Taylor Creek Visitor Center hosts Lake Tahoe Bird Festival
The U.S. Forest Service Lake Tahoe Basin Management Unit (LTBMU) and the Tahoe Institute for Natural Science (TINS) will host the fourth annual Lake Tahoe Bird Festival on Saturday, June 8, 2013. Residents and visitors are invited to attend this free family event from 10 a.m. until 4 p.m. at the Taylor Creek Visitor Center, located three miles north of South Lake Tahoe on Highway 89.
The event includes guided bird walks along the Rainbow Trail every hour from 10:30 a.m. to 1:30 p.m., a bird art contest for all ages, 
information on migratory birds and spotting scope use, and a presentation by Master Falconer Marie Gaspari Crawford that includes live birds of prey.
Art submissions (photography, sculptures, drawing, paintings, etc.) for the bird art contest may be submitted to Rena Escobedo at rescobedo@fs.fed.us or dropped off before June 4, 2013, at the LTBMU office at 35 College Drive, South Lake Tahoe, CA 96150.
In preparation for a Spanish-speaking bird walk at the Bird Festival, the LTBMU will offer Spanish-speaking parents and their children an opportunity to attend an owl survey in May. During this shared nature experience, participants will learn about the history of the Forest Service and the owl survey area. Participants will also learn about possible career choices by attending a night in the life of a wildlife biologist.
Additional participants of the Bird Festival include the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service and California State Parks.
For a schedule of activities, visit http://www.fs.usda.gov/goto/ltbmu/BirdFestival and for more information about TINS, visit http://tinsweb.org/.
There are more details on the festival main page at this link.
And more details on the festival’s free, guided off-site bird walks at this link.
City of South Lake Tahoe offers Emergency Preparation Tips
Are you prepared for an emergency? The City of South Lake Tahoe offers Emergency Preparation Guides for community members. As part of the City’s initiative to increase communications, they are offering a 12 part monthly series during 2013 highlighting emergency preparedness. These useful tools help you be better prepared in the event of an emergency. Below is a list of emergency guides which have been released in 2013:
Month 1 – Creating a Family Disaster Plan
Month 2 – Emergency supplies
Month 3 – Preparing important documents
Month 4 – Utility safety
Month 5 – Preparing extended event supplies
Month 6 – Fire Safety
The guide also provides contact numbers for agencies located within City limits and throughout El Dorado County.
To receive these monthly Emergency Preparation Guides via e-mail or to your mobile device, make sure to sign up on the City’s website at www.cityofslt.us/signup.
Please CLICK HERE to see the Emergency Preparation Tips booklet.
Wildfire Awareness Week in South Lake Tahoe
Wildfire Awareness Week sparks an important time for homeowners in the Lake Tahoe Basin to reduce the risk of wildfire on their property and around their home. Join local fire protection agencies for a fun-filled Wildfire Awareness Week Kick-off event, Saturday, May 25th to learn about fire safety and creating defensible space. With a dry summer ahead, fire districts are reminding everyone that fuel reduction is not a “bunch of hot air,” and will be offering free tethered hot air balloon rides (weather permitting) to show the effects of recent wildfires as well as views of beautiful Lake Tahoe.
When: Saturday, May 25th, 8am – 12 pm
Where: MontBleu Resort Casino & Spa parking lot and adjacent Pony Express Field
What: Tethered hot air balloon rides, 8 – 11am (weather permitting); Pancake breakfast, 8 – 11:30am; Family fun zone with activities, Smokey Bear & firefighter photo opportunities.
Information booths featuring local fire protection services. Defensible space demonstrations, fire engines and exhibits. For more information on this fun family event and how to protect your home, visit: http://www.livingwithfire.info/wildfire-awareness-week or call (530) 542-2571
Low inventory of Homes in Lake Tahoe
The first official day of Spring may still be a few days away, but the Spring housing market is already underway. Buyer traffic is rising along with home prices, but one traditional Spring phenomenon is sorely absent: rising supply. The raw number of homes for sale is now at its lowest level in over 13 years, according to the National Association of Realtors, and the numbers continue to fall.
Supplies are down across the nation. In South Lake Tahoe listings are down 45.9% percent from a year ago causing fierce competition among home buyers.
It’s a seller’s market again. We have very low inventory and almost no distressed homes on the market. Most properties that are being listed are going into escrow within a few days and in many cases receiving multiple-offers.
As a result, short sales, where the home is sold for less than the value of the mortgage, are rising as a share of total distressed sales, while bank-owned home sales are falling. Investors are now competing for such little supply that they are ironically pricing themselves out of the market.
We are seeing this trend all over the country and it’s the same story in South Lake Tahoe CA, where there were 419 listings in March of last year and just 264 listings on the market today. Real estate agents are doubting that they will see a surge in inventory this Spring.
Source: RETahoe.com – posted on March 9th, 2013 by Fernanda Dozier - http://www.retahoe.com/2013/03/low-inventory-of-homes-for-sale-in-south-lake-tahoe/
Pinnacle Real Estate Group of Lake Tahoe recognized at Global Conference
The Pinnacle Real Estate Group of Lake Tahoe is proud to announce they received national recognition within the Leading Real Estate Companies of the World’s® 2013 Annual Conference held at the Cosmopolitan Hotel in Las Vegas, Nevada. Pinnacle’s website, www.RealEstateofLakeTahoe, earned the Quality Certification (WQC) Award acknowledging superior websites among LeadingRE’s 550 member firms.
The Pinnacle Real Estate Group was also named in the LeadingRE’s 2012 Momentum Club. This award was given based upon Pinnacle’s increased level of incoming as well as out-going referral transactions within the LRE organization. Michelle Benedict, co-owner of the Pinnacle Real Estate Companies of the world, in response to receiving the awards commented, “It was quite an honor to be recognized within such an elite real estate organization. Our agents worked hard over the past year and it is nice to be able to bring these awards back to them. They deserve it.”
The LeadingRE Conference Week attracted 2,000 real estate brokers, managers, relocation professionals, sponsors and guests from across the U.S. as well as 20 countries worldwide. The Pinnacle Real Estate Group was selected for membership in Leading Real Estate Companies of the World, which recruits only the best among locally and regionally branded firms. As a member of this global network, the Pinnacle Real Estate Group can assist home buyers and sellers worldwide and can access LeadingRE’s full range of brokerage services, including lead generation, branding support, luxury marketing, web exposure, technology systems, and state of the art learning and credentialing.
