Jason:

My wife and I just bought a second home there about a month ago and we have been enjoying it to the fullest. We have been watching the market fro a year and half and the prices are so low now that we could not resist the temptation, I think the prices now are depressed but this is a promising market that will not remain like that for long, it is close to very big population centers like the bay area, greater sacramento, reno and it also offers evrything you could want from a second home: skiing in winter, great beaches in summer, great hikes, fishing etc.....

We bought in Christmas Valley and so far the experience has been great....

Hello Wing,

You received a lot of useful information from other Realtors. I wondered if you bought your home in south lake tahoe.

I bought my second home there 10 years ago and it has doubled in prices.

I love my place and enjoy spending time there. I also rent it out as a seasonal rental all through the year.

Let me know if I can assist with your decision.

Jason,
I'm glad that you are thinkig about a vacation home in South Lake Tahoe, Great Choice! Our market has remained stronger than most, due to the fact that most houses in South Lake Tahoe are second homes. The second home market is a stronger and more stable market. Currently we have 427 single family homes on the market in South Lake Tahoe, 48 of those (11.2%) are currently in escrow. Our inventory should rise this spring as it usually does, because many people wait to list there homes until the snow melts and there yards show better. Regarding transaction activities, 2007 saw a 14% decline from 446 units sold in 2006 to 385 units sold in 2007. So far in 2008 there have been 25 single family units sold. The average price of sold homes went up 3% in 2007 from $562,693 in 2006 to $578,627 in 2007. The increase in price was mainly due to the fact that home sales over $1,000,000 are still strong.
Now It is a great time to buy in South Lake Tahoe. There are some good oppertunities from motivated sellers and REOs. I would love to help you find the perfect vacation home in South Lake Tahoe!

Jason;
My husband and are going to relocate. We are going to put our house on the market this Spring. We are in the Lake Tahoe Country Club area. Our home is newly painted inside and out. It sits on a corner lot and the utilites are all underground. The golf course is down the street, we have open forest across from our home and there is park at the other end of the street. The homes in our neighborhood and cal due sac are all well maintained. We bought the house new and raised our family here. Our home is 1820 sq feet. If you are still looking in south Lake and would like to take a look at our home before we list, please email us at sopoor@sbcglobal.net.

Sharon

Jason,
First off, My website http://www.johnsonstahoerealestate.com will give you access to the current inventory of homes for sale in South Lake Tahoe. Our market has stayed stronger than most other California real estate markets primarily because the majority of homes in South Lake Tahoe are second homes. The second home market is a much more stable market. As for transacion activities, in 2007 there were 221 properties sold from $250,000-$499,000, 87 from $500,000 to $749,000, 36 from $750,000 to $999,999 and 39 over $1,000,000. Our current single family home inventory is 375 active, and 42 pending( in escrow). The general price trend has seemed to have leveled off, accept for the occasional desperate seller or forclosure.

The STAR {South Tahoe Association of Realtors) MLS is generally searchable by Realtors. Their MLS allows the public to search for posted open houses, which is very limited. -- However there are dozens of SLT agent web sites that allow searching. Some are set up to capture you as a lead, some allow anonymous searchng. You can also search Trulia (about 14 listings) Realtor.com (668 lisitngs) or my MLS http://www.metrolistmls.com (also about 14 listings)

The link below seems searchable and did not require me to register.

Thank you Jim. I tried to search properties in SLT and got confused sometime. Many ads on the websites on checked didn't provide enough (and basic) info like whether it includes land, whether it's fractional ownership, etc. Could you recommend any good websites for house hunting?

Thank you so much.
Jason

Many of the people who lost homes in the big fire this summer have purchased homes in neighboring SLT communities, I think this might have kept the inventory in SLT from mushrooming as it has elsewhere , and kept prices in SLT from dropping percentagewise as much as in the foothill communities and Sac Valley. There are many different time sharing options ranging from single or double weeks up to fractional ownership.
To research this reply, I went on to MLS and read about a 9 week fractional ownership of a 2900 square foot house listed at $199,000. (Reduced from original $299,000 asking price)
Condo's (full ownership) start around $299K and single family houses start around $399K.
At the top end of the market is the Tommy Hilfiger (famous fashion designer) estate listed at $105 million