Skaneateles Real Estate - The Weekly Update

Everyone I speak with is busy.  Homes appear to be selling at an extraordinary rate, or at least are being viewed.  My listings are truly doing well and I am glad for that.  I just finished putting stamps and address labels on post cards to be sent out about one of my newest listings, 3803 Gray Ledge Terrace.  The post cards coincide with the first open house this Sunday from 1:00 until 3:00.  It has gotten rave reviews from Realtors who saw it at the brokers' open last Tuesday.  The owners have done everything to make it sell - their closets are phenomenally de-cluttered, the countertop is new and quartz, the appliances are upgraded, and if the weather would cooperate the pool would be inviting!  But the most important thing they did years ago - they chose a lot at the very back of Buxton Woods, and a treed lot at that.  Location, location...!  Come Sunday and see - Town of Onondaga but Marcellus Schools.  (Seneca Turnpike past OCC to a right on Cedarvale - ICJ Cookies on one side and the new Nice n' Easy complex coming soon on the other side.  Go north on Cedarvale almost to Howlett Hill - Buxton Woods' entrance is on the right.)

And now the update....

Currently there are 99 single family homes listed as active in the Skaneateles area of the multiple listing service.  Of these, 30 are in the Village and 27 are waterfront of some type. There are four new listings, one of which is a re-list of a Village home.  The waterfront property is priced over a million dollars, but quite lovely.  Another Village home came on - low $300,000.  The last new listing is actually a restaurant currently just outside the village.

Three single family homes were marked contingent.  One is a fairly new listing that got a great deal of attention and is now under contract - think $400,000 price range.  The second contingent property has been there quite a while and slowly been reduced in price until everyone wanted it - again, village.  The last has been listed a bit, but now has found a buyer in the mid-$200,000s.  There are 25 properties marked under contract in some way.  Nice.

Three more homes closed in the past week.  Two were in the village - notice a theme developing here? - and the third was not too far out with a bit of land surrounding it.  That brings to 24 the total number of closed homes so far this year.  Maybe we can get to the second twenty homes even quicker than the first twenty.  I aim to help!

See you Sunday!

The First Twenty - 2012

Blogger changed yesterday and threw me into a tailspin.  I am proud to say I worked it all out and I can write again.  But for a while I was worried.

The very good news is that I am writing about the first twenty closings in the Skaneateles area of the multiple listing service on April 25th.  Last year I wrote on June 27th!  We are doing well, very well.

I am changing the reporting just a bit.  The same "just the facts" - address and sale price.  However, I want to break it up a bit for better understanding.  There will be three sections:  Village, Town and Waterfront.  Enjoy!

Village

113 Orchard Road - $427,137 (new construction)

116 Orchard Road - $440,000 (new construction)

23 West Elizabeth Street - $128,000

30 East Lake Street - $135,000

23 East Street - $250,000

77 Onondaga Street - $160,000

8 Wicklow Drive - $310,000

8 Highland Street - $127,000

9 State Street - $180,000


Waterfront

3125 East Lake Road - $980,000

72 Carlton's Cliff - $345,000

2686 East Lake Road - $269,900

2114 Lakeview Lane - $485,000


Town

1358 New Seneca Turnpike - $260,200

2817 Nunnery Road - $415,000

51 Calemad Drive - $332,000

1206 Hencoop Road - $190,000

3201 West Lake Road - $175,000

3244 East Lake Road - $279,000

Lot 11 Butters Farm Lane - $445,600 (new construction)

"Know Your Neighborhood"

A few weeks ago Suzanne Thompson from the Camillus office of Realty USA called to ask if I could hold my listing at 208 Dorwin open on Sunday, April 22nd.  The Greater Syracuse Association of Realtors was sponsoring a "Know Your Neighborhood" weekend and encouraging agents in specific areas to have open houses.  This Sunday it's the Valley in Syracuse.  My sellers were thrilled to hear of this program and have worked diligently to make our open house possible.  I will be there from 1:00 to 3:00 - please stop in and say hello, especially if you read about it here on my blog.

Just a bit about the home....All those windows you see are the front porch, not included in the square footage because it's a non-heated space - but a great liveable space a good part of the year.  Inside you will find high ceilings in the living room, dining room, kitchen and first floor bed and bathroom.  You can eat in the kitchen in a nook overlooking the very deep back yard.  Upstairs is a master bedroom with two large closets - the dormer in the photo is the bedroom, creating a cathedral ceiling.  There are two more bedrooms, and another full bath.  One of the bedrooms was probably an attic originally so has a lot of interesting angles to it.

The price is a very reasonable $96,000 - cheaper than renting.  With a few thousand dollars down, your payment including taxes and insurance will be less than $1,000 per month.  If you want to see this home - come to the open house, or make an appointment with me (447-0441) or check it out online at http://realtor.com/ or http://remax.com/.  The ML# is S260830.  Dorwin is located between Valley Drive and South Salina Street, at the very southern edge of the city.  Green Hills (the grocery store) is only a couple blocks away.

If that doesn't entice you - I'll also have refreshments tomorrow!

