Real Estate Gone Viral

We are at a crossroads that we will look back on and

remember forever. COVID-19 has changed many things for many people and, for us here in the Truckee Tahoe area, one of the most notable has been the real estate landscape.With a signifi cant chunk o the Bay Area and Sacramento work orce gi en the o ortunity to work rom home, many ha e decided that home may as well e in the Truckee Tahoe region. The past 12 months have been nothing short of staggering in the real estate market. The a erage home rice went rom $830,000 in March of 2020 to $1.3M a single year later. The median home price saw a similar um . According to the .S. Postal Ser ice, Change o Address records indicate that dou le the amount of people moved to Truckee in 2020 than in the past decade.

The question many folks are talking about on the ski lift and in grocery store lines is how will this im act our community Only time will tell. Peo le that ought their homes e en a couple years ago are sitting on a mountain of equity. This e uity cou led with record low interest rates make the er ect reci e or mo ing orward on the garage addition or kitchen remodel they ha e always een thinking a out. Or erha s em ty nesters may take this o ortunity to downsi e.

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For the eo le who ha e een scrim ing and sa ing to ho e ully reali e their dream o owning their own iece o Truckee, I fear they have sadly been priced out of the market as we see a seemingly ne er ending su ly o cash hea y uyers fl eeing ur an centers. Those would e fi rst time home buyers are likely locked out of the market and that is going to change the a ric o our community. any amilies will ine ita ly lea e to mo e to more aff orda le markets, urther e acer ating our work orce challenges.

One o the enefi ts to our community is that this infl u o digital nomad workers ro ides an o ortunity to di ersi y our economy and reduce our seasonal work de endence. It concurrently places additional burden on our infrastructure, our treasured natural resource. Additionally, for nearly 3 decades, the ma or economic engine o our region has een tourism. O er tourism has taken a stronghold and we ha e seen our treasured natural resources diminish. We need to reser e the natural eauty o our en ironment that we know and love. Hopefully more and more short-term rentals are sold to what turn out to e ull time residents who will ecome as assionate a out our natural resources as well.

It is no secret that CO I has created winners and losers. o ing orward it’s going to e aramount that our community leaders fi nd ways to create more aff orda le housing, em race programs of environmental stewardshi , and im ro e our in rastructure. As citi ens, it’s our duty to em race the newcomers and lead y e am le, while also reaching out a hand to those in need who ha e called Truckee home for decades–because that is the Truckee Way.

Thanks to Dave Gove at Compass Real Estate for writing this article. You can contact Dave at 530.575.8737, davidlgove@gmail.com or www.tahoeestatesgroup.com/the-team/ dave-gove.