homes

Coldwell Banker Select Real Estate in conjunction with Stanford Mortgage and First American Title Company had a tremendous turnout for their recent Luxury Home Tour event in the Reno area. REALTORS® and other Real Estate Professionals were invited to go on a tour of four luxury Coldwell Banker listings and to gain insight into the world of luxury home sales. The tour was organized by Melanie Stewart, Director of Luxury Marketing and spearheaded by Dena Hospodka, Managing Broker for Coldwell Banker Select.

The median sales price of homes sold in South Lake Tahoe rose for the 14th straight month in September, 2013. Almost all other figures moved in a positive direction as well.

Median Sales Price Continues to Rise

Coldwell Banker Select in Incline Village will be welcoming a new REALTOR® to the office. Denise Lozner is excited to join the Incline Village Coldwell Banker Select Real Estate team! Denise has been involved in the Real Estate business for the past year as an escrow transaction coordinator and has a background in customer service, contract management and negotiation. Denise believes that these skills will enable her to be a successful agent for the Incline Village office.

Even professionals can find it difficult to comprehend the speed at which a wildfire can move, so for the public it can be tough to understand it unless you have witnessed it firsthand. With any luck you may never have such a life changing experience. Trying to predict what causes a small wildland fire in the neighborhood to grow to one of the largest wildland fires in the state's history is challenging. The Rim Fire is burning in terrain similar to what we find in Amador and El Dorado Counties, so it is a short leap to think, it could happen here.

CAL FIRE PIO Berlant, @CALFIRE_PIO - California Statewide Fire Summary: Nearly 8,000 firefighters remain on the frontlines as nearly a dozen major wildfires continue to burn. Yesterday, CAL FIRE crews contained the Swedes Fire that burned in Butte County, just as a new fire ignited on the Fort Hunter Liggett Military Installation.

We are still seeing a lot of action in the South Lake Tahoe real estate market! The July, 2013 figures were just released and they continue to show that interest in buying a home in Lake Tahoe is still growing. During the last year we saw home buyers flock to Lake Tahoe for a few reasons: low interest rates and an increased interest to buy something before they felt it was too late. When we saw more home listings enter the market this summer we saw the sales frenzy subside a bit.

Very few community members turned out for the US 50/South Shore Community Revitalization Project meeting held at Lake Tahoe Resort Hotel on Thursday night. Invitations were mailed and/or hand delivered to all residents in the proposed project area so they’d be able to better understand the process of relocation and financial reimbursement should the Revitalization Project be approved. Since many of those invited speak Spanish and Tagalog, interpreters were on hand to assist with translations, but no one in attendance needed their services.

UPDATE 11:35AM: NV Energy crews found the source of the outage on Upper Kingsbury, an underground cable failure on Quaking Aspen.

Crews are replacing the bad section of cable, which may take approximately three hours (as of 11 a.m.). The crews restored power to some of the affected customers by switching to alternate electrical circuits. However, approximately 60 customers in the neighborhood will not have their service restored until repairs are completed.

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An overnight power outage continued to affect several upper Kingsbury Grade customers Monday morning, NV Energy confirms.

New ordinances regarding land coverage at Lake Tahoe came into effect June 19 following final approval of a key water quality plan by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, the Tahoe Regional Planning Agency and EPA announced recently.

The action updates the Clean Water Act Section 208 Lake Tahoe Water Quality Management Plan — last fully updated in 1988. The 208 Plan provides a comprehensive framework for water quality management in the Lake Tahoe basin and includes provisions for land coverage limits.

With tinder-dry conditions after one of the driest winters on record, California fire officials will suspend burning permits along the West Slope and Eldorado National Forest beginning June 17. Fire restrictions in the Lake Tahoe Basin Management Unit will begin July 1.

CAL FIRE’s Amador-El Dorado- Sacramento Unit will suspend door-yard burning permits and the Forest Service will begin fire restrictions in portions of Eldorado National Forest.

Lake Tahoe fire protection agencies all agree: defensible space isn’t a bunch of hot air. To back up the importance of defensible space, they’re organizing a free Wildfire Awareness Week kick-off event that includes free tethered Smokey Bear hot air balloon rides (weather permitting), firefighter photo opportunities, a pancake breakfast and more on Saturday, May 25th from 8am – 12pm outside MontBleu Resort Casino and Spa.

