Can I buy a home in Tahoe City for under $500,000?
Tahoe City Home
Buyers are asking me: Can I buy a home in Tahoe City for under $500,000?
Our Tahoe City real estate market conditions have changed.
Recently I’ve had several Tahoe City home Buyers tell me how frustrated they are in not finding lower priced properties.
Can they still find homes for sale in the Tahoe City community for under $500,000 in price – the short answer is maybe!
Currently only 2% of the Tahoe City homes for sale is priced under $500,000 (as of 06-19-2017). In real numbers this represents only 1 homes for sale in Tahoe City.
As of Monday, June 19, 2017 there were only 44 homes for sale in Tahoe City (North Shore and West Shore). This inventory level is critically low for this time of year, and this area.
Here is the breakdown of homes for sale in Tahoe City as of Monday, June 19, 2017:
- 0 Homes – Tahoe City Homes for Sale under $300,000
- 0 Home – Tahoe City Homes for Sale under $400,000
- 1 Homes – Tahoe City Homes for Sale under $500,000
- 5 Homes – Tahoe City Homes for Sale under $600,000
- 12 Homes – Tahoe City Homes for Sale under $700,000
- 17 Homes – Tahoe City Homes for Sale under $800,000
- 21 Homes – Tahoe City Homes for Sale under $900,000
- 24 Homes – Tahoe City Homes for Sale under $1 million
- 20 Homes – Tahoe City Homes for Sale over $1 million
- 8 Homes – Tahoe City Homes for Sale over $2 million
Extremely low home inventory levels means any new home listing in the Tahoe City area that is priced to sell, priced just right, or priced under $600,000 are gone in the blink of an eye.
Currently there are 11 homes that are sale–pending in Tahoe City area. That is 25% of the current 44 homes for sale that are on the market.
- Year to date, as of this post (06-19-2017), 26 homes have sold with a list to sales price ratio of 101%.
This shows that homes are selling on average above their full listed price. The current market conditions are favoring Sellers and Buyers have a lot of competition out there, so buyers need to be prepared to act quickly.
What does this means for home Buyers that are looking in the Tahoe City market? You need to do the following things to be a successful buyer in this market:
- Commit and work with a Tahoe Buyers’ REALTOR. Select an agent and then work with them. Stop bouncing from listing agent to listing agent hoping that they’ll help you get a deal, or favor your offer over the others because they wrote it up for you.
- The listing agents’ job is to get the Seller top dollar.
- You need your own advocate/agent who will help you through the entire process and give you the advice you need to have to be successful. That may mean writing an offer that is above the sellers’ asking price.
- Have your agent set you up to receive “real-time listing alerts”. Ask your agent if you’ll get listing alerts the same day a new listing hits the market. Some services only send out alerts once a day, so if a new listing comes out after your deadline, you can lose valuable time.
- See new listings immediately. Drive up the same day to see it the same day it hits the market.
- Make your buying decision quickly.
- Write your offer that same day.
- Give the seller a short window to respond to your offer.
- Have your financing lined up and ready to go.
- That means your loan pre-approval letter can be updated and sent to you in minutes, not in a few days.
- It also means that if you are a cash buyer, you know what accounts you’re going to use for this purchase and you have your statement(s) ready to go.
- Have your 3% good faith/initial deposit (liquid funds) ready to go. It will pay to be prepared once you have an accepted offer.
- Be open to the advice your Tahoe REALTOR will give you. This is a different market than your home market. Your Tahoe agent works and represents you. They have valuable experience and know how to best position your offer and terms to make it the most attractive it can be to a Tahoe City Seller.
Be positive. Be prepared. Be ready to write on several homes!
Lastly, don’t give up, or get discourage if your first attempts are not successful. It may take several tries, and you may have to go through the stress and time demands of being in several multiple offer situations before you’re successful, but it will happen.
For all of your Tahoe real estate needs – Laura Allen, 530.414.1260, Broker Associate, Tahoe Real Estate Agent, Tahoe REALTOR®, CRS, Laura@TahoeLaura.com CalBRE# 01473598
www.TahoeLauraLuxuryHomes.com,
Coldwell Banker Cal BRE# 01908304, Tahoe City, California.
Can I buy a home in Tahoe City for under $500,000?
