Incline Village Real Estate Blog

 The first time tax credit($8,000-deducted from their income taxes-even if the buyer  pays  less than $8,000 in income tax gets the full tax credit back ) has brought 400,000 first time home buyers  into the market place who wouldn’t have purchased before, according to the NAR’s report released last Friday.

Home sales will increase by 15 percent according to the NAR’s (National Association of Realtor’s) Chief economist Lawrence Yun at the 2009 NAR conference.  47 percent of Americans who bought did not own a home in the previous 3 years according to the report. This increase is 47 percent above sales in 2008.

The home buyer credit is credited for the sale increases in lower end housing market this year.

NAR forecasts existing home sales will exceed the 5 million mark set in 2009, a 2 percent increase compared to 2008.  The hope is the inventory of homes will go down and help home prices.  The NAR did caution, “Risks, such as unemployment, remain.”

Here are some of the most frequently asked questions on the changes to the Homebuyer Tax Credit

Retrieved from: National Association of REALTORS® Government Affairs Division

500 New Jersey Avenue, NW, Washington DC, 20001

     Question: Existing homeowner credit: Must the new house cost more than the old house?

Answer: No. Thus, for example, individuals who move from a high cost area to a lower cost area who

meet all eligibility requirements will qualify for the $6500 credit.

     Question: I am an existing homeowner. On October 25, 2009, I signed a contract to purchase a

new home. I have lived in my current home for more than 5 consecutive years and

am within the new income limits. I will go to settlement on November 20. If

President Obama has signed the bill by the time I go to settlement, will I qualify for

the new $6500 tax credit?

Answer: Yes. The existing homeowner credit goes into effect for purchases after the date of enactment

(when the bill is signed). There is no reference to the date of contract for the new credit. The

provision looks solely to the date of purchase, which is generally the date of settlement.

     Question: I am a firsttime

homebuyer but was not within the prior income limits at the time I

entered into my contract to purchase on October 30, 2009. I will be covered,

however, by the new income limits. If the new rules have been signed into law by the

time I go to settlement, will I be eligible for a credit?

Answer: Yes. The new income limitations go into effect as soon as the President has signed the bill.

The income limit and other eligibility rules will look to your status as of the date of purchase,

which is the settlement date. So if the new rules have been signed when you go to settlement,

you should be eligible for the credit (or a portion of the credit if you're within the phaseout

range).

     Question: I am an eligible existing homeowner. I have a fair amount of equity in my home. I

have found a home with a nonnegotiable

price of $825,000. Will I be able to use any

of the $6500 tax credit?

Answer: No. The $800,000 cap on the cost of the purchased home is firm at $800,000. Any amount

above $800,000 makes the home ineligible for any portion of the credit. The $800,000 is an

absolute ceiling.

     Question: I owned my home for 10 years, but sold it two years ago year and have been renting

since. If I purchase a home, will I be eligible for the $6500 tax credit if I meet all the

other eligibility tests?

Answer: Yes. Because you lived in the home for more than 5 consecutive years of the previous 8, you

will qualify for the $6500 credit. For example, Say John and his wife bought a home in 2000

and lived there until 2008 when he got a divorce. Whether John has been renting or bought in

the interim, he WOULD INDEED be eligible for the credit because he owned a home and

occupied it as his principal residence for 5 consecutive years out of the last 8 years. The

keyword here is "consecutive." As long as he lived in that house for 5 years straight what he

did since 3 years doesn't impact eligibility.

     Question: I am an eligible firsttime

homebuyer. I entered into a contract to purchase on

November 1, 2009. Do I have to go to closing before December 1? How does the

extension date affect me?

Answer: You do not have to close before December 1. Once the legislation has been signed, it will be as

if the Nov 30 date had never existed. Therefore, so long as the contract settles before April 30

(or July 1, worst case), the purchaser will be eligible for the credit.

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.”

A California lakefront property owner must tear down his metal fence due to it preventing people from using the public trust portion of a North Tahoe beach.

In California, the public trust is any land below the high water mark of 6228.75 feet.  The fence in question prevented people from accessing Speedboat Beach, aka Buck’s Beach, in Brockway, Calif.

The California State Lands Commission voted to tear down the fence, compensate the lakefront owners if necessary for the cost of tear down and ask the state attorney general to file a restraining order against Marc Desautels, the owner of the adjacent lakefront property. Desautels was accused during the commission’s meeting of harassing people trying to use the beach.

Lake Tahoe’s public trust in California was defined by a 1986 court case as anything between the high and low water marks.  As of Oct. 28, Lake Tahoe was sitting at 6223.01 – just at the lake’s low water mark.

