Top 3 Places to Buy a Short-Term Rental in Lake Tahoe (And One to Avoid)
Welcome back to Living in the Bay. On this episode I sat down with Brandon Koehne, a residential real estate agent born and raised in San Jose who's been in the business for eleven years and just earned his broker's license this year. Brandon and his wife run a team doing fifteen to twenty deals a year, roughly fifteen to twenty million in volume, with an average sale price around a million dollars. He also does a lot of business in and around Lake Tahoe, which made him the perfect guest to break down where Bay Area buyers should be looking if they want a short-term rental in Tahoe.
If you've owned a home in the Bay Area for five, ten, twenty years, there's a good chance you're sitting on a lot of equity, or you've got stock options you don't know what to do with. Brandon told me this comes up constantly with his clients in places like Almaden Valley, Los Gatos, and Cambrian. A lot of them don't want that money parked in a volatile stock market. They want it somewhere safer, and ideally somewhere they can actually go use. That's exactly why Tahoe short-term rentals keep coming up in conversation, and why Brandon and I spent this episode ranking the best spots to buy.
Number One: Tahoe City
Brandon's top pick, and for good reason. Tahoe City has light restrictions, solid affordability compared to the Nevada side, and easy access to some of the best mountains around, including Alpine Meadows, Palisades, and quick trips to Incline. Being on the Highway 80 side also means easier traffic than the Highway 50 corridor. Nevada may win on regulation, but it comes at a steep price. Tahoe City gives you a strong mix of manageable rules, real affordability, and a location that's hard to beat.
Number Two: Incline Village and the Nevada Side off Highway 80
If Tahoe City is the balanced pick, Incline Village is the premium one. Brandon said this is going to be the most expensive option by a wide margin, with average sale prices well over a million and often into the two to three million range. You're looking at a different kind of buyer here, someone coming in with a large down payment or paying cash, targeting a higher-end guest. The upside is appreciation. Brandon expects the Nevada side to outperform long term, partly because more people keep leaving California for Nevada. It's a bigger check to write up front, but he believes it pays off over time.
Number Three: South Lake Tahoe and Meyers
South Lake takes the third spot because of sheer volume. Between the casinos, the events, and the infrastructure, this is where the most visitors show up, which means strong occupancy, often fifty percent or higher according to Brandon. The catch is the restrictions have historically been tighter, and getting a property in the tourist core often means getting on a waitlist. The homes here also tend to be older and less polished than what you'd find in Tahoe City or Incline. But if you can find something in the right spot, the traffic alone makes it worth the wait.
The One Place to Avoid: The West Shore and Anything Far Off Highway 50
Brandon was clear on this one. Small towns on the west shore, and any property that's thirty, forty five minutes, or an hour away from South Lake, just don't get enough visitor traffic to justify the investment. You're taking on real risk, from fire insurance to snow access to actual wildfire exposure, without the infrastructure that makes a place like South Lake easy to manage. His advice: if you're going to spend that kind of money, you're often better off putting it toward Incline instead.
A Quick Note on Taxes
One thing worth mentioning before you go looking: short-term rentals can come with a real tax advantage. Buy a million dollar property and you may be able to write off roughly two hundred fifty to three hundred thousand dollars in depreciation in year one. For a high income W-2 earner or a self-employed buyer carrying a big tax bill, that can make a meaningful difference. Worth a conversation with your CPA before you buy.
Want Brandon to help you buy or sell real estate? Connect with him below:
Phone: 408.916.6392
Email: brandonkoehne@kw.com
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/brandoninthebay/
Comments