The South Tahoe Realty Blog

Here’s a little information on South Lake Tahoe demographics from the Tahoe Daily Tribune.  I’m not sure how they figured that Sacramento is closer to South Lake Tahoe than Reno.  According to Google, Reno is a 60.2 mile and 1 hour and 17 minute drive.  As the crow flies, it is 41.6 miles from South Lake Tahoe.  Sacramento is a 102 mile and 1 hour and 53 minute drive.  And it’s 85.6 miles from South Lake as the crow flies.

Also, South Lake Tahoe’s population growth has leveled off over the last decade.  The 2000 U.S. Census calculated our population to be 23,609.  City-data.com now shows our population to be 23,374.  I wouldn’t be surprised to see a continued decline in population as home prices continue to increase, which they eventually will. 

South Lake Tahoe by the Numbers
Tahoe Daily Tribune, October 3, 2008

South Lake Tahoe’s population has been growing since silver miners and pioneers developed the Bonanza road, which later became U.S. Highway 50. In the last 25 years, South Lake Tahoe’s population has more than doubled.

Fifty-two percent of the city’s population is male. Caucasians make up 63 percent of the population, Hispanics 26.7 percent, Asians 5 percent and African-Americans one percent.

The nearest city to South Lake Tahoe with a population of more than 50,000 is Carson City, Nevada, located 22.5 miles from South Lake Tahoe. Carson City has a number of shopping centers and building supply stores.

The nearest city with a population of more than 200,000 is Sacramento, California, although most locals would argue that Reno, Nevada, takes a shorter time to drive to.

South Lake Tahoe also has a community college with a full-time enrollment of 1,300.

After an incredibly busy period amongst South Lake Tahoe foreclosures, these last two weeks have been very quiet in comparison. Four homes on the foreclosure list went into escrow, and there are only two new homes to the list.

There were some significant price reductions amongst foreclosures within the last two weeks. 967 Colusa Street was just reduced $35,000 to $449,000. I’ve mentioned in a previous post that it’s a beautiful home with a lot of potential. I expect it to go into escrow soon. 2604 Knox Avenue saw a price reduction of $25,900. It’s now listed at $329,000. At $149 per square foot, I’d expect someone to make a worthy offer.

If you’re interested in receiving the foreclosure lists by e-mail, please let me know at drew@southtahoehouses.com. As usual, I have more information on properties that will become foreclosures. However, I don’t feel at liberty to publish this information on the internet. If you are interested in those properties or the ones on this list, call me at (530) 545-1831.

* The listing agent chose not to publish his or her listing to internet MLS searches.

I’ve created another video tour for my brokerage, Deb Howard & Co. This lakefront home is just outside of South Lake Tahoe and is listed at $3.6 million. I’d encourage you to watch it in high quality so you can see the property better. If the video stops during playback, just press the pause button and wait a minute for the video to download.

Watch in high quality

We’ve seen some more activity in the South Lake Tahoe foreclosure market. Ten foreclosure properties went into escrow here within the last 13 days! There are 3 new foreclosure listings. The most interesting of these is at 2188 Pinewood Drive. It’s a huge 2,915 square foot home that was built in 2004. With a $435,000 list price, there’s an incredible bidding war going on for that property. Expect it to close well above list price.

It’s a busy Friday, so that’s all for now! I hope all you guys have a great weekend. If you want information on upcoming foreclosures, call me at (530) 545-1831.

There’s been a bit of a buzz in the South Lake Tahoe real estate community. Have we hit the bottom of the market? Possibly. Check out the median sale prices over the last seven months. It looks like we hit bottom in June and have been heading up in the following months. Additionally, the median list price of homes in escrow right now is $437,000. I’d expect that number to drop to about $412,000 because our sale-price-to-list-price ratio on the year is 94.23%. These numbers fall in line with the theory that we have hit the bottom of the market.

What do I think? I’m skeptical. I wish I remembered enough from my college stats class to back this up, but I don’t think enough homes have sold over a long enough period of time to claim that the market’s downward trend has come to a halt. I’ll be happy when we sell off some more of this oversupply of homes.

Speaking of, South Lake Tahoe’s supply of homes did dwindle some at the turn of the month when seventy listings expired. Only thirteen of those listings are back on the market. With less competition amongst listings, now isn’t a bad time to list.

Other notable activity in September occurred in the foreclosure market. Of the 28 single-family residences that sold in September, 7 of them were foreclosures (25%). At the turn of the month, there were 12 foreclosures in escrow and 15 short sales in escrow. We’re seeing a lot of distressed sales. It’s no wonder that banks are folding on a daily basis.

Only 3 condos sold in the last month. However, some buyers were thinking about the upcoming ski season. An unusually high 6 condos went into escrow.

Four lots went into escrow last month and only two sold. It’s been very slow in the dirt market.

I’d love to hear your comments on any of this. I will update a few numbers as some agents haven’t been able to input their September sales in the MLS yet.

* For the sake of statistical integrity, my absorption rates are no longer considering sales for the last year. They are now calculated using sales for the last 90 days. For more information on why I decided on the change, e-mail me at drew@southtahoehouses.com.