What makes this area so desirable?

I meet by phone weekly with a group of other Realtors from the San Francisco Bay Area and Sonoma County.  All of us share a joint website at  www.Homescopes.com .  Our assignment for today was to come up with a short dissertation  on why we thought people were attracted to our respective areas.  I am anxious to share it here with you all.

There are so many different reasons people want to live in the Truckee, North Lake Tahoe Area. But basically there are two major classifications of people who invest in residential real estate here.  I will address them separately. 

The full time residents choose to live in this area because they have become disenchanted with the urban environment.  They are drawn to the simple life, life where their major entertainment involves the outdoors, fresh air and recreational opportunities.  Here at Tahoe there are acres and acres of trails outside our back doors.  On these trails, depending on the weather there are hiking, biking, horseback riding, ATV riding, skiing, and snowmobiling opportunities galore.  Some of these pursuits involve more money than others so there is something for everyone.  Furthermore, there are the beautiful lakes and reservoirs which afford the same type of opportunities during the summer – again, across all levels of the economic strata.  

Those of us who live in the mountains full time feel a sort of pride and sense of accomplishment.  To be a full time resident you have to be ready to brave the weather in winter.  It used to be said that you aren’t a local until you have existed here for 10 years.  A lot of people just don’t make it.  They don’t realize how difficult the winters can be.  How lonely it can get up here in all of the snow and how bad “cabin fever” really can get.  They get tired of having to make a major trip just to go to the grocery store to get  a carton of milk or a quart of ice cream instead of stopping into their local 7-11 on the way home from work.  A lot of our full time residents put down roots here just to prove to themselves that they CAN do it. 

The next group of people who want to live in this area are the 2^nd homeowners.  This comprises about two thirds of our property owners.  The second homeowner wants to live here for all the same reasons as the full time resident with the exception of the fact that he wants the best of both worlds.  This homeowner/visitor wants to “get away from it all” on a limited basis.  They buy homes so that they can entertain themselves and their guests.  They buy homes so that they will have a place for family gatherings.  They want to come up to the mountains, enjoy the fresh air, recreational opportunities and basically just “let down their hair,” and rub elbows with the locals. 

Both types of residents are absolutely vital to this area.  They live in a type of symbiosis with each other.   If there were no locals, the resort area would not be attractive to the 2^nd homeowners because the personality of the area, especially Truckee, is made up in a large part by the people.  Alternatively, the locals need the 2^nd homeowners to bring culture, growth and opportunity to their hometown.