Thanksgiving

We went to New York to see ARLO after they had their Thanksgiving.  For the first time ever they had their own celebration.  Generally they had gone to families - either ours (before they were married) or since then, to Rachel's extended family which was centered around her mother's very good college friends and had grown voluminously over the years  They chose to make the holiday theirs this year, eliminating a lot of traveling and stress.

In the morning Rachel and her father took the boys to the Macy's Thanksgiving Day parade.  It was a glorious day - warm and bright.  All those terrorists had to take a back seat to the beauty of the day and the staunchness of New York City residents.

Alex stayed home and made the meal.  He roasted a turkey, which I think is pretty good for a vegetarian. The boys love it - and Ollie could eat all the time anyway - and it's Rachel's favorite meat.  Next year Bob will teach him how to make a tofurkey.  I was so proud of him, and of them, to start their own holiday tradition.  (Of course, if they try to do that with Christmas I won't like it at all!)

We came on Friday and by that time the boys were exhausted.  We played around with them in the apartment and then watched the SU basketball game.  Sweet and simple, with the high of the team winning the tournament!

Saturday we drove up to Rachel's parents house in Dutchess County for a Thanksgiving brunch with family members; in-laws like us, aunts cousins...  A lovely tradition, one I appreciated far more than I had in the past.  This is our family now, in sickness and in health.

This has been a difficult year, health-wise, for so many people.  There are so many people I miss already who passed on, and others who are struggling but overcoming huge obstacles.  Rachel's aunt has Parkinson's, but just recently had the surgery that put her back able to care for herself and her husband, has given her her life back to a great degree.  It was marvelous seeing her and her exuberance over being able to live again.

So I am very thankful for my families - Bob's, who shared our dinner and our after-dinner pie tradition, Rachel's open-arms extended family, Alex's stepmother and brother who enrich our lives from a distance, and all my friends who care for us.  And so much more...but this year family has meant a great deal.

P.S.  The photo above - That's Nancy, our niece, who participated in the Turkey Trot on Thanksgiving Day!

Showing Houses at Night

Let it be known first and foremost:  I do not advocate showing houses at night.  There are a zillion or more safety reasons;  Realtors need not put themselves in situations that are in any way precarious.  But with the proper precautions, I am re-thinking my self-imposed prohibition on showing houses at night.

First of all, this is the darkest time of the year and showing hours are limited.  This is the time when, as an administrator of the Spring Hill Waldorf School in Saratoga, I was introduced to Lantern Walk.  The boys and girls each made lanterns and carried them through the streets of Saratoga, singing songs appropriate to the time.  This brought light to the darkness, and created a positive experience for them.  Some said it was instead of Halloween, and all the candy and hoopla....but we had Halloween too.  And they were wonderful walks in the autumn stillness.

I was reminded of this when I showed 24 State Street last week right around sunset.  Intrepid Janet had turned every light on in the house (I swear!) and it glowed.  It looked so warm and inviting - I'm surprised we didn't have people walking up onto the porch and asking to come in!

The first group came with their own agent, a second showing.  They had seen it in the daytime and wanted to explore further.  The agent loved it so much she jokingly said she would buy it herself if her clients didn't! And it showed beautifully, as always.  So beautifully that the buyers decided to stay in their old house but remodel and add lights and decorate, just as Intrepid Janet had done.  Oh my!

I showed it second, after dark, but felt very comfortable knowing the the buyer.  I was worried that the yard wouldn't be able to be seen, but there was still enough light.  As we stood outside I saw how lovely it looked.  A Village home, all lit up on a fall evening.

The next time you drive up or down State Street at night, take a look.  And it's not just 24 State, but all the homes that are lit up.  All the homes in Skaneateles that invite people to stop and stay. What a great Village we have, even in the darkest time of the year!

"What I Did on my Day Off"

Rarely do I take a day that doesn't involve ARLO or another family occasion.  I did yesterday - almost a whole day - and thoroughly enjoyed it.  Definition of a day off:  I did something, but of course I was connected to my cell, making appointments, setting up others, working on closings.  I just wasn't home or in the office or showing/listing property.

I have heard Realtors over the years talk about what they do.  Several mysteriously disappear into Turning Stone for the day.  They wouldn't appreciate my naming them, so I won't.  Others go to the movies rather than wait for weekends or evenings.  Shows are less-filled then.  Others hike or bike;  one woman actually lived out of state and came back only a few days a month - I guess she talked more about her rare days "On."  Because of technology, who knows where anyone is at any given time?

My day was indeed rare.  I went to Carlo's on West Genesee in Syracuse for my regular hair appointment and then took off from there.  Destination:  Utica, and the Munson-Williams-Proctor Arts Institute and Museum.  They had been showing a collection of French Impressionism (Monet to Matisse) and it was due to leave on the 29th.  With all the focus on France this past week, it made it especially important to me.

