Dollar Point is seeing the effects of coronavirus – in two opposite ways.

An escrow on Mammoth with a list price $935,000 fell apart due to coronavirus fear.

An off-market, record-setting price per foot sale successfully closed for $4,375,000 due to coronavirus fear. How is this possible?

My clients at 324 Edgecliff and I were fortunate to sell their incredible lakeview home for $4,375,000 on 3/24/20. Our escrow started in early January then continued through the outbreak of the coronavirus. The buyers, their agent, the sellers and I worked together (with some understandable hiccups along the way) to see this through to a successful close of escrow. This was the most challenging transaction I’ve ever been a part of and the difficulty wasn’t entirely due to the coronavirus and subsequent worst week on Wall Street in 90 years. Let’s just say that cool heads prevailed and now we have a very happy buyer-family, very happy sellers, and two happy agents. Good stuff.

So how did it sell amidst all that’s happening in the world and SF?

Tahoe is a getaway. It is a respite from busy life in more urban areas. When CA has natural disasters we see an overall drop in interest but a spike in the seriousness of already-attentive buyers. With the way coronavirus is playing out, I see this happening again and especially among the top 5% of our feeder markets. We can already see this from the seller side via my analysis of how sellers are reacting after their escrows fall apart due to coronavirus fears – the wealthier have more confidence in the market. See more detail on this page which I researched and wrote specifically to educate our buyers and sellers on what is happening in Tahoe-Truckee real estate since the statewide school closures on 3/13 and Governor Newsom’s Shelter in Place order on 3/19.

While showings are somewhat challenging, real estate has been ruled an essential service so showings are permitted – we just need to be smart in how we handle them. Again, please see this page for LOTS more info on the market since 3/13.

Important Notes on the Edgecliff Sale: I was able to sell this home off-market per sellers’ request. This was handled in an efficient manner with no interruption of their rental nor personal schedules. The selling price is $1072/foot which the highest price per foot ever recorded for a Dollar Point non-lakefront home. Note: I helped a different client achieve the record for highest Dollar Point MLS sale: $8,199,000 in 2015.

Dollar Point has just 5 active listings on the market currently. Before the statewide school closures on 3/13 there were 8:

1 closed (324 Edgecliff, sold off-market).

1 fell apart (162 Mammoth, listed at $935k) then exited the market.

1 exited the market (185 Observation; note this is a realtors’ home and they removed it from the market). See all Dollar Point listings here.

Dollar Point had a huge year in 2018 – sales volume was 2.5 times greater than 2017.

2019 was a disappointment with the lowest volume seen in years. Days on market in the neighborhood is typically 1/3 of that for the surrounding area.

For my Feb ’20 pre-coronavirus update on Dollar Point click here

We are seeing multiple offers on most properties and even at the highest levels. We are seeing noncontingent offers and competitive bidding on homes that are handled properly.

What does this mean?

It’s easy to get a high valuation of your property. But handling the process needs to be done carefully, thoughtfully and experience matters. Call me to discuss your value and how I help buyers and sellers navigate the wild ride that is Tahoe-Truckee real estate in Summer 2020.

Buyers from our primary feeder markets are deciding to purchase in order to Shelter in Place in Tahoe-Truckee. Some of them are buying as second homes and others are buying to actually move here. I have a theory that many of the latter group will turn around and sell more quickly than most buyers because once things normalize somewhat in a couple years, some of these 2020 buyers will decide full-time mountain life is not for them.

Here are sales from Jan 2019 through May 2020:

(Note that you need to add $18m to the May sales due to an off-market lakefront sale)

Last year was a typical year. From Feb to March sales decreased. Note that in 2020 during the same time, sales actually increased. This is incredible because March 2020 was essentially half a month because coronavirus shock, school closures and Shelter In Place all happened then. This means our market was picking up huge steam then was decimated by coronavirus.

What’s happening now?

Year over year, May volume is down just 11%. This is a 6% improvement in the last 30 days however the actual improvement is much larger and will be seen in June with heavy closing volume. Note: straight MLS data shows a 32% drop in volume year over year but I use off-market sales data to give you a more accurate picture of the market – Welcome to TheBigBlueLake!

MLS-wide since March 13 when things got serious in CA, sales volume is exactly equal but the number of sales is down 29%.

April was down in volume by roughly 40%. This will likely be our hardest-hit month of 2020 since its sales reflects new buyer activity in March.

How am I Pricing Homes Right Now?

We are currently in a high-price bubble which started in mid-May and has made itself apparent over the last week (end of May-early June). I am increasing pricing recommendations for sellers. This will likely be short-lived because inventory will improve and the most voracious buyers will have cleared through the market by purchasing. The only exception is raw land as it still has the most reasons for uncertainty mainly due to supply chains. So my Spring-Summer 2020 sellers are excited because they are still being able to accomplish their goals – I must admit that I am very excited about this, too. Feel free to reach out about your property.

A little background: I have remained bullish on this market since closing a big sale in March and seeing that buyer’s reaction to coronavirus. I had a theory then and it’s proving true: the wealthy will want to come to Tahoe even more now than before. There are a multitude of reasons for this which I’ve described in previous posts (click here). I love talking about this stuff, so feel free to reach out: 530.214.6100.

Check this out:

Sales volume of properties over $2m: since mid-March volume is up 283% over last year – wow! The number of closed sales since mid-March is more than double what it was same time last year. When you think of what’s going on in the world, this is pretty staggering information.

Great for sellers: there are tons of buyers out there.

Great for buyers: there are awesome property options and money is almost free with interest rates under 3%.