Oh, What a Night!

Last Wednesday the Skaneateles Chamber had an "after hours" event at the new Finger Lakes on Tap.  It's located in the Creekside building and has taken the coffee house part of it.  As Amber Spain from our office said, they replaced all the coffee images and decorations with those of beer.  And they did a few other things, too.

One of those things was to put in over 60 taps for local beers.  How wonderful!

The event gave us a chance to try several of the beers in small quantities.  I love IPAs, but lately have been leaning towards lagers for some reason.  I tried a black IPA that was great, and then something that was not. I honestly just left it there.  I needed help - and the bartender/owner provided me with a couple samples that were perfect.  One I wanted to remember was Cortland Industrial...heavy name for a full-flavored beer.

I like that they left the basic configuration.  Taps downstairs with a few tables and the long bar, and then the upstairs loft for quiet talk.  They serve food, not a huge selection but enough to be intriguing.  The little bits we had were great.  I will definitely be back - for lunch, for late afternoon talks....I am so glad they are there! They serve wine, too, plus selections from 1911.  Check out their website:  http://fingerlakesontap.com for
more information.

It was a busy night...I drove back to Elbridge and met Bob so we could go to see Loren Barrigar and Mark Mazengarb at one of the churches in the Village.  Loren is from there, and sometimes plays when he can get home from his travels.  Mark is from New Zealand, and the two of them are an unlikely combination except for the fact that they are both incredible guitarists.  I have never heard anything like them.  We perched upstairs in the balcony and just enjoyed.  They are stars in the music world, and here they were in lowly Elbridge, the ad for them being a small sign out in front of the brick church.  It was homey and fun, but the sound....!

They played the next night at a CD release party....the audience paid to come and listen.  We hadn't, only an offering was made to help the church.

I love the NEW TIMES photo - no one is "grinnin'" and Mark looks like a young Tom Smothers.  But at least at the church, and I am sure wherever they play, the audience is smiling.  If you can get to one of their shows, do!

As I said, "Oh, what a night!"

The STAR Program in New York State

I just finished writing to the people who bought homes with me last year.  At closing many received the STAR application form, but along with the mortgage info and everything else it could easily get "filed."  The deadline to file for exemption and tax relief is March 1st, which is coming up quickly.  I wanted to make sure they knew and took action if they were eligible and wanted to do so.

The STAR program (School Tax Relief) was enacted under Governor George Pataki in 1997.  It basically takes $30,000 off the assessed value of the primary residence for the purpose of the school taxes.  Schools do not "lose" the money...the state makes it up, which, I suppose, means that somewhere we all still pay it.

As homeowners age, and incomes lessen, there is also a senior or "enhanced" STAR program aimed at making taxes more affordable and therefore keeping older people in their homes.  The age is 65 and, if eligible, the exemption is $65,300 instead of the $30,000.

I compared two homes - ours and another - to see how much the actual amount is with the basic STAR.  A house in Skaneateles School District (either Village or town) that is assessed for $305,000 earns an annual STAR "rebate" of $436.  Our house in Jordan-Elbridge Schools is assessed for $244,000...a lot less, right?But our STAR rebate is a whopping $788!  We pay a heck of a lot more taxes than in the Skaneateles School District.  Of course if you were to find our home and land in the District it would most likely double in value, and we would pay more because of it....(you know I can go on and on about this!)

The important thing to take away from this discussion is to file your STAR application if you haven't already.  To see how much you get, once it is filed and to make sure it is on file, go to ongov.net and look up your property.  Again, the deadline is March 1st - a week from this coming Tuesday.

"Now is the Winter of Our Discontent..."

"Now is the winter of our discontent

Made glorious summer by this son of York."

King Richard (Richard III - Shakespeare, of course) starts his soliloquy with these two famous lines, and they - or at least the first line - have been floating through my brain these last few weeks.  Reading the second line gave me chills - and not from the cold.

These winter days seem to have been made up for me with reading, showing houses, some exercising when I can get out for showshoeing or Bob gets me skating, watching CNN and the other channels for politics, and encouraging friends who have run into health roadblocks.  Today a friend is in surgery for heart issues, another in the hospital with a broken (quickly replaced) hip, and a third undergoing radiation treatments for prostate cancer.  Winter of our discontent, indeed!

I daily rage against the insanity of the Presidential campaign....dear heavens, Trump?  To represent the United States?  Having insulted everyone?

And there is that second line..."Made glorious summer by this son of York..."  So these desolate days will be made perfect again by a new commander.  How wonderful that would be - but TRUMP?!

Our country is great and not swooning.  Yes, it isn't perfect but it is great.  We have weathered hard economic times and come through.  Now is the time for perfecting what was started, not desecrating our country.  There will always be work to do.

