New Listing and Open House Alert! 3862 Highland Ave

I love this house!  When I first got to Skaneateles I fell in love with Highland Ave, just outside the Village.  I thought there was a place I could walk the dogs (Anna and Sebastian then) and Alex would find friends.  It seemed so congenial - space between homes, large yards, small homes as well as larger ones.  Alas, there were none at the time I could afford, so I came as close to it as I could.  I still walked the dogs there, though, on the loop.

So here is your chance - 3862 Highland Ave, open Sunday from 1:00 to 3:00.  It has three real bedrooms but also the possibility of a fourth which could be part of an in-law suite on the entrance floor.  Two-car attached garage, LARGE inground pool, almost an acre (.99!) with privacy trees and a barely used road between you and the neighbors to the south.  Inside are hardwood floors, a wood-burning fireplace, kitchen with stainless steel appliances, and a sun room that was so bright when I took the photos I couldn't get a good shot of it!  The decks are great - so is the balcony off the master bedroom overlooking the pool.  Really.

So come and see - you will fall in love!  The price is $279,000 which is just under the assessment.  Taxes are more reasonable in Skaneateles as I've said before than other areas.  (Thank you waterfront properties and Welch Allyn!)  For more photos, please see the listing:  ML#S292041.  To get there, go east on Genesee Street in the Village and veer left up Onondaga. Turn left again outside the Village limits onto Highland and watch the numbers.  3862 is on the right hand side.  See you there!

New Listing on the Lake

 The lot I have listed down Firelane 21B now has the possibility of a 1500sf. camp being built for it.  And for only $350,000 - brand new!

The owners have built several of the cottages on the road in the past 20 years and so we sat down to write up what it would cost for them - Lake Country Construction - to build another one on this lot.

The price floored me.  The camp would have a basement that could be a walkout.  Upstairs a bedroom, full bath, family/living room and kitchen.  The top floor would be left unfinished at this price, but could be a huge master suite or two bedrooms.  The camp was already built for someone else, so if you are very interested I can show you which one it is.

The beauty of this plan is that you get a totally new house that would contain your fixtures, your layout, your
choices.  Renovations cost more than new builds, in many cases, and trying to retrofit an old camp is difficult.  This one is a blank slate - you decorate it right from the start.  A wrap-around porch to take advantage of the views?  Of course it would cost more, but then - it's your choice!  Don't need a full block basement?  The owners will build the camp for $25,000 LESS and put it on piers.

Water will come from the lake (our very, very pure lake), the septic system will be in and functional at this price,
and the owners are local builders so they know the Town and codes and people.

Not a whole lot more information online, but the ML# is S291630.   I can sit with you and show you the plans, you can speak with the builders, and next year at this time you may be opening up your new seasonal cottage on the west side of Skaneateles Lake!

Open House Alert! 115 Raspberry

Sunday from 1:00 to 3:00 I will hold 115 Raspberry in Camillus open.  The price has just been reduced to $299,900 which makes it a bargain!

Not just a four-bedroom home, it also has a fifth bedroom over the garage and larger than the others, I think.  A corner room, now used as a media room.

Not just one of many homes with back yards looking at other back yards, it has more privacy thanks to trees planted by the owner and the way the house was situated on the large lot.

Not just a full basement, but one finished in three ways: a kids' playroom in part, an adult bar, and the owner's office.  Still room for storage, too!

Not just an eat-in family room, but also a formal dining room and formal living room (with a bay window and a view!)

Not just a pretty kitchen, but one with stainless steel appliances, stacked laundry, newer ceramic tiled floors and a gas fireplace at the far family room end.

Come and see it!  ML#S285298 for photos....Take Route 5 from 695 to Ike Dixon Road across from Gilfillan's to a quick right onto Scenic Drive.  Then it's about half a mile to Raspberry...up the hill and we are on the left.  See you there!

Skaneateles Real Estate - The Sometime Update (May 4th - May 16th

This business is one of ebb and flow.  One week the phones are fairly quiet, and the next I am working 12 hour days.  The one sure thing to start the real estate juices moving is if I go away.  I took a day to go down to the city and see Alex, Rachel, and Liam.  I told people this ensured a house would sell, and even picked out the house that would sell this time, and sure enough it did.  I spent a lot of my time standing in the park by the East River arranging showings (that get more difficult the farther away I go) and accepting offers.  I plan to be away a lot this summer to stimulate business!  The real estate magic even worked down there.  After months of looking, they found a two-bedroom apartment just where they wanted to be and for less $$ than they had expected!  (Still more than the average Central New York mortgage, but still...) Thank goodness...there's another little boy coming in August!

So currently in the Skaneateles area of the multiple listing service there are only 92 active listings.  Of these, 23 are in the Village and 25 are waterfront ('tis the season).  Two homes were re-listed, one in the Village and the other a great homestead for the right person.  Seven other new ones came on, ranging in price from the mid-$100,000 to almost a million.  I look at the numbers for the new listings and realize that a few years ago they would have been higher, perhaps in the 10% to 15% range.  But as homes sell - and they are still selling, I expect the numbers to go up.  Now is the time to buy, I tell you!

There are five groups that have taken this to heart and placed offers on homes in the past two weeks.  Three are village homes, around $500,000 or so.  This continues last year's trend...Another is waterfront and a third is a new build, from what I can tell.

We are up to 27, my lucky number, of sold and closed homes in the area.  The latest was listed in the lower $100,000 range.  Last year by this time we had 29 closings, so certainly we are on track for another great year.  You know the old saying:  "You snooze, you lose....buy now!"

Skaneateles Real Estate - The Occasional Update (April 13th to May 3rd)

When I went through my hotsheet today I sent off yet another new listing to some clients.  I thought I better do the update, before I got overwhelmed and it made less sense.  I put in the criteria, and came up with 23 new listings since the last update!  Oh my!  But then when I went through their history I discovered that while they had a new number and in a fair number of cases a new Realtor, 13 were actually re-lists of homes that hadn't sold.

The verifiable new listings can be broken down by Village (2), Waterfront (1) and Town (7).  There are now a total of 91 active listings in the Skaneateles area of the multiple listing service. In the Village, two great houses came on - one close to a million and the other close to half a million.  We have some gorgeous homes in the Village!

The Town homes range from a low of the mid-$100,000s to over half a million.  Large, small, with or without acreage - we have a great selection at this time of year.  Buy now and you will be able to close (most likely) by mid-July.  While there's only one true new listing in waterfront you could push to take possession before the 4th of July then spend the summer enjoying it.  And if not the new one - there are 23 others waiting to be sold on the lake, too.  Ten Mile Point has a great beach (see below) from which to watch the lights on the lake!  And it's a bargain at $250,000.

The "under contract" numbers have fallen a bit.  There are only 17 waiting to close.  Seven of these are new since the last update on April 12th.  They range in list price from a low near $40,000 to over a million.

We now have 26 sold and closed properties year to date.  Of these, two are in the Village, one is waterfront, and the remaining two are situated in the town.  If you missed it, I did write out the First Twenty back in April.  And, oh yes, 50 West Genesee Street is reactivated after a winter hiatus.