Greetings Fellow Life Travelers:

Well, the Easter Bunny will be burying eggs in the snow this year!  Quick trip to the Bay Area for a beautiful small hosted business lunch meant travel home on Friday – chain control on, only wet pavement the whole way over the summit.  What a pain for those who must chain up when it appears for no reason.  Must say, however, Caltrans and the Highway Patrol work very hard to keep us safe and, with all the spin-outs and truck jack-knifes this winter, they are being super careful.  The lunch was a great opportunity to connect with several REALM members, hear their stories and talk about business.  We even had a woman crash the party…had a free meal and then took home the desert she didn’t finish.  After she left, we were all in stitches, trying to find out who she was and determined she isn’t even a member.  Now we’ll see if she turns up at the next event.  She had to have heard about it/overheard from someone as it was a specific invitation to member agents. Life in the fast lane!  So, let’s see what happened in our real estate lanes this last week.

Residential Real Estate – week 3/23 – 3/29

• Tahoe Sierra MLS – North/West Shores & Truckee.  New Listings – 19; Escrows – 14; Solds – 14
• Incline Village/Crystal Bay MLS.  New Listings – 4; Escrows – 3; Solds – 3
• East Shore, NV MLS.  New Listings – 0; Escrows – 4; Solds – 8
• Reno/Sparks MLS.  New Listings – 99; Escrows – 154; Solds – 97

Just starting to see a little lakefront action: one new listing is in a small complex of 6 homes on the west shore, listed at $4.2M; a home listed last year that didn’t sell, came on in late February and closed this week at $7.3M.  Interesting, six of the 14 escrows in Tahoe Sierra have been on the market well over 250 days, 2 of those well over 300 days.  In Incline, a lakefront with shared pier as you start down the east shore came on at $9.95M.  

Local/Real Estate/Luxe

• Cruisin’.  Am reading articles about retirees opting for the cruise life vs. owning a home.  We know about the World, a luxury condo ship that’s been around for some time. Now I see another one coming on line in 2027.  I guess that could be fun, but what about Dancer?  Not a chance I’d leave her behind.  Plus…I’m not retiring. 
• Ski Area Closings.  Sometimes Easter signals the last days of skiing, but not this year.  Looks like April will have staggered dates through April, with the 21st for Mt. Rose and Sugar Bowl.  Palisades says May 27, which is Memorial Day.
• Lead-leaking cables in Lake Tahoe.  Recently discovered telecommunication cables…containing a total of about 89,000# of lead…are leaking into Lake Tahoe.  Four of the six lines, used for telecommunication, are inactive.  Original one was installed in 1929, and most appear to be from Baldwin Beach (South West Shore) to Rubicon area. New company on the prowl to get these removed from the lake.
• Renting vs. Buying:  On average, buying a starter home was 60% more expensive than renting in February across 50 metropolitan areas, with Austin, Phoenix and Seattle being most cost-effective.  High interest rates and escalating home prices the culprits. Realtor.com
• Retail, and the hunt for independent brands.  Prices of high-ticket labels have skyrocketed in the last couple of years, bringing a halt to mindless buying for some who can afford, but who are rebelling.  Now the game is to find cool off-brand labels before your friend does!  WSJ
• Five cool ways to save money: https://tinyurl.com/mr3aytk2
• Truckee – ban on single-use water bottles and cartons under 1 gallon goes into effect April 22.

Entertainment

• 3-minute feel-good video.  See attached.
• Pretty Woman – Roy Orbison with jam session. https://tinyurl.com/yc3yjca8

TidBits

• Laughing at your own mistakes lengthens your life.  Laughing at your wife’s mistakes shortens it.
• Minimalism is asking why before you buy.  Francine Jay (good one!)
• You come from dust; you will return to dust.  That’s why I don’t dust.  It could be someone I know.
• Money’s a horrid thing to follow, but a charming thing to meet.  Henry James, “The Portrait of a Lady”
• Never ask Google for medical advice.  I’ve gone from mild headache to clinically dead in three clicks.
• If a tree falls on your ex in the woods and no one is around to hear it, you should probably still get rid of the chainsaw.
• A happy marriage is a long conversation which always seems too short. André Maurois
• Diet tip:  If you think you’re hungry, you might just be thirsty.  Have a bottle of wine and then see how you feel.
• So, I was at the bar last night and the waitress screamed,” Anyone know CPR?” I said “Hell, I know the entire alphabet.”  Everyone laughed – well, everyone except this one guy.
• I believe unconditionally in the ability of people to respond when they are told the truth.  We need to be taught to study rather than believe, to inquire rather than affirm.  Septina Poinsette Clark
• A hug is like a boomerang – you get it back right away. Bill Keane
• You spend 90 percent of your adult life hoping for a long rest and the last 10 percent trying to convince the Lord that you’re actually not THAT tired.  Princess Grace
• Strength is the capacity to break a chocolate bar into four pieces – and then eat just one of those pieces.  Judith Viorst
• Hard work spotlights the character of people: some turn up their sleeves, some turn up their noses, and some don’t turn up at all.  Sam Ewing
• Don’t believe every worried thought you have.  Worried thoughts are notoriously inaccurate.  Renee Jain
• The person, be it a gentleman or lady, who has not pleasure in a good novel must be intolerably stupid.  “Northanger Abbey” 
• Nothing ever fatigues me, but doing what I do not like.  “Mansfield Park”
• It’s hard to explain puns to kleptomaniacs because they always take thing literally.
• You can’t stay in your corner of the forest waiting for others to come to you.  You have to go to them sometimes.  Pooh “Pooh’s Little Instruction Book”
• Do you think that God gets stoned once in a while?  Look at the platypus.  I think so.  Robin Williams
• People were expecting me to mess up, to goof up in one way or another. They thought I couldn’t take it and so forth, and I was determined to go to any limits to prove otherwise, not only to the people who were wondering, but to myself.  Elvis Presley
• I believe that if life gives you lemons, you should make lemonade.  And try to find somebody whose life has given them vodka. Ron White
• A man who correctly guesses a woman’s age may be smart, but he’s not very bright.  Lucy Arnez

So, brighten up, male friends, and keep the good times rolling!  Hope you’re having a lovely Easter weekend and see you next time.

Best wishes, 

Trinkie