The beach in question is just over the border of the Nevada/California state line, and the rules are completely different just a few hundred yards away in Nevada.

The Nevada Division of State Lands says that the state owns the bed of the Nevada side of Lake Tahoe up to its natural rim of 6223 foot elevation. So all the land above the natural rim is private property in Nevada.

Maybe Desautels should buy in Nevada – we can recommend a good real estate firm for him if he cares to jump to the other side of the border.

Has David defeated Goliath?

Using a slingshot fashioned by the Village League to Save Incline Assets, loaded with the weapon of truth, local property owners this month were awarded a $13 million refund for Washoe County’s wrongful assessment of Incline Village and Crystal Bay property for the 2005-2006 tax year.

This is just one of several legal challenges the Village League has won in the courts due to illegal property assessment methods in our community; but hopefully this Oct. 6 ruling serves as the death blow to the arrogant, unyielding giant of Washoe County tax policy.

District Court Judge Brent Adams ordered Washoe County Treasurer Bill Berrum to refund 8,700 north shore property owners in support of the State Board of Equalization's decision on July 20, 2009 to roll back 2006-07 property values for those residential parcels to 2002-03 levels.

The refunds were estimated to be approximately $13 million plus interest by Finance Director John Sherman earlier this year. Approximately $5 million would be paid from Washoe County government itself; the remainder to be paid from other entities that received property tax revenues from the Incline Village/Crystal Bay property owners, such as the school district (estimated at $4.5 million), the fire department, the state of Nevada, and IVGID.

 “In compliance with the judge's decision, this office is immediately gearing up to begin processing the refunds,” Treasurer Bill Berrum said. “Due to the volume and the complexity, though, this task can possibly take months to complete.”

While waiting for the checks to arrive, however, the Village League is telling property owners to continue to pay their 2009-2010 property taxes under protest until those bills reflect the proper amount due, since the State Board of Equalization decision has rolled each and every residential property back to the 2002-03 level.

Washoe County could still file yet another appeal on that decision, and county spokesperson Kathy Carter said the District Attorney's office is reviewing its options. 

The battle began in December 2002 when the Village League to Save Incline Assets was formed after angry residents started taking note of arbitrary property appraisals. The methods identified included using “tear-downs” to appraise vacant land values, a time adjustment, view adjustments made from places other than the ground, condominium land values based on single-family residential values, and arbitrary comparisons such as the number of rocks on the beach. In June 2004, the Nevada Tax Commission adopted new rules of assessment which made the above methods illegal.

“At the heart of all the legal measures that have been heard since 2002 over this issue is the fact that the courts have ruled the Washoe County Assessor did not have the authority to impose the valuation methods used during years in question as it was not expressly given by the State Tax Commission,” a county statement said.

For a complete history, click here (http://www.nevadapropertytaxrevolt.org/pages/History.html)

Trying the right the wrong has been a test in patience, expense and endurance for the Village League, as it has had to meticulously work through the county Board of Equalization, the state Board of Equalization, the Nevada Tax Commission, the District Court, and the state Supreme Court. Multiple lawsuits have been filed, of which several are still pending decisions on appeals. Court cases have been won by small groups of Incline taxpayers, and refunds have been granted to the tune of $7 million to nearly 900 residents so far, but this latest order affects all the properties in IV/CB.

Equal justice for all is the ringing claim of the Village League to Save Incline Assets and, after a seven-year legal battle the grassroots organization is claiming victory for all of Incline Village and Crystal Bay’s taxpayers.

Goliath is dead…we hope.

To receive timely email updates, thank your hard-working Village League advocates, read a complete history of Incline’s tax revolt, contribute to the legal fund, or learn how this impacts your specific property’s land taxable value for the tax years 2002-03 through 2009-10, visit the Village League’s web site, www.nevadapropertytaxrevolt.org.

Condominiums offer an affordable entry into Incline Village real estate market.

The selection is excellent with 183 condominiums for sale ranging in price from a high of $2,295,000 found in the Stillwater Cove lakefront complex in Crystal Bay to a Median priced McCloud at $495,000 offering a two bedroom  two bath unit. The lowest price is $155,000 for a one bedroom, one bath, 600 sq ft pinebrook unit.

Highest motivated seller's are in the McCloud complex where you will fine 24 units for sale offering 1,2 & 3 bedroom units all with one car garages.

If a lake front is of interest you too are in luck with 20 units to review in several lake front complexes. These complexes offer different amenities such as a dock, sandy beach, lake views or actual lake frontage. The highest sale this year was for a beautifully remodeled 3 bd 3 bth Crystal Shores East unit selling at $1,550,000. The median list price for lake front condo's is $1,489,000.

