4th Quarter 2008 Single Family Residential Sales

Truckee Area	Number of Sales	Average Sold Price	Median Sold Price	Average Days on Market
Donner Lake	1	$396,000	$396,000	168
Donner Summit	1	$335,000	$335,000	41
Downtown Truckee	32	$710,393	$845,000	78
Glenshire	10	$471,650	$380,000	130
Gray’s Crossing	0	$0	$0	0
Lahontan	0	$0	$0	0
Martiswoods – Ponderosa Ranchos	1	$1,135,000	$1,135,000	73
Northstar	3	$2,500,000	$2,875,000	119
Old Greenwood	1	$1,072,500	$1,072,500	11
Olympic Heights	1	$268,000	$268,000	92
Pine Forest	0	$0	$0	0
Pla Vada	0	$0	$0	0
Prosser Lakeview Estates	4	$469,375	$472,500	133
Serene Lakes	2	$566,250	$566,250	183
Sierra Meadows – Ponderosa Palisades	7	$413,429	$405,000	99
Tahoe Donner	52	$700,394	$638,000	106

Feeling Lucky

The 4th of July festivities this year made me feel really good about our little Town of Truckee.  I got to cook sausages for 4 hours at the Pancake Breakfast at the fire station.  We estimated about 1600 people got to enjoy a free breakfast this year, as part of the fire fighters giving back to the community.  I got to cook with people I had not seen in years, but have known since I was a kid.  The parade is always classic.  A true slice of Americana.  I can remember the first time I got to be in that parade in 1976.  I don’t remember what or why, but I do remember that the bi-centennial was a big deal.  People just seem a little mellower this year.  Perhaps that’s part of this economy.  Perhaps people are realizing that we’re all in this together?

Maybe it’s just that there’s a little more time to enjoy the good stuff, and a whole let less worry about how we’re gonna pay for this life we’ve created?  Maybe it’s none of that, and I’m just introspective about how this economy has changed my family’s lifestyle?  Whatever it may be, it’s changed things for the good in my house.  We roll simple now.  More camping with friends and less flying to here or there.  More time for coaching youth sports.  More time to see people I haven’t seen in 10 years.

Oh yeah…More free pancakes please!

3rd Quarter 2008 Single Family Residential Sales

3rd Quarter 2008 Single Family Residential Sales

Truckee Area	Number of Sales	Average Sold Price	Median Sold Price	Average Days on Market
Donner Lake	9	$817,000	$495,000	99
Donner Summit	7	$654,715	$618,000	45
Downtown Truckee	2	$315,500	$315,500	3
Glenshire	12	$496,229	$443,000	112
Gray’s Crossing	0	$0	$0	0
Lahontan	4	$2,073,750	$1,960,470	47
Martiswoods – Ponderosa Ranchos	1	$995,000	$995,000	96
Northstar	2	$3,287,500	$3,287,500	96
Old Greenwood	1	$845,000	$845,000	38
Olympic Heights	1	$400,000	$400,000	44
Pine Forest	0	$0	$0	0
Pla Vada	1	$295,000	$295,000	11
Prosser Lakeview Estates	4	$520,000	$407,500	172
Serene Lakes	6	$714,667	$629,000	51
Sierra Meadows – Ponderosa Palisades	6	$400,083	$428,000	25
Tahoe Donner	80	80	80	80

 

A Silver Lining?

It’s getting harder and harder to watch the news, don’t you think?  The talking heads have got to have a drum to beat on, and they hit it hard and often.  Remember OJ, Lacy Peterson, Iraq?  The media killed us with that stuff, until it was time to move on to the crisis du-jour.

Today’s crisis is hitting us all where it hurts though.  Our 401K’s are now 201K’s. (I didn’t make that up, so kudos to whoever did).  Our home’s are worth a whole lot less than they were.  No doubt, it’s dog-gone tough out there.  I’m an eternal optimist.  I think what goes down, is soon to come up.  This is just a cycle, not the first, not the last.  But a bad one, and one that’s sure to get worse in the near term.  I feel the pain.  My house is for sale.  I don’t know when I’m gonna get paid again.  I sell homes, and as it turns out, homes aren’t easy to sell today.  But here’s the good I see from this:

Homes are way more affordable than than they were 3 or even 5 years ago.  That doesn’t help much if you bought in the middle, and I’m right there with you.  But it does help if you’re a young buyer with hopes and dreams and aspirations.  At least in Truckee, if you weren’t staring down the barrel of a nice inheritance, you weren’t gonna get in as a “first-time” buyer 3 years ago.  That’s changed.  Then, there’s been the little reality check, that maybe our home’s weren’t meant to be an ATM card.  My home equity has kept my family afloat thank God, but it was never meant to be a go to source for ski boats, or luxury vacations or whatever.  Then there’s just the general purpose re-tooling of family.  Financial hardships can be tough on the family, or marriage.  But, they can also draw us closer, forcing us to focus on what’s really important.  That’s what’s happened in my home.  We’re not sure where the Good Lord is gonna take us, but we’re gonna keep on keeping on, knowing that in the end, this is going to work out.

We could lose everything from a material sense, sure.  Can’t take my soul, won’t squash my spirit, can’t keep my dog from thinking that I’m the best friend ever…

We’re gonna get through this!

3rd Quarter 2008 Single Family Residential Sales

Truckee Area	Number of Sales	Average Sold Price	Median Sold Price	Average Days on Market
Donner Lake	9	$817,000	$495,000	99
Donner Summit	7	$654,715	$618,000	45
Downtown Truckee	2	$315,500	$315,500	3
Glenshire	12	$496,229	$443,000	112
Gray’s Crossing	0	$0	$0	0
Lahontan	4	$2,073,750	$1,960,470	47
Martiswoods – Ponderosa Ranchos	1	$995,000	$995,000	96
Northstar	2	$3,287,500	$3,287,500	96
Old Greenwood	1	$845,000	$845,000	38
Olympic Heights	1	$400,000	$400,000	44
Pine Forest	0	$0	$0	0
Pla Vada	1	$295,000	$295,000	11
Prosser Lakeview Estates	4	$520,000	$407,500	172
Serene Lakes	6	$714,667	$629,000	51
Sierra Meadows – Ponderosa Palisades	6	$400,083	$428,000	25
Tahoe Donner	54	$740,917	$665,500	80