The art institute is lovely, and the paintings were beautiful.  I found myself drawn to less-known artists who painted seasides and tiny details.  There were several timelines that put the era in perspective with what was happening in the world in the mid to late 19th century.  I wandered over to the Fountain Elms, the home built in 1852 and owned by the family that gave the grounds to the art institute.  There I was, on my day "off," admiring the home with several rooms preserved in the fashion of the day, all ready for the Christmas holidays.  What Utica must have been like when homes like this lined Genesee Street!

I passed on the Terrace Cafe, filled with mid-week diners, and returned to the art institute.  I wanted to re-visit a painting I had fallen in love with the first time through earlier.  This is "A Coach Stop on the Place de Passy" by Edmond Georges Grandjean.

In the Museum it is huge, and certainly loses quite a bit here.  The horses shine, there's a small French flag displayed in the rear, the building is so "French."  (Reminds me of our old Paris Flea, now the corner bakery.)

I ate pumpkin Chobani in the car followed by a great macintosh apple, considered putting the top down, and then sped away to the Thruway.  In an hour I was back in Syracuse, turning up the heat for a friend who had been away a couple weeks.  A homeless man asked me for money and I gave him some (rare) and a woman approached me for a ride to the grocery store as I stopped.  I ran her over the few blocks to Tops in Westvale.  I felt generous and filled.

Skaneateles Real Estate - The Fall Update

"When the frost is on the pumpkins..."  Actually, I just looked it up and it's "punkin" - a poem by James Whitcomb Riley.  Anyway, it's frosty out there even though on Sunday, driving to my open house on Clover Road, I had the top down on the Fiat.  Any day we can take from the winter months is glorious....

There are currently only 72 single family home listings in the Skaneateles area of the multiple listing service. Of these, 24 (a huge proportion) are in the Village and only 7 (a small proportion) are considered waterfront. Only five new houses have come on the market in the past month, and four were re-listed.  I know when I open my hotsheet daily I see the November-type listings...almost twice as many reductions in price as new listings.

There are, however, 32 properties waiting to close.  Seven new ones have joined the list, of which 4 are Village homes.  None are waterfront...it's been that kind of year.

And now the fun number: 109 single family homes have sold this year so far.  Amazing!  In the past month five closed in the Village, 3 were waterfront, and one was a simple town property.  I am sure everyone is inspired by the possibility of rates going up - almost 4% now - and of course our lovely Village and lake.

SUPER Open House Alert! 121 Clover Road

We have all agreed that it is time for 121 Clover in Westvale to be sold.  The open house this weekend -  pardon me, the SUPER open house this weekend - will get the job done, I am sure.

First of all, what is this house and why hasn't it sold?  As you may or may not know, Westvale is a part of the Town of  Geddes that was built/developed in the 1950s.  Homes are generally small, garages attached, and in many ways it is the essence of the Eisenhower years.  Neighbors knew neighbors, fences were for talking over.  The swimming pool was the next new thing.  The roads were not city sidewalks, but roads for walking and visiting.  Holidays were and are huge!  For Halloween and Christmas the homes are decked to the nines.  We had friends who lived there and we would visit on Christmas Eve to see the luminarias lining the road.  Schools were close by and the center of life.  Quietly Westhill Schools grew into schools dedicated to high standards; testing scores went up and up.  

So here is 121 Clover Road, OPEN SUNDAY 11:00 to 3:00

  

                                                           $119,500.....ML#S340937

A pretty house, right?  The front door is neatly centered, there's a window box on the right, the left window is large.  Shutters, green lawn, attached garage on the left, sidewalk to the front door.  Would you believe that there are actually five bedrooms in this house?  That it's over 1600 square feet?  Upstairs there are three bedrooms, one of which could be turned into a full bath.  Downstairs, on the first floor, are another two and a full bath.

People walk in and think they are looking at a ranch but discover the upstairs quickly.  "Oh no," they say, "I don't want a big house!"  "Think of it as an attic!" I want to scream, but smile pleasantly.

People walk by and think they are looking at a ranch and never open the front door.  "Oh dear," they say, "I thought it was larger - they must be counting the finished basement in the square footage."  I never get a chance to say otherwise.

Then there's the pool issue, a lovely inground pool that remarkably doesn't take up the whole back yard. Some people never see it - others don't want it.  It can go away...I have several friends who have plowed theirs under for not a great deal of $$$.  Really!  

The SUPER part of the open is to attract everyone who has even a slight inclination towards Westvale. Amber Spain will be your host from 11:00 to 1:00 and then I will take over until 3:00. Hopefully people will come, because for the price of $119,500 it's a great home. I am also offering an incentive of $500 in the form of a Wegman's gift card if an offer is written and accepted by November 26th, the day before Thanksgiving.  That's after you make your deal with the seller.

