Paul R.

My wife and I recently purchased a vacant lot in Tahoma. Our intent was to purchase some land for future construction of a retirement/vacation home. Although we’ve had experience with vacant land purchase and construction, land purchase in the Tahoe Basin is unique and can be complicated. We had a lot of questions, regarding IPES, coverage %, building codes, tree removal, land value trends, etc. I started to search different websites, seeking to better understand the challenges unique to the area. We looked at a number of different lots, got a sense of what questions we thought we needed to ask and identified a couple of local real estate agents that might help us navigate the purchase process.
As we reached out to different local real estate agents, we were pleasantly surprised at the prompt, patient, and very knowledgeable response we received from Dave Westall. As noted above, land purchases provide unique challenges in the Tahoe Basin, and having someone that understands these challenges and can easily answer questions, following up with any necessary research in a timely manner was indeed refreshing. We peppered Dave with questions regarding constructing within the basis; including snow load, easements, build-ability, neighborhoods, lake access, insurance, tree removal, grading, etc. To our surprise, not only was Dave able to answer all of these questions, but provided us with information we didn’t even think of asking, like traffic patterns within the area we were considering; all the while never seeming to be rushed or showing any sign of impatience.
Dave proved to be extremely knowledgeable, well connected with local contractors, arborists, and banks, making the process painless. In our particular case there were some challenges with the property, in that certain actions were required to secure the TRPA (Tahoe Regional Planning Authority) land use designation, and clear some historical easement issues, but all the while Dave remained focused, responsive, well organized, and on task throughout. If you’re considering a real estate purchase in the Tahoe area, or simply have some questions, I would highly recommend Dave Westall; I know we’ll be going back to him with questions when it’s time to construct!