I thought of the Emperor's New Clothes, that wonderful tale of a leader who thought he was so perfect and convinced everyone else he was incredible, that a "tailor" could actually sell him invisible clothes that could only be seen by the informed, as it were.  Since no one, including the emperor, wanted to be seen as stupid, they all agreed that yes, the royal robes were magnificent.  Except a small boy, who laughed at the charade and the naked emperor....He saw through it all, and pointed it out.  We need that small boy now to take down Trump.  Many, many "small boys" to do that.

Bob and I watched an old Twilight Zone.  The upstart politician wanted to start a movement, a revolution. He wasn't listened to, until he was told that making an "in" class and an "out" class would bind the majority together against the outsiders, a common theme for Rod Serling.  But seeing it with Trump in mind was terrifying.  Of course, in the end, the character morphs into Hitler.

History and literature are there with so many examples that we don't have to go far.  We just need to remember the lessons of the past in order not to repeat them.

Skaneateles Real Estate - The Not Freezing Any More Update

I am sitting at my desk at home watching huge flakes fall on the bird feeders outside my window.  This morning I slogged through the water that was under the snow to get to the office for a quick meeting with Martin Carpenter, our broker.  Bob had pushed down the snow at the foot of the driveway with his car as he left for Dewitt, and the Fiat plowed right through it.  I saw no one on slippery 321 on the way in except two cars off the road.  One had Florida plates, Chris Evans noted.  My afternoon showing was cancelled (not by me!) and I looked forward to a quiet day by the fire and on the computer. We are going to be snowed in!

As I came downstairs from the meeting Jason told me I was named in an article on Syracuse.com.  Uh oh, I thought, remembering that a reporter had called yesterday and I hadn't returned her call.  I asked him to pull it up for me....Charley Hannagan was writing about the (almost) 7 million dollar house that was just purchased on West Lake Street and will be torn down.  She cited this blog for her reference to two houses in the Village that were also waterfront properties.  I love it!

So as I did my research here this afternoon, feeling quite pleased to know people were reading this blog, I read her article that I had skimmed earlier.  Fascinating, really.  She also references Kihm Winship's blog about the history of Skaneateles...Kihm6.WordPress.com .  Another fascinating read for a snowy day!

This is supposed to be an update, so I will actually pull it together now.  There are currently ONLY 51 single family properties listed in the Skaneateles area of the multiple listing service.  Of these, 15 are in the Village and 8 are considered waterfront.  Expanding to the Skaneateles School District adds another 12....2 each in Niles and Owasco, 4 in Sennett, and 7 in Spafford.  If that confounds your math, then remember that there are listings in Skaneateles which are actually in the Jordan-Elbridge or Marcellus School Districts.

There were 10 listings that appeared as new, meaning coming on the market since January 19th, the date of the last update.  Of these, five were re-lists.  The listings were freshened up - prices possibly reduced, brokerages changed...Homes might have that New! banner on them in Realtor.com.  All in the marketing strategy.

Under contract are 23 properties.  Of these, 11 really are newly purchased.  They range from the low $100,000 to almost 2 million.

Most importantly, 11 single family homes have sold and closed in the first six weeks of 2016.  Keep them coming! Please!

Open House Alert! 4966 Howlett Hill Road

I really like this house!  Tucked away in the trees on such a quiet road.  It's not the Howlett Hill primary section that everyone takes to get from Marcellus to Boom! Boom!   It sits on a spur - certainly called Howlett Hill - but years ago Dunbar Woods Road made a shortcut and left the road more private.  Check it out on your maps....as you will when you go to the open house this Super Bowl Sunday, 

February 7th, from 11:00 to 1:00.

The patio on the south side of the house, reached through the kitchen.

The rear of the house, as seen from the wooded lot - that balcony comes off the master bedroom.

Comfortable living room - a gas fireplace to cozy it up, windows to bring in the light! 

(This photo is taken from the kitchen which opens to the living room.)

I didn't show the master bedroom, which is huge!  Large enough for a king-sized bed and a couple couches even.  It really takes up the whole upstairs.  And then of course it has that deck.

There are two bedrooms and another full bath down, a dining room and small sitting room that would make an open-style office with its own entrance.

But I like the lot.  Fully fenced, with a little pond and great trees.  I have often said it would be a dog's paradise.  I would take the patio...

So go to see it - ML#S344026 - on Sunday.  I will be setting up our Super Bowl party - Go Peyton! - but Amber Spain-Mosher will be your host.  She knows it well, and also lives in Marcellus if you have questions about the town or Village.  And while you're there, you can buy it - only $189,900!