Respect

I've tried all day to avoid this, but it must come out. Maybe it's not about real estate, but it's about my state of mind.

Greg Robinson has been retained as the coach of the Syracuse University football team for his fourth season despite absolutely dismal (three) previous seasons and a win-loss record of 7 and 28. Nice round numbers, those - he has won only 20% of his games.

He took over when the fans and alumni were screaming for a better, more exciting football team. The new Chancellor, Nancy Cantor, and the new Athletic Director, Darryl Gross, agreed and hired Coach Robinson to bring a national championship back to SU.

Coach Robinson had never been a head coach anywhere. He had several jobs prior to coming to SU, mostly in the NFL and had left them unceremoniously. He was in his 50s, and while this may seem odd to say, he was old for his new position.

He was also paid 1.2 million dollars each year. Coach Boeheim of SU basketball fame and with a national championship under his belt makes much less - high 600s or so.

So here we are. Over the course of this year - our record was 2 and 10 - SU rounded out the bottom of the stats for NCAA football. Many SU records were set - of the "worst" variety. The guys who sat behind us cheered enthusiastically: "We're number One....seventeen!" This is out of 120 teams in Division One.

So Coach stays and I am sad. I am sad for the players who came and bought into his (their)vision and spent their collegiate years on a dismal squad. I am sad for the former players, like Larry Csonka and others, who were recognized at halftime at home games for their legendary prowess on the SU campus. The day Csonka was there, SU managed a total of 19 yards rushing.

They say it was money that kept Coach here. He would have to be bought out at about 2 million dollars and then they still would have to pay his successor. And his assistants would have to be let go, because the new coach wouldn't want them.

But the numbers don't seem to make sense. The Carrier Dome was not filled. Tickets were going so cheaply this third season that they were about the same as prices 15 years ago, in some sections. Still the fans didn't come to watch SU lose. I took pictures of the empty stands at game time. My in-laws run a booth for SU and they were called several times to say, "Don't bother to come - not enough people." How much will SU lose next year?

And then there's the respect factor. I know this is education, and supposedly not business, but then what is SU teaching their students? If you negotiate a large enough contract with a high enough penalty, you can keep your job despite being a failure. "Good enough" has become okay.

I do not begin to think that Coach Robinson is counting his money and not giving it his all. But he's not succeeding - and where is the pride in that?

I came to the last game on Saturday with my son. We sat with all the lovable crazies in the touchdown zone in our cheap seats and of course we rooted loudly for SU. But what will indelibly remain for me as the summation of the game and the year occurred early on, during the playing of the Alma Mater. Drs. Kantor and Gross stood in the endzone below us, and while our section rose and took off their hats (and wigs), and stood silently while the band played, Drs. Cantor and Gross laughed and talked throughout it, seemingly oblivious to the import of the song.

Land For Sale

I don't generally write about my listings, but this little bit of land has gotten to me and I want to share it with my readers. Specifically, those of you who live outside of upstate New York.

Picture this: 5 corner acres, wetlands on the road side, over 1000 feet of frontage on one road and 200 on the other, and filled with trees! Huge trees, one with a diameter over 6 feet according to the owner. Wander into the trees and you are lost in the woods.

List price: $5,000.

Now the owners live outside Seattle and found me through the RE/MAX network. Imagine, if you can, what $5,000 would buy you in Seattle these days. And here, in lowly Cayuga County, you can own five acres for less than the price of a used car.

I've advertised it a couple times and received overwhelming response. People call, they ask where it is - Hunter and Baker Roads in Cato - they drive out and see it. They call back and say they like it. They don't buy it.

One man had to take his wife out there before he bought it. After days of calling and talking he drove her there and now doesn't return my calls. I think it's a man thing, this desire to own land. Women - not to stereotype TOO much - want homes, while men want land.

I still believe that someone will fall in love with it and buy it just to sit on it, or in it. He - or she - will build a little cabin and bring a dog or two. He - or she - will fell a tree and craft a rocking chair for the porch. And he - or she - will take pride in owning this pretty piece of land.

