Christmas surprise for my daugher

My wife Kim & I decided to do something special for our 4 year old daughter on Christmas. At about 10am on Christmas morning we packed her into our car and told her "You're going to Disneyland". We checked into our hotel about 5pm Christmas day and headed to Disneyland at 8am the next day. We lasted a full 10 hours interrupted! What a wonderful time we had.

We've returned home now and are ready to prepare for the new year.

Happy Holidays to one and all!

Jonesin for Tahoe

This is stating the obvious, but I've been a Jones my entire life. And until today, I wasn't sure the proper way to say "Jonesin" for this or that. I think you know what I mean. Somewhere in time "Jonesin" came to mean want or need. "I'm Jonesin for a burger" or "I'm Jonesin for some chocolate", think of your needs and this is how you can use this phrase. It may not be as commonly used as "keeping up with the Joneses" but the phrase is still used. Why don't we ever hear "keeping up with the Smith's"? I ask that because my wife was born a Smith . . . and to think she married a Jones.

My point is this . . . I'm Jonesin for Tahoe/Truckee! How about you?

Office on Lake Tahoe

I just came down the mountain into the Sacramento region. And the weather was about the same as it was a week ago when I drove up the mountain - snow and blizzard conditions. Great news for the Tahoe/Truckee region - an early start to ski season with resorts reporting 10 feet or more of snow.

This is the office I work out of. It is literally right on Lake Tahoe. I'm lucky to have a wonderful group of people to work with. Our office is all about helping and learning from each other.

Feel free to contact me at any time with any and all your real estate need!

The sun is finally shining

Finally, the sun has come out and the winds have died down. The stormy weather had been constant from Saturday through Tuesday. Now we are truly looking at a winter winder land. There is about 5 feet of fluffy snow outside at lake level and it isn't going away any time soon. The snowfall ended and left behind cold temperatures which will preserve the snow for some time.

This picture was taken yesterday in the midst of white-out conditions. The trees and decks are still weighted down with snow but the sky is now blue.

It's a great day do enjoy the outdoors!

Lake Tahoe during Thanksgiving week!

We're spending the Thanksgiving week together here Lake Tahoe. It's been an amazing first day. It has been snowing the entire time we've been here and we have thoroughly enjoyed it! Benny(13) continues to be working on his sled run in the back yard with his assistant Maddy(4).

The feeling up here is fantastic! The smell and quiet of the mountains are so refreshing! Keep tuned, more from us up in Lake Tahoe coming soon!

As many of you, we have expanded our business to the Lake Tahoe/Truckee area.

Scott

We are here for you!

My wife Kim & I are always available to you. We spend every day of our life working in the trenches and we see the hardships folks face every day.

Please know that you can always call us, email us, or come see us.

Yes, this is a confusing market

I have a few clients who are VERY motivated to take advantage of the low prices, low interest rates, the first time home buyer tax credit and the FHA loan program requiring only 3 1/2% down. With all these positive incentives, what could be the problem?

The problem is that there is very limited inventory at the price level first time home buyers are looking at. Almost all of the inventory is either bank owned or are short sales (more on those in a minute). The bank owned properties are very difficult to get into for first time home buyers for a couple of reasons. The first problem is that the banks are pricing homes very agressively and the prices get bid up well above asking. The second problem is that bank owned properties are sold "as is" meaning they will not do any repairs. This is a huge problem because the FHA loan program will NOT allow the home buyer to pay for ANY repairs even if they want to and the bank does NOT want to pay for any repairs. In the banks' eyes, cash offers are King and tend to win the deal.

What's the solution? Please stay tuned for my next blog, coming soon!