Skaneateles Real Estate - Dog Days Update

Now why do they call them that?  "Dog Days."  I have a vision of our Boo just lying around in the heat on a dusty road, his tongue lolling out.  No, that's Charlie, and his tongue is always out (only has two teeth!)  The market is sluggish - waterfront is getting shown, and yes, I have sold a non-waterfront home or two in the past couple weeks, but this is the down part of summer.  People from other parts of the country believe it's the best season - but not here.  Everyone is too busy soaking up the sun to go look at houses.

We have 103 active listings in the Skaneateles area of the multiple listing service.  Of these, 25 are waterfront and 24 are in the Village.  There are 8 new listings - or rather, 4 absolutely new and 4 re-lists, some from a few years ago.  The new ones are two in the town and two waterfront homes.

Waiting to close are 32 properties.  That seems like a lot, and I must say getting things closed in the summer is sometimes a challenge.  Again - sun-soaking takes precedence.  There are also vacations to take into account and holidays.

In the past two weeks since the last update 8 houses have come under contract - 2 waterfront, 2 Village and 4 in the town.  I still say it's sluggish - except for waterfront, homes are not being shown as regularly.

We now have 40 closings for the year.  In the next few days I will write up the Second Twenty, the list of homes that closed and the price at which they closed.  Three new closings brought us to forty - one each for Town, Village and Waterfront.  None of the new closings were listed over $300,000.

Last year and the year before were boom years.  By this time last year we had 56 closings.  I am now willing to admit that it will be a slower year.  Our inventory is down, list prices are slightly higher, and so are the mortgage rates.  The combination puts a damper on the market.  Add to that our eternal winter - remember snow and turtlenecks in May? - and it's not surprising.  I do look forward to a robust fall however!

So go sun-soak - enjoy the season - but pick out your new home and casually drop by an open house or two.  Summer in Skaneateles is a privilege!