Dickens

Ah, it's that time of year! "Dickens" started Friday in Skaneateles for the holiday season.

We drove through the village today around 12:30 just to see what was happening. Cars were already parked up Genesee Street to the churches even though the day was cold - quite cold! - and it was still early.

At the intersection of Genesee and Jordan there seemed to be too much happening. On one corner there was a small group of carolers, on another a few musicians playing their own tunes. Across the street on lakeside there were others doing something, but we couldn't hear what. It was fun, though, festive, and everyone was smiling.

I loved the costumes up and down the street, and frankly I was envious. The big skirts, petticoats, muffs, hats with riboons drawn over cold ears, and the package wrapped by a shawl appeared quite warm, certainly warmer than my jeans!

While I dislike the early Christmas festivities, the early snow has helped ameliorate this feeling and how can you fault Dickens?

For more information, check out www.skaneateles.com.

Coming Home

My son is home for the holiday weekend. He took the train up from Manhattan, a five or so hour journey. It was cheaper, almost as quick as flying, and available at the last minute.

I picked him up at the station by Carousel Mall. Buses pulled in and out, depositing SU students and picking up others coming back to Syracuse. It seemed like one giant dance - everyone on this side move to that side and cause a happy confusion in the middle.

Tonight, after a day of shopping and cooking and baking he's off to visit friends in the village. They're meeting at the Sherwood Inn for dinner and then on to The Cedar House to hear Dusty. They might end up at Morris's or Bluewater. He wants to find a spot to keep an eye on the SU-Ohio State NIT game at 9:30.

Not much has changed in the past 30 or so years. I would ride home from college or yes, take the train. We'd meet friends at someone's house and then go out to TC on the east side. I have no idea if young people around the university area still do this, but I bet they do.

Skaneateles has been described as the perfect 50's community. Beaver would fit in quite well - as well as he ever did in Mayfield. Wally would though and I know an Eddie Haskell. And that's all a good thing, and something precious to be thankful for this weekend.

First Snow

We awakened to find the ground covered with a light snow, the first of the season. I took the dogs out and Boo, the big Bernweiler, put his nose into the snow and flipped it into the air while running full tilt down the paths. I was glad I had elected to go out into the cold sunshine.

I drove into Syracuse for a 9:00 o'clock appointment, filled with the beauty of the hills and looking forward to this blog to tell about how lovely it is here at this time of year. I smiled at the snowplow pulling out onto Route 5 before the turn to 695. There was nothing to plow - the roads were bare past my driveway.

I took the turn and found I was suddenly in the midst of a swirling snowstorm. Traffic slowed to a crawl on 690, cars were off the road or involved in accidents. Some how Syracusans forget how to drive in snow between April and November. Happens every year.

I also remember arriving here in 1990, having been away in the winter for 17 years. I worried aloud that I'd have trouble with the drive into Syracuse from Skaneateles every morning, but was told by an old-timer "There's less snow here than there." He went on to quote statistics - 120 inches average for Syracuse, 75 inches for Skaneateles. I was skeptical; it's less than 25 miles.

Over the years I've realized he was absolutely right, if not perfect with his numbers (more like Cayuga County with the 75 inches...). And here it was again - gorgeous sunshine in Skaneateles and blinding snow in Syracuse.

Welcome, winter!

A November Day

I feel as if this were the quintessential November day in Skaneateles.

I got into the village and the office by 10:00 to wait for a client to come and finish her paperwork for a rental we'd been able to find for her in Marcellus. I ran out quickly to Pomodoro Too (just next door) to get a key chain and then back to do paperwork while I waited for her. She arrived with flowers - gorgeous red gerbera daisies and gold wax flowers that I love because they last so long. Very sweet, and much appreciated on this rainy day that could have been gloomy.

I walked over to another real estate company to deliver papers and stopped to admire the wreaths - now 25% off! - at Fleur-De-Lis on East Genesee Street. Just lovely, and the colors of autumn. The windows up and down the street reflected Thanksgiving preparations -

Pardon this, but it is my soapbox: seasons need to stay within their bounds. I am not ready for Christmas, and I recognize that shop owners do most of their sales for Christmas, but I want one season at a time, please. No decorations for Christmas before Advent, no compulsion to lump it all together. Eat the turkey and the cranberry sauce but don't mix in the cookies, please!

