Homescopes.com

Regional Coverage - Local Expertise

To see all communities covered, toggle left or right

August Market Stats

Tue, Sep 7th 2010 at 5:07 pm

 We are happy to report the downward trend of distressed sales however small it may seem. The total number of sales for the month of August was 87 with 22 of those being distressed properties, which translates to 25% (last month reported 26% distressed sales). The Timbers condominium complex in Truckee represents a large number of August’s distressed properties. This entire development was foreclosed upon during the construction phase, so to see these properties being sold is a good thing. The list to sale median is down from 98% in July to 89% in August, however the median sale price was up from $420,000 to $434,000 – translation… Sellers are coming further off of their asking price, but the median sale price has gone up. What all of this really means has us scratching our heads!

 Statistics from the Tahoe MLS: the solds from August 1 – 31, 2010:   

Tahoe Donner:  23 homes (2 REO) (1 SS), 2 condos

Northstar:  0 homes , 4 condos

Glenshire, Cambridge, Juniper Hill, Juniper Creek, The Meadows:   3 homes (1 REO)

Olympic Heights:  0 residential properties

Prosser Lake Area:  3 homes (1 REO)

Sierra Meadows: 0 residential properties

Martiswoods, Ponderosa Ranchos:   0 residential properties

Ponderosa Fairway: 1 home

Winter Creek:   1 home (1 SS)

The Timbers: 5 condos (5 REO)

Lahontan:   3 homes

Timlick: 0 residential properties

Old Greenwood:  1 home (1 SS)

Gray’s Crossing:  1 home

Martis Camp:  0 residential properties

Truckee Proper:   2 homes (1 SS)

Donner Crest:  0 residential properties

Donner Lake:    0 homes, 1 condo

Donner Summit: 3 homes, 1 condo

West shore Lake Tahoe:  6 homes (3 REO), 1 condo (1 SS)

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

North shore Lake Tahoe:  4 homes, 1 Condos

Kings Beach & Tahoe Vista:  6 homes (2 REO), 1 condo

Alpine & Squaw Valley:  3 homes (1 REO), 4 condos (1 REO)

Shared Ownerships – entire region:  2 Old Greenwood, 2 North Shore, Lake Tahoe

Mobile Homes – entire region:  0 sales

Sierra & Plumas Counties: 3 homes (2 REO), 1 condo (1 REO)

 Condos and Homes sold over $1M in Truckee and North Lake Tahoe: 12 homes, 2 condos

 Highest priced home or condo sold: This special Carnelian Bay Lakefront Estate never actually hit the market but was sold behind the scene for $10,000,000. The 5,200 sq. ft. home + 1,300 sq. ft. guest house sits upon 1.4 acres with tennis court, private double deck deep water pier with hoists and bouy.

 Lowest priced home or condo sold:  This studio condo at the Donner Lake Village sold for $66,000. A super location on the shore of Donner Lake, perfect for the vacation get away. Don’t plan on staying too long because these condos do not allow full time residency. 

 The list to sell ratio on the median was 89%.  In other words, the homes sold within 89% of the list price.  The median list price for this period was $489,500 and the median sale price was $434,000. 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.

 

 

Written by admin // Leave a Comment

Leave a Comment Email a Author Search for Homes Visit Author's Site

Search For Homes

The Best Price for a Home

Sat, Sep 4th 2010 at 4:48 pm

Real estate purchase

Buyers often ask, “What do you think the best price would be for this home?”  The answer is:

  • The lowest price that the seller is willing to accept.
  • The price that a buyer can negotiate the seller down to.
  • The price a buyer is willing to pay to get what they want.

When buyer clients have found a home that they are considering placing an offer on, I provide a Comparative Market Analysis for my clients which lists all of the homes in the area that sold in the past six months and have comparable attributes to the home they are interested in such as home size, lot size, number of bedroom and bathrooms, age and amenities.  Using this data to discuss an offer price starting point, I tell my buyers, “We will negotiate with the sellers until we arrive at the price they are willing to accept.  We will then know what the best price is for the home you want.  At that point you’ll know what no one else knows - the amount the seller is willing to accept for their home.”  At that point the buyer then needs to decide if the price is also acceptable to them.

The key is to remain as calm and objective as possible (sometimes no mean feat!) during the back and forth of negotiation.  Because this is fraught with emotion, having an experienced Realtor who has handled many negotiations is the best possible move a buyer can make.

Written by Gretchen Merrick // Leave a Comment

Leave a Comment Email a Author Search for Homes Visit Author's Site

Search For Homes

That one thing you might be missing to set you above the rest

Sat, Sep 4th 2010 at 4:21 am

ready set stage

With over 90% of home buyers searching online for a new home your home must make a great first impression. The first impression is a lasting impression!  In a buyers market sellers compete with sellers.  If buyers are not impressed what they see online they will move on to the next listing. Ready, Set, Stage! works with you and your Realtor to put your home on the “must see” list for today’s home buyers. We offer a marketing plan and photos to assist with the sale of your home.

Ready, Set, Stage! will help you prepare your home’s sale and help you get the maximum return with minimal investment.
Staging your home for sale has an average 343% Return on Your Investment and is recommended by 91% of Realtors.*
 
What is Home Staging?
            Home Staging is the art of preparing your home to sell. It is not about decorating; Staging creates a lifestyle that buyers are looking for and helps them make an emotional connection to your home. In today’s competing market this is essential.
 
Why should I Stage my home?
            When you make the decision to sell your home it becomes a product.  Staging sets your home apart from competing homes on the market. Today’s buyers are lookingfor “move-in” ready homes. Staging is a marketing tool. When added to your Realtors marketing plan you have homes that sells faster and for more of the asking price!
 
Contact Ready, Set, Stage Today
 
Phone: 479-236-6784
 

Written by Jana Robison // Leave a Comment

Leave a Comment Email a Author Search for Homes Visit Author's Site

Search For Homes

Oakland Habitat Build

Tue, Aug 31st 2010 at 12:35 pm

I participated at a Habitat for Humanity Build at Edes Avenue in Oakaland last week with about twenty-five volunteers, many from Coldwell Banker.  There are more than 1,500 Habitat chapters in the US,  the Edes Avenue site is managed by Habitat East Bay  whose  mission is to provide environmentally sustainable homes for families with limitied income.

Edes Ave, Oakland, CA Habitat for Humanity

The Coldwell Banker volunteers worked alongside independent volunteers.  Among them an empty-nester couple  from Livermore who told me they volunteer weekly, a digital art designer who told me she’s always wanted to volunteer for Habitat so she was granted a day off work at  Lucas Films to help finish the homes.

Led by six Habitat leaders, we were asked to choose which task we’d like to work on.  Most of the  fifty four homes at Edes have been completed  so our choices were finish details like closet shelving, baseboards, hand rails and spackling and painting. 

In addition to learning how to use a chop saw I learned a few other great things about Habitat for Humanity. 

Habitat for Humanity East Bay, Edes Avenue

 

 

 

 

 

 

—Qualifying families  contribute 500 hours of “sweat equity”

—Habitat is giving more attention to acquiring and rehabilitating vacant, foreclosed homes. Wall Street Journal July 2, 2010

Habitat worked with the Center for Creative Land Recycling transforming an abandoned auto salvage yard into a Leed Certified neighborhood of environmentally sustainable homes.

Sign up to Volunteer! 

Written by Julie Bartlett // Leave a Comment

Leave a Comment Email a Author Search for Homes Visit Author's Site

Search For Homes

Next Posts »

Categories

  • No categories

Archives

Login