Truckee Real Estate - Kappy Mann and Jennifer Boehm - Keller Williams

April 2012 Sales Statistics

Kappy Mann — Mon, 07 May 2012 00:08:03 +0000

April sales stats are a bit lack luster following “March Madness” with the most noteworthy occurrence being the drop in percentage of distressed sales. Foreclosed and short sale properties amounted to 25% of the total sales as compare to 42% and 43% in the previous two months. Overall sales were down a bit from 108 sales in March to just 90 in April. But also worth mentioning is the list to sale ratio for April was basically100%. Does this mean sellers are becoming more real in their pricing, or is the lack of inventory playing a part?

Statistics from the Tahoe MLS: the solds from April 1 – 30, 2012:

Tahoe Donner: 22 homes (1 SS) (2 REO), 1 condo

Northstar: 3 homes, 0 condos

Glenshire, Cambridge, Juniper Hill, Juniper Creek, The Meadows: 6 homes (3 SS) (2REO)

Olympic Heights: 0 residential properties

Prosser Lake Area: 0 residential properties

Sierra Meadows, Ponderosa Palisades: 2 homes

Martiswoods, Ponderosa Ranchos: 1 home (1 SS)

Ponderosa Fairway: 1 home

Lahontan: 2 homes (1 SS)

Martis Camp: 1 home

Old Greenwood, Grays Crossing: 1 home

Truckee Proper: 2 condos

Donner Lake: 2 homes, 0 condos

Donner Summit: 4 homes (3 REO), 0 condos

West shore Lake Tahoe: 6 homes (1 SS) 0 condos

Tahoe City: 1 home (1 SS), 3 condos (1REO)

North shore Lake Tahoe: 3 homes (2 SS), 0 condos

Kings Beach & Tahoe Vista: 9 homes (2 REO), 1 condo

Alpine & Squaw Valley: 4 homes, 2 condos

Shared Ownerships – entire region: 4

Mobile Homes – entire region: 1

Sierra & Plumas Counties: 0 homes

Condos and Homes sold over $1M in Truckee and North Lake Tahoe: 3

Highest priced home or condo sold: Martis Camp brought in the highest priced sale for April at $3,300,000. 10754 Avoca Circle is conveniently located directly adjacent to the Camp Lodge and practice field. This home brings contemporary flair to the mountains and boasts 4 bedrooms & 4.5 bathrooms with beautiful sun-drenched views of the Pacific Crest. Many fine finishes as you would expect and the furnishings were included.

Lowest priced home or condo sold: 11850 Glenshire Dr. was a distressed sale and a distressed home in need of much work. Located on a busy street with 2 bedrooms and 2 bathrooms, this home is what we call a contractor’s delight! Nice mountain views and a short walk to the Truckee River, hey what do you want for $80,000

The list to sell ratio on the median was 100%. In other words, the homes sold within 100% of the list price! The median list price for this period was $399,925 and the median sale price was $399,475. 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. The average days on the market were 122.

Truckee-Lake Tahoe Beckons the Adventurous Side Within You!

Kappy Mann — Sat, 28 Apr 2012 13:43:39 +0000

Historic Truckee with its colorful past is the gateway to High Sierra adventure. Yes a river runs through it, the Truckee River flows from Lake Tahoe as it meanders on its way to Nevada’s Pyramid Lake and is a source of summertime recreation of fly fishing & rafting. Surrounded by several recreational lakes; Donner Lake, Boca & Stampede Reservoirs provide all types of boating fun. Winter recreation goes without saying; Truckee is centrally located to all of the area’s major ski resorts and USFS lands provide endless snowmobiling and cross country skiing opportunities. Just a short drive to Reno, “the Biggest Little City”, where big name casinos offer a wide variety of entertainment. Historic downtown Truckee provides shopping and dining to please all. Whether Summer, Winter, Spring or Fall, Truckee’s glorious seasons have something to offer all.

