Skaneateles Real Estate - The First Update of 2019

It's been a while.  During the past few months we did an uncharacteristic thing:  we took a true vacation!  Ever since starting real estate in 2001 we have gotten away a few times for about 4 days at a time.  Why go anywhere?  Skaneateles is lovely throughout the year, and we have camp in the summer on Otisco Lake. 

But this year there was an opportunity.  I had had a great year, my listings had sold for the most part, the kids were going to Florida for a family celebration with their other grandparents, I wanted to see my cousins in Alabama, our friends were renting a lovely place in Carpinteria....and I had just bought my new MINI. 

I left January 31st.  The temperature was -5 degrees.  Boss and I saw snow as far south as Tennessee.  After a couple weeks Bob took the train from Syracuse and we picked him up in San Francisco.  From there we traveled where we pleased and where the weather would allow.  We missed 4 feet of snow in Flagstaff by a couple days.  We got sunburned two days later in Las Cruces, New Mexico. By the time we got home on March 8th we had put 8,000 miles on the MINI.

During that time I took phone calls, people helped out by showing houses.  I went to an open house in San Mateo with friends;  the little ranch was priced at 2.2M.  They had seen it when it was 1.8.   A friend's daughter saw and bought a home for $700,000 or so while we were visiting in San Francisco.  Half a house, really.  We appreciate Central New York and its prices!

And not much was happening here.

Currently there are 34 single family homes in the Skaneateles area that are listed as active.  Of these, 11 are in the Village and 10 are marked as waterfront, but only 6 have true waterfront, not just access.  Only 10 listings are new since the first of the year.  Prices range from $105,000 to 9.9M.  The next price up from 105K is over $250,000.  Sixteen of these listings have been reduced.

In the district which includes homes in smaller towns such as Spafford and Niles, there are 45 listings.  With these added in there are 4 homes under $250,000.  Of the 45 active listings, 20 have been reduced.

But people are buying.  In Skaneateles there are 15 under contract, with the median price under $300,000.  In the district, 19 are under contract and the median is slightly over $300,000. 

In Skaneateles so far this year 14 homes have sold and closed.  Again, the median is $300,000.  Four were in the Village and one was a true waterfront.  In the district there were 21.

What this means:  You will be fairly certain of selling a worthy home priced under $300,000.  At least now.  If you price your home too high because there are so few on the market, you may wait a bit.

But it's spring!  People are out and about and we can look forward to sunny days, and in our case, happy memories from our around the country trip.  It is a beautiful, rich country but there's no place like home!