The lowest list price is $899,000 for a back row unit in 999 Lakeshore located next to the Hyatt Hotel.

There have only been 40 closed sales and 4 pending sales. Homes are still the leader in sales with 60 closed transactions and 18 sales pending.

Now is the time to make a move and take advantage of the depressed (but not for long) market!

The activiity in our office indicates buyer's are finally getting off the fence and jumping into the buying pool!

Price reductions are occuring and new listings priced right are getting showings! The kind of market buyer's have been waiting for.

Fall is traditionally a busy time, buyer's look all summer and watch the market as new listings hit their peak by June and seller's take advantage of the active summer months with vacationers and potential buyer's.

September has held true to this pattern. This is how the market stacks up today:

Homes- 242 For Sale

Highest price is $34 million which buys a 8.75 acre estate on the beautiful shores of Lake Tahoe. Three homes and a buildable parcel.

Median price is $1,545,000 which buys a house on the Championship golf course with 4 bedrooms, 3.5 baths approx. 4000 sq ft. remodeled on the market since 6/08.

Lowest price is $399,000 which buys a 1200 sq ft fixer with 2 bedrooms and 1 bath.

Home Sales Jan-Sept. Total 62

High=$7,350,000 Lakefront home needed work

Median=$1,035,000 Mid elevation, 2600 sq. ft. 4 bed 3.5 bath remodeled built 1978

Low=$370,000- bank foreclosure- high elevation- 1600 sq ft home fixer

Foreclosures made up 12 of the above 62 sales and 1 was a short sale

Selling prices: 100-$500,000=6

                    $501K-$700,000= 14

                    $701,000- $900,000= 6

                    $901,000- $1,200,000= 6

                    $1,200,001-$1,500,000= 4

                    $1,500,001- $2,000,000= 7

                    $2,000,001-$2,500,000 = 5

                    $2,500,001-$3,000,000= 5

                    $3,000,001- $8,000,000= 9

Under contract of sale= 18 which makes this third quarter our highest quarter with 40 days to increase this number.

Take the leap and take advantage of a market that appears to be leveling out!

SINGLE FAMILY HOMES

803 Jennifer St. - 3 Bed/2 Bath - 1282 SF - $429,000 - Short Sale

634 Village Blvd. 4 Bed/4 Bath - 2705 SF - $459,900 - REO

929 Dorcey Dr. 3 Bed/2 Bath - 1980 - $510,000 - Short Sale

581 Sugarpine - 3 Bed/3 Bath - 2490 SF - $698,000 - Short Sale **REDUCED**

621 Tumbleweed – 3 Bed/2 Bath – 2312 SF - $749,000 – Short Sale  **REDUCED**

155 Wassou – 3 Bed/2.5 Bath – 2032 SF - $775,000 – Short Sale 

CONDOS

989 Tahoe Blvd. #77 - 3 Bed/2 Bath - 1649 SF - $250,000 - Short Sale

333 Ski Way #273 - 1 Bed/2 Bath - 1062 SF - $305,000 - Short Sale

770 Southwood #7 - 2 Bed/2.5 Bath - 1371 SF - $347,000 - Short Sale

928 Wendy Ln. #3 - 4 Bed/3 Bath - 2044 SF - $349,900 - REO

699 Hogan Ct. #1 - 3 Bed/2.5 Bath - 1848 SF - $365,000 - Short Sale 

FREE-STANDING TOWNHOMES

1324 Tirol Way - 2 Bed/2 Bath - 1024 SF - $309,000 - Short Sale **REDUCED**

949 Harold Dr. #14 – 3 Bed/2 Bath – 1533 SF - $348,000 – Short Sale 

335 Ski Way #323 - Burgundy Hill

1 Bedrooms, 2 Baths, 1064 Square Feet

Reduced from $335,000 to $329,000

830 Oriole Way #16 - White Pines

4 Bedrooms, 3.5 Baths, 1752 Square Feet, 2-Car Garage

Reduced from $424,500 to $411,524

144 Village Blvd. #81 - McCloud

2 Bedrooms, 2 Baths, 1089 Square Feet, 1-Car Garage

Reduced from $538,900 to $505,000

932 Dorcey Drive

3 Bedrooms, 2.5 Baths, 1832 Square Feet, 2-Car Garage

Reduced from $650,000 to $599,000

629 14th Green Dr.

3 Bedrooms, 3 Baths, 2543 Square Feet, 2-Car Garage

Reduced from $1,295,000 - $1,150,000