I was awakened this morning by brilliant sunshine flooding in through the windows at the lake. No sound of anyone swimming, which usually gets the dogs riled up, so we slept in until well past 8:00.
Coming back home, I passed a man in a cart pulled by a matched pair of gray horses, his heavyset, light goldie leaning out the side by his feet. Down a country road, not a care in the world!
The Village is more deserted these days, easier to find parking, but still bustling compared to other places. People take their time, walk on the sunny side of the street, browse in the shops. I sat in the park with a friend last week - the first time I've done that since May!
The hills are just beginning to change color - very light dustings of reds and oranges, despite chilly nights. We have been blessed with enough water to keep the leaves green a bit longer than usual.
Other sounds: geese in the evening, landing on the lake. The sounds of paddles sliding through still waters. Cheering for the Doubledays who won the championship in Brooklyn on Friday; shaking heads over SU football makes no sound. People packing up to leave for their winter homes, cars starting, good-byes being said.
Early fall/late summer in central New York.....
Wednesday, September 19, 2007
Friday, September 14, 2007
Time Out
I warned early on that at some point Life would interfere with real estate and I would want the option of writing about something else. This is such a moment.
Last night we put on our warm clothes and headed to the ballpark. The Doubledays were playing for the championship of the New York-Penn League at Falcon Park in Auburn and it promised to be a great game. It was also the last home game - the championship is a 2/3 series and the next two games (if necessary) would be in New York at the Brooklyn Cyclones home field.
It was an amazing night: packed stands, packed parking, raucous die-hard fans. All the box seats had been sold. We missed the National Anthem but still got seats five rows up on the first base line. Not a bad seat in the house!
And it was a great game! The Doubledays were behind from the start, and looked like they would never catch up - their pitcher crumbled early, and only great defense kept the score at 1-0. Then the rally started in the 6th - men on base, stolen bases, a home run, missed balls at the plate, a diving catch by the 2nd baseman. Wow! The Doubledays won, 8 to 1, and are going to Brooklyn tonight. No TV - 99.3 FM.
The joy of winning! Almost 2,500 fans who stayed until the end, screaming the players' names, pounding their feet, smiling!
And here's the reason for the time out - the juxtaposition of the Doubledays' victory to the disaster that is currently Syracuse University football, which may be aptly demonstrated tomorrow at the Carrier Dome. "Here We Go Again," read the headline after the first loss.
I grew up with SU football, I played pretend cheerleader on Thornden Park's big hill, listening to the sounds from the old stadium, I went to games featuring Jim Brown, Larry Csonka, Floyd Little and yes, Ernie Davis.
Next year "The Express" will premier, a film about Ernie Davis. What will football be like? Will SU be a "Pluto" or once again a powerhouse?
I'd forgotten how much I enjoyed winning. Maybe not the actual winning (well, yes, but...) the desire, the striving, the "we're all in this together...."
It doesn't have to be HUGE as the Doubledays showed. Just fun.
Last night we put on our warm clothes and headed to the ballpark. The Doubledays were playing for the championship of the New York-Penn League at Falcon Park in Auburn and it promised to be a great game. It was also the last home game - the championship is a 2/3 series and the next two games (if necessary) would be in New York at the Brooklyn Cyclones home field.
It was an amazing night: packed stands, packed parking, raucous die-hard fans. All the box seats had been sold. We missed the National Anthem but still got seats five rows up on the first base line. Not a bad seat in the house!
And it was a great game! The Doubledays were behind from the start, and looked like they would never catch up - their pitcher crumbled early, and only great defense kept the score at 1-0. Then the rally started in the 6th - men on base, stolen bases, a home run, missed balls at the plate, a diving catch by the 2nd baseman. Wow! The Doubledays won, 8 to 1, and are going to Brooklyn tonight. No TV - 99.3 FM.
The joy of winning! Almost 2,500 fans who stayed until the end, screaming the players' names, pounding their feet, smiling!
