Hi Greg,

Don't know if you plunged into the market yet and I just came across your question almost a year later, but here are my thoughts to share.

Median price doesn;t tell the whole story about values in the North Lake Tahoe and Truckee real estate markets. It only reflects the mid point between the high and low sale data points and not necessiarly a specific change in the values of all properties.

Comparing the first six months of 2009 over 2008: the median sales price dropped 12+% from $652,500 to $570,000; the average sales price dropped 20+% from $990,000 to $788,000, while the inventory of single family homes for sale increased 5% from 371 to 392 . The days on market for those sold properties remained unchanged at 125 days.
The statistics for condominium sales showed a slight increase in the number of sales, but a decrease in median and average sales price. In my opinion, the few number of sales distorts the percentages, so I won’t report percentages, but the median sale was $397,500 and the average sale was $390,000. Inventory of townhomes and condominiums is up by just under 10%.

Best regards,
Al Colhoun
Prudential California Realty
530-913-0807
al@alcolhoun.com

Thank you for your advice though. I appreciate the attention to my question. I will be up there soon and will stop in to one of those offices for further insights. Take care.

Get a local agent to help you with this! We don't want to leave you hanging here but that is definitely what you need. We just can't comment on your situation or prices up there and it does not seem like a lot of Tahoe Realtors come on here. Sorry we can't be of more help but many local agents would be happy to help you with this! Last time we were there we noticed about 5 real estate companies in the short three block main stretch of Tahoe City.

I have a seller-financing opportunity for a home that is in need of a lot of TLC. We are not really that interested in paying for an appraisal at this time. The house had an offer about 4 years ago for $420,000 "as is," but that was 4 years ago. Is it safe to assume that the North Shore market overall has dropped approx. 20 to 30% within that time. All the comparisons I have done via this site and Realty Trac appear to show that. Any thoughts? Thanks!

Hi Greg,
We live in Los Angeles... so not sure about prices in Tahoe. We just like to visit up there when we can. But Dan will be able to tell you. Many news outlets throw out big numbers like a "20 % drop in prices" but in nicer areas the drop has not been that much. Ultimately, of course, each home is different and it is a matter of finding a seller who really needs to sell and is willing to make a deal!

Hey thanks for the info. My estimate prior to contacting Dan, was a drop of around 20%. Do you think this is accurate?? That's accounting from 2004/2005.

There's a really good agent named Dan Hauserman in Tahoe City... try to get in touch with him. His website is ilovetahoe.com.