There was a story in this week's USA Today that caught my interest and made me research facts here in Lake Tahoe. The article said that the number of signed contracts to buy homes in the U.S. rose in March to the highest level in 3 years.

Lake Tahoe closed sales

115 homes are currently in escrow on the California side of Lake Tahoe and 37 homes are in this status on the Nevada side. The Lake Tahoe California figures are 10% higher than last year at this time and the Lake Tahoe Nevada figures are up 60%!

Dear Community Members, 

In recent months, Barton Memorial Hospital’s Skilled Nursing Facility has been challenged with keeping patients, staff and the facility in its entirety, safe from the effects of the California senate bill, AB97.

If passed, this bill would create devastating cuts to reimbursement for Medi-Cal services provided by distinct part skilled nursing facilities (DP/SNFs) throughout the state, including South Lake Tahoe’s only long- term-care-facility located at Barton Memorial.

The League to Save Lake Tahoe received a grant Monday from Wells Fargo and Company as part of a $3 million Wells Fargo Environmental Solutions for Communities grant program across 64 community-based nonprofits nationwide to help support land and water conservation, energy efficiency, infrastructure and educational outreach.

South Lake Tahoe Fire Department responded this afternoon to the 3500 block of Pioneer Trail near Ski Run for a fire that knocked out power between Highway 50 and Ski Run Boulevard. Early word via scanner from firefighters at the scene is the fire, now knocked down, was caused by a blown transformer. It is unclear at this time if any homes or structures were damaged or if any evacuations were made.

The Lake Tahoe real estate market is off to a strong start in 2013, experiencing a 34 percent increase in median home price and a 53 percent leap in average price. Sales volume around the lake is up 61 percent, primarily due to a 133 percent jump in homes sold for more than $1 million. The figures were part of a quarterly report released by Lake Tahoe-based real estate company Chase International.

The current Lake Tahoe real estate market is a tough one for buyers because it has turned into a big seller's market for homes priced under $500,000. Homes are selling so quickly that the moment a buyer sees a home they are interested in it's already in escrow.

According to a recent article in the Wall Street Journal there are 6 reasons why there is a declining inventory of homes for sale in the United States. These 6 reasons also apply to Lake Tahoe, on both the California side and Nevada sides of the Lake.

Their 6 reasons why housing inventory is declining

1.  Many homeowners are underwater (owe more than their home is worth) so they are unlikely to sell until home values rise more than they have already. More than 10 million home owners are in this position in the US.

SOUTH LAKE TAHOE — Barton Memorial Hospital’s Skilled Nursing Facility recently received the highest rating of five-stars from U.S. News and World Report in the publication's best nursing homes list for 2013.

The five-star rating is based on overall nursing home quality, as well as on the average number of hours nursing staff spends with the patients per-day. The competitive award highlights select facilities across the nation that serve as models of excellence in providing high-quality long-term care.

Lake Tahoe real estate had seen a steady down trend in home sales over the last few years, and the last 9 months has seen a steady upward climb. In February of 2013 buyers seemed to be on a buying frenzy and sellers were deciding not to sell and hold on for a higher sales price in the future. The big topic of conversation among Lake Tahoe Realtor's is the lack of homes for sale and how sellers are pulling their homes off of the market.

Closed Sales of South Lake Tahoe Homes

We have had a strong start to 2013 in Lake Tahoe. Homes continue to sell at a strong pace and now the median price is starting to rise. With a continually reducing inventory of homes on the market and the interest rates still at an all time low, I believe we'll continue to see strong sales.

With many people headed to the backcountry around Lake Tahoe there are areas the U.S. Forest Service has designated both on and off-limits areas for snowmobilers. Below is a news release and maps outlining rules, regulations and where to recreate around the basin.

The 2015-2017 X Games could take place at Lake Tahoe. ESPN, which owns the X Games franchise, announced qualified entities representing cities and Lake Tahoe was listed among the eligible destinations. Finalists will be determined by April 2013 and host cities will be announced by the end of 2013, according to a news release.

As Prepared for Delivery Wednesday, Jan. 16, 2013:

Madam Speaker, Mr. President, Distinguished Members of the Legislature, Honorable Justices of the Supreme Court, Constitutional Officers, Senator Heller, honored guests…...