Wonderful Summer . . .

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Short Sale & Bankruptcy – What do YOU think?

We value your opinion, reader so we would love to hear what you think about this:

I was at an office meeting this week and one of the agents described the following scenario in one of his short sale escrows — true story.  The agent was representing the seller of a home which was in escrow as a short sale that had been approved by the seller and the bank which held the note.  The buyer was approved and ready to close on the house when about 3 days from closing the sellers filed bankruptcy.  The sale was frozen which means that the buyer can’t buy and the seller can’t sell and, of course, the agents cannot collect their commissions on the deal that they put together.

The question from the agent at the meeting was should they file to become one of the vendors that the bankruptcy court orders paid?  My answer was yes, of course.  The agent had provided the service that was contracted for.  He had brought a bonafide offer that was approved by the seller and their bank.  The agent did what was contracted for — so he should be paid.  What do you think?

Also, I was wondering what you might think of this scenario in general.  The seller was able to stay in this house without making a mortgage payment for about 1 year.  Now that the situation has changed and they have filed bankruptcy, more than likely they will be able to stay in the house for another 6-12 months without paying a mortgage.  Yes, the bankruptcy will destroy the sellers’ credit but not paying your mortgage for a year probably had a similar affect on the credit too.

If  someone out there has an opinion on either of these issues,  I would like to hear it.

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South Lake Tahoe Wood Boat Show

This past weekend my family participated in the Wood Boat Show held in South Lake Tahoe.  This was held as a  benefit to support the Boys &  Girls Club. The ACBS put on a great show and I must say they treated their participants very well. The Thunderbird was there celebrating it’s 70th year on Lake Tahoe – she sure is a beauty! After a long day in the sun they fed us well with plenty of fluids to re-hydrate. Saturday I broke away for a hike to take in a spectacular view of Fallen Leaf Lake with Lake Tahoe in the background, it really makes me feel blessed to live where I do. Sunday many of the participants fired up their woodys and cruised across the lake to Sugar Pine Point State Park where once again we were treated to a great meal as they passed out their awards. Our Philbrick, “Kids First” took  2nd place in her category – WooHoo!

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North Lake Tahoe – Truckee Stats for July 2010

The North Lake Tahoe-Truckee market seems to have rebounded from a low of 62 sales in June to 88 sales during the month of July 2010.  Of those 88 sales of single family and condo’s, 23 were distressed properties or 26% of sales. If you have been following our monthly updates, you will be aware that this number has gradually decreased since the beginning of the year when the distressed portion of the market was a whopping 43%. We keep hearing that there will be more distressed sales coming but thus far that hasn’t happened.  The fact that all of these standard sales have happened tells us that the Sellers are listening to the market which was set by the distressed sales.

From the Tahoe MLS: the solds from July 1 – 31, 2010:

Tahoe Donner: 13 homes, (1 REO), 3 condos, (1 REO)

Northstar: 1 homes, 1 condos

Gray’s Crossing: 1 home (SS)

Glenshire, Cambridge, Juniper Hill, Juniper Creek, The Meadows: 7 homes  (1SS)

Prosser Lake Area: 1 home (1REO)

Sierra Meadows, Ponderosa Palisades, Winter Creek: 1 home, 2 condos (1 REO)

Olympic Heights: 1 home (SS)

Lahontan: 2 homes

Timlick: 0 residential properties

Old Greenwood: 0 residential properties

Martis Camp: 0 residential properties

Truckee Proper: 2 homes, 1 condos

Donner Crest: 0 residential properties

Donner Lake: 2 homes, 1 condo

Donner Summit: 2 homes

West shore Lake Tahoe: 12 homes (3 REO, 2 SS), 1 condo

Tahoe City: 5 homes (1 REO)

North shore Lake Tahoe: 6 homes (1 SS), 2 condos

Kings Beach & Tahoe Vista: 6 homes (2 REO, 1 SS), 4 condos (2 REO)

Alpine & Squaw Valley: 2 homes (1 REO), 3 condos

Shared Ownerships – entire region: 5

Mobile Homes – entire region: 4

Sierra & Plumas Counties: 6 homes (2 REO)

Condos and Homes sold over $1M in Truckee and North Lake Tahoe: 11 (1 SS)

Highest priced home or condo sold:  A 8.8 acre parcel containing a 5640 square foot home which was built in 2006.  This 5 bedroom, 5.5 bath home, located at 6280 RiverRoad in Squaw Valley went for $1,100,000 less than its asking price of $5,950,000.  Guess the seller looked at the fact that the buyer brought ALL CASH and decided to take the offer seriously.  This is when making a “low ball” offer makes sense.

Lowest priced home or condo sold:  Just to reiterate the old saying “cash is king” the lowest priced home went for all cash too.  A little bank owned home located in Portola went out at $45,000 (asking price $55,900).  Somebody just got a nice little place.  Who says that there are no deals out there?

The list to sell ratio on the median this month 98%. In other words, the homes sold within 98% of the list price.  The median list price for this period was $440,000 median sale price was $420,000.   This median sale and list price continues to inch down.   Using the median price tends to take the extreme highs and lows out of the picture as it is based on the sale of the house in the middle of the pack. 

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Hiking the Pacific Crest Trail

Lest you all think that I never get out to enjoy the surroundings here, that I am all work and no play, let me set you straight.  My daughter’s recent wedding drew many family members from near and far to the Sierras and rather than waste off time sitting around, we chose to do several hikes.  I got to participate in two of these hikes, both of which were on the Pacific Crest Trail or what is commonly called, the PCT.  The PCT is a trail which extends from Canada through the US and on into Mexico.  You can read more about it here. When I looked it up, I was pretty amazed and frankly humbled to be in the company of such august persons who were responsible for establishing this great recreational facility.

The two trips we made were the Mount Judah Loop which showcased spectacular flowers and views and the hike I made yesterday which took us on a route of the Trail that extends from the Boreal Ski Area, near Highway 80 to Old Highway 40.  The flowers were still vibrant, the views were wonderful but this hike was a little less intense than the Mt. Judah trip.

Here are some pictures, the people that I traveled with yesterday are my brother David and his wife Kate.  We were rewarded by some great views, solitude and later a wonderful dinner at the River Ranch in Alpine Meadows. Thanks to everyone — for reminding me once again how great it is to sell real estate in the High Sierras!!

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