The First Twenty - 2011

After many long days I now have a brief moment to write this blog.  It's truly remarkable how busy summers can be - not just the mowing and getting the camp ready, but all the wonderful events.  I've been to a wedding shower in Rochester for our nephew, then a graduation for our niece.  We also found time to go to the Merry-Go-Round Playhouse in Owasco to see "Anything Goes" with Bob's mother.  Of course that meant eating out at Connie's (any excuse!).  All that in the past week on top of 12 hour days which included two open houses and countless showings.  What a marvelous time of year!

So here we are, in no known order, just as they came up in computer.  All are listed as being in Skaneateles, although a couple are in Sennett with Skaneateles Schools, and another in Spafford.  Some are village (3) and some are waterfront (4) and two are lake rights.  The prices are their sales prices.

3391 East Lake Road - $430,000

2052 West Lake Road - $752,000

1000 Jewett Road - $95,000

3104 West Lake Road - $242,000

33 Calemad Drive - $442,600

1575 Tracy Drive - $305,000

1863 Sugar Maple Lane - $105,100

2489 East Lake Road - $850,000

2875 East Lake Road - $310,000

2104 West Lake Road - $270,000

7 Wicklow Drive - $325,000

2542 East Lake Road - $164,300

3663 Fisher Road - $199,000

12 Prentiss Drive - $685,000

1531 Thornton Heights - $370,000

4135 Jordan Road - $118,000

3809 Gully Road - $99,000

180 East Genesee Street - $235,000

4179 NW Townline Road - $55,000

Lot 8 Calemad - $613,700

Since we already have 3 more towards the next 20, maybe we can sell and close 17 more in record time!

Skaneateles Real Estate - The Bi-Monthly Update (sort of)

It's been longer than I like to go as far as writing here.  No excuse.  I simply was extremely busy, had friends in over the weekend for dinner at Bluewater on Friday and Rosalie's on Saturday.  As I get older I realize that the friends I had as a girl are the ones I am more likely to stay in touch with - which is odd in a way, because as I look at our stats we are vastly different.  Life style - only four of the eight are married (still), five of us have grown children, only one is a grandmother, and only three of us have full-time jobs.  We all agree on having pets, dogs and cats and even horses, and that may be the only thing.  Plus we like each other mostly, and can generally pick up where we left off.  My world is certainly richer for their continuing presence.

But back to Skaneateles and the new listings that have appeared in the past 16 days.  The listings can be summed up by saying they are half re-lists - houses that have been refreshed to appear newly listed either after being leased or with a price drop or simply "because."  Just as a new one came on in the village for slightly under $400,000 (and has a very decidedly "cool" factor) another one was re-listed at about the same price.  There are now 43 village homes on the market.

Outside of the village 9 listings came on the market.  Five are re-lists, ranging in price from under $200,000 to well over a million dollars.  Two are waterfront.  The new ones are in the $250,000 to $400,000 range - even the one with lake rights and the other right on the water (think small, very small...) 

Because guilt has caught up with me, I will continue on with the contingent properties.  There are 14 in all - I don't remember a time when there were so many! - and four of them are new.  A pretty village property that's been dropping its price fairly regularly is now marked contingent, a house in the town that came on with a very good price is also gone after just a few weeks, and a smaller one with one of the lowest prices is also marked contingent.  A beautiful waterfront home listed under two million - but just - is also as sold as "contingent" can be.

Nothing new in the "under contract, do not show" listings.  There are 8 marked pending, including two new ones that went directly there, one a waterfront property and the other with acreage.  Cash is good these days, and while I have no knowledge that this is what the financing is, going directly to pending often means just that.

We now have over 20 homes sold and closed this year.  This compares with 27 in 2010, 38 in 2009, and only 19 in 2008 by this date in June.  Three new ones were reported.  One sold over its list price, another sold just about at its list price, and a third came in at about 20% of its original price.  Really can't predict a trend here at all - except that the right pricing brings buyers.  Not always true, because each house is different, but the adage about "if you lower the price far enough someone will buy it!"

So things have slowed enough to be able to report the update in one blog - but soon the contingents will turn into pendings that will turn into solds.  My prediction:  that it won't take five and a half months to close the next 20!

Skaneateles Real Estate - The Bi-Monthly Update (sort of) - Part Two



2220 Glencove Road

 I was speaking with the owner today of this wonderful home and we were looking at pricing in Onondaga County.  I told her that over the past few months I've kept an eye on the Post-Standard's Sunday Home page and the property's that have closed.  Each week I am amazed that the prices aren't higher.  The paper publishes the 5 highest-priced houses that sold the past week - generally the fifth house is somewhere around the $300,000 level.  I checked it out on the ML for verification - only 28 homes have sold in the past 12 months in Onondaga County over $500,000.  So we "monitored and adjusted" the price of this Otisco Lake waterfront year-round home to $449,000.  Come and get it!

But what's been happening in Skaneateles?  I've been so busy that the poor second half of this blog got pushed back and back.  (Yes, busy with listings and offers!)  I will catch us up to the minute - this minute, before I go take another listing (so cute - and under $100,000!) 

New contingent, continue to show properties are homes in the village, the town and waterfront.  The village home that sold is listed above $500,000 - so there's another one to add to the list when it closes.  A second one is above a million, and is also waterfront.  Another waterfront a bit farther down the lake has also sold presumably for over 500K also.  Two homes in the town, both around $200,000, and a third another 100K up are marked newly contingent.  That brings to 10 - a lot!

