Skaneateles Real Estate - The Weekly Update

Do we have to talk about Syracuse basketball?  I think we do.  Alex texted me yesterday in the midst of an offer signing, and everything stopped.  "No fab melo?!!!!" he wrote.  "Tell" I wrote.  And then the sad but true tale came out.  We had just gone to the Big East tournament and watched SU lose from our seats under the basket.  Then the championship game (after seeing the bartender at an Irish pub nearby for our tickets that I had purchased online).  Good loss, I kept saying as the rest of the upper-ranked teams lost too.  It will make them think they are not perfect and they might pay attention more.  But now "no fab melo."  How do you disappoint people?  Even young ones like our Liam?

But there are still houses for sale in Skaneateles.  As a matter of fact, there are 90 total, with 25 of them in the Village and another 25 considered waterfront.  Four new ones came on the market in the past week.  A ranch just outside town is listed under $200,000. Also in the town is a huge 3-BR home for about $500,000.  A sort of relist in the Village has a reasonable price in the mid-$300,000 range.

Five are marked contingent, six are under contract, and eight are in the pending column with one new one, a ranch just outside town.  We still have 12 closed sales - an amazing number, highest it's been at this time of year since 2009.

I looked at other areas too this week.  Marcellus is also doing well, beating the last three years.  Elbridge is so small...but last year there was only one closing by March 14th and this year there are five.  Camillus has been totally consistent the last several years, coming in in the mid 20s.  But if you go back to 2008 there's a spike of 42.  Before things started slowing down.

So by this time next week we will know if SU is one or two and done in the NCAA Tournament.  Sad, sad, state of affairs.

Skaneateles Real Estate - The Weekly Update

Ah, what a day!  The dogs and I were outside on the deck and when Alex texted that UConn and West Virginia had gone into overtime I turned on the game inside - then listened from outside.  SU will have trouble with UConn, I'm afraid.  But then, this is a special team and past predictions ("hard to beat a team three times in a season") go out the window.

This blog actually encompasses two weeks, as I explained in the last blog.  And there has been activity!  Five new listings came on the market in the past two weeks.  Actually six, but that one has already sold!  Think Village and good price...  One of the "new" ones is a re-list, but at such a reduced price and after being off the market for well over a year it's hard to call it a re-list.  The new ones include four outside the village, three large ones and a sweet 2-bedroom home.  Come and get them!  There are only 85 active listings entered in the Skaneateles area - 24 are in the village and 22 are waterfront. 

Six homes are marked contingent, the first step towards closing.  Three are new in the past two weeks.  One is the Village home that just opened its doors, and the other two are in the town -both good-sized homes that have been on the market for a bit.  Another that has been dropping in price has been changed to under contract, bringing that total to six also.  There are no new pending homes, or at least none that haven't been noted previously.

And yes, two more have closed, continuing our great year.  Both were Village new construction in Parkside.  The interesting piece of the closings is that we usually have about a third in the village and a third listed as waterfront, with some overlap.  The same is true this year - 4 Village, 4 waterfront.

So let's add a home in the town!  Please come to the open house at 1650 Coon Hill Road on Sunday, March 11th, from 1:00 until 3:00.  I have another appointment, but Roxanne Plummer will be there to show you this great home - three bedrooms, plus a family room and a sunroom and a fireplace with hardwoods throughout.  Hopefully the weather will be as lovely as it is today so you can walk out into the deep backyard to the creek that runs behind the property.  Syracuse University will have won the Big East Championship the previous evening, so there won't be basketball to watch - hah!

Go Orange!

The Past Few Weeks

It's been a very difficult past few weeks and I apologize for missing the weekly update on the 29th.  I just couldn't do it.

I had worked with Doug Bohrer recently to list a house and then the lots at Parcell Woods in Sennett.  He passd away on the 1st of March.  A month ago we were texting about pricing, septic tests, new beginnings and what we would do if one or two of the lots hadn't sold by this time in 2013.  Then he got sick, and the next thing I knew he was in ICU and his parents had been called up from Virginia.

