May 9th 2008 $47 MILLION AND THIS INCLINE VILLAGE LAKEFRONT CAN BE YOURS
The third highest residential property for sale at Lake Tahoe and the 23rd most expensive residential property in the USA is in Incline Village. Many years ago,back in the 70’s, my son, who was probably 5 at the time, and I were invited to meet the Kings, the original owners of this priceless piece of paradise. The home was really old Tahoe…..not even resembling what we now call "the old Tahoe look". It was a fairly large house for it’s time but with a very cozy feel to it. Lots of Tahoe memorabilia haphazardly placed here and there between furniture I’m sure had been in the exact same spot forever. Totally unpretentious and very comfortable. Very stately woman was Mrs King and quite gracious, too. I’m sure if she were alive she would be astounded at the price her piece of paradise was commanding today. It’s possible the Kings were in some way related to Joe King who won what we now know as Kings Beach, from George Whittell in a card game. Those were the days! I’m more inclined to believe a story I once heard claiming the Kings were descendants of the powerful King family that helped bring Christianity to the natives of Hawaii. The history is a bit fuzzy. I was told the estate had been in the King family long before Incline Village was logged during the Comstock period, leaving for all practical purposes one of the only groves of old growth trees still standing in Incline Village. The King Estate remained in tact. . Viewing this property on tour will be a walk back in time for me. Oh, by the way, the other two properties with higher price tags at Lake Tahoe are the Sierra Star located on the east end of Lakeshore in Incline Village listed for $6o Million and the most expensive is the Tommy Hilfiger Estate. It’s topping the charts with a price tag of $100 Million .Tranquility, as it’s called, is a 210 acre estate in Glenbrook on the east shore of Lake Tahoe
INCLINE IS NOT DECLINE
I have clients who are convinced Incline Village is littered with foreclosure properties….finally data to support what I’ve been saying for months. Looking at the chart below Incline Village had 2 foreclosures in March and both were sold at market value, I might add. Are we seeing good deals? Absolutely! Are the deals in foreclosure? Not necessarily! Are we seeing a reduction in prices throughout the Incline Village real estate inventory? Absolutely! Absolutely! Are some sellers willing to negotiate? Absolutely! Let me show you what you can get for your money! Cheap money at today’s interest rates! Hopefully the chart below is readable. If it’s not, the data reads 2 foreclosures in Incline in March 2008 and 2 in February 2008. Now in all fairness, that is a 100% increase from March 2007 when there was one……I rest my case! A post script to this commentary……I just heard on c-span one out of every two homes presently on the market in California are in some level of distress (actually the word foreclosure was used) and nationwide it’s one in four….. hearing the severity of the problem in California, I now understand why my clients are assuming Lake Tahoe is in a similar situation. ….I can only say, our market is as unique as our clients!
SALES ON THE RISE…..IT’S EVER SO SLIGHT, BUT IT’S DEFINITLY UPWARD MOVEMENT!
We’ve managed to put 13 Incline Village properties in escrow over the last 13 days! It’s an upward swing . Most of the 13 were condos $700,000 or less. Four of the thirteen were properties listed between 1 million and 1.9 million. We’re finally beginning to see the low end properties go into escrow. . Sellers are realizing it’s all about the PRICE and buyers are understanding the time is now. I know some of you have your theories but I can’t help recall a day in late June a few years back when almost instinctively a few Realtors were feeling something was changing……and several months later, everyone knew it.
Until Next Time, Linda De Maria 775 742-1499
Coldwell Banker Incline Village Realty - Nevada North Shore Realty - California
1 Comment » Posted by Linda / North Shore Lake Tahoe