Skaneateles Real Estate - The Weekly Update

I started the day off with a bang.  It was hair day, so I went in to Carlo's on West Genesee in Syracuse.  The proprietor and owner, Carmen Logan, was celebrating his 75th birthday and looking great.  A client brought in champagne, and there we all were sipping out of plastic cups at 9:30 in the morning.  I could get used to this!

Currently there are only 98 active listings in the Skaneateles area of the multiple listing service.  Of these, 30 are in the village and 26 are considered waterfront. I say "considered," because until the listings change it is difficult to distinguish between lake rights and actual on the water waterfront.  Ponds and rivers are also called waterfront.  Just a note.

Two new listings came on.  One is a lovely village home priced to sell in the mid-$300,000 range.  Another is just at the edge of the village for well under $200,000.  I predict both will be gone by September 1st.

There are 12 properties marked under contract, none of which are new.  Thirteen others are pended, with one new one, a home needing work but having a great deal of acreage.

We have now reached the magic number of 20 for closings!  Very early this year, compared with other years.  I will in the next week publish a list of homes with their addresses and disclosed selling price.  The latest closing was a small village home.

The lowest priced house this year sold for $128,000 and the highest for $980,000.  The median, as I am sure JT will ask, is a sale price of $269,000.  Of real significant interest is the fact that 40% (8) homes that closed are village homes.  They seem to be selling well - is it the gas prices or just the houses themselves?

Please consider buying now.  The rates are the lowest they have been but who knows when they will rise.  You can get so much more house than you can for the same price even at 5% interest.  Do not wait!  Consider this a warning!

Skaneateles Real Estate - The Weekly Update

I've been through a rough week with Charlie, my new/old King Charles Cavalier spaniel.  You really do not want to know the details - symptoms and all that.  Suffice it to say that we are now getting hardwoods to replace the carpets, which needed it anyway.  I am also providing the funding for all the gorgeous gardens for Doc Schnabel at the Weedsport Animal Hospital.  Charlie came through, twirling his way to good health.  If I spoke with you or wrote you an e-mail this week, it was probably while I was at the hospital or en route to the ultra sound place in Syracuse.  Thanks goodness for my iPhone!

So I am feeling a bit feisty now and want to pose a question.  Once a house has been sold, do you - readers - think it appropriate for the agent who brought the buyer to put up his or her sign saying SOLD on the property?  If so, for how long?  This has been a controversy brought to my attention over and over.  Please chime in with your comments!

Currently, there are 100 single family homes for sale in the Skaneateles area of the multiple listing service.  Of these, 30 are in the village and 26 are considered waterfront.  Eight "new" ones came on the market this past week.  Four were re-lists, so I won't describe them - it's the season for homes to come back on the market.  The new four listings break down to two village homes hovering around the $300,000 mark.  Another house is a very recently built home selling for less than the price that was paid for it only a few miles from the village.  The last new listing is a very beautiful waterfront coming on well over a million dollars.

Homes are selling!  A very pretty little ranch with acreage came on the market two weeks ago and is now contingent.  Lovely!  That brings to 5 the contingent sales, to go with 6 more considered under contract.  A small camp was pended - now there are a full dozen pended properties, just waiting to close.

And, like most weeks this year, another home closed!  It was a sweet home in the village listed for under $200,000.  That brings to 19 the properties closed this year-to-date.  Hooray!

And as I've told my buyers - they are not going to last.  Skaneateles is going to sell out this year - I just feel it!

Skaneateles Real Estate - The Weekly Update

We are lucky to live where we do.  I have a good friend outside Dallas, and when the tornadoes hit yesterday I e-mailed her to find out if she and her family had made it through.  She's a teacher, and she reported that they spent two hours yesterday with the kids doing "duck and cover."  We have had some bad storms, but nothing that warranted those actions.

While that was going on, houses were selling here!  We now have 95 homes listed as active in the Skaneateles area of the multiple listing service.  Of these, 27 are in the village and 26 are waterfront.  Over the course of the past week we picked up nine new listings, of which only two were re-lists.  The new ones range in price from the mid-$100,000 to a high of only under $400,000.  Two are in the village, and from what I have heard they are getting multiple showings. 

There are five properties marked contingent, and a new one that listed close to a million, and yes, on the water.  Those under contract and not being shown any more number seventeen.  That's a lot - all good signs!

The best sign is the number of closings - now 18.  Compare this with last year and our sparse 11 homes that had sold.  The new ones range from a country home with acreage to a small village home, with a foreclosure thrown in and another pretty house close to the village.  It looks like we will have our first 20 very soon!

We have so many closed houses I thought I would check and see how we are doing in the western suburbs.  Skaneateles accounts for more than 20% of all the sales so far this year - that's in Onondaga, Camillus, Marcellus and Elbridge combined.  Pent-up need?  Great prices?  Probably a combination of both - and that's fine!  I saw it last week with my open house at Glen Cove on Otisco Lake - the snow started as I placed the signs, but when the fog rolled in during the second hour and people still came I knew that buyers were definitely looking at camps this year.  All very good signs!