoe May Not Have BMP’s

If you are thinking about purchasing a house for sale in South Lake Tahoe, you need to know about BMP’s. Best Management Practices (BMP’s) are an erosion control measure designed to help prevent storm water runoff from entering Lake Tahoe by capturing and infiltrating it. Storm water runoff carries sediment and nutrients into the lake which reduces the lakes famous clarity.

In 1992 the Tahoe Regional Planning Agency (TRPA) created the TRPA retrofit ordinance. The ordinance requires all developed properties in the Lake Tahoe Basin to have BMP’s installed by October 15th 2006. Although new houses in South lake Tahoe built after 1992 have BMP’s installed due to regulation through local building departments, most other homes still do not. The TRPA has fines set in place for properties that do not have BMP’s installed yet. The fees are as follows:

non-compliance for over 1 year $1,000
non-compliance for over 2 years $2,500
non-compliance for over 3 years $4,000

We are already 3 years past the ordinance deadline of October 15th 2006, so I called the TRPA to find out more about the fines. I was told that no one has been fined, and that they would rather see property owners spend the money on installing BMP’s instead of fines. The TRPA did say that there are 3 different watershed priorities, 1,2, and 3. If your property is in a priority 1 watershed, they will begin enforcing the ordinance. First they will send a letter to you telling you about the requirement. Then they want to see that you are making reasonable progress in installing your BMP’s. If you show reasonable progress, they will not issue a fine.

Each property will have different BMP requirements based on slope, soil, location, and your structure. You can have the Tahoe Resource Conservation District (TRCD) preform a BMP evaluation and design the BMP’s foryour property. The TRCD is a grant funded, non regulatory agency that focuses on assisting single family homeowners with controlling erosion, native and adapted landscaping, and many other conservation initiatives. The TRCD currently has a waiting list for BMP evaluations, and will not evaluate a property until the snow has melted, so you should sign up soon!

BMP requirements are different for each property, but generally BMP’s consist of three basic requirements.

Installing gravel filled infiltration trenches about 6″ deep under all dripping roof lines.
Installing about 3″ of gravel under all elevated decks, overhangs, and cantilevers.
Having a paved driveway for parking, and maintaining all of the runoff from the driveway by either a drywell or gravel filled trench.

BMP’s can be installed by the homeowner, or a licensed contractor. The TRCD has a list of contractors that specialize in BMP installations. Depending on the size of the property, BMP’s can cost anywhere from a few hundred dollars if you choose to do the work your self, to many thousands if you hire a contractor or need to pave a driveway.

If you have a house for sale in South Lake Tahoethat does not have BMP’s, it would be a good idea to have an evaluation done for your property. If you are thinking of purchasing real estate in South Lake Tahoe, make sure that you find out if the property has a BMP certificate or not. If there is no BMP certificate, be prepared to install your BMP’s!

This South Lake Tahoe Real Estate blog was written by South Lake Tahoe Realtor Brent Johnson. Brent Johnson sepcilizes in houses for sale in South Lake Tahoe, South Lake Tahoe Real Estate, and foreclosures for sale in South Lake Tahoe. For more information about any properties on the South Lake Tahoe MLS, contact Brent Johnson today!

Simple Home Staging Tips

Staging your home can be as simple as re-arranging, cleaning, and adding a few unique decorations. Staging can also be as extensive as hiring a professional home stager and spending thousands thousands on high-end furnishings. For those of you who want to make staging simple, I have put together some great tips to sell your Lake Tahoe homes.

LOOSE THE CLUTTER!
Today’s Lake Tahoe home buyers are looking for light, bright, and large open rooms. Clutter will make a room look small, non inviting, and ultimately make it hard to sell your home.
It’s time to to put away all of the trinkets, nick knacks, and miscellaneous “stuff” that you have accumulated over the years. Throw out the old magazines and catalogues that are spread out on the coffee table, and store those old books cluttering up the book shelves. Stand back and take a look at the room. Are there too many pictures cluttering up the walls? Is there too much furniture crammed into the room? Is the room lopsided with all of the furniture on one side? If so, you should correct any of those problems to create a more inviting, balanced and open feeling room.

Clean it up!

Cleaning your home is an often overlooked element of staging. If your carpet is stained or dirty, have it cleaned. Even if you think the new owners will be replacing the old carpet, your house will show and smell a lot better. If you have dirty or scuffed walls, break out the Spackle and paint. Make sure that you use lighter neutral colors instead of dark and bold ones. Your taste will probably not be the same as the prospective buyers, and dark colors will make the room look smaller.

Time for some elbow grease!

The kitchen and bathrooms are very important rooms for prospective buyers. Clean off the kitchen counters and put away any unused small appliances. Do not overlook the major appliances like the stove, cook-top, oven, microwave, or the infamous refrigerator. This is where the prospective buyer will be preparing his or her meals! Moving on to the bathrooms, scrub those toilets, showers, sinks and behind the faucets. Empty the waste baskets, and don’t forget to put the toilet seat down!

Time for the details!

Once your house is clean and free of clutter, it’s time for some flair. Add some fresh flowers (I would avoid the fake ones), a bowl of colorful fresh fruit in the kitchen, some towels wrapped in ribbons and scented soap in the bathrooms, be creative! Try to draw attention to the focal points. For example, put some unique candle holders on the mantle, and always try to display decorative items in groups of odd numbers. It doesn’t take much, we just got rid of the clutter!

Look outside!

The outside is just as important, and the most overlooked aspect of home staging. First impressions are key, and the outside is the first part of your home that prospective buyers will see. If the exterior is looking tired, think about a paint job. Sweep or even pressure wash the driveway and walk ways, cut the lawn, and dust the spider webs. Finally, add some colorful flower pots around the yard.

According to staged homes .com, most staging efforts have a 400% to 500% return on investment. Furthermore, staged homes spend 50% less time on the market and lead to an average of 6.9% higher sales price than unstaged homes. Staging might just be worth the effort, and the difference between a “For Sale” sign and a “Sold” sign on your South Lake Tahoe Real Estate!