This and That

Snowy day in Skaneateles.  I was going to give it up and go home from the office, but I ran down to Green Mountain, saw Kay, and revved myself up with coffee and a salted caramel.  There is a storm warning out there, so I could be forgiven for leaving.  But it is Central New York after all.  Boss is at school, playing with Moxie and Pepper, so he's probably glad I haven't picked him up.

First of all, I will tell you a bit about the poster below:

Last year I enjoyed this wonderful tea at the Skaneateles Historical Society's Creamery.  We learned a great deal about the etiquette of the day, and some facts which I have used over the past year.  Do you know the difference between low and high tea?  It's a fun afternoon....

On a more serious note, CNN broke down what we can expect from climate change in the next few decades.  The Northeast gets off comparatively easily - more incredibly awful storms and events, like Superstorm Sandy.  We will lose fishing off the coast - no more  Doug's Fish Fry as it is now.  The lakes will be more susceptible to toxins.  It becomes real when I think of our grandsons, and what they will face before they are 50.

The immigration disaster was also brought home to me on Sunday.  We saw a report about children who were removed from their parents, often with no warning.  We had spent a couple days with the boys, and Bob told me that when Liam was getting ready to sleep he reached under his pillow and retrieved three little bears he could cuddle.  His nightly routine.  I thought about the other children
taken from their parents, and taken from all things normal.  They wouldn't even have a tiny bear that was familiar.

I know in Dickens' and Queen Victoria's day there were children on the streets, children without comfort and warmth.  No tea, no scones.  But haven't we come farther than this?

"Syracuse Had a Bad Week"

So says my good friend who has shared sports with me since the 7th grade.  We've gone to SU football and basketball games together since then.  I'd get a ride to her house and we'd walk over to the stadium, Dome or Manley Field House.  We were rabid Green Bay fans as well.  We had a falling out when our lives diverged, but she always sent my mother a Christmas card - something I learned when I came back East as a Seahawks fan.  We started going to games again at the Dome.

I record the SU games we don't attend and watch them over Mike's or Dmitri's pizza.  She listens to them if she can, and if the aerial is pointed just right she can sometimes get them out towards Rochester in the country.

So "Syracuse had a bad week" was all she needed to write me when we played our daily Words with Friends.

The men's basketball team lost inexplicably two games in a row.  The broadcast that started with a look back at Devendorf jumping on to the table when he thought the marathon game versus UConn was over ended in a chant of "Let's go, Huskies," not Orange.  The next night Oregon made it worse.

At Yankee Stadium QB Dungey was injured less than 9 minutes into the game.  Again he was injured.  Again he was taken off the field possibly never to return wearing orange.  Just like in the other three seasons. And the game got worse, if that was possible.  Symbolically the phenom Szmyt finally got to attempt a field goal and it hit the uprights and bounced back.

That was Saturday.

On Sunday, on 60 Minutes, Tim Green courageously talked with Steve Kroft about his ALS  diagnosis.  They looked at photos of him taking down quarterbacks, celebrating by bumping helmets with teammates.  They talked numbers of players who had the same diagnosis, and others with CTE.  This man who had spoken so eloquently at Alex's sports banquet years ago had difficulty forming words.  The man who wrote the books I read voraciously was now writing with a sensor.  This man who shared his search for his birthmother and touched a chord in me sat with his kids and wife contemplating a bleak future.  And then he said he would do it all again....no regrets.  There was something so magical about hearing stadiums erupt that he was willing to endure his current pain because of that memory.

I don't get it.  And he said he knew people who hadn't experienced it wouldn't get it.

He and Steve Kroft were seen walking in the Village, past our office where I am writing this blog now.  They got out on the boat and drove past our iconic - but ever-changing - shoreline.  "What a beautiful place to live," the world watching the show must have thought.

How sad to leave it behind.

"Syracuse had a bad week."


Go to www.tackleals.com to donate to Tim's team.

The Fourth Twenty

Without further ado.....

The Village

5 Teasel Lane                $387,750

100 State Street             $150,000

100 Orchard Road         $650,000

103 East Lake Road      $405,000

54 Jordan Street             $188,700

5 Highland Street          $225,000

190 East Genesee St.     $299,900

36 West Elizabeth St.    $180,000

2 East Street                  $510,000



The Town

4740 State Route 41A       $880,000

1300 Sailboat                     $310,000

4636 Phillips Road            $285,000

935 Parker Lane                $499,900

3424 East Lake Road         $260,000

3217 East Lake Road         $3,825,000

3109 East Lake Road         $3,600,000

2664 East Lake Road           $779,000

2401 East Lake Road           $439,000

2097 West Lake Road          $345,000

A Manhattan Halloween

Catching up, slowly.  We have the first real snow of the season, and I've surprised myself by not dreading it.  I also want my holidays in their proper order, and I will not skip ahead.  That said, this year has been a bit different.