Please come and bring an open mind and, if you're not in the market, a friend.  The more buzzzzzzz we get the better!

Football

It's been one of those weeks, when so many things have converged that I can't ignore or not write this particular blog.

Which came first?  And does it matter....

A friend - fellow Realtor in another state, as it happens - sent over the photo from long ago of his Sherman Park team.  It was light-hearted, meant to be a reminder of the good old days when these guys were maybe 12 to 14.  His brother passed away this summer, so he had spent time resurrecting photos of that time, of our neighborhood.  At the wake we all stared at them.  A friend pointed out several member of the teams who had died, or gone on to incredible careers, gotten married....etc.

Last week I had gone to dinner with a friend at Doug's, as always talking about the old days...  This photo came in and I sent it over to him.  His texted response... "Hated every minute of it."

The Syracuse University - Louisville game was played while we were visiting ARLO in Manhattan.  We recorded the game, but after a day with the boys we were too tired to watch.  I checked the score on my cell right before sleep - I knew we had most likely lost, but how.  And most importantly was everyone healthy?  No, apparently.  Eric Dungey, the freshman quarterback from a little town in Oregon I had visited a few years ago, had "writhed in pain on the field" and then left the game with a head injury.  Only four minutes left in the game, down by 31 points.  He had been sidelined previously for another, earlier head injury a few weeks ago....and he was still in there, scrambling.  As tired as I was, I didn't sleep well.  Nightmarish stuff.

Yesterday I heard from a friend that her son had a concussion.  A young man, about the age of the guys pictured above.  I texted "How?"  "Football."

I am going to the SU - Clemson game tomorrow at the Dome with an old friend from the Sherman Park era. We used to walk over from her house to the games; her brother parked cars, we sat in the stands in Archbold Stadium in the open air, usually on the wrong side of the field.  Men smoked cigars and puffed in our faces, but we cheered our guys on.  Larry Csonka, Floyd Little, Coach Ben Schwartzwalder.....

Clemson is number one in the country, right now.  The SU team is hopelessly outclassed.  The third string - or is it fourth-string? quarterback will take over for Dungey.  There's another guy possible...hasn't played a lick of QB for SU.  Up against the number one team.

When Coach Schafer first took over from Doug (Dream Job) Marrone, he was introduced at an SU basketball game which we attended.  It was right after the NFL players had filed their suit because they were so very injured during their playing time, and then forgotten.  Coach Schafer talked about fighting hard, being aggressive, "knocking a few heads together..."   I may be paraphrasing, but whatever he said made me wince.

I worry about young men being hurt and disabled for life.  Bud Poliquin in the Post-Standard today wrote about Schafer's call to keep Dungey in the game, even when there was no chance of winning.  Coach said there was, but as Poliquin details, there wasn't.  Coach is a commander who leads his troops into battle, knowing there is a high probability - he does know this, doesn't he? - that it is all for nought, that players could get hurt with reckless and unnecessary plays.

We'll still go to the Clemson game.  I'll still watch my Seahawks and Peyton Manning and the Giants; we'll still host the family Super Bowl party.  But I'm not sure I will ever be back to an SU football game after Saturday.  Even when Coach Schafer goes.  It's just too hard to watch.

And oh yes....I hope Eric Dungey transfers to Harvard, a chance he passed up to play for Coach Schafer and Syracuse University.

Skaneateles Real Estate - The Fifth Twenty

Amazing year!  And with rates possibly going up in December PLEASE lock in a rate and a home before then!

10 Lakeview Circle         Village of Skaneateles      $330,000

2708 East Lake Road      Town of Skaneateles       $340,000

1562 Heifer Road            Town of Skaneateles       $273,000

5 East Lake Street           Village of Skaneateles      $295,000

1541 East Lake Road      Town of Spafford            $280,000

46 East Elizabeth St.         Village of Skaneateles     $242,000

2591 East Lake Road       Town of Skaneateles      $595,000

23 Calemad Drive             Town of Sennett             $475,000

4224 County Line Road    Town of Skaneateles      $472,000

1137 Hencoop Road        Town of Skaneateles      $450,000

1539 Tracy Drive             Town of Spafford           $410,000

32 East Street                   Village of Skaneateles    $390,425

78 Fennell Street               Village of Skaneateles    $149,500

796 Franklin Street            Town of Skaneateles     $162,500

73 West Elizabeth St.        Village of Skaneateles    $196,000

1934 Amnaste Lane          Town of Skaneateles      $228,750

1957 Amnaste lane            Town of Skaneateles      $220,000

4574 Vinegar Hill Road     Town of Skaneateles      $219,000

26 State Street                   Village of Skaneateles    $190,000

25 Hannum Street              Village of Skaneateles    240,000