Details: 4 bedrooms/3 bathrooms/2268 sq. ft.

Description: This bright 4 bedroom, 3 bath home features beautiful mountain views, has spacious bedrooms and new carpet, and it has been impeccably maintained. The home is located in the private Bear Creek Association, which includes an on-site property manager, privately maintained roads, a story book swimming pond with sandy beaches, and a grassy area with picturesque mountains as the backdrop! Bear Creek also has a private, screamin’ fast mesh network for ultra high speed internet! This home has a wonderful feel.

This chart shows the national average for mortgage rates from 1963-2010.

Here is a rate sheet showing current mortgage rates. Click on the image to see a full version.

Details: 2 Bedrooms/2 Bathrooms/1 Car Garage/1260 sq. ft.

Description: This bright and sunny unit backs up to the picnic area, which makes for an unbeatable setting. Ideal Truckee location; close to everything Truckee has to offer and a short block from Highway 89 so you can enjoy the quick drive to Squaw, Alpine, and Lake Tahoe. Enjoy great trails right out your back door! Amenities include lap pool, hot tub, workout center, volleyball court, horse shoe pit, bocce ball, and picnic area.

Click on the link for more information about this Truckee Best Buy!

This unique property is located on a breathtaking lot and backs to Bear Creek with panoramic mountain views behind. The home is a true mountain getaway with high ceilings, a large, open kitchen, an entire floor dedicated to the main bedroom suite, and an oversized one-car garage. This is one that you shouldn’t miss! The home is also close to the Alpine Meadows Ski Area, and has an on-site resident manager and a private pond for swimming.

Click on the link for more info about this Alpine Meadows best buy!

For a few weeks this summer the English turned their attention from one national obsession and concentrated on another.  During the soccer World Cup most eyes were on the English national side. Until that is they failed dismally and didn’t even make the quarter finals.

In the US, soccer does not generate the fervour that it does in England.  But it might do soon.  If the forecasts are correct every state in the union will have a population with a Latino majority by about 2045.  If the English are considered football crazy then those from the Latin countries are even crazier.  They have all that same enthusiasm but without any of the British reserve.  This time England managed a draw with the US team.  In World Cups to follow they may not be so fortunate.

So, with England out of the World Cup, attention, once again, was focused back to another national obsession – real estate.

Like soccer, the English invented the game of real estate.  Unlike soccer they remain rather good at it.  But there are parallels.  Real estate features endlessly in the UK press; it is a major talking point in bars and pubs and most people don’t think they can lose – until they do.

Before the World Cup there was a general election so one of the new UK government’s first tests has been to steady a real estate market rocked by the global credit crisis.  They could easily have made things worse but resisted imposing high tax rises despite a massive fiscal deficit.  As a result inventory has risen.  Sadly, sales have not mirrored these numbers.  Frustratingly the banks have kept the drawbridge firmly shut and are dispensing mortgage money in measures that would make Scrooge proud.

But all is not so bad.  The market is still active and certain places are actually humming.  London is once again an international magnet for real estate investors.  In the uber-luxury market most buyers are from overseas as itinerant high net worth investors seek a safe haven for their cash by converting it into a tangible assets.  This group includes the French, the Italians and more recently the Greeks, Spanish and Portuguese.  All these have sought to profit also from the weak sterling exchange against the Euro, although this is not so attractive as it once was.

A strengthening pound has meant that more people in the UK are looking for real estate abroad and the numbers of those enquiring about homes in North America and the Caribbean has risen dramatically.  So a new real estate game has started. Let’s hope everyone plays to their full potential unlike another team most English people could mention!

Click on the image to the left to see the additional graphs.

Here is the press release that came out with the mid-year stats:

TAHOE HOME PRICES BEGIN TO LEVEL OFF

Home Sales Pick Up With Surge in the $10 Million Market

LAKE TAHOE, Nev. (July 8, 2010) – Home prices in Lake Tahoe are beginning to level off and the high-end market is looking lively, according to a mid-year analysis by Chase International.

The average home price was up two percent ($899,515) while the median dropped only one percent ($530,681). The slight changes mark the first time the Lake Tahoe real estate market hasn’t experienced a significant drop in home prices since the end of 2007.  The report compares sales and figures from January 1 through June 30, 2009 to the first two quarters of 2010.

Sue Lowe, vice president for Chase International, notes that while the recent tax credits boosted sales in some markets, such as Reno, they probably had little effect on Tahoe home sales. “Most of the sales around the lake are second homes.”

There was a 36 percent increase in homes sold for less than $1 million while homes over a million jumped 60 percent. Tahoe City and Incline Village showed the biggest improvements in sales. The majority of million-dollar homes sold in the $1 – $2 million range, however four homes sold for more than $10 million.

“The $2 – $10 million market is still soft but we have had some significant activity in the ultra high-end sales (over $10 million),” Lowe said. “There’s been definite signs of a rebound this year compared to the first half of 2009, which was quite challenging. But inventory is down and prices are leveling off – we’re optimistic that the market is starting to stabalize.”

Truckee home prices saw only minor drops in median ($505,000) and average ($615,514) home prices – six and five percent respectively.

Incredible deal on a condo in the Village at Squaw! No 1 bedroom unit with a den has sold for this low in the past year. Not a short sale or an REO… just outstanding value!

Click on the link for more info about this Squaw Valley Best Buy.

Natalie is currently a student at the University of Michigan and is spending her summer up in Alpine Meadows. She has experience in being a dance teacher for Middle School-aged girls-holding private and group lessons, has been a counselor at a sports camp (for 5-12 year olds), and always loves spending time with kids, especially in Lake Tahoe. She is available to babysit any evening, and during some days (which are subject to change). She is also available to babysit any morning for parents who like to go on morning bike rides without their kids.

Natalie can be contacted by cell phone (415)-517-3502 or email: natamarc@umich.edu.

July 3rd – Kings Beach Fireworks Show & Deck Party – enjoy the fireworks a day early at Lake Tahoe’s North Shore! 6:00 – 10:00 p.m.

July 4th – Truckee 4th of July Parade – downtown Truckee on Donner Pass Road. Starts at 10:00 a.m. just East of Trucke High School and ends in historic downtown Truckee.

July 4th – Truckee Firecracker Mile – downtown Truckee just before the Truckee Parade. Starts at Tahoe Forest Hospital and ends at Train Depot. Suitable for all ages!

 July 4th – Run to the Beach – 5K or 10K from North Tahoe Regional Park to Kings Beach. Click here for more info.

July 4th – Truckee Town Picnic and Fireworks at Donner Lake – West End Beach at Donner Lake. $5 but must be Truckee resident. Picnic at 12:00 p.m. Purchase tickets in advance. Fireworks start at 9:00 p.m.

July 4th – Tahoe City Fireworks – fireworks show starts at 9:00 p.m.!

There will also be fireworks shows at Squaw Valley, Incline Village, South Shore, and West Shore Lake Tahoe.

RESERVATIONS: 530.546.3640
LOCATION: 7320 N. Lake Blvd., Tahoe Vista, CA
HOURS: Dinner – 5:30 to 9pm (Wednesday-Sunday)
Bar & Casual Menu – from 4pm (Wednesday-Friday); from 2pm (Saturday-Sunday)

Click on the link for more information about this great Tahoe Restaurant!