2016 … END OF YEAR MARKET NOTES

END OF YEAR 2016 Market Notes We predicted last year that we expected the housing market to level off once median sales prices approached or crossed the $600k range.  This goal would be consistent with the expected historical appreciation curve if we … [Read more...]

WHY SHOULD YOUR LISTING AGENT MATTER ?    Part One

One of the challenging things that most effective listing brokers live with is the fact that the client sees very little of what the agent they chose is doing for them.     The clients know what their broker is supposed to be doing ... then they are asked to have faith … [Read more...]

“They paved Paradise and they put up a parking lot … “

We would like to bring you up to date on the proposed construction of a by-pass road from Hwy 89 (at the Cal Trans yard) through the 64 acres connecting to Hwy 28 West Lake Blvd (between Tahoe City and Granlibakken Rd).   I hope that you spend a few moments with this … [Read more...]

The political saga of Lake Tahoe (part 2)

DEMOCRACY IN ACTION:  Two Different Outcomes   The Tahoe Expeditionary Academy ... is a private school that went into escrow to buy the '60's vintage Crown Motel in Kings Beach owned by the Ferrari family for over 50 years.  Kings Beach is designated as a re-development … [Read more...]

Fire ! Tahoe’s ‘Katrina’

In my youth I worked my way through college and law school as a merchant seaman.  My usual run was from Philadelphia to the Mississippi River delta ports.  I experienced Hurricane Camile,  the last devastating storm to strike the Louisiana and Mississippi Gulf Coast before … [Read more...]

Lake Tahoe’s Bureaucratic Megalopoly

Each of these agencies has jurisdictional authority over what happens on and around Lake Tahoe ... Tahoe Regional Planning Agency (TRPA) U.S. Forest Service Lahontan Regional Water Quality Control Board (Lahontan) U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) Nevada … [Read more...]

The political saga of Lake Tahoe (part 1)

Think about how you would tell the political saga of Lake Tahoe to an audience who knew nothing of the Lake.  I had the  experience of relating our tale to a (presumably) interested group of international travelers in a tea house on a recent trek in Nepal.    To say it … [Read more...]