Greetings Fellow Life Travelers:

As you may have noticed in recent Updates, we’ve been ditzing around with format and hope this one is a winner!  Something to do on the rainy days we’ve been having.  Sun is out again, and it should prevail for the next while.  Although schools have started, we’re still inundated with visitors – or at least a lot of people strolling the streets both in Tahoe City and Truckee, patronizing the stores and restaurants.  Construction continues but doesn’t seem quite as draining of wait time as it’s been.  As we watch the terrible situation in Maui, new lawsuits are being filed against the Hawaiian Electric Company for not shutting down the power when high winds predicted.  Seems to me the answer for all of us is underground lines.  Wonder if the cost of that would be the same, less than or more than the cost of devastation from a fire that takes everything in its wake. 

My neighborhood of 92 properties has just applied for Firewise Designation, so it’s an interesting education being on the committee to bring this forward.  Regardless if we have the benefit of any insurance reduction, it’s great to see everyone (hopefully) working on defensible space, etc.  I just learned that it’s a ‘no no’ to have a wooden fence attached to the house. Of course, I do.  So, the remedy it to replace at least 5’ of non-combustible fencing between the house and fence.  Because that area is Dancer’s, complete with fancy faux turf, I like having the fence solid.  Project for next spring after investigation of options. So now let’s see if we’ve had any fancy sales this last week! 

Residential Real Estate – week 8/19-8/25 

• Tahoe Sierra MLS – North/West Shores & Truckee.  New Listings – 43; Escrows – 41; Solds – 36
• Incline Village/Crystal Bay MLS.  New Listings – 10; Escrows – 12; Solds – 7
• East Shore, NV MLS.  New Listings – 6; Escrows – 4; Solds – 5
• Reno/Sparks MLS.  New Listings – 110; Escrows – 119; Solds – 110

Following a pattern I’ve been watching recently, for the Tahoe Sierra MLS, 34 of the 43 new listings are under $2M; of the 41 Escrows, all but 7 are under $2M; 31 of the 36 Solds are under $2M. For Incline/Crystal Bay, 17 of the total Contingent sales are under $3M. Me thinks the challenge for the upper end properties is the world situation, not so much the interest rates.  Most of our luxury sales are N.E.P. s, that I’ve mentioned before – non-essential purchases, so there is no urgency to buy.  Those with the ability to purchase higher-end properties spend selectively, jumping in when the right thing for them presents itself.  Tahoe is special, regardless of the area one likes and the price point.  There are always properties for sale; right now, opportunities present themselves with a more relaxed pace that what we experienced since mid-2020. 

