Greetings Fellow Life Travelers:

Our beautiful fall is history!  My yard is now a carpet of yellow and red leaves, ready to mulch for the winter.  Gremlins have cropped up as we head toward Hallowe’en, with the Truckee celebration this last Friday afternoon – big Trick or Treat downtown, including our Chase office for candy/treats. Next stop – Tahoe City on Hallowe’en from 4 – 6PM where we have a booth and waiting for the littles.  Neighborhood yards are swathed in gauze, sheets and skeletons, spiders and witches, along with colorful pumpkins, some carved, most not.  This amazing holiday cannot be ignored.  The big scary deal used to be egging houses when no one gave treats, but now communities have group ‘trick or treat’ events and certain residential areas where everyone participates.  Even my neighbors with adventurers leave and go where there are way more abundant returns. (So now the phone calls to see if any of them plan to stop by my house where my scary GSD, Dancer, just wants to give them all kisses.)  When I think of Hallowe’en, I remember as a little girl walking down Mountain Home Road in Woodside, dark out, and wondering if something scary would fly out of the trees that lined the road.  We were on the way to trick-or-treat at a friend’s house.  Isn’t it interesting the things that stay in one’s mind?  Back to reality – let’s see what happened in the market this week.

Residential Real Estate – week 10/21-10/27

• Tahoe Sierra MLS – North/West Shores & Truckee.  New Listings – 24; Escrows – 17; Solds – 15
• Incline Village/Crystal Bay MLS.  New Listings – 4; Escrows – 8; Solds – 4
• East Shore, NV MLS.  New Listings – 1; Escrows – 6; Solds – 1
• Reno/Sparks MLS.  New Listings – 91; Escrows – 95; Solds – 78

High solds for Tahoe Sierra was $8.6M in Martis Camp. Incline had a nice escrow – lakefront home that started at $9M, then reduced to $7.9M.  This home is right on Hwy 28 as you depart Lakeshore Drive, so traffic is a big challenge.  East Shore escrows were all under $1M. Reno had a nice escrow at $5.75M ask – 10 acres with large renovated home and new 12-stall barn and arena in Pleasant Valley.

Local/Real Estate/Luxe

• Overture – new supersonic jet will fly from London to NYC in 3.5 hours on 100% Biofuel. Due for test flight in 2026. (see below)
• Hyperphagia: Time for bears to bulk up as they prepare for winter snoozing.  They can consume 20,000 – 24,000 calories a day for multiple pounds daily gain.  In addition to extreme foraging, they are also hunting den spaces, so be sure to secure under-deck/under-house access.
• Humane Society of Truckee-Tahoe and Town of Truckee Animal Services are celebrating 10 years in the sate-of-art animal shelter, Remy’s Rescue.  5,996 pets adopted; 1,719 lost pets returned to owners; 26,840 hours donated by 3,358 volunteers; 5,263 pets spayed/neutered in shelter clinic; 1,800 community pets vaccinated/microchipped at wellness clinics.
• Portland, Maine emerges at top U.S. luxury market in the third quarter of 2023. (Who would have known or thought?) WSJ/Realtor.com per Mansion Global
• Britons ditch working from home to eliminate high heating bills. (Too bad San Francisco isn’t that cold!)
• Bats:  There are 16 different species of bats in Tahoe.  They don’t just come out at Hallowe’en as they are insect eaters/pest controllers….and some are pollinators as well.  (No, they won’t fly into your hair.) Tahoe Fund
• Encouraging housing news going forward: From Keeping Current Matters, the chart below indicates projected appreciation over the next few years.
• Bears:  We’re not the only one with bear invasions:  See cute photo below from Naples, FL
• Japan’s Luxury Market is on the rise.  Values are better than in Europe, with focus on new product. The weak yen is helping to fuel interest in Tokyo and other top-tier cities as well as outlying tourist-favored areas.

Entertainment

• Monster Mash.  (put sound on)  https://tinyurl.com/3865kvhm
• Mama and babies.  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tr9Z81kyMB8

TidBits

• Charlie Brown to Snoopy: “Someday we will all die, Snoopy!” Snoopy: “True, but on all other days we will not.”
• In wine there is wisdom, in beer there is strength, in water there is bacteria.  You decide.
• An entire sea of water can’t sink a ship unless it gets inside the ship.  The negativity of the world can’t put you down unless you allow it to get inside you.
• Conversationalist – Lesson 31:  Ask people questions that give them an opportunity to talk about themselves.  Example: What the hell is wrong with you?
• Much of the case and crew of the African Queen got sick except Humphrey Bogart and John Huston, who said they avoided illness by living on imported Scotch whisky.  “All I ate was baked beans, canned asparagus and Scotch whisky.  Whenever a fly bit Huston or me, it dropped dead,” said Bogart.
• In Switzerland, it’s illegal to own just one guinea pig because they are prone to loneliness.  You must have a pair so they can keep each other company.
• Robin Williams:  1) “You’re only given one little spark of madness. You mustn’t lose it!”  2) “Reality is just a crutch for people who can’t cope with drugs.”
• Albert Einstein – 1949: “There will come a time when the rich own all the media, and it will be impossible for the public to make an informed opinion.”
• “Age doesn’t matter, unless you’re a cheese.” Billie Burke
• “Congress is so strange.  A man gets up to speak and says nothing.  Nobody listens, and then everybody disagrees.”  Boris Marshalov
• “Speech is conveniently located midway between thought and action, where it often substitutes for both. John Andrew Holmes
• Note to self:  Just because it pops into my head does not mean it should come out of my mouth.
• My wife thinks I’m crazy, but I’m not the one who married me.
• “You miss 100% of the shots you don’t take.” Wayne Gretzky
• “The sun, with all those planets revolving around it, and dependent upon it, can still ripen a bunch of grapes, as if it had nothing else in the universe to do.” Galileo Galilei
• You cannot get to the top by sitting on your bottom.

So, outta this chair and onto step-gathering for my Fitbit.  Have a festive Hallowe’en if you’re celebrating.  Cold and crisp these days and nights.  I think we get our coldest temps in late fall/first of winter.  Low teens now at night.  Time for socks in bed.   Have a good week and see you next time!

Best wishes,

Trinkie