The day after the Super Bowl. Still basking in the warm glow of a family gathering plus the Giants' win. Such a good thing that is for New York and the underdogs! They came such a long way. When a fellow Realtor and old friend in Colorado needed reminding about staying with his Central New York roots, he went back to a very long time ago when Floyd Little signed his placemat at a sports banquet for Sherman Park football. We grew up within walking distance of the SU campus - and it is still in our hearts. (He still has that placemat!)
The weather is gorgeous here for a February day. Brilliant sunshine. Boo and I will take several walks today, I can guess.
Too much food last night! Shrimp, dips, chocolate chip and peanut butter cookies.... Oh my! But I will start to save room for a Krebs' meal, coming late August according to Adam Weitsman, the new owner. If you would like to read more about this, go to http://www.syracuse.com/ and Friday's article. This will be a wonderful addition to Skaneateles.
Soon the market will pick up, now that the jobs picture is looking better and better. I think confidence is growing, and people will be able to see further than six months down the road. Certainly, if possible, buying is better than renting. I paid my mortgage this morning - Monday is domestic day, with bills a top priority - and I enjoy seeing the numbers shrink.
But to keep them shrinking, I must keep making money. So if you are looking for a lovely ranch in Camillus - call me, please! Or there's a sweet smaller home with hardwoods not too far out with a very deep back yard at 1650 Coon Hill Road....then the lots, all those lots! From Calemad to waterfront in Niles, to many, many acres in Sennett and Skaneateles. I am sure the builders out there are ready for you and spring to come! Buy now - be in by the fall!
Monday, February 6, 2012
Wednesday, February 1, 2012
Skaneateles Real Estate - The Weekly Update
As the rain comes down and before I leave for a closing, I just want to delve right into the update. There are currently 83 active listings in the Skaneateles area of the multiple listing service. Eighty-three! I went back and checked other years to see if this is as remarkable as it sounded. At the end of January there were well over 100 active listings each of the last three years. This means a drop in the range of 20%. We are almost at that point of coming into town and having very few choices - so you might as well buy them now before they are sold to someone else.
Of these 83 listings, 26 are in the Village and 21 are waterfront. The median list price is $374,000. Two new listings came on in the past week, one a re-list with a slight reduction, and the other a new listing in the Jordan-Elbridge school district, priced under $100,000.
There are 15 homes marked contingent or under contract. Three are new, and all are within the confines of the Village. There are no new pending properties, and the total number of pending homes is only three.
We now have 5 sold and closed homes. The last one was my listing on East Lake Road - such a very pretty home! The people saw it at the first and only open house and fairly soon thereafter put in an offer. The key was pricing and condition - and this lovely home had both!
I thought that 5 closed sales sounded quite good, so I went back and looked. Sure enough, between 2009 and 2011 in January there was a total of 5 homes spread out over the three years. Between the fewer listings and the increased sales, I think we are going to have a great year!
Of these 83 listings, 26 are in the Village and 21 are waterfront. The median list price is $374,000. Two new listings came on in the past week, one a re-list with a slight reduction, and the other a new listing in the Jordan-Elbridge school district, priced under $100,000.
There are 15 homes marked contingent or under contract. Three are new, and all are within the confines of the Village. There are no new pending properties, and the total number of pending homes is only three.
I thought that 5 closed sales sounded quite good, so I went back and looked. Sure enough, between 2009 and 2011 in January there was a total of 5 homes spread out over the three years. Between the fewer listings and the increased sales, I think we are going to have a great year!
Tuesday, January 31, 2012
Promotional Items
So, the key to success in most sales careers has to do with keeping your name or brand in front of everyone. I prefer to think it has more to do with service, but passing the word that service and communication are key returns to the idea of names and faces in front of everyone. After 10 years in real estate, I can't call everyone so I send out post cards of listings and the occasional promotional item.
I think it all came home to me that this is important when I went to an SU game recently. I ran into a friend who introduced me as "This is the woman who is on my refrigerator." Her friend instantly lit up with recognition.
I have received promotional items myself along the way. Carol Alger, a loan officer who is now with Homestead Financial (http://www.homesteadfinancial.net/) has been with me from the start, probably one of the very few professionals who has been. She gives great service, communicates with me quickly and easily via e-mail, and I can reach her when I need her. The feedback from clients is also positive - if it weren't, I would not recommend her. But she also gives out promotional items. When she switched from MetLife I asked her if they would continue to come, because they are fun.
So I still have the old ones. The MetLife apron is red, so it works over the winter months for both Christmas and Valentine's Day. I have on the refirgerator a Snoopy embellished list of emotions, with a marker to show how I am feeling each day. I got stuck on ecstatic when Liam was born last July and can't seem to pull myself off of that. Which is fine!
This morning I finished sending out calendars, a bit late, but I do want to connect and be on more refrigerators. Next week I will send out the new Parcell Woods lots post cards. I think these are the most important, and not necessarily to promote me, but to keep my clients (and friends) informed about new properties.
