Multiple Offers - 'Tis the season!

The market is booming.  I have clients looking for a home in the West Genesee, Marcellus, Westhill or Skaneateles Districts.  We've see quite a few, enough to get a good feel for what you can buy for around $200,000.  One early house we saw came on the market just above that - and had 7 scheduled appointments before I could schedule ours.  More buyers than homes.

We saw another one this weekend.  The house was priced under the assessed value and staged very well.  We saw it after 6:00 on the first evening it was available to be shown.  When I called the agent to ask about coming back, she said there were already two offers in and a couple more expected.  Oh my!  One of the offers was taken the next afternoon.

I felt like I was rushing them when I said it would be gone.  That old Realtor game...hurry up and buy!  But no, I wasn't, and certainly how it all played out proved that. 

The message here is simple.  Be ready.  See a lot of houses if you must, but when you see one you want - take it.  I always think the test is asking yourself...."How would I feel if it were gone the next day?"  If there would be sincere regret, don't play around....take it. 

You take it by giving the sellers their asking price, or a bit more.  You make it hassle-free.  If you can tolerate no inspections and can say "we'll deal with whatever comes our way," then you add to the value of your offer.

Very few places have unique homes in the way Skaneateles does.  I know homes in this Village that literally get "visits" when they come on the market.  People will say, "I loved this house 10 years ago when it was for sale.  I have no intention of buying, but can I just take a peak?"  They know they may not have a chance for another decade if they don't look now.

That's the same with buying.  It may be another 15 years before the house emerges onto the market again.  A family will have raised their children there, spent Christmases and watched parades, walked home from the fireworks on Labor day... and then turn it over to another generation.  If you see a home like that, and you can afford it, take it.  Enjoy it.  Plant your lilacs, watch your dogs play, walk your kids to school. 

Just do it!

The Second Twenty

I am so pleased to tell you that I am working from the office today during my 10:00 to 2:00 floor time.  The weather is phenomenal - hot, even,and filled with sunshine - but the Office is still cool.  Mary MacKaig, the VP of Berkshire Hathaway Home Services CNY Realty (and that is a mouthful!) stopped by and we put up a flag.  People are looking in the windows and I can hear bits of conversation floating by....So lovely!

There is rhyme and reason to how I am organizing closed listings.  Can you guess?  "Town" and "Village" of course refer to Skaneateles....If the property is listed in the Skaneateles area because of the school district or some other reason allowed, but is really in another town I will put the town's name.


7 Academy Street     Village      $290,000

1682 Amerman Rd    Town       $385,000

2595 Benson Rd        Town       $230,000

21 Calemad Dr          Sennett     $575,000

3827 Clapp Rd          Town        $250,000

3092 County Line      Town       $314,000

13 East Lake Street   Village     $206,900

50 East Street             Village     $271,000

3754 Fisher Rd          Town        $160,000

1190 Greenfield        Town         $1,285,000

4331 Jordan Rd         Town         $130,000

1889 W Lake Rd       Town         $175,100

2138 W Lake Rd       Town         $382,000

2356 W Lake Rd       Town         $362,000

3087 W Lake Rd       Town         $299,900

1031 Old Seneca       Town         $134,500

780 Sheldon Rd        Town         $164,600

24 State Street          Village       $273,000

2338 Thornton         Town          $1,460,000

4338 Vinegar Hill    Town          $153,000


I was thinking also of delineating which were waterfront, but somehow I bet you can guess that too!

Get outside and enjoy this day!

After Hours with the Chamber - The Citizen

Each month (or even more often) the Skaneateles Chamber sponsors an "after hours" event.  I wrote about the one at Finger Lakes On Tap (www.fingerlakesontap.com) a while back.  My first one was at Anyela's (www.anyelasvineyards.com) (...hmmm...a theme is developing here). I missed the Last Shot Distillery (http://www.lastshotdistillery.com) after hours with the move to Berkshire Hathaway taking up some time. (Definite theme.)  This week I made it to The Citizen in Auburn though.  No, not a new bar - the newspaper! (www.auburnpub.com)

The Citizen has been publishing since 1816....amazing!  It covers the Auburn and Cayuga County areas with a 6-day publishing schedule.  It also publishes the weekly Skaneateles Journal - or actually the West Onondaga County Journal, as it's now known.  The Journal was published for 10 years covering solely Skaneateles, but was re-branded this year to add Marcellus, Spafford and Elbridge.  You can find it at http://wocjournal.com.

