Three California ski towns rank among best for home investors

Three California locales made the short list of best U.S. ski towns for residential real estate investors, reports online housing marketplace RealtyTrac.

Whitefish, Mont., ranked first nationwide, followed by Truckee, Calif., near Squaw Valley; Vail, Colo.; Avon, Colo., near the Beaver Creek Resort, and Jackson, Wyo., with its Jackson Hole ski resort.

Other Golden State locations making the 19-area list were Mammoth Lakes in eighth place and South Lake Tahoe at 13th.

Rather than send their staffers out to measure slope grooming and days of fresh powder, RealtyTrac made their selections from communities of 2,500 residents or more with at least one ski mountain in the top 50 list compiled by Zrankings. Then they looked at vacancy rates, foreclosures, home values and other real estate factors to come up with a matrix.

Among the California contenders, the median home price was highest in Truckee at $379,492. Just above that price in that locale is a three-bedroom, two-bathroom house of 1,327 square feet on a third of an acre listed for sale at $399,000.

The median price in Mammoth Lakes was $341,425. There, a two-bedroom, two-bathroom condo with 1,231 square feet of space is listed at $339,000.

In South Lake Tahoe, where the median price was $321,713, there’s a two-bedroom, one-bathroom house with updated interiors listed at $325,000. It’s a tad snug at 1,041 square feet but newly renovated.

Now for the weather to cooperate.

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