Open Houses Alert! Sunday, December 4th

First up is 8805 Horton Street in the Village of Weedsport.  Jeannine Larose will be your host from 11:00 to 1:00.  It's a small house, yes, but certainly Alex, Rachel and and the boys live in a smaller apartment in Manhattan and pay waaaaaaaay more!  Plus their garage is about 20 blocks north instead of in the back yard.  They have two (sort of, kind of) bedrooms and this has only one real bedroom, but it's twice the size of the legal one in their apartment.  Oddly, they have a half bath which doubles as a much-needed closet. Horton Street has closets - several of them without toilets.  While the kids look out at Liam's new school - literally into the classroom and courtyard - Horton Street is a quiet, residential area.  And you can own Horton Street - actually own it and get tax benefits from it for about $2700 less per month.

Look! Two of the cedars are gone now!  That's the garage at the end of the driveway (a good place for it!) On the right side of the house is the sunporch, which with some work and imagination could be a second bedroom, if necessary.  Again, open Sunday from 11:00 to 1:00....

I will be at 188 East Genesee Street in the Village of Skaneateles from 12:00 to 2:00.  There will be plenty of time for you to come to the open house and then still walk into the Village for the Dickens celebration.  I hope to have some good, healthy refreshments, too - think apples, cranberry juice, seasonal things.

This is a beautiful home for the holidays!  I've said before that it reminds me of the house in which I grew up in Syracuse, by the University.  We had French doors too, and as a little girl I'd come down the stairs before dawn on Christmas day and, being the good little girl I was, just sit and wonder what was under the Christmas tree that I could see through those French doors.  Usually there were two unwrapped gifts:  A Madame Alexandra doll and a Steiff animal.  But I'd run back upstairs with those sugarplums in my head and wait for dawn when I could wake my parents.

Hardwoods reflected the Christmas tree lights, the French doors kept me at bay...the fire in the fireplace made it all cheery and warm.  Dinner was served in the dining room with sconces similar to the ones on the wall here. The garage was detached, as this one is, with little space behind it.  But we had a park that gave the illusion of depth.  This house has that illusion too - fields in which the kids play even though owned by someone else.  Our driveway was narrow, so narrow that there was permanent damage on the corner of the house!  The driveway at 188 East Genesee is wider, and not shared.

Come and see the house and visit with me on Sunday, from 12:00 to 2:00.  We can talk about how this home would accommodate your holidays!  Maybe have some eggnog too!


P.S.  I've (quietly) changed the comment requirements here for the blog so anyone can write in....I'll monitor it, but it will be easier than e-mailing me, I think.

Skaneateles Real Estate - The Post-Election Update

I do know the election happened three weeks ago, but it is still reverberating and will for a while.  I love surprises, and I watch sports so much because I never know what will happen.  I don't like that in my politics - there is too much at stake.  The uncertainty of the 2000 election was cerebral, not emotional.  I never felt threatened; I knew whichever way it turned out that everything would be all right.  Years and years ago one of my favorite books was A Separate Peace by John Knowles.  One small part of the novel elucidated a character by his belief in a group of old men who sat in a room, eating their steaks and smoking cigars, making sure that "everything would be all right."  There's something good about that, even though I would add an equal amount of women in the room now.

The week after the election I went on a trip to Alabama, of all places, to visit my cousins.  I had learned about safety pins by then, but never saw one outside of Skaneateles.  I didn't wear one either - they were hardly a "hidden" sign any more.  But Alabama was fine, on the surface and on the Gulf Shore.  I saw my wonderful Fairhope again, home to Fannie Flagg, a pier and lovely little cottages.  As I've said in the past - when we go on vacation we end up in places just like Skaneateles!  And as usual, it was warmer here than there!  (Always when I visit anywhere south....)  I flew home in the midst of the blizzard, though.

So it's been a while getting back to this blog.  But I'm here now, and I will be in the office this afternoon.

There are currently 65 active listings - that's all! - in the Skaneateles area of the multiple listing service.  Of these, 11 are listed over one million dollars.  Twenty-three are in the Village, and fifteen are considered waterfront.  Only six listings have come on the market since October 21st - and only three are truly new listings, not re-lists of properties that haven't sold.  (Helps to explain the low number - the lowest? - of active listings, too.)

Eighteen homes are under contract, eight of them in the Village.  Eleven have been placed in this category since October 21st.  So only 7 have been waiting over 5 weeks to close....hmmmmm.)

Must be the others have sold - and they have!  There were 10 closings, bringing the year-to-date number to 105!  This is excellent news!  Last year at this time there were 113 sold and closed properties, but we are over 100 again!  I'll publish the Fifth Twenty soon.

Just in time, too...rates are starting to go up.  Buy now - lock in - and be part of next year's count to 100!