Tuesday, July 26, 2011

The Update - A Lot Late

But we will play catch-up.

I must say that really only the blog has suffered due to Liam's birth.  I never thought I would be so consumed but I am.  I still managed to find time to sell, buy and close properties with my clients in the last few weeks - just not the time to write about them.

So - since I did the research and then got interrupted by The Call to go to Manhattan "now!" I will start with what I pulled together.  This is the second half of the update - what sold and closed between (gulp!) June 16th and July 13th in Skaneateles.

Two new properties were marked contingent, both larger village homes bringing the number of contingent properties to 7 in all.  "Under contract but do not show any more" is a tiny waterfront - can't wait to know what it did actually sell for!  There are 12 pending - a larger waterfront is new to this list.

What has closed is the most interesting part of this update.  As of July 13th, there were 29 closed single family homes in the Skaneateles area.  Eight - wow! - were new.  Four were listed and sold under $200,000.  A fifth home was a mid-range waterfront property that dropped its price to accommodate a sale - something that has been happening a bit these days.  Two other newer homes just outside the village both sold in the mid-$400,000.  And then there's The Big One, closing for 3 million dollars, right on the water with acreage in the village.  Congratulations to the new owners! 

So slowly we will get back to a new normal.  Slowly.  Patience, I am told, is a virtue.

Sunday, July 17, 2011

Our News



We welcome to our family Liam Jude Brooks-Barr born the morning of July 15th in Manhattan to Alex and Rachel.  He is our first grandbaby - and what a beautiful baby he is!  He weighed 8 lbs, 3 oz and has gained an ounce over the past day.  He was 22 inches, just an inch shorter than Alex was when he was born in Seattle.  Both were born under the full moon.

Wednesday, July 13, 2011

"You are Never Old, Until Regrets take the Place of Dreams"

So I have fallen down on my writing.  I could claim busy-ness, and I certainly have been.  Over the weekend I was gone both days from before 8:30 to about 8:00 at night.  I keep returning exhausted, but when houses are selling one goes with the flow.  Because the spigot can be turned off, as quickly as our pond drained a week ago.  "Fish" was left high and dry - literally - but I rescued him and gave him a whole new world in my in-laws' pond....what a fish story!

The reality is that about a month ago I was speaking with an agent who said I should be careful, that in writing about homes I am in danger of violating a listing agreement.  In our contracts we present to the owners they have the right - and all do - to say they do not want third party comments about their homes.  It's a new clause, and I routinely check it.  But she said that I was walking a thin line with this blog.  

Now, for the most part I am complimentary, and I do not identify homes or properties unless they are my listings.  The agent agreed that I was careful - she reads my blog, as do other Realtors - but she put that seed of doubt in my head.  Where it stayed.  And grew a bit, so that when I did have time to sit down I chose not to write.  It wasn't a fear as much as a lessening of desire to write.  It had stopped being fun.  I had to worry about being censored by the Board.  It takes the fun out of writing, especially my style of conversational, stream of consciousness with little editing, style of writing. 

Yesterday a story appeared in the Post-Standard (and you can go on-line to read it at http://www.syracuse.com/ under Health and Fitness) written by Kathleen Poliquin about a young woman who gave birth to a baby 8 months ago and endured incredible medical hardships, but will compete in a Triathlon this summer.  Amazing.  Her belief system contains the following sentence:  "The biggest consequence of fear is missed opportunities." 

So I am banishing fear and pushing ahead.  If agents or sellers recognize their homes and do not like what I wrote, please tell me.  I will be conscious and conscientious, but I want to write this blog.

Today I read that an old friend had passed away.  He was a writer, a professional writer.  So this blog is for you, Nick!

Sunday, July 3, 2011

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

Welcome to the Third of July - the day that is second only to Christmas Eve in my family.  This is the day when flares are lit around the lakes and the celebration for the Fourth of July begins.  Salt potatoes are the starch du jour, Bob's watermelon-shrimp-avocado dish takes center stage, and the world is magical for one glorious summer evening.

So if you are thinking of moving to Skaneateles, or moving around within the Skaneateles area - please consider these new listings.  In the village you could move to a lovely stucco home now on the market in the mid-$300,000 range or go smaller up the street for a granited kitchen in the mid-$200,000. 

4519 Jordan Road
If you want to put in some work, you could buy the little one we just listed (see photo) for $39,900 in the Falls - it is gutted and ready for you.  Or the unfinished 4,000sf home now listed in the mid-$200,000 just outside on the east.  Remodeled and done on five acres - there's a new one for just over $300,000.  If you want gorgeous on more than five acres, look to one listed at just over $500,000.  Only one waterfront came on these past two weeks - but the location is superb and the price under a million.  For relatively new construction, go beyond Skaneateles' borders but within the school district to one priced to sell under $400,000.  Or go down the lake for about $200,000 and I think a view.  And a small one right in the village was re-listed, and that was also remodeled but priced in the mid $100,000 range.

Ten new ones, that should make, with three in the village.  All the listings together in the area equal 145 - so you have 145 opportunities to live in Skaneateles which on this Fourth of July weekend is jumping.