Lake Tahoe’s pristine crystal blue waters draw visitors from all over the world, the breathtaking scenery with dramatic landscapes lure the outdoor enthusiasts of all types to challenge their skills. Tahoe is renowned for its world class skiing with Squaw Valley hosting the 1960 Olympics and essentially giving the region recognition for its competitive terrain & beauty. Mountain biking, hiking swimming – just good, healthy recreation for every level. Expose your kids to the active family lifestyle that families have been enjoying for years.

The area offers a wide range of properties from lakefront estates to gated golf course communities to secluded large parcel getaways. Condominiums and rustic cabins, whatever suits your needs a knowledgeable real estate agent will save you TIME & MONEY. The JK Real Estate Team will work with you to locate the ideal property to suit your specific needs.

Keller Williams Red Day in Truckee-Tahoe

Kappy Mann — Fri, 20 Apr 2012 17:58:00 +0000

Red Day this year is Thursday, May 10, 2012. This is the day that all Keller Williams offices across the U.S. chose a project to participate in. This year, our Keller Williams office is putting on a barbecue and Sing-A-Long at the local Extended Care Facility at Tahoe Forest Hospital in Truckee. We have received commitments from a couple of our affiliates — Fidelity Home Warranty and Save Mart Food Stores. Each of them will be donating foodstuffs for the party!! We are busy putting together song sheets with the words of such songs as “I’ve Been Working on the Railroad,” “Yankee Doodle,” and “America the Beautiful.” None of us are particularly talented voice wise but I know it will be FUN! What a perfect time for a outdoor party and to show the residents of the facility that Keller Williams Cares!!

Beware Time Share Scam

Kappy Mann — Tue, 17 Apr 2012 22:26:43 +0000

Lots of people have time shares that they have purchased over the years. For some people it just works better that they are able to trade their vacation spots over the years instead of buying a single family vacation home and going there every year for vacation. No problem. They definitely serve a purpose in a certain market.

Sooner or later the owner of a time share reaches a stage in their life when he no longer wants or is able to travel to and from the time share they own. At this point they decide that they want to sell them. Unfortunately these types of properties are so abundant that they are somewhat difficult to sell. They look like a good deal but the carrying costs are considerable — sometimes $200-$300 per month. This is a lot of money for a senior living on a fixed income.

Enter the scammer . . . You get the phone call in the evening — “Mr. Smith, do you want to sell your time share? We can sell it for you in 90 days. All you have to do is send us a check for $2000 to cover the initial advertising costs. Here is the address to mail your check to. Just as soon as we receive the check, we will begin advertising your property and get you a buyer!” Mr. Smith, a gullible, older and trusting soul proceeds as the scammer directs him and whoosh — the $$$ is gone and so is the scammer. We have seen this scenario first hand — amongst family members. It works, and there really is no recourse!

Some people work so hard at not working . . . why doesn’t this scammer spend his/her time doing something legitimately?

Home Prices Begin to Stabilize

Kappy Mann — Thu, 12 Apr 2012 23:29:14 +0000

Everybody has an idea of where the market is headed, many buyers seem to think that prices will continue to fall while sellers are holding out for the market to turn the corner. You can put your skew on it however you like, but what we are reading is that prices are beginning to stabilize. In a recent RISMedia article their ”forecast models predict the nation’s prices to increase modestly over the next three months and increase to 1.2 percent growth by the end of the year. This shows the valley shape with the current prices at the bottom and an upward trend from now (March) through December of 2012.” They go on to say that “the strongest of the regions throughout much of 2011, the Northeast, is expected to gain a modest 0.3 percent over the next three months, but pick up momentum and grow prices by 1/3 percent to wrap up the year. The South is expected to perform the strongest in the short term, growing 0.5 percent over the next three months, and end the year with 1.6 percent growth. Most importantly to us the forecast shows the Western region could be turning the corner. The three month numbers show the region gaining 0.2 percent, and pushing that to a positive 1 percent to end the year. The hardhit Midwest is expected to drop -0.6 percent over the next three months, but move into positive territory with a 0.7 percent gain by December.”

