Cabins of Tahoe

This was the first house we made an offer on. My husband went to visit the home while I was back East visiting family. Our offer was accepted and we were excited, but something didn’t sit right. Although the home was in Christmas Valley, a very beautiful part of South Lake Tahoe and it sat within walking distance of the Carson River, I just had a bad feeling. The home has a shake roof, which are wood shingles and in fire country, very dangerous. Insurance companies don’t cover homes with shake roofs and we’d have to replace it right away. The job was bid out at $40,000 minimum. This was a big ouch for us. That cost on top of the remodel ended up tipping us over the edge and we had to cancel. I wasn’t too disappointed, in my heart I wanted to be North of the lake anyway. Onward!

This was the mountain house that got us serious about the community of PlaVada Woodlands. We were staying nearby at a lovely home on Conifer Drive. Each evening we went for a walk to explore the neighborhood. This home had been on the market for a few months and our interest was intense. But wouldn’t you know it, when we called our Realtor to tour the home, the seller was negotiating with another buyer!

We loved the location of this house. Although very small, the home checked so many other boxes it was something we were willing to look over. Probably wouldn’t be the house to entertain friends but oh so charming. It wasn’t meant to be.

We settled on Pla Vada Woodlands as our perfect community. This is the first house we actually toured in Pla Vada (never got the chance at Tamarack) But didn’t make an offer because we felt that it didn’t have the “cabin” feel we longed for. The home is beautiful and has the most amazing basement level. But it’s really more of a full time home.

I loved the decks and the location deep in Pla Vada woodlands. This community has a PG&E easement that runs through it. Easements of these types are actually pretty cool! They stay undeveloped and provide a great space for snowmobiling, sledding and all sorts of fun.

This house intrigued us but was never something we took seriously. The location was perfect, exactly where we wanted to be, but WOW tiny and not very cozy. We could never entertain here and would probably be on top of each other when we stayed.

An interesting fact pointed out to us by our Real Estate Agent was the way the slope of the roof would effect snow drifts in the winter. This roof is sloped toward the door that would likely cause snow to pile up in front of the door. A frames slope AWAY from the entrances – very intentional design feature. Hard pass on this one!

This is the second home we made an offer on. It was almost just right, almost. Conifer Drive is the street we wanted. The road backs Tahoe National Forest on one side and the South Yuba River on the other. The home was an A-frame and checked a lot of boxes. We made an offer and it was accepted. I kind of wish we bought it for the investment but the big problem was the insurance. The home may have needed not only expensive fire insurance but flood insurance too. Although the home was well priced, we couldn’t afford to get hit with expensive insurance. The home is also very close to Rt. 80 and the backyard was very noisy. We canceled and it would be a full two years before we found “The One”