Tara Lynn, the Chamber's Director, gathered us together for a quick tour of the facilities.  I was really surprised at how cumbersome the machinery was...how "old school" it seemed to me.  The papers were put through several machines to create the colors.  Somehow I had thought they were spit out of a vast copying machine!  What a process!  And how much paper is used to make the Citizen, Journal and the Chamber's Directory, which it also prints.

We were all astounded....this amount of paper you see here - it's only one month's worth!

I think I will go to as many of the after hours events as I can attend.  I really enjoyed the time  - thanks, Tara!

And oh yes, the Chamber's website:  www.skaneateles.com

The Berkshire Hathaway Office - First Floor Time

32 East Genesee Street

This is the view from the front desk, where I sat to do floor time yesterday.  The front door was open, and while it was a bit noisy, the air felt phenomenal. Intrepid Janet and Sarah (Facebook) Cole stopped in to visit and gave the office enthusiastic thumbs up. No clock is necessary...we have the M&T clock to watch.  In the upper right-hand corner of the shelving is the listing for the Purple Monkey.

The view from the deck is amazing.  We don't have chairs yet, but will soon.  Heavy, wrought iron chairs so when the wind swirls around they will stay in place.  Sun comes in all day long because it's southern exposure.  I remember from my Gallinger days that you can watch the moon cross the night sky.  When you walk out onto the pier, look back: the building is light yellow and and you can see the deck clearly.  Walk through town and if I'm in the office I'll give you a tour.


The first floor time was a bit on the quiet side.  The computer guy was there installing the large screen monitor in the conference room.  Another man assembled file cabinets.  The nice thing about an office this size - 1200sf or so? - is that everything must have a place and be in that place.  Kind of like our camp...nothing extra...just what is needed.  And because everything is exposed it must be neatly placed as well.  Nautical, is the term we always use.

I'll take more photos as the days go by.  It was extraordinarily bright in there - all windows across the rear - so I was having trouble with my camera settings.  At one point Janet remarked how cool it was.  I checked the temperature outside - 87 degrees!  But with the front and rear doors wide open the breeze came through and naturally cooled the space.  Janet said, and I agree, there is nothing like the breeze from a lake.  And especially Skaneateles Lake.

Skaneateles Real Estate - The First Floor Time Update

One of the things I like about Berkshire Hathaway's new office in the Village is floor time.  I had it at Gallinger when I started and it grew my business rapidly.  One-third of all my sales in the first couple years came from floor time....another third was from WelchAllyn and the last came from open houses and friends. But as a new agent, that floor time was invaluable.   I remember the people coming through that first fall so vividly!  Floor time is simply time dedicated each week to time spent in the office as The Agent.  Phone calls and walk-ins go directly to The Agent, unless of course the potential buyer/seller is looking for a specific agent or property already listed by Berkshire Hathaway.

My time today is 1:00 to 5:00.  Saturday I will be there from 10:00 to 2:00.  Please stop in!

To prepare for floor time and answering questions about the area, I decided it would be helpful to write an update.  I always love quoting the number of sales, the listings, the breakdown in categories.  I write the update as much for me as for you.  I know other agents take advantage of it too!

Currently there are 71 listings in the Skaneateles area of the multiple listing service.  Of these, 27 are in the Village and 16 are considered waterfront.  The latter is an increase of 6 properties in the past 16 days....Memorial Day is this weekend, after all.  (Plus the weather decided to go from winter to summer this week.)  Thirteen of these listings are new, with only two being re-lists.  Four of them are priced over a million dollars.  Seven are waterfront, while only three are in the Village, a new development away from past trends, certainly because of the approach of summer.  The median price is $569,000....a huge jump since it has been hovering around $300,000 for the past couple years.

In the under contract category, 28 single family properties are waiting to close.  Three are new additions to this list since the last update on May 8th.

Hooray!  We now have 41 sold and closed homes for the year.  This is exactly the same number as last year at this time!  And remember, last year there were a record number of closings....129.  We are on track for another record-breaking year!  That also means I will be writing "The Second Twenty" sometime soon.

