Jamie Schou Real Estate

April showers bring May flowers…right? Oh it’s gonna be May this weekend. Well, a couple early showers in May won’t hurt anybody. We sure need the moisture!! Yes, it looks like rain this weekend and maybe even into early next week. Well, regardless there is still plenty to enjoy in Tahoe over the weekend including skiing across water and of course Cinco de Mayo!

The Annual Lake Cushing Crossing is scheduled to take place this Sunday at Squaw Valley USA. The Cushing Crossing is a wacky end of the season event in which contestants attempt to cross a pond at the bottom of the ski hill on skis, snowboards, or other improvised water crossing devices. Participate if you are brave enough, but if you are not join the celebration as a spectator. Stand back if you want to stay dry! (May be rescheduled if there is bad weather).

Cinco de Mayo will be celebrated in many ways and locations in North Lake Tahoe and Truckee.  Perhaps the most thorough around the lake is taking place at Caliente in Kings Beach. The celebration will begin on Friday and continue through Tuesday, the traditional holiday date (yeah….the 5th of May). So stop by one night (or day) during your stay to take advantage of the great specials. Click Here for a full schedule and call me if you are looking for other options.

Lake Tahoe boats are all going to be subject to inspection for an invasive species of mussels this summer.  The inspections will take place at marinas and boat ramps around the lake with fees running between $10 – $60 based on the size of the boat (boats with ballast tanks and bait wells will be subject to as additional surcharge).  Here is an article from the Reno Gazette Journal with more info and there is actually a live online chat on the subject this week with representatives from the TRPA…..that could get exciting. 

So, now after towing your boat up here, gassing up, paying to launch, you have one more fee tacked on.   A variety of boats are available for rent at Tahoe City Marina.

Another great deal at the end of the season!  Get a $20 ticket and ski squaw all day Sunday…..it’s the last day that KT-22 will be running.  So get out here! 

There is also a pool party that day.  http://www.squaw.com/1015-fm-meet-your-mountain-5060-day-and-pool-party 

Jamie Schou
cell – 530-798-1393
jschou@kw.com

The HARP program allows homeowners to refinance up to a 105% LTV!  There are a number of pre-requisits to this program including the fact that your current loan must be held by either Fannie Mae or Freddie Mac.  Here are the websites to find out if your loan is held by either:

Fannie Mae:  http://loanlookup.fanniemae.com/loanlookup/
Freddi Mac:  https://ww3.freddiemac.com/corporate/

 If you have further questions contact your loan officer or Tahoe Lending at 530-587-0432.  This could be very well worth your time with qualifying rates below 5%. 

Jamie Schou
530-798-1393
jschou@kw.com

The Sierra Sun conducted interviews with a number of local resort representatives who all concluded that the 2008/’09 ski season was not as bad in terms of skier numbers as many had anticipated.  Here is the complete article. http://www.sierrasun.com/article/20090420/NEWS/904209980/1004/NONE&parentprofile=1051

What a wonderful weekend for an Earth Day celebration with blue skies and temperatures forecast to be near 70 degrees!

Squaw Valley is hosting the North Lake Tahoe Truckee Earth Day Festival 2009 this weekend. This year’s theme is “Living Local”. The celebration will include live music, an eco-parade, and a number of vendors educating and promoting eco products. This is a great event for the whole family if you are not skiing this Saturday…or even after a great day on the hill.

If you are going to ski this weekend take advantage of a $25 ticket to Squaw Valley on Sunday! Squaw is sponsoring a Skiing for Schools day. Tickets CANNOT be purchased at the resort and must be pre-purchased at Porters Ski Shop (Tahoe City, Truckee, or Incline) or online at http://www.exined.com/.

The ski season is over for some including Alpine Meadows and Northstar. The two resorts will be closed for the season after skiing on Sunday. Northstar is offering a $40 ticket good for both Saturday and Sunday this weekend in celebration of earth day. This ticket can only be purchased online and is obviously a heck of a deal!

Alpine Meadows will host a variety of events for their closing weekend including live music, a snow golf tourney, and the mad cow downhill (a chinese downhill style race). Visit their website for all the event details.