Greetings Fellow Life Travelers:

We’re limping along with tiny efforts to create winter.  Current news is stretching with predictions of 3 – 6 feet of new snow in the next week.  I’d rather see the result of “3 feet of partly cloudy on my deck” as we are sliding behind a normal pack that we need to support our happy lake level and water shed for all those we serve.  For we, who no longer ski, love dry streets.  Our ideal is a snow level 6000’ and above, keeping the resorts cooking, skiers/boarders ecstatic, and local businesses delighted with robust business.  Ideal is good. Not so sure the real estate market is ideal right now, but let’s look at the week that was.

Residential Real Estate – week 3/1 – 3/7

• Tahoe Sierra MLS – North/West Shores & Truckee.  New Listings – 26; Escrows – 17; Solds – 13
• Incline Village/Crystal Bay MLS.  New Listings – 3; Escrows – 6; Solds – 3
• East Shore, NV MLS.  New Listings – 3; Escrows – 4; Solds – 0
• Reno/Sparks MLS.  New Listings – 147; Escrows – 117; Solds – 89

More action in the Tahoe Sierra MLS this week with uptick in new listings and escrows.  East Shore had 2 Chase listings to go escrow along with the Wovoka lakefront estate listed at $25 Million. This has been on and off the market for a few years; just relisted and into escrow in 3 days.  Reno had a nice sale at $4.2 Million plus an escrow listed at $5.25 Million. 

Local/Real Estate/Luxe

• Gold Bond skincare brand is hoping to set the Guinness World Record for Largest Swimsuit Ski Run to highlight skin hydration in cold weather at Palisades Tahoe on Friday, March 14.  To participate, register at www.goldbondbaselayer.com
• Style – Dress:  How refreshing to see beautiful gowns at this year’s Oscars!  No boobs and little bare skin this time.  Maybe civility will return sooner than later.
• Style – Kitchens:  Drift from lab-style kitchens to warm, cozy, friendly with organic colors.  OUT – recessed down lights. IN – big range hoods that blend in.  OUT – three pendants over kitchen island.  IN – Long, sculptured island lights.  IN – wooden hardware.  OUT – bin pulls (so where does the recycle go?)  IN – open Bistro racks to showcase wall tile.  OUT – everything in plain sight (good Feng Shui).  IN – impervious stone, including granite!  OUT – impractical marbles that easily stain.  
• Style – Flooring:  Stone is raising its head. Old-world streets are being reinvented with a smooth finish for entryways, mudrooms, etc., even for first floors of homes where snow and sand easily enter.  Why not?  Throw down an area rug where you need cozy seating.  
• Style – Home Upgrade – Exterior stone:  Now that engineered flooring is showing its fabulous attributes, here comes stone.  What used to be a cheap upgrade to the façade, this veneer upgrade now has true merit. 

(Note:  Style comments sourced from WSJ, justifying my subscription.)

• Dubai sale:  $90 Million for $18,000 sq.ft. villa on Jumeirah Bay Island, considered “Billionaires’ Island”.  Hard to fathom as I have not been there…it’s like a fantasy in my imagination.  Real estate activity there is over the top, has been, and apparently continues with no signs of slowing down. 

Entertainment

• The Big Bear Eagles – 3 babies!  https://tinyurl.com/54brfny9  Concern now is Jackie and Shadow’s ability to keep them warm and unharmed until they are big enough to withstand wind and storms.

TidBits

• Great minds talk about ideas, average minds talk about events, small minds talk about people.  Eleanor Roosevelt
• Buy less, choose well, make it last.  Vivienne Westwood
• Owning less is better than organizing more.  Joshua Becker (probably the best reason to own/keep less!)
• Companies are bragging about making plants taste like meat.  Cows have been doing that forever.
• Every loaf of bread is a tragic story of a group of grains that could have become whiskey.
• My friend told me she wouldn’t eat beef tongue cause it came out of a cow’s mouth.  So, I gave her an egg.
• I’m writing a book about all the things I should be doing in my life.  It’s an oughtobiography.
• Why teachers drink:  Q:  What happens to a boy when he reaches puberty?  A: He says goodbye to his boyhood and looks forward to his adultery.  Q: Name a major disease associated with cigarettes.  A:  Premature death. (good one) Q:  How can you delay milk turning sour?  A: Keep it in the cow.
• Life engenders life.  Energy creates energy.  It is by spending oneself that one becomes rich.  Sarah Bernhardt
• Mother of Heathens:  1) On my way to check out a couple of antiques.  Yeah, it’s time for my mammogram.  2) Maturity is when you know the other person is lying but you just smile and let it go. 3) My coffee and I are having a moment.  I’ll deal with you later. 4)  Sometimes the thoughts in my head get bored and they go on a stroll through my mouth.  This is rarely a good thing.  5)  You’ve survived 100% of everything in your life so far; there’s a pretty good chance you’re gonna survive whatever is next. 
• Every time you clean something; you just make something else dirty.
• If people evolved from monkeys, why are monkeys still around?
• Why is there a ‘d’ in fridge, but not in refrigerator?
• My tolerance for idiots is extremely low these days.  I use to have some immunity built up, but obviously, there’s a new strain out there. 
• My mind is like an internet browser.  At least 18 open tabs, 3 of them are frozen, and I have no clue where the music is coming from.
• On St. Patrick’s Day, make sure your kilt is long enough to hide your lucky charms.
• My wife says I keep pushing her buttons.  It that were true, I would have found the mute by now.
• Finally, my winter fat is gone; now I have spring rolls.

So, now we spring forward for more light in the evening.  I’m kinda used to light the way it is, but when summer comes, it’s nice to have long outdoor dinners.  Update will be dark next week as I’ll be out of town for production time, back the 23^rd.  

Best wishes, 

Trinkie