So once again, please stop by at 32 East Genesee Street and say hello.  The office is bright but cool, the deck overlooks the lake, and hopefully the phones are now working despite the Verizon strike.  If you want to reach me, please text or call my cell: 315-447-0441.

Have a wonderful Memorial Day!

New York First Home Initiative

Each week I receive an e-mail from the New York State Realtor Association.  I read it and keep going...Local issues are far more pressing, as are my sellers' and buyers' needs.  But the one I received today made me explore further.

Under consideration by the legislature is a bill to help first time homebuyers.  It's not a grant, as much as a dedicated savings account.  The small blurb says "The program would allow individuals to save up to $5,000 ($10,000 for couples) per year in a designated savings account to be used solely for costs associated with the purchase of a first home."

I am not sure I quite understand....is this before taxes?  I was more interested in the figures they used to promote this.  New York State had the lowest rate of home ownership in the country in 2014.  The lowest! The national average was about 64% while NYS came in at 52.9%.  That is low!  The disparity was even greater prior to the recession in 2008.

The reasons given were two-fold:  property taxes are among the highest in the nation (as if we didn't know!) and closing costs consistently are the highest of all the states (nyfirsthome.com).  So when buying a new home, not only do buyers have to come up with as much as a year in (high) taxes to escrow, but they also pay higher closing costs.  Cash at closing, taxes, costs associated with buying (appraisal, attorney fees, etc.) can easily be more than $10,000.  Even when the houses are under $100,000 in price.

In some ways this keeps the prices of houses artificially low.  I hear from people who relocate here that they can't believe the prices compared with where they were.  Our education systems are excellent, for the most part, our roads decent, communities accessible, and commutes (another blog to come) reasonable.  Once in a house the low costs are reflected in the monthly mortgage bill....it's the getting to the monthly mortgage bill that causes the problems.

I'll keep an eye on this program.  You are more than welcome to check it out:  http://nyfirsthome.com.  I would love to hear what you think!

The Purple Monkey

Yep, I said that...."Purple Monkey."  Here he is:

Now that I have your attention....The Purple Monkey is a huge antique store in the Village of Weedsport, Cayuga County.  I have driven by it countless times on my way to a friend's house and the NYS Thruway exit 40 which is just a mile down the road.  It's western Onondaga County's jumping off point to Rochester and Buffalo.  I've been told that the four corners a block away is the busiest intersection in Cayuga County.

So I've driven by, but never stopped.  The store sells antiques, and I have more interest in selling than buying, so I've driven by.  Last year one of my clients needed a place to sell her grandfather clock, and the people at the Purple Monkey were the only ones who generously took it in and picked it up even.  That kindness stayed with me.

But the Purple Monkey is now for sale, and I have the listing, my first since joining Berkshire Hathaway. It's an amazing place, and once I went in I was hooked.  Between the store itself and the building next door known as the Weedsport Mall there are 53,000 square feet.  Much of it is retail, another good portion is warehouse, but there are other businesses leasing in the mall, apartments, and a workshop stocked with tools.

 The Purple Monkey
dwarfs the truck!

             
                      The Mall is right
                      next door.

Not only are the buildings included in the listing, but the entire inventory and business.  There are literally thousands of items in the store.  The sellers have worked the business for over two decades, building up their database and molding their work to fit the technology that exploded.  They are not just a storefront, but an international business with clients all over the world.  They sell through ebay as well as the old-fashioned way of opening their doors five days a week.  They tried advertising, but so many people showed up their small staff couldn't handle it all.

You could do it too.  They've made a great living at it but are ready to turn it over to the next generation. They fully expect a team to come in and take it all to a different level.  They envision ten people selling online, another crew working the store - longer hours, more advertising, opening the third floor also.  Perhaps a different crew could travel to shows like Brimfield in Massachusetts.  There is enough inventory to last years, and more still comes in every day.  The mall could be a FedEx store, or another showroom.  So many options!  So much expansion is possible!

If you have the drive, the vision and the energy or even just the curiosity, check out http://purplemonkeyantiques.com for more photos.  Also look at the listing:  ML#S352999.  The price is 2.5M - but the earning power of this business could be so much more.

                        Stay tuned.....too much information for just one blog!