I spent Halloween in New York City.  I had no idea what I was in for.  The day was gorgeous, the drive down smooth and easy until the usual chaos before the George Washington Bridge.  I waited for the kids to get out of school by walking in Carl Schurz Park and catching the sun on a 65 degree day. I met Rachel at the boys' school and was slightly disappointed that they weren't in costume.  They changed in the apartment and we were off!  Cat Boy and an unnamed Chicago Bears football player ( last year was a Seahawks' player) ran off to get goodies from all the stores in their neighborhood.  We picked up Alex on Second and got to the townhouses on 91st before they were overrun.  It was wonderful!  Magical!  Owners out on their steps, decorations and costumed trick or treaters in the closed-off block.

On the way back the boys stopped in every store.  And the vast majority of stores had candy for them, just waiting.  Doormen opened doors, waiters waved them in.  We went looking for a friend who lived on the 20th floor of a building.  He was gone, but they had left candy outside their door.  As did other residents on each of the 20 floors we proceeded to go down.

As we ate pizza from Luigi's, separated the candy - no nuts! - and watched the SU game I checked my phone to see how far we had walked.  Five miles, it turned out.  What a city experience!

The Third Twenty

Nothing like snow to keep me home near the fireplace and on the computer. 

Last night I heard Dan Abrams, Chief Legal Analyst for ABC News, discuss his new book, Lincoln's Last Trial: The Murder Case that Propelled Him to the Presidency.  He was the Elsa Soderberg Distinguished Speaker, and had been re-scheduled from earlier when he "was called back to Washington to cover the Kavanaugh hearing."   After he spoke about the book with many anecdotes about Lincoln, it was grand to hear civil discourse in the question and answer period that followed.  The event benefited the Seward House and I enjoyed thinking about him going through the mansion having studied Seward so thoroughly.

But there is more real estate to speak of in nearby Skaneateles.  Without further ado, this is the list of the Third Twenty single family properties that have sold and closed.  (Plus one!)


The Village

54 Jordan Street                  $188,700

71 West Genesee Street      $215,000

5 Highland Street                $225,000

20 East Lake Street             $262,000

17 West Elizabeth Street     $299,900

33 State Street                     $325,000

26 East Lake Street            $370,000

8 Goodspeed Place             $390,000

8 Lakeview Circle              $505,000

2 East Street                       $510,000

20 Academy Street             $510,000

102 Packwood Place          $650,000

24 East Street                     $1,275,000


The Town

2637 East Lake Road         $2,327,000

3415-D East Lake Road     $715,000

710 South Tamarack  Ln    $625,000

2525 East Lake Rd              $547,500

3330 County Line Rd          $468,650

2125 Terrace Lane S            $446,000

3076 East Lake Rd              $268,500

873 Church Street                $50,000

Skaneateles Real Estate - The Election Day Update

I often wonder why I can't seem to get a blog written.  I've been busy - so very busy - with sales and then the resultant closings.  Nothing is easy these days.  Rules and regs have become more stringent and everyone is taking great care to "get it done right this time."

Phones keep ringing, texts continue to come.   I have started this blog several times - but I see a half hour without interruption!

There are currently (still) only 55 active single family listings in the Skaneateles area of the multiple listing service.  Of these, 12 are in the Village and 18 are considered waterfront.  That number has been consistent for a while.  Looking at the school district rather than the town, there are 66 active listings.  The median asking price of the Town listings is $405,000....much higher than it has been in the past.  Supply and demand, as always.

There are 13 properties under contract in the Town.  A few weeks ago there were 22, but I didn't get around to writing the blog to tell you that!

The absolute good news?  There are 82 sold and closed properties so far this year.  The blog that didn't get written showed only 71, and that was three weeks ago.  I thought we are on to another banner year, despite the low inventory.  But I checked it against last year at this time and found we are 25 home sales behind.  We won't make it spectacular, but we will have a good showing.  And I can't wait to see what the prices look like when compared to previous years.

To that end, I owe you the Third and Fourth Twenty sales.  The final analysis will come in January.

Election day feels like a new beginning.