Lake Tahoe, one of the most precious, spectacular luxury lifestyle markets, and markets in general, on the planet. Know one knows Lake Tahoe luxury real estate like Trinkie Watson with Chase International Real Estate.
A San Francisco native, Katrine ‘Trinkie’ Watson spent her first seven years in Woodside, California. She lived in San Francisco until her move to Lake Tahoe in 1966. A descendant of the John Breuner family, her California heritage goes back four generations. Watson attended Harker’s School for Girls in Menlo Park, Grant School, Burke’s and Hamlin’s in San Francisco, The Branson School in Ross, Mill’s College, University of Wisconsin and University of California, Berkeley, from which she graduated. Education was very important to her family.
Watson’s business career started as a receptionist with Standard Oil of California at the Bush Street headquarters in San Francisco. She matriculated to the travel department, where she routed auto trips on maps across the country. An opportunity to work for the 1964 Republican Convention took her to Milton Esberg’s Public Relation’s firm, where she worked on fundraisers for San Domenico school in Marin and the Republican Finance Committee for the Republican Ball.
In 1966, returning home from a trip to Aspen and Sun Valley, Idaho, with friends, Watson suggested a stop in Squaw Valley, where she ran into an old friend that had married and just acquired a vacation home there. Negotiating a rental agreement with them for residency to “try it” for a year, she ended up staying.
In 1996, she opened a small Chase office in Tahoe City and added another small office in Homewood; then, in 2001, she combined the two offices into a larger space on West Lake Boulevard near Tahoe City. When Starbucks took up a space in the new Customs House, Watson moved the office there in January 2008. An additional office in the Truckee Hotel was established in 2005 and an office Squaw Valley was added in 2008.
Over the years, Watson has held many positions and awards, including president of the incline Village Board of Realtors®, president of the Tahoe Sierra MLS, president of the Lake Tahoe Music Festival three times, board director of the Truckee Tahoe Community Foundation and Tahoe Forest Hospital Foundation, along with many more.
Katrine ‘Trinkie’ Watson, a California and Nevada Regional Lake Tahoe Broker®, was the 1995 President of the Incline Village Board of Realtors®. In 1996, she was selected Realtor® of the Year in Incline Village, and she was 1997 President of the Tahoe Sierra Multiple Listing Service. In the real estate business for 44 years, she is a resource for fine residential properties in and around the Lake Tahoe Basin. Trinkie graduated with a BA from the University of California, Berkeley, and is a believer in continuing education in her profession.
Through the National Association of Realtors®, she has earned the designations of Certified International Property Specialist (CIPS), Certified Residential Brokerage Manager (CRB), Certified Residential Specialist (CRS), Graduate, Realtors® Institute (GRI), Leadership Training Graduate (LTG) and Performance Management Network (PMN) as well as Certified Luxury Home Marketing Specialist (CLHMS). Trinkie’s extensive leadership background began in school and continues today. Currently she is an Advisor for Lake Tahoe Music Festival and a Board member of the Tahoe Forest Health System Foundation. Trinkie is a dog lover and is raising her 8th German Shepard.
