Our King Charles Spaniel making snow angels with his tail- first real day of winter!

There’s a lot more to Thanksgiving at Tahoe than just eating turkey.
With the fresh snowfall, there will be skiing and snow sports, but there’s also a host of events happening around the area. Check out some of these:
• Holiday Jazz Festival at the Hyatt Lake Tahoe. Two Nights of Music – The Holiday Jazz Fest kicks off at the Hyatt on Friday evening, November 27th, with the musical stylings of Chris Botti. Saturday evening, November 28th, features Boney James. Saxophonist, producer and songwriter. Doors open each evening at 7:00 p.m. and live entertainment begins at 8:00 p.m. For tickets, visit  or call the Hyatt at 775 832 1234.
• Warren Miller’s “Dynasty” Lake Tahoe premier, 6:30 and 9:15 p.m. Friday and Saturday, Nov. 27 and 28, at the Crystal Bay Club. For tickets,.
• Tahoe Player’s present a performance of Disney’s “101 Dalmations” at 2 p.m. Sunday and Monday, Nov. 29 and 30, at the Cal-Neva Resort. Email for more info, tahoeplayerstix@gmail.com
• Brickeltown Christmas. Spend your Friday afternoons enjoying holiday music, carolers and other events in downtown Trucke..
Then, if you just love Christmas trees and that magical moment when they are lit and all aglow, here’s a list of community Christmas tree lighting celebrations.
Nov. 25 – 5:30 p.m. at the Cal-Neva Resort, Crystal Bay.
Nov. 27 – 5-8 p.m. Resort at Squaw Creek, Olympic Valley. Olympian Peggy Fleming will be on hand for this one that also unveils the Resort’s famous Gingerbread Village.
Nov. 28 – 5 to 8 p.m. Tahoe Donner.
Dec. 2 – 7 p.m. Incline Village Community Tree Lighting at the Chateau.
Dec. 3 – 4 p.m. at Patterson Hall at Sierra Nevada College, Incline Village.
Dec. 5 – Tahoe City tree lighting at Heritage Plaza, downtown.
After seeing all these trees decorated, perhaps it’s time to put your Christmas tree at home.

With the season’s first big snowstorm, several resorts have opened their slopes to boarding and skiing – just in time for Thanksgiving holidays. Snowpack is ranging from 10 to 24 inches and you better believe the resorts are also making snow.
On Saturday, Nov. 21, Squaw Valley, Kirkwood and Northstar opened for the 09-10 season. Heavenly opened the day before.
Of course, early birds Boreal, Mt. Rose and Mammoth were already open.
Upcoming opening days are Nov. 25 for Sugar Bowl, Dec. 5 for Alpine Meadows, Dec. 10 for Diamond Peak and Dec. 12 for Homewood.
It looks like the next chance of snow will be Friday after Thanksgiving.
Have fun!

Mobil  Media and its impact on real Estate:

Lakeshore Realty takes full advantage of  Mobil Media to help buyer’s and seller’s.

Aa sign on a property is considered a small but effective step to advertise a property, brochures which give details, the most critical, price helps buyers determine if theywant to see the property.

What’s the next step? Having this property and all other’s in the neighborhood available to buyer’s through their phones.   Adding a simple application such as Zillow, Trulia and Smarter Agent to name a few, buyer’s can pull up other listings in the neighborhood and get all the data they need to make the decision to call for more information and a showing  or gathering more information about the area.  

Statistics:

The number of consumers using mobil technology is growing daily: 276.5 call phone subscribers   in the United States (80%) of the population.

20% of households do not have landlines phones

20% growth  is predicted for  mobile broadband predicted from 2008 by 2010

24/7 information available to consumers

Tracking leads and capturing inquiries is easy for consumers and for agents to react immediately

Consumers prefer mobil contact- texting is very popular and many clients utilize this media to communicate followed up by the  Internet.

Ritz Carlton on track to open in December 2009 at North Star

The following photo’s show the incredible progress underway to complete the new Ritz Carlton Resort Hotel/Time share/Condominium’s and Spa.

 The  December opening is long awaited by North Star residents and supporters of the North Star Ski Resort which offers year round activities.

The photo’s feature the exterior covered with the first snow of the season.
As opening get’s closer we’ll keep you updated.

For additional information click here

The Magic Number $$$

Don’t be surprised if I bring a magic wand to my listing presentation and maybe a little sprinkle of fairy dust – just because I want to make sure my Magic Number works magic.