And here's the reason for the time out - the juxtaposition of the Doubledays' victory to the disaster that is currently Syracuse University football, which may be aptly demonstrated tomorrow at the Carrier Dome. "Here We Go Again," read the headline after the first loss.
I grew up with SU football, I played pretend cheerleader on Thornden Park's big hill, listening to the sounds from the old stadium, I went to games featuring Jim Brown, Larry Csonka, Floyd Little and yes, Ernie Davis.
Next year "The Express" will premier, a film about Ernie Davis. What will football be like? Will SU be a "Pluto" or once again a powerhouse?
I'd forgotten how much I enjoyed winning. Maybe not the actual winning (well, yes, but...) the desire, the striving, the "we're all in this together...."
It doesn't have to be HUGE as the Doubledays showed. Just fun.
Thursday, September 13, 2007
Courtside
The Situation: My client listed her house through me and we received an offer from the client of another agent. With the offer was a pre-approval letter from a mortgage company - a MUST in this business. Everyone was thrilled.
The Initial Problem: When it came time for the commitment, the mortgage company said she was not eligible, not for any changes, just that they were not approving her.
The Initial Solution: As the listing agent, I was furious with the company. This had happened only once before in my career, and then I knew (afterwards) that the client had lied (not a good thing) on the application. I called the manager of another branch of the company to complain and he took on the problem, personally paying for a new appraisal because his company had promised that she could get a mortgage. The mortgage agent took another position in a local bank.
The Wait: All this took time, but we all stayed with the buyer, and she spoke with tenants and told them how great it would be when she was the landlord.
The Closing: Sort of. Two days before closing the insurance company she had chosen declined to insure the property, saying that it did not meet their standards. She refused to close, and asked for her $1,000 deposit to be returned.
The Solution: Small claims court. A year later, after the claim was brought by the buyer, her case was heard. The house had sold for less than her offer, the seller had to pay taxes and insurance for another three months, and the contract specifically stated that if the buyer did not follow through then the deposit would revert to the seller. The judge felt that splitting the deposit, as the seller had offered initially, was the best solution.
The Lessons: 1 - A contract to purchase a property is just that - a contract.
2 - Nothing is sold until the deed is recorded.
3 - Small claims court does settle disputes, and provides a sense of "being heard."
The Initial Problem: When it came time for the commitment, the mortgage company said she was not eligible, not for any changes, just that they were not approving her.
The Initial Solution: As the listing agent, I was furious with the company. This had happened only once before in my career, and then I knew (afterwards) that the client had lied (not a good thing) on the application. I called the manager of another branch of the company to complain and he took on the problem, personally paying for a new appraisal because his company had promised that she could get a mortgage. The mortgage agent took another position in a local bank.
The Wait: All this took time, but we all stayed with the buyer, and she spoke with tenants and told them how great it would be when she was the landlord.
The Closing: Sort of. Two days before closing the insurance company she had chosen declined to insure the property, saying that it did not meet their standards. She refused to close, and asked for her $1,000 deposit to be returned.
The Solution: Small claims court. A year later, after the claim was brought by the buyer, her case was heard. The house had sold for less than her offer, the seller had to pay taxes and insurance for another three months, and the contract specifically stated that if the buyer did not follow through then the deposit would revert to the seller. The judge felt that splitting the deposit, as the seller had offered initially, was the best solution.
The Lessons: 1 - A contract to purchase a property is just that - a contract.
2 - Nothing is sold until the deed is recorded.
3 - Small claims court does settle disputes, and provides a sense of "being heard."
Sunday, September 2, 2007
Labor Day
Sunday afternoon of Labor Day weekend. I'm in the office with the door open, of course, writing at my desk which is about 10 feet from the sunshine. I had an open house on Carlton's Cliff and spent the early afternoon sitting in the sun under brilliant blue skies.
"It's over," some people say. "Labor Day. Take in the docks, shrink-wrap the boats, go home to the real world and work for another nine months."
You wouldn't know it by this village. The streets are alive with people, some here for the end of the Skaneateles Festival last night at Brook Farm, some for the amusments at the park, others for the shopping and eating at Rosalie's or Mirbeau or The Glen Haven down the lake.
