Greetings Fellow Life Travelers:

Well, the world is here!  Not surprising with our lovely weather and Fourth Festivities.  Just heard, however, that the drone shows to replace fireworks for North Lake Tahoe have been postponed to Labor Day because of wind.  Donner Lake is still scheduling regular fireworks.  And, the famous Truckee parade is happening – 10am it starts and is over about noon.  Incline has a parade this weekend and their ‘SkyShow’ (drone) will take place as it’s more protected from the wind.  Pancake breakfasts by the fire departments are popping up, so old-time events are pretty much back on track.  South Lake Tahoe will have its traditional parade as well as its well-known fireworks that evening.  Don’t think too many fireworks in real estate this last week, but let’s take a look anyway.

• Residential Real Estate – week of 6/25 – 7/1

• Tahoe Sierra MLS – North/West Shores & Truckee.  New Listings – 61; Escrows – 11; Solds – 29
• Incline Village/Crystal Bay MLS.  New Listings – 17; Escrows – 4 (all condos); Solds – 7 (one Chase listing and sale at $11.5M)
• East Shore, NV MLS.  New Listings – 4; Escrows – 4; Solds – 5
• Reno/Sparks MLS.  New Listings – 179; Escrows – 133; Solds – 113

One new escrow in the Reno group is the old Steen Mansion in the Washoe Valley listed at $16M.  Steen was the Uranium king in the ‘50s, and built this impressive estate with sterling silver bath faucets, an indoor pool, sliding roof over the courtyard along with a guest house, a cabin and large round barn with adjoining corrals.  Since then, new owners have added impressive landscaping with lots of water features.  Views across the Valley include Washoe Lake.  The property was auctioned and went into escrow on June 9, but was just posted this week.  Will have sold price once it closes.  I visited this property a couple of times as a guest when the silver/turquoise faucets were still in place, before it was updated by recent owners.

• Local/Real Estate/Luxe

• Per Mansion Global, US prices are up in spite of more listings coming on the market.  However, it also says that second home purchases are taking a dive.  Too soon to tell in our market.
• Hong Kong condo project came on market with 238 units, all sold in three hours with average of 26 bids on each.  Entry price was $790,000 for 329 sq. ft., and prices were considered below market.  Yikes!
• Per Realtor.com, Adult bunk beds are the coming thing for vacation homes, providing luxe multiple comfortable guest accommodations for fun gatherings.  Who woudda thunk?
• Free, on-demand shuttle service in North Lake Tahoe and Truckee from 10AM to 10PM.  Partly funded by Tahoe Fund, check out https://tahoetruckeetransit.com/tart-connect-2/ for details.  Lake Link, a similar microtransit service is coming to South Lake Tahoe too.
• Truckee Air show and Family Festival returns this year on July 23 from 9AM to 4PM with sky performances, military and experimental aircraft on display, food and retail vendors.  Parking and entry is free!  There’s also a VIP front row tent with catered lunch/beer/wine and private A/C restrooms for $125.  Well worth it!  www.Truckeetahoeairshow.com for all information.  No dogs – tarmac way too hot!
• New West Shore trail.  Tahoe Fund and Tahoe Area Mountain Biking Assoc. (TAMBA) are raising $50K to complete a 4.5 mile multi-use trail to provide a 10+-mile loop option for hikers and mountain bikers.  Trail will begin just north of Meeks Bay Resort, climbs to top of Meeks Ridge to connect to Lost Lake Trail.  From there connect to General Creek Trail, and end by Highway 89 bike path at Sugar Pine Point to get back to Meeks Bay Resort.
• Reno Phil has a free concert at Wingfield Park, Downtown Reno, on July 4 at 7:30PM.  American Salute!
• New York’s luxe condos – $10M and up – jumped 84% in sales first half of 2022.  Part of reason is that mansion and transfer taxes were raised on July 1.
• London’s luxury properties are benefitting from fact that Russian oligarchs cannot sell, thereby reducing available inventory. 
• Median price for a house in Malibu is now $6.99M. 
• Global Art Market – going strong!  Per Charles Stewart, Sotheby’s Chief Executive, even in this questionable financial time, people are looking for endurable goods.  Per other sources, high quality jewelry and jewels, fine watches and cars are all drawing big dollars and provide a good hedge against inflation.  Same for good real estate!

• Entertainment

• Sweet music and curiosity:  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9Xd8xq06FCw
• New Website!  Check out www.trinkiewatson.com   Still needs a bit of tweaking but it’s up and running!

• TidBits

• Men- no shirt, no service.  Women – no shirt, free drink.
• If train stations are where trains stop, and bus stations are where buses stop, then what are workstations?

All for this week!  Have a lovely Forth celebration and see you next time!

Best wishes,