- and I thought how lovely the colors were, reflecting the leaves covering the ground. I stopped in to pick up a signed keepsake from Pomodoro and loved the display of turkeys and candles and wreaths. I got a call from a friend, inviting me in to lunch in the city - only 20 minutes away.

After lunch I drove home the long way to turn in some checks to another company and then came home. I started a fire in the fireplace to reduce the chill and spent the afternoon sending Thanksgiving cards and drinking tea, taking the occasional phone call. I look forward to an evening by the fire with my book, the dogs and cats, and then the debate. I've heard that snow is promised for tomorrow.....

We are so very lucky here to have so much!

Smiling and Thankful

Having just been out buying Thanksgiving cards and small gifts, I was reminded all day that there is so much in my life that makes me smile.

At the post office, in Elbridge, the postmaster is Jim and he always has a comment for everyone who comes in. Sometimes it's caustic - people walk out shaking their heads, but with smiles on their faces. Often it's just a notice that you exist and came into his world. Yesterday, as I bought stamps, he was "in a mood" because the computer had gone down. The line was long, and as I waited I yawned, and immediately he shouted out "Meg, there's no yawning in line!" Everyone laughed.

Maureen at Essentially Bread makes me smile, too. Not really because of what she says - I think she'd admit that "people skills" are not her forte, but because she creates the most wonderful breads and pastries. Try the raspberry torte and try not to smile!

Karen in our office creates amazing moments. I sent out a postcard today and we worried over it a few days. I walked in yesterday and there it was - better than I could have dreamed. Today she left me a message, and when I called her back she just said "And I put a pen in there, too," reading my mind as usual.

The red flame bushes at the corner of Leitch and East Genesee in the village make me happy. They glow. I saw more in Dewitt, an eastern suburb, and they didn't have that incandescence. Must be the water.

I am thankful for so much - the cat purring on my computer table, the warm day, the magnificent view of the lake from the village. And all those people out there who make me smile!

Closing Up

I played hooky this afternoon, knowing that tonight I would pull together a mailing and be up late. I went out to the lake to close up camp with the dogs.

I hadn't been there in a while. The season had changed, and it was colder inside than outside. Even though there was gorgeous sun it was in the process of disappearing over the hill when I arrived around 1:00.

I cleaned out the fridge, pleased that I had done a good job of getting rid of things earlier in the fall. There was still a bag of garbage and things that needed emptying, like cider, that were past their due dates. But all in all it was easy. Not like in the old days when I would dig at the ice in the freezer for a day.

We had had a marvelous summer there. For the first time since we renovated it in 2004 we had been able to stay there consistently. We opened in May and here it was mid-November.

After I was done - the electricity turned off, the refrigerator doors propped open with towels, the garbage and recyclables hauled up to the car - we took a walk down the front by the lake. We moseyed past the camps until I realized that there was enough beach in front of the seawalls to walk on and jumped down.

I remembered walking the length of the lake - almost 5 miles probably (this is Otisco) - with my son and two of his friends when they were little. We just started and kept on, fascinated by the deserted camps and our ability to walk on the shoreline. At the south end we called back to camp to get a ride. The kids were tired that night!

Today my feet and the dogs' crunched dried zebra mussels, something we didn't have back then. They've invaded the lakes, making them cleaner but deadly on the feet. Shoes are necessary in some spots in the summer., but harmless now.

Done with our short walk we went back up to camp and left, but found once we were on the road that the propane truck was ahead of us filling tanks. Several people now live on the road year-round, whole families have been raised there.

Not for me. I like the openings in the spring and the closings in the fall.

Saying Good-bye

A client - now a friend - e-mailed me that she would forever miss her lakefront home.

I was reminded of my mother, who left her home in 2002 because she was unable to stay there any longer for health reasons. I remember seeing her look up at it as we stood on the sidewalk, and I can only imagine what she was thinking and feeling.

