Open House Alert! March 30th - 50 West Genesee Street

I love this photo!  The house looks just like this - such a pretty flow...hardwoods, the stairs going up with the stained glass at the landing.  Under the stairs is a hiding place for little ones.  You look through from the front hall to the dining room, into the kitchen and then over the family/office room out onto the deck.  

Gorgeous wooden trim too.

With spring arriving on Sunday - which it will!  I promise! - I will open the front doors once again.  I might even find a way to put a chair on the porch for people-watching.

I was in the house yesterday showing it and we realized that with all the leaves off you can get a very good view of the lake (in the distance, and snow-covered) through the trees from the third floor.  I often wonder if people go by and think of it as only a two-story home.  The third gets left out, but that's where the media room or playroom could be.  Yesterday we talked about building another bath up there in the closet area - a fourth full bath that would be!  And looking out the back, over the garage, you can see the houses on the hills now that there are absolutely no leaves on the trees.  It's fun to try to identify the streets and specific homes.

The price is $390,000; the hours are 1:00 to 3:00.  Have lunch at the Sherwood and walk the couple blocks west to #50, explore it, and then walk back to discuss it over pie or creme brulee or a glass of sherry at the Inn.  If you go to Gilda's, try the dates (my favorite).

Whatever you decide, stop in!  I would love to know that you read about the open house on this blog!

Skaneateles Real Estate - The Still Winter Update

So - it's March 13th and this is the view from my kitchen.  The table lets us know how much snow has fallen - yesterday morning there was nothing on it but birdseed.  The chair you see in the background was where I sat to get a bit of a tan (50 degrees!) just two days ago.  That was after I came home from my brokers' open at 51 Calemad in the Fiat with the top down.  I try to explain this to my "Words with Friends" friend in Australia.  I imagine her just shaking her head.  Why not?  We all do!

Needless to say the winter has been slow.  Currently there are only 61 single family homes listed in the Skaneateles area of the multiple listing service.  Of these, 14 are in the Village and 17 are considered waterfront.  Since reporting last about four weeks ago only six first-time listings have come on the market. Three others were re-listed, getting ready for spring.  None of the new listings are in the Village.  They range in price from under $200,000 to 2.5 million for waterfront with acreage.  Two of the new listings are homes to be built by a builder.

Homes have managed to sell.  Five homes have gone under contract, two in the Village.  Another is waterfront and two others are homes in the town.  I've shown homes and had my listings shown, but there are usually issues related to weather or timing.  Now that Daylight Savings Time is here - and maybe spring around the corner? - I expect things to pick up.

The very good news is that homes have closed.  We have 12 now, year-to-date.  Seven closed in the past month this means.  Three were waterfront, one was in the Village, another was a newly built Village home, and the others were in the town.  Even though this is a small sample, the median price is well over $300,000. Last year 14 homes had sold and closed by now and the year before the number was 13....we are in good shape!  Inventory must improve to make it a banner year again.

So I wish you all well.  Tomorrow the temperature goes up into the 40s, Syracuse University starts its March madness with the ACC Tournament, I plan on one (at least!) of my listings selling this weekend, and I look forward to walking Charlie through the Village.  And getting there with the top down on the Fiat, too!