We knew he wasn't coming back on the 28th and that it was "just a matter of time" as they say.  He passed away on March 1st.  Calling hours were Sunday, with an hour and a half wait, the line out the door into the freezing cold and snow.  The funeral was yesterday, with very few dry eyes in the overflow crowd. 

Today we go back to "normal," but with a difference.  Doug was only 48, with three amazing children and many friends.  Normal would be Doug driving around in his truck with his ride-along dog, Dublin, at his side. 

I learned a bit about life in the past month, lessons I certainly would trade.  Life is short, as they say, but not only short but precarious.  And precious.  It's not always about the future, but mostly about the moment.  There was an incredible multimedia presentation at the funeral.  Pictures upon pictures of Doug and the kids, or Doug and his little sister.  Mostly outside, mostly hanging out.  Mostly smiling.  The moments in life that are precious.

I stood around after the service with women who had come in support of his dear friend Jean who had supported him and his parents over the past year.  I heard it several times - "I want to go home and take more photos!"  And not only photos, but to create the occasions at which photos are taken.  The Grand Canyon, a lake in the Adirondacks, just being with friends and family.  Memorialized, but also lived.

I went out and walked last evening after showing a house.  I happened to be in Liverpool, so I walked by the lake then went to India House for Punjabi dal takeout.  I came home and shared the meal with Bob, had a Grail Ale, and we talked.  We agreed to try for more awareness of each day.

My old friend from the charter school days, Colleen Hassett-Mastine, passed away a few weeks ago.  I hadn't seen her in years, and I was saddened that I didn't have time to tell her that I, too, had become a grandmother.  She was the quintessential grandmother.  When her Declan was born, she kept saying "You just don't know...." how wonderful it is.  I do now!

So I will do my real estate, sell those lots that Doug worked so hard to develop, help first-time buyers through the process...and remember that life is both precious and precarious.

Skaneateles Real Estate - The Weekly Update

So there I was, all poised to write this blog last night.  Research done, thoughts composed, SU game still in the future....but I couldn't get in to blogger!  Best laid plans and all that.

Currently there are 84 - ONLY! - active listings in the Skaneateles area of the multiple listing service.  Of these, 24 are in the Village and 20 are waterfront.  One new one came on this past week in the mid-$200,000 range.

There are 6 homes marked contingent, 7 in the "under contract" category, and 5 pending.  None of these are new.

However - continuing on with our good fortune or pent-up needs, there is another closed sale!  This brings our year-to-date number to 10.  The one that closed was under $200,000 and in the town.

I told someone that we had a dozen homes listed under $200,000 - just off the top of my head.  So I checked, and there are actually 15.  The largest number come between $200,000 and $400,000 - 30 homes.  Between $400,000 and $800,000 there are 25, and that leaves an amazing 15 listed for over $800,000.  (And adding it up I see that somewhere a house appears in two categories - which is why people try for the even numbers so they won't be excluded on the internet.  For example, if I were to list a home at $499,900....it would be missed by people starting at 500K.  Unbelievable, but true!)

So come to my open house this Sunday from 1:00 until 3:00 at one of the "under $200,000" homes.  This is 1650 Coon Hill Road, literally just minutes from the village down East Lake Road.  Hopefully the weather will allow you to soak up the sun in the three-season room (see below) and walk out into the huge back yard over to the stream.  It's really a lovely home - very, very comfortable.  When you come, tell me you read about it on my blog.

Skaneateles Real Estate - The Weekly Update

The emotions of real estate are always up and down - hence the stress level increases and decreases accordingly.  This week has been no different, but I am walking now, thanks in part to our two new dogs, Charlie and Sheba.  Charlie is the little one, and he is 9 years old.  His best friend Sheba is an English Shepherd like our Boo, and she is 11.  Charlie needed his teeth done - he has only 4 left after yesterday's

surgery at the Weedsport Animal Hospital, but it hasn't slowed him down any.  Sheba needs to walk -she weighs almost as much as Boo!  Together we are carving out an hour a day to hit the trails.  Boo really likes having a pack he thinks he can boss around, and the cats don't really care - they can handle dogs.  