Sellers will patiently listen to a marketing presentation, but you can sense when they are ready to cut to the bottom line and get to the Magic Number.

My husband and I are a team, and I have found it invaluable to have both a female and male perspective when it comes to pricing a house.

Our vow to each other as partners (we are married too) is to never discuss the Magic Number until we both go through the house, gather its history, and list the pros and cons from a buyer’s perspective. We make a list of improvements needed and review the market … individually!  Then we get together and go over our thoughts and reasons before coming up with a price for the seller.

We usually quote a range based on the condition of the property, the repairs the seller is willing to make and a review of the market today, such as homes sold, under contract and for sale. 

With each of us having 25 years experience in this market, we have pretty good insight into pricing. We have acquired a reputation for not “buying a listing” (pricing a home unrealistically high just to get the listing) and then never selling it. That is a bad practice and in our little community you can become known for having the listings that don’t sell.

Recently, we gave some clients the Magic Number and shortly the phone started ringing from the seller asking why there weren’t more showings?  What was wrong with the house, or more importantly, our marketing?  In as little as one week the “Magic Number” we quoted had changed considerably … one sale under contract fell out because it didn’t appraise (another story), and two other units in the same neighborhood came on the market at a lower price.  Competition shifts daily and you must be prepared to react, basically take action with a new Magic Number. We reduced the property by $30,000, based upon the new market. It went under contract within one week!

Magic Numbers change and as a seller you should listen to your agent when they inform you about the changes. It is the difference between sitting on the market and selling. You need to be with a responsible agent who keeps you posted, so you are the only seller with the REAL MAGIC NUMBER.

I will keep my wand just in case!

Every time even a chance of snow flurries is predicted, our thoughts turn toward winter.

There’s a slight chance of flurries for this weekend, but looking long-term, the National Weather Climate Prediction Center calls for above normal precipitation for California and the Tahoe area this winter. It’s an El Niño year, and nobody really knows what that will ultimately mean for Lake Tahoe snowfall. There have been huge storms during an El Niño, and there have been very average winters. The National Oceanic and Atmospheric  Administration (NOAA) is predicting wetter-than-average conditions.

“We expect El Niño to strengthen and persist through the winter months, providing clues as to what the weather will be like during the period,” says Mike Halpert, deputy director of the Climate Prediction Center – a division of the National Weather Service.

More precipitation would be welcome, as Lake Tahoe’s elevation level is sitting firmly today below its natural rim at 6,222.94 feet. The natural rim is 6,223 feet, and during wet years, the lake can rise as much as six feet to it maximum level of 6228.1 feet. There’s always the bright side, however, beaches are currently big and wide!

And, hopefully, those beaches will soon be covered by snow. Squaw Valley USA is announcing on its web site that it hopes to open Nov. 21, before Thanksgiving. Our local ski resort, Diamond Peak, is looking at a Dec. 10 opening. Diamond Peak began snowmaking this week, you can check it out on youtube, http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G3RWins9u-Q

So, as usual this time of year, those who love Tahoe in the winter are in waiting mode. As Alpine Meadows Ski Resort says on its web site: Stay posted. It is an El Niño season, and anything can happen.

Most Americans believe that home ownership makes dollars and “sense.”

In a new survey by Bankrate.com, 92 percent of Americans surveyed believe that purchasing a home is a good investment for the future. Bankrate, Inc. is one of the Web’s leading aggregator of financial rate information, attracting 7 million unique visitors to its site monthly. For this survey, Bankrate commissioned Princeton Survey Research Associates International to ask Americans about finances and family life.

While 9 out of 10 respondents believe a home is a good investment, only 4 of 10 believe that the stock market is a good long-term investment. Home ownership won out, in spite the fact that the stock market has a higher rate of annual return. As measured by Standard & Poor’s 500, the average annual return on residential real estate over the last three decades was 5.92 percent versus 12.33 percent for the stock market, according to the Journal of Portfolio Management.

But a 6 percent annual appreciation for the home your family lives in definitely beats throwing away your money by renting. Then, when it comes time to sale, as long as you have lived in your home for two years, you can deduct up to $250,000 (married, filing jointly) from your federal income tax of any capital gain from the sale of your principal residence. Additionally, there is the financial plus of being able to deduct mortgage expense and property taxes from your income tax.

Owning a home definitely makes dollars and “cents.”