This seems to fall in line with what we are seeing here in the Tahoe-Truckee area. Prices are beginning to creep upward, perhaps because of the low inventory. We are cautiously optimistic that at the very least it seems we have reached the bottom curve, the question remains how long we will bump along the bottom. With the number of REO properties still to come no one really expects prices to move up too quickly. We know that the market is very local and the Glenshire neighborhood is very different from the Tahoe Donner neighborhood, as is the West Shore of Lake Tahoe a differnt market from the North Shore. It is promising that many of the Bay Area markets are on fire, our market tends to follow 6 months behind the Bay Area and just so you know, we are ready and waiting!

Home Inventory Heating Up in Truckee-Tahoe

Kappy Mann — Sat, 07 Apr 2012 16:48:31 +0000

Okay, it’s here. Let the frenzy begin! Local real estate professionals have been waiting for this moment like a pregnant parent. Every year we exclaim that maybe this is the year that we will throw the real estate doors open and no one will come. It seems that every year sellers wait longer and longer to put their homes on the market. This year was no exception. This year we were sure that the housing inventory would be so tight that we would have nothing to sell.

In the past 2 days, we have seen double digits in the “new listing” category on our multiple listing service website where up until this past week there have been paltry daily amounts and most of those were re-lists.

This bodes well for our buyers, there is now more inventory to chose from. The news is not so good for our sellers, there is now more competition. A word of warning to them — you better be priced right, the selling (sporting) season is SHORT up here in the mountains!!

Keller Williams Is Still King of Tahoe Donner

Kappy Mann — Fri, 06 Apr 2012 22:15:38 +0000

The numbers are in. Tahoe Donner is still selling and guess who sells the most?

Why would you want anyone else handling your business?

Anatomy of a Multiple Offer in Truckee-Tahoe

Kappy Mann — Fri, 06 Apr 2012 00:16:57 +0000

You might think that the real estate market has not yet reached the bottom; that there are no sellers who are reasonable and no buyers who are ready to buy. Let me tell you, you are wrong – dead wrong . Well priced homes, no matter who owns them, are seeing 2 and 3 offers and guess what? THE HIGHEST PRICE WINS!!

We just experienced a multiple offer situation on an REO (bank owned) property.

Here is the story. A dated but well built home located in my neighborhood on a nice lot with a peek view of a reservoir came on the market about 2 weeks ago, priced about 50K below market value and anyone could see that it would be a great bargain. I called my clients who live out of town and told them about it and urged them to make an offer, sight unseen. I told them that they would have an inspection period during which they could back out of the deal for any reason that they turned up in their inspection. They hesitated and consequently the bird who jumped quickly at the worm got it. My buyers and a 3^rd party lost out.

4 days ago, I got a call from the listing agent of the REO property, informing me that the successful buyers had decided against continuing with the escrow they were in and that the house was going to come back on the market. My clients just happened to be up here looking at other homes and I was able to get them over to the house. They loved it and could see the value at the listing price so they instructed me to write an offer for $15,000 below listing price (what was that about?). I did that but when I heard that, of course, the other buyers who originally lost out, were back in the game, my buyers decided to increase their offered amount. They went over asking price, yes . . . .

but not enough. I don’t know what the magic number was but apparently the other party was closer to it than we were.

Here is my dilemma. If I had told the buyers that they should offer $10K over asking price in the first place, how would they take it? Would they have thought I was working for the other side? That I was working for myself to assure my commission? Or would they have listened to me, and known that I was working on their behalf.

One thing I know for sure, I will use this situation as an example for the next multiple offer situation I am in. Our clients will hear the truth from the horse’s (or is it donkey’s?) mouth.