One new one went directly to under contract, do not show - listed around $200,000 also.  The pended property that's new is in the same ballpark.  Together the "U" and "P" categories equal another 10, just waiting to close.

We now have 18 closed properties for the year as reported through today, June 6th.  Two are new, one that's been listed for well over 6 months and the other for only a few months, and waterfront at that.  Both closed within 15% of their initial list price.  Only two more to go and I will publish the list of houses with their closed prices.

But until then - go play!  A lovely June is a gift - before the summer, while the flowers still bloom, and before all the craziness of vacations and graduations and parties take hold.  Just relax, mow and play!

Skaneateles Real Estate - The Bi-Monthly Update (sort of)

This will take two blogs!  The number of new listings is very high.  I am sure people waited until it felt like spring and got summer instead.

The first group belongs to the village.  Of the current 43 properties listed in the Skaneateles Village area of the multiple listing service, two new ones came on.  One is a smaller village home with a great yard for $269,000.  The other is my listing of 5 Palmer Place, an adorable home tucked away behind Leitch and Academy.  The price is $366,000.

Five new waterfronts came on the market over the past 18 days.  There is one small one at the far end of the lake for under 200K.  Moving up the lake towards the village, but still fairly far down is a camp for $445,000.  Getting closer yet are two cottages right on the water for about $700,000.  Almost to the village - well, about 3 miles out - is another camp (a true camp, as the agent admits) for almost $800,000.  The final home is a multimilllion dollar (as in 3M) luxury home.

That leaves ten more town, not waterfront, places.  Two small ones just north of the village are in the low $100,000 range.  Four other homes that suggest affordable family living are priced in the $250,000 to $350,000 range, in varying stages of work that needs to be done.  Two others are re-lists, with prices staying relatively the same.  Another at $425,000 has pretty much only a view to recommend it - but what a view!  Still another is a classic brick, in the mid $500,000.  The last is a luxury home on 12 acres - sorry, no waterfront - for over 2M.

Next week - I will check the listings sooner!  Stay tuned for another blog with the contingent, pending, and sold listings!

Ten Minutes to Go!

I am sitting in the office in the Village watching the world go by.  I met with people this morning who took a careful look at a house for well over two hours.  We thought we would see more today, but they preferred to go out exploring on their own.  I wasn't sure what to do next - I had well over another hour until my next appointment - but then I got a call about a contract coming in.  So I am in the office, doing a goodly bit of work prior to leaving again.

It's amazing how much can be accomplished in a short period of time if there are no interruptions.  I processed the contract, printed it, called the agent to ask questions, called the owners to tell them and request a time to meet, printed flyers and the disclosures for tomorrow's open house at 5 Palmer Place in Skaneateles - check it out on http://realtor.com/ or http://cnyrealtor.com/ - and still had time to write this blog!

And no, I do not feel rushed at all.  I've left enough time to get to my next appointment, I know where it is without the Tom-Tom Bob gave me for Christmas, and I know the property I am showing.  (Just gorgeous - with VIEWS!)  The world is a good place, today, here, in the Village, on Saturday of Memorial Day weekend.

The New Listing Watch

I am about to put on a new listing, just waiting for the paperwork.  It is such a lengthy project at times, and this is one of those times.  I can't remember when we first started talking about listing this home, easily months if not a year or so ago.  It's an estate, and because of that there are four children involved who all contributed to the process.

The woman with whom I've dealt the most, one of the sisters, and I have corresponded for years since she and her family purchased a camp through me.  We rarely see each other, but when we do it's like Old Home Days.  As with so many of my clients, she has become a friend more than a client.  So this was a great opportunity for us to spend more time together on a mutual project.

Since we started, the home has been vacated by its family tenant, the papers and belongings of her father have been removed I am sure quite tearfully.  It's always the hardest part of letting a home go because we all seem to be so involved with where we live, it defines us so much.

We had a pre-listing inspection done in early April which gave the family a new "To Do" list which they did.  We met several times about presentation.  Last weekend I came over with Jolanta and she cleaned it so the hardwoods would shine and the windows would show off the lovely view of the lake and village. 

Throughout it all we watched carefully the progress of other village homes, the pricing and the reductions.  We think we have found a number that is manageable and reflects the location - prime! - and the home itself. 

So now the draft of the listing is written, the photos all taken when the sun was out and the flowers were in bloom, the signs are on the floor of the back seat of the Scion, the open house riders resting on the seat.  The lockbox is ready to go - and so am I!  Once I hit the "submit" button the listing will be there for all the agents to see and I will hurriedly put in the photos and the open house (Sunday, 12:00 to 2:00).

We are launched!

Doug's on a Thursday Evening

I went out to the lake today to mow.  It's a new project this year to force me into some much-needed exercise and also to visit the lake.  I can get overwhelmed, and not make it out there, but this year I am determined not to miss summer.  So I mow with my electric mower, (I call it vacuuming the lawn) and get very hot and very sweaty....and stay current with the phone and e-mails thanks to my new iPhone.

On the way back through the village I stopped at Doug's for salmon, 2 cole slaws and a fish sandwich for Bob.  I happened to get Mark Edwards, the owner, to write my order.  He took a moment to tell me how much he enjoyed this blog.  I felt so guilty, because, like the lake, there are times when I don't write for days at a time.  But hearing his praise - even though he didn't buy his beautiful new house with me - sent me to the computer.  (Salmon takes a while - and they know that I will be back to get it.)

I forget sometimes that real estate is about people, too.  I forget that what I do, how I express the world around me, matters.  Thank you, Mark, for reminding me.