I printed out 15 booklets at 11:00 AM of property listings by the seven of us in this office - all gone when I returned, so I printed another 20 to carry through the evening. People stop and tap the window, comment on prices and shake their heads, or are pleasantly surprised. The Post Standard says the mortgage crunch passed Syracuse and the area. Certainly Skaneateles - the overall price of homes climbed 12% in the past year. And still there are the 20-some homes over one million to be sold and closed.
It doesn't matter. The day is waning but not the summer fun. I smell Doug's Fish Fry wafting through the door - they don't close until January! A client turned recent resident stuck his head in the door earlier, delighted to be going to the firemen's exhibition on the lake, walking from his new home. It doesn't get much better than this!
"It's over," some people say. "Labor Day. Take in the docks, shrink-wrap the boats, go home to the real world and work for another nine months."
You wouldn't know it by this village. The streets are alive with people, some here for the end of the Skaneateles Festival last night at Brook Farm, some for the amusments at the park, others for the shopping and eating at Rosalie's or Mirbeau or The Glen Haven down the lake.
I printed out 15 booklets at 11:00 AM of property listings by the seven of us in this office - all gone when I returned, so I printed another 20 to carry through the evening. People stop and tap the window, comment on prices and shake their heads, or are pleasantly surprised. The Post Standard says the mortgage crunch passed Syracuse and the area. Certainly Skaneateles - the overall price of homes climbed 12% in the past year. And still there are the 20-some homes over one million to be sold and closed.
It doesn't matter. The day is waning but not the summer fun. I smell Doug's Fish Fry wafting through the door - they don't close until January! A client turned recent resident stuck his head in the door earlier, delighted to be going to the firemen's exhibition on the lake, walking from his new home. It doesn't get much better than this!
Wednesday, August 22, 2007
Another Camp
Night and day, from yesterday's tiny cottage. But this one beats everything else for character, says the owner, and I agree.
South end of Skaneateles Lake. It's noon, and the steamship from the village is slowly progressing down the lake to Glen Haven with a cargo of merry-makers from New York City. They took the train up for a weekend in the Finger Lakes. Tonight they'll dance and feast at the hotel, then climb aboard the steamship and make their way home again.
The ladies wear crinolin, the gentlemen wear boaters. They pull up at the Shady Beach Marina to disembark. Some go off to the little store on the corner, others wind their way to the hotel. Some look back up the lake and there, on the western shore, is a house going up.
Three stories high, built into the hillside, it rises from the stony beach. Inside the hardwoods are lovingly laid, the stone fireplace being built to warm the seasonal home on the cold nights of summer. Seven bedrooms for sleeping or dallying, all with windows toward the lake. The center is open so that from the hallway above the fireplace and massive dining room table can be seen, shouts can be exchanged. Oil lamps swing out from the walls in the long evenings, casting shadows on the heavy furniture.
The revelers leave tired and late and as the steamship chugs past they see the new Camp - hardly a cottage - rising up from the mist on the lake. Someday, they think, someday I will have a place like that.....
South end of Skaneateles Lake. It's noon, and the steamship from the village is slowly progressing down the lake to Glen Haven with a cargo of merry-makers from New York City. They took the train up for a weekend in the Finger Lakes. Tonight they'll dance and feast at the hotel, then climb aboard the steamship and make their way home again.
The ladies wear crinolin, the gentlemen wear boaters. They pull up at the Shady Beach Marina to disembark. Some go off to the little store on the corner, others wind their way to the hotel. Some look back up the lake and there, on the western shore, is a house going up.
Three stories high, built into the hillside, it rises from the stony beach. Inside the hardwoods are lovingly laid, the stone fireplace being built to warm the seasonal home on the cold nights of summer. Seven bedrooms for sleeping or dallying, all with windows toward the lake. The center is open so that from the hallway above the fireplace and massive dining room table can be seen, shouts can be exchanged. Oil lamps swing out from the walls in the long evenings, casting shadows on the heavy furniture.