Price Improvement on Boulders Condo

Kappy Mann — Wed, 04 Apr 2012 20:57:30 +0000

10841 Cinnabar Way, Truckee, CA. was and is still the lowest priced condo in The Boulder’s! Also one of the nicest units with slate flooring and wainscotting throughout the entire unit. End unit on the ground floor so you can walk right out and enjoy the beautiful landscaping. No stairs to drag the groceries up, and direct access from the garage so you will not have to combat the weather. Slate flooring and direct garage access make this handicap friendly. Two bedrooms, two bathrooms, open and spacious living area with lots of sunshine to enjoy. The Boulders amenities offers pool, spa, hot tub, bocce ball, sand volleyball court & horseshoe pit. All of this at a great new price of $310,000!!

March 2012 Sales Statistics

Kappy Mann — Mon, 02 Apr 2012 05:09:18 +0000

The ski resorts are hailing March as the miracle month and I guess real estate agents could do the same. We saw a jump from 69 sales of residential properties in the month of February to 108 sales for March. Distressed property sales remained high at 42% of the total sales. We are also seeing a continual increase in the number of high end sales (over 1 million dollars) January reported 2 sales, February reported 9 and March came in at 11 sales over 1 million dollars. Also worth noting is that the median sale price seems to be moving upward; January’s median sale price was $335,000; February – $358,000 and March’s median sale price was $380,000. All positive signs for our market.

Statistics from the Tahoe MLS: the solds from March 1 – 31, 2012:

Tahoe Donner: 27 homes (5 SS) (2 REO), 3 condos

Northstar: 4 homes (1REO), 2 condos (1 REO)

Glenshire, Cambridge, Juniper Hill, Juniper Creek, The Meadows: 2 homes

Olympic Heights: 1 home (1 REO)

Prosser Lake Area: 5 homes (1 SS) (2 REO)

Sierra Meadows, Ponderosa Palisades: 1 home (1 REO)

Martiswoods, Ponderosa Ranchos: 0 residential properties

Lahontan: 1 home

Martis Camp: 0 residential properties

Old Greenwood, Grays Crossing: 0 residential properties

Truckee Proper: 0 residential properties

Donner Lake: 3 homes (2 REO), 1 condo

Donner Summit: 5 homes (1 SS) (2 REO)

West shore Lake Tahoe: 17 homes (5 SS) (2 REO)

Tahoe City: 4 homes (1 SS) (1 REO), 2 condos

North shore Lake Tahoe: 3 homes, 2 condos

Kings Beach & Tahoe Vista: 5 homes (1 SS) (2 REO)

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

Shared Ownerships – entire region: 6

Mobile Homes – entire region: 0

Sierra & Plumas Counties: 2 homes

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

Highest priced home or condo sold: Once again another Tahoe lakefront home commands the highest price sale in our region at $5,640,000. 4850 North Lake Blvd. Carnelian Bay. The seller accepted an all cash offer but left $3,300,000 at the negotiating table. He must have been really motivated after 1,069 days on the market, because he left behind a Sanger ski boat, Kawasaki jet ski and all of the furnishings in this 5,200+ sf home. 4 bed, 4.5 bath, home theater, boat/toy garage with remote control rail system, trex pier with 12,000 lb lift, etc, etc.

Lowest priced home or condo sold: 11591 Snowpeak Way is the original Tahoe Donner Lodgette. This unit looks right onto the Tahoe Donner Ski Hill. It has no bedroom, no kitchen or cooking facility and is ready for a custom remodel. This 336 sf unit sold for $40,000. Can you believe that a 2 bedroom, 955 sf house in Loyalton sold for just $7,000 more? It just depends on where you want to be and what your needs are.

The list to sell ratio on the median was 95%. In other words, the homes sold within 95% of the list price! The median list price for this period was $402,000 and the median sale price was $380,000. 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. The average days on the market were 140.