She had come to that home as a 26 year old bride. The house must have seemed huge to her - 3 bedrooms on Thornden Park in Syracuse by the university. I'm sure she took the hardwoods for granted, but not the fireplace and the French doors. Over the next 56 years she enjoyed the screened in front porch and the back yard, especially the back yard bordering the park.

A series of dogs and cats lived in the house; the dogs were always walked at least twice a day in the park, rain, shine or snow. Cherry trees and apple trees blossomed by the peonies and the daisies she tended. Birds and squirrels fed from her feeders. Lilac trees in May blooming in the park gave her two weeks of incredible joy.

The house she loved in the end turned on her: one bathroom upstairs was not conducive to arthritic knees. The basement laundry became too much. When changes were suggested she refused them, saying it wasn't right to hurt the house because of her needs.

She looked at that house the last day and then turned away, never to even drive down the street again during the last four years of her life. She missed it, I know, as she missed her sister and her mother. It was as tangible as a person, as well-loved. She didn't denigrate her new situation - one-floor living, 13 acres of "park-like setting." The dog still got walked, she used a park bench to rest, new birds were well-fed. But I know she missed that house forever.

Beware of Easements!

It used to be a handshake changed properties. That and a coin or two. But problems arise when that handshake agreement gets recorded.

I am selling a waterfront property. This is a great property, one that my buyers would love to own. For months the attorneys and abstract and title companies have poured over the deeds and the abstract to sort out who owns what. In the end, my buyers' attorney has discovered that the sellers of the property's ancestors sold strips of land (!) to their neighbors right in the middle of their property. These are four foot paths, easements, rights of way - but they are actually owned by the neighbors. If they want to cut down trees and put in a waterfall, they may! If they want to park cars on the property, they may! Oh my!

Current status: trying to find a way to make it all work

This reminded me of another mess. People bought property and were told by their lawyer to close even though the survey and deeds hadn't been sorted out. "It will be okay," he said. Well, no! They returned to their new home a couple days later to find a stake in the driveway. They owned half, not all. That acre they bought? Not really - only half - and the neighbors owned the other half. Too late - they had closed!

Current status: the neighbors were paid for their land (on top of the original price) to make it the full one acre

These are both cautionary tales. So when the lawyers want to take weeks going through abstracts and deeds - let them!

Initial Thanks

Way back in April I attended a conference in Syracuse. It was sponsored by WISE - Women Igniting the Spirit of Entrepreneurship. I had gone to hear Patience Brewster (www.patiencebrewster.com) speak about how she had started her business of cards and ornaments. Although I knew the story well - she's from Skaneateles and my son has been part of the company from the beginning - I hadn't heard her speak. One of my clients was starting her own card line and I wanted to see if I could pick up some ideas.

Long introduction to this, but.....As things happen I found more than I had expected. In a breakout session I began speaking with a woman who was busily working on her laptop. By way of conversation I asked what she did, how she happened to be there, the usual stuff. She told me that her company was working on digitization. I was certain I didn't know that, but she added that she was blogging and of that I had at least a passing awareness.

Now the story gets shorter. She gave me her card, Jill Hurst-Wahl of Hurst Associates, and assured me that with a bit of help I could add blogging to my real estate strategy. Moreover, I would like it! We met a few weeks later at Panera Bread and over lunch she launched me and my blog. It was that simple.

I want to thank her immensely and publicly for giving me this blog. I still need to know more about how to expand it, but I am thrilled to have joined the millions of bloggers out there. If you want to see a fully developed blog, try hers: hurstassociates.blogspot.com.

Again, thanks, Jill! You ignited me!

Many Thanks plus Notes

I am thankful for dentists who leave time open on Mondays for emergencies that arose over the weekend.

I am thankful for nitrous oxide which smoothes the pain of extractions without anasthesia!

I am thankful for movies like "The Pursuit of Happyness" which inspire and challenge.

I am thankful for other agents who work not from the standpoint of greed, but for what is best for everyone.

I am thankful for the first bit of snow we got today - makes it feel more like November.