The revelers leave tired and late and as the steamship chugs past they see the new Camp - hardly a cottage - rising up from the mist on the lake. Someday, they think, someday I will have a place like that.....
Tuesday, August 21, 2007
Camp
I was looking for inexpensive camps with a client a couple weeks ago and ran across a very sweet little place on Cross Lake. It was too tiny for my client, who wanted to live in it year-round and had visiting grandchildren, but we both admired it.
The entrance was off a small wrap-around deck into the one room that serves as kitchen, living room and main bedroom. The cabinets were old - the white metal kind I had in my camp prior to renovation. In fact, this camp was built about the same time, late 1940s.
The living/family/bedroom was dominated by a huge stone fireplace which would heat the place easily - maybe too easily! Hardwood floors, beamed ceiling, and a dear bathroom with circular shower in the rear completed the "main" house. The owners had added a carved orange sofa facing the fireplace - all the comforts of home!
The front porch added another "room." Currently it has a king size bed and a small table set for two overlooking the deck and the lake.
My description doesn't do it justice, I'm afraid. It's only 550 or so square feet - but every inch is filled with memories and the promise of hot days and warm nights on the lake. And the price? $54,900 - a steal!
The entrance was off a small wrap-around deck into the one room that serves as kitchen, living room and main bedroom. The cabinets were old - the white metal kind I had in my camp prior to renovation. In fact, this camp was built about the same time, late 1940s.
The living/family/bedroom was dominated by a huge stone fireplace which would heat the place easily - maybe too easily! Hardwood floors, beamed ceiling, and a dear bathroom with circular shower in the rear completed the "main" house. The owners had added a carved orange sofa facing the fireplace - all the comforts of home!
The front porch added another "room." Currently it has a king size bed and a small table set for two overlooking the deck and the lake.
My description doesn't do it justice, I'm afraid. It's only 550 or so square feet - but every inch is filled with memories and the promise of hot days and warm nights on the lake. And the price? $54,900 - a steal!
Monday, August 20, 2007
Fall is in the Air!
It's chilly outside, relatively so. We've had a wonderful summer, filled with warm days and nights, an occasional storm or two, rainbows and gorgeous sunsets. Homes have been flying despite the dire warnings. Rates are still low, people are still looking, and life is generally Good.
Last night we had the first fire of the season at camp. The smell of burning wood was intoxicating. We needed it for warmth, not just ambiance. And the insulation placed in there when we renovated seems to work quite well - "warm as toast," came to mind.
I say "camp," but it's really a lakehouse or beachhouse. Wide open with the beams showing high above. There are no cross beams for support - the roof was engineered to not need them, and with the newly painted walls the effect is quite stunning.
I've seen two other camps - real camps - which make our lakehouse not a camp in the true Finger Lakes sense of the word. Two more blogs for the future.
But for now this will stand as another beginning. I've been embarrassed - friends have told me they read my blog but it's been a month since I've written. I apologize! The days have been long and blogging is so personal, so much fun, that I feel as if it's too selfish to do when there's either real estate to be managed or houses and people who require my attention.
But the reflection is necessary....and having this space to do it is wonderful!
Last night we had the first fire of the season at camp. The smell of burning wood was intoxicating. We needed it for warmth, not just ambiance. And the insulation placed in there when we renovated seems to work quite well - "warm as toast," came to mind.
I say "camp," but it's really a lakehouse or beachhouse. Wide open with the beams showing high above. There are no cross beams for support - the roof was engineered to not need them, and with the newly painted walls the effect is quite stunning.
I've seen two other camps - real camps - which make our lakehouse not a camp in the true Finger Lakes sense of the word. Two more blogs for the future.
But for now this will stand as another beginning. I've been embarrassed - friends have told me they read my blog but it's been a month since I've written. I apologize! The days have been long and blogging is so personal, so much fun, that I feel as if it's too selfish to do when there's either real estate to be managed or houses and people who require my attention.
But the reflection is necessary....and having this space to do it is wonderful!
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