Nighty-night, 2015

Time to let it go.....with statistics and commentary!

There were 129 single family homes sold in the Skaneateles area of the multiple listing service during 2015.  Of these, 46 were in the Village, 17 were considered Waterfront, and therefore 66 were from the Town.  Two were both Village and Waterfront....so I've included them in the Waterfront stats.

This is unusual...and a continuation of a trend begun a couple years ago.  In the past, about 25% of all sales have been Village and another 25% have been waterfront.  The percentage might go up and down and vary a bit, but it was almost a constant that the two types of homes would be about equal in percentage of sales.  Not any more...Waterfront is way down while Village is way up.  Remember this as I write about the sales prices.

So, calling Villlage now actually 44 houses, the highest list price was $995,000 and the lowest was $100,000.  The median was $295,000.   The median was a bit lower than has been typical in past years.  And yes, a house was listed for $100,000 in the Village!  It sold for that, too.

Looking at Waterfront, the list prices ranged from $269,000 to $6,999.  Five were listed over a million dollars.  The median was $625,000.  Hmmmm....could be why there were so few Waterfront homes sold this year.

Let's compare all this to the category I call "Town" - neither waterfront or Village.  The list price range was $60,000 to $799,000.  The median price was $244,000.  Remember, these are houses that actually sold and closed.

Skaneateles doesn't have many condos.  Only 6 closed in the past year.  The listing price range was $199,000 to $1.145M.  Sale prices were $175,000 to $999,000.  Although taxes are much lower for condos, there is always the dreaded HOA fee.  These ranged from $160 to $500/month.

And we don't have many multi-families, proving once again that there are reasons why rentals are so very hard to find in the Central New York area.  Two closed in the past year:  the one in the Village closed for $215,000 and the one in the town (with acreage) closed for $340,000.

On to lots!  There were a dozen that closed, and only one of these was waterfront.  (Bet you can guess which one!)  Prices ranged from an almost unbelievable $3,900 (list) to 1.1M (also list price).  They each sold for less:  $3,000 and $992,000.  The median for lots was $98,000 (list price and not waterfront).


Hopefully this helps put the past year in perspective.  Skaneateles has so many unique homes, and so many range in condition from the newly constructed luxury homes and incredible lakeside mansions to older, well-loved homes tucked away in cornfields.  There is no guarantee from year to year that a home will come on the market that meets buyer's needs or wishes.  But isn't it wonderful?  No cookie-cutter houses here...and that lake!  The joy of living in the area makes all the costs worthwhile.