Local/Real Estate/Luxe

• Fleetwood Mac: Coming to the Tahoe Blue Event Center, South Lake Tahoe, Oct 7.  https://tinyurl.com/2nbmrn3c
• Thrifty Tails Boutique is now open at 12047 Donner Pass Road.  Benefit for the Truckee Tahoe Humane Society, and right next door the Coffee Bar’s bakery.  Gad, might be a challenge being a volunteer there! 
• Time Capsule in Tahoe City.  Planted in the ‘island’ as you come into TC in 2002 by the TC Rotary, it was dug up in 2018 when plans for a roundabout were completed.  It’s 4’ tall and contains a plethora of stories, notes and details with the intention to be opened in 2075.  Right now it’s at the Gatekeeper’s Museum, but the hunt is on for a place to bury it for the duration.
• Invigorating the Financial District in San Francisco.  17 small businesses will set up shop in vacant spots in the Financial District. Part of Mayor London Breed’s “Vacant to Vibrant” program.
• Donner Pass Road (Old Highway 40) has reopened between Donner Lake and entrance to Sugar Bowl.  A 40-ton rock crashed on the road earlier this summer, resulting in month’s long stabilization and repairs. 
• Deer Valley Resort, Utah, just announced a HUGE terrain expansion adding 3700 acres of skiable terrain, making it one of the largest ski resorts in North America.  When completed, it will have over 5,726 acres skiable terrain with 37 chairlifts serving 238 ski runs and a new village and portal area. 
• Tahoe Fun Fact:  Horsetail Falls is tallest waterfall near Tahoe, measuring 800’ from top to bottom.  Desolation Wilderness near South Lake Tahoe. Tahoe Fund
• OK, let’s get fancy.  Have you seen the New BRABUS 600 Range Rover-Based luxury performance SUV?  Unless I read it wrong, it ain’t no electric car.  Article didn’t give me a price. 
• Lake Tahoe Luxe Spas:  Stillwater Spa, Hyatt Lake Tahoe; Spa Edgewood, Stateline; Tahoe Forest Baths, Stateline; Everline Resort & Spa (really? think Resort at Squaw Creek);.Biospirit Day spa, South Lake Tahoe; Elements Day Spa, SLT; Lighthouse Day Spa & Massage, Tahoe City; Tahoe Asian Massage & Spa, Tahoe City; Massage on the Lake Day Spa, Tahoe City; Balance Holistic Health Spa, Northstar. Lake Tahoe This Week
• New wolf pack of at least 5 discovered in Sequoia National Forest – mama and 4 pups.  Only about a dozen wolves roam the state, thought to be mostly in Lassen, Plumas and Siskiyou counties. 
• Interested in writing an Autobiography?  Michael Sion has written for Reno families…Carano, Cashell, Mathewson and others.  He wrote Heidi Loeb Hegerich’s autobiography, Love Target.  Let me know if you want his contact. 
• Factoid:  U.S. listings available in July 2019 = 1.24M; July 2023 = 647,000.  
• Dinner guests in Truckee.  Adorable family of 9. (See photo below)

Entertainment

• Fun Piano: https://tinyurl.com/4vzdavhm  (put on sound)
• Joan Rivers – (been debating about posting this but I roll every time I see it – sound up) https://tinyurl.com/8fxv284v

TidBits

• From Edinburgh Fringe Festival:  1) I started dating a zookeeper, but it turned out he was a cheetah.  Lorna Rose Treen   2) The most British thing I’ve ever heard? A lady who said, “Well I’m sorry, but I don’t apologize.”  Liz Guterbock   3) Last year I had a great joke about inflation.  But it’s hardly worth it now.  Amos Gill
• The best weight you’ll ever lose is the weight of other people’s opinions of you.
• One day you’ll find someone that is obsessed with you.  It’s probably going to be a dog, but it is what it is.  (Ed.: Far less complicated!)
• Sign outside second-hand shop:  We exchange anything – bicycles, washing machines, etc. Why not bring your wife along and get a wonderful bargain?
• Message on a leaflet:  If you cannot read, this leaflet will tell you how to get lessons.
• Headline on the SGV Tribune: Man Kills Self Before Shooting Wife and Daughter.
• Another headline:  Panda Mating Fails; Veterinarian Takes Over.
• More Pilot to Mechanic:  1) P: Test flight OK, except auto-land very rough.  M: Auto-land not installed on this aircraft. 2) P: Something loose in cockpit.  M:  Something tightened in cockpit.  3) P: DME volume unbelievably loud.  M: DME volume set to more believable level.
• Always forgive your enemies – nothing annoys them so much.  Oscar Wilde
• Get the facts first.  You can distort them later. Mark Twain    (Ed: Hmm…sound familiar?)
• When your work speaks for itself, don’t interrupt. Henry Kaiser   (Ed: Hoover Dam pretty good proof!)
• Never slap a man who’s chewin’ tobacco.  Will Rogers
• Before you criticize someone, you should walk a mile in their shoes.  That way, when you criticize them, you’re a mile away and you have their shoes. Jack Hanley
• If you don’t believe in the resurrection of the dead, look at any office at quitting time. Robert Townsend
• You know there is a problem with the education system when you realize that out of the 3 Rs, only one begins with R.  Dennis Miller
• It’s easy to identify people who can’t count to ten. They’re in front of you in the supermarket express line. June Henderson
• There’s never enough time, unless you’re serving it. Malcolm Forbes

Enjoy your time this next week, and see you when you pop back in! 

Best wishes, 

Trinkie