TAHOE 22/23 -THE YEAR OF THE (t)RAM

[bodywhomper]

My understanding is that hardiboard (sp?) siding is currently cheaper than traditional wood siding, like cedar.

I think it was Allstate that had lost of construction retrofit design requirements for them to insure a home in one of their designated fire hazard areas. Not cheap, but not unobtainable for many existing structures. Big one for me would have been tempered glass in all windows and moving my propane take to be 50 feet from all structures.

More striking than seeing the veg that survived in paradise was seeing the few random modern constructed homes that survived.

[PB]

Lol. So much to unpack here. Who said anything about increases “in the 100 folds”?

You’re going to force insurers to not raise premiums on existing customers (which have been historically held down by regulation), so you punish the new shoppers of insurance who will not only pay their market rate but make up for the old monied interests? You will still have insurers pulling out of the state. It is the most Californian of comments to want anyone with existing property to get major breaks over anyone else though.

You realize that the ONLY reason there were “decades of under risk premiums” is that the government refused to let insurers raise those premiums. Somehow that makes the insurance companies greedy for staying in the market? You must like it when insurers pull out of the market? There doesn’t seem to be any other option for them in your mind, they stayed in the worst market in the country, therefore they were greedy and shortsighted.

As someone who pays $7k a year to the Fair plan and a wrap policy, I’d love nothing more than a less regulated market so maybe I could get a single normal policy. Currently, the most an admitted carrier could charge me for an admitted policy is around $2,500 per my agent. Yet the Fair plan gets to charge $7,000. I’d much much rather have a single insurer charging me $6k for an All Risk policy.

Yeah, 100s fold was excessively hyperbolic. You say that regulators refused to allow insurers to raise rates to coincide with increased risk - this seems a little hard to swallow, given the profits that were being generated, at least up until recently. Have Allstate et al requested rate increases that were denied prior to pulling out?

[old goat]

Maybe the guvment should stop subsidizing real estate sales (property tax deduction, mortgage interest deduction), which just raises the cost of housing for everyone, and start subsidizing property insurance for lower income people.

[TahoeJ]

You can't deduct mortgage interest on your Federal taxes since 2017. Sure, still works for state taxes but that's so much less of a benefit compared to Federal.

[old goat]

You can deduct interest on mortgages up to 750,000 I believe. A lot of people who could deduct don't because of the limit and the increased standard deduction.

[bodywhomper]

I thought the whole regulation on rate increases was the result of a voter passed proposition….?

[MashedPotatoes]

Palisades parking policy seems like madness. At what point do they decide to fine you $100 for a no show? 1pm? Treating your customers like criminals never works out in the end.

[MashedPotatoes]

and I would just like to say RIP OldTimer. It was an honor to share a chair ride with you once many years ago.

[El Chupacabra]

Palisades parking policy seems like madness. At what point do they decide to fine you $100 for a no show? 1pm? Treating your customers like criminals never works out in the end.

For a penalty, I'd rather they issue a warning for the first violation, and then take away your ability to reserve at the second violation. That seems more appropriate.

[old goat]

Sounds like the reservations will be confirmed by license plates. I guess they would determine no shows by a license plate not showing up--in which case someone could claim that they came late, or left early, or their battery died, or were there how did you miss me. I bet they don't try to fine people for not showing up. If there a lot of empty spots on a day when all reservations are taken they'll reassess.

[powdork]

Maybe the guvment should stop subsidizing real estate sales (property tax deduction, mortgage interest deduction), which just raises the cost of housing for everyone, and start subsidizing property insurance for lower income people.

How does having a mortgage interest deduction raise the cost of housing for everyone?? Removing it in 2017 didn't slow the real estate market, at all (because then you could subsidize a second home with short term rentals).
Was there ever an interest decution on second homes, anyway?

[powdork]

Sounds like the reservations will be confirmed by license plates. I guess they would determine no shows by a license plate not showing up--in which case someone could claim that they came late, or left early, or their battery died, or were there how did you miss me. I bet they don't try to fine people for not showing up. If there a lot of empty spots on a day when all reservations are taken they'll reassess.

Yes I think it will be very hard to charge someone based on a lack of evidence.

[duffski]

Wow a lot to unpack with those parking rules. Things that standout to me are paid reservations “start” at $30…no mention of what max fee might be. Also no mention of what percentage of total parking spaces will be free, i imagine this fluctuates depending on demand for paid spots. It does seem that if you dont like it there is the opportunity to cancel your ikon pass but probably have to do that before we see how much of a shitshow this will turn into.

[PB]

Where will they be stopping people coming in when they're officially "full"?

[J. Barron DeJong]

Where will they be stopping people coming in when they're officially "full"?

Fairfield.

[old goat]

How does having a mortgage interest deduction raise the cost of housing for everyone?? Removing it in 2017 didn't slow the real estate market, at all (because then you could subsidize a second home with short term rentals).
Was there ever an interest decution on second homes, anyway?

The mortgage interest deduction--which has not been eliminated, only capped--figures prominently in the calculation of how much someone can afford to pay for a house. If I can afford a 500,000 house without the deduction, maybe I can afford a 600K house with it. In blurbs espousing home ownership the mortgage interest deduction is always listed as one of the benefits. The pricing of real estate is not based on any intrinsic value--a house in SF costs many times what the same house in Detroit costs--but on what the market will bear. If the market can bear higher prices due to the MID then prices go up.

And yes, the MID applies to second houses.

The MID was enacted specifically to allow more people to buy houses. Well, the more people bidding on the same houses the higher the price.

[PB]

Fairfield.

Kool; I live behind the barrier.

[Blaster]

Meanwhile Patagonia is blowing up Tahoe's best photo spots...

[gone2alpine]

Wow...Lake Tahoe is much smaller this year!

[Dark Energy]

And, we thought it was secret.

[~mikey b]

Sav Mart in Tahoe City closing down is kind of a big deal

maybe a different grocery going in?

[mcski]

Hopefully another grocery chain moves in. The TC Safeway is fine but way too crowded. Kinda strange savemart is closing, they’ve been trying to hire people all summer and they just did a bunch of upgrades inside

[lepistoir]

Dumping a few more non-ski items of note before we all talk about snow tomorrow:

Tahoe has a higher concentration of microplastics than the Great Pacific Garbage Patch:
https://www.latimes.com/california/s...-microplastics

In which the author calls for limiting tourism by increasing TOT to 18% and leaving a vacancy tax on empty second homes, while increasing minimum wage to $23, a 25% cap on second homes as portion of all homes. These things all imply the creation of local government by incorporating the city of North Lake Tahoe as the only place any of it could possibly happen is in south lake with it's actually existing local government.
https://www.sfgate.com/politics-op-e...d-18387894.php

[Creeker]

Hopefully another grocery chain moves in. The TC Safeway is fine but way too crowded. Kinda strange savemart is closing, they’ve been trying to hire people all summer and they just did a bunch of upgrades inside

The unconfirmed rumor is that a Nugget Market (think Whole Foods, but family owned and Northern California based) is going in after making the decision not to open a store in Truckee. It would be a great development for Tahoe City, but remodeling and renovation alone will take a huge amount of time.

[~mikey b]

Sav Mart didn’t want to close - it wasn’t able to renew lease