There is something else that goes along with mailings, whether they are multi-steps like the calendars, or single moments of attaching address labels. Sitting at the kitchen table today I think about each and every person as I put on the mailing label. This is an old method / teaching strategy from my days in Spring Hill School in Saratoga (http://waldorfsaratoga.org/). Teachers were encouraged to bring to mind their students, one at a time, as they fell asleep. This helped to focus on the individuality of each child and solve or prevent problems. As I sat at the table today, I thought of that exercise. It applies to real estate too.
I think it all came home to me that this is important when I went to an SU game recently. I ran into a friend who introduced me as "This is the woman who is on my refrigerator." Her friend instantly lit up with recognition.
I have received promotional items myself along the way. Carol Alger, a loan officer who is now with Homestead Financial (http://www.homesteadfinancial.net/) has been with me from the start, probably one of the very few professionals who has been. She gives great service, communicates with me quickly and easily via e-mail, and I can reach her when I need her. The feedback from clients is also positive - if it weren't, I would not recommend her. But she also gives out promotional items. When she switched from MetLife I asked her if they would continue to come, because they are fun.
So I still have the old ones. The MetLife apron is red, so it works over the winter months for both Christmas and Valentine's Day. I have on the refirgerator a Snoopy embellished list of emotions, with a marker to show how I am feeling each day. I got stuck on ecstatic when Liam was born last July and can't seem to pull myself off of that. Which is fine!
This morning I finished sending out calendars, a bit late, but I do want to connect and be on more refrigerators. Next week I will send out the new Parcell Woods lots post cards. I think these are the most important, and not necessarily to promote me, but to keep my clients (and friends) informed about new properties.
There is something else that goes along with mailings, whether they are multi-steps like the calendars, or single moments of attaching address labels. Sitting at the kitchen table today I think about each and every person as I put on the mailing label. This is an old method / teaching strategy from my days in Spring Hill School in Saratoga (http://waldorfsaratoga.org/). Teachers were encouraged to bring to mind their students, one at a time, as they fell asleep. This helped to focus on the individuality of each child and solve or prevent problems. As I sat at the table today, I thought of that exercise. It applies to real estate too.
Monday, January 30, 2012
Time and Again
We spent the weekend in Manhattan, visiting Alex, Rachel and Liam. It was a truly lovely - if brief - time away. We made it down there in four hours and twenty minutes, and that included two stops. I never would have believed it possible until I started making the trek through Scranton. As long as there is no George Washington Bridge or FDR tie-up we can do it. We also found a parking spot just a few doors from their building.
I have come to really love the City. I love the energy, the way it really doesn't seem to sleep, the safety of it. I can walk and walk, we are close to parks on either side, there are dogs and kids galore to watch. We ventured out with Liam, now six months old, to a sit-down restaurant, stroller and all. Candlelight, great Vietnamese food, good wine and beer, close to their building....and there were two other little kids at the next table. It was all fine and the wait staff accommodated everyone.
I looked at the City slightly differently this time. I've been reading Time and Again, by Jack Finney, for the second time. I read it years earlier when I was in Seattle, and remembered it fondly. When it was reissued this past year I bought it and also gave a copy of it to Alex and Rachel. Not to give too much away, it is a story that features the NYC of 1882, at the end of January that year.
The details are simply delicious, things I had not known or thought about. There's a scene in which it has snowed a great deal, and everyone has taken the opportunity to bring out their horse-drawn sleighs. Finney evokes this beautifully - the sounds and sights of all those horses and bells in the night air. The protagonist stays at The Dakota, famous in part now due to John Lennon, but when this was published in 1970 it was a star among the Manhattan buildings in its own right. Across the street in Central Park, in 1882, were farms! (For a great photo of it, and a description, go to http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Dakota)
There was no snow this weekend, and I didn't make it down to The Dakota as I will some day. The wind blew off the East River and froze us, but the parks were filled with kids on a Saturday afternoon in the sun. So different from Finney's descriptions - but still the same fascinating city.
I have come to really love the City. I love the energy, the way it really doesn't seem to sleep, the safety of it. I can walk and walk, we are close to parks on either side, there are dogs and kids galore to watch. We ventured out with Liam, now six months old, to a sit-down restaurant, stroller and all. Candlelight, great Vietnamese food, good wine and beer, close to their building....and there were two other little kids at the next table. It was all fine and the wait staff accommodated everyone.
I looked at the City slightly differently this time. I've been reading Time and Again, by Jack Finney, for the second time. I read it years earlier when I was in Seattle, and remembered it fondly. When it was reissued this past year I bought it and also gave a copy of it to Alex and Rachel. Not to give too much away, it is a story that features the NYC of 1882, at the end of January that year.
The details are simply delicious, things I had not known or thought about. There's a scene in which it has snowed a great deal, and everyone has taken the opportunity to bring out their horse-drawn sleighs. Finney evokes this beautifully - the sounds and sights of all those horses and bells in the night air. The protagonist stays at The Dakota, famous in part now due to John Lennon, but when this was published in