I am thankful for Mirbeau, the magnificent spa and hotel in Skaneateles that is truly a gift to the area. I will spend an evening there soon, so look for a future blog.

Note #1: The candidate with the wonderful signs did not win the election yesterday.

Note #2: I also received an e-mail reminding me that Hillary Clinton is not from New York, we are just her chosen state from which she can launch her presidential campaign and represent us in the Senate. I remember not understanding why Robert Kennedy should represent New York, either....

Signs, Signs, Everywhere There're Signs!

It's election day so all the signs will be gone - one hopes - tomorrow.

One candidate's signage stood out this year in our area. Karen Hanford was running for Onondaga County legislator opposing former Skaneateles mayor, now county legislator, Jim Rhinehart.

Ms. Hanford borrowed from the old Burma Shave signs and at each site placed four signs reading various composite messages. She "talked" about the taxes we face, the trucks that forge their ways down the country roads, global warming. Instead of just her name, she got her message out there. It was truly amazing - no two signs were alike, each phrase was unique. I have to admit her presentation was incredibly effective, at least for this Realtor.

The only response that counts is the electoral vote. We'll know later tonight if her strategy worked and her message was well-received.

We may also have the first female County Executive. Joanie Mahoney, a stay-at-home mother for the past 10 years and former prosecutor, appears to be winning against Bill Magnarelli, a state assemblyman. I'll post the results.

Next year the Presidential election! At this point it looks as if the winner will be someone from New York. But a year is a very long time!

It's Gone!

I just walked into the office for an appointment and looked up as I have been doing all this year at the Old Stone Mill. The little top - what was it used for? - on the roof that was probably some sort of ventilation/cupola is gone.


The Old Stone Mill which to me was the center of Skaneateles is being renovated. It will eventually be condos and some kind of retail, I think. I've always thought it would make a good village center for boutiques and candy stores and a coffee house, a small restaurant looking out over the lake. It will certainly be beautiful, I am sure, in its new incarnation.


I remember trying to entice a friend years ago to create a coffee and book shop in it. He disagreed, saying it would never go, that it needed to be on Genesee Street. Ah well! (Creekside Coffee and Books down Fennell Street has proved him wrong - but then I broached my idea 15 years ago.)


Back to the Old Stone Mill: For years it housed Under the Stone, the place where we went as young adults to drink and eat and talk. The restaurant above closed on New Year's Eve, 2001, I believe, never to open again. I showed the building in the fall of 2002, and there were the place settings, the ketchup still on the tables, the still-decorated Christmas trees drying in the hallways. I felt it was like the Titanic and the people had just disappeared.

But it will reopen with a new roof that it badly needed, much, much scraping and cleaning, a whole new interior and additional exterior, with just the outer stones remaining to remind the world that it once proudly served Skaneateles as an old stone mill.

November

November is the time of harvest and Thanksgiving for that harvest. From time to time this month I want to share some things that make me grateful.

My first Thanksgiving message is for my clients, the people who have helped me build my business and without whom I would be lost. Not only do they bring me business, but they trust me to see it through. I have entire families for whom I am grateful, people who count me as their only Realtor. They give me their in-laws and cousins, friends and acquaintances.

But it's not just all business for which I am blessed with these clients. They treat me wonderfully! They never ever - and I may be the only Realtor out there who can say this - impinge on my time. They are courteous and kind, offering to help me out whenever they can. "When would be good for you?" they ask. It's like that Verizon commercial, with "The Network" standing behind the client, ready to be there at a moment's notice. I feel that from my clients, strangely enough.

Over the past six years I've seen many marriages, many children born, a few deaths and much heartache. It touches me that people bring me into their lives and even if it's only for a few short months while we buy and sell, there's a connection made. It is civilization at its finest.

I look forward to staying in this field for many more years and watching an entire generation grow up. I am truly blessed to have found this career, and I am most especially blessed to have my clients.


Note: Yesterday's blog about Halloween needs correcting. The haunted home with the children's toys was in Lyons, New York, not Seneca Falls as I mistakenly thought.