So while the dogs wait patiently for their dinners....there are currently ONLY 85 single family homes listed in the Skaneateles area of the multiple listing service.  Of these, 25 are in the village and 21 are waterfront.  Three new ones came on the market after brief hiatuses, but these are primarily re-listed properties.

There are 9 homes now that are under contract, but still can be shown.  Three new ones were added this week, two in the village and one farther out.  Six are solidly under contract, and a new village home was added to that list, too.  There are no new pended properties, leaving the total at 3 homes.

The BIG news is that we now have 9 closings so far this year.  NINE!  Two are waterfront, and one is village.  I checked - I had to go as far back as 2008 to find nine closings this early in the year.  At that time the median selling price was $487,000 and this time it is $345,000....but still, I believe this is excellent news.  Combined with the reduced number of active listings, this could be a much better year than the last few have been.  Hooray!





Skaneateles Real Estate - The Weekly Update

Not a whole lot to tell here.  I have several blogs I will write to update both real estate and my personal life in the next few days, but for now I want to get right to it so I have time to set up my open house signs at 158 Shire Way in Camillus for Sunday (1:00 to 3:00) then go and show another house in Skaneateles.

Currently, there are only 86 active listings in the Skaneateles area of the multiple listing service.  Of these, 25 are in the Village and 21 are waterfront.  Four are new listings - but three of the four are re-lists.  The new one is a farm priced around $200,000. 

There are no new contingent (still 6) or under contract (still 7) or pending (still 3) listings this week.  We did have one sale, bringing the total number this year to six, which is really quite good and bodes well.  The newly sold one is in the village, and listed and sold in the mid-$100,000.

Below you will see a link to a photo of a craftsman-style house that caught my eye because it looks very much like my listing (photo) at 208 Dorwin Ave in Syracuse, ML#S260830 ($96,000).  The point of the article was to show which styles are on the rise and which are not.  Craftsman homes are on the rise, and while Dorwin might have been built before the style became popular, it is just as cozy which is the appeal, according to the article.  You can read it yourself at:  http://realestate.yahoo.com/promo/whats-hot-and-not-in-home-styles-this-year.html.

Monday Morning Thoughts

The day after the Super Bowl.  Still basking in the warm glow of a family gathering plus the Giants' win.  Such a good thing that is for New York and the underdogs!  They came such a long way.  When a fellow Realtor and old friend in Colorado needed reminding about staying with his Central New York roots, he went back to a very long time ago when Floyd Little signed his placemat at a sports banquet for Sherman Park football.  We grew up within walking distance of the SU campus - and it is still in our hearts. (He still has that placemat!)

The weather is gorgeous here for a February day.  Brilliant sunshine.  Boo and I will take several walks today, I can guess.

Too much food last night!  Shrimp, dips, chocolate chip and peanut butter cookies....  Oh my!  But I will start to save room for a Krebs' meal, coming late August according to Adam Weitsman, the new owner.  If you would like to read more about this, go to http://www.syracuse.com/ and Friday's article.  This will be a wonderful addition to Skaneateles.

Soon the market will pick up, now that the jobs picture is looking better and better.  I think confidence is growing, and people will be able to see further than six months down the road.  Certainly, if possible, buying is better than renting.  I paid my mortgage this morning - Monday is domestic day, with bills a top priority - and I enjoy seeing the numbers shrink. 

But to keep them shrinking, I must keep making money.  So if you are looking for a lovely ranch in Camillus - call me, please!  Or there's a sweet smaller home with hardwoods not too far out with a very deep back yard at 1650 Coon Hill Road....then the lots, all those lots!  From Calemad to waterfront in Niles, to many, many acres in Sennett and Skaneateles.  I am sure the builders out there are ready for you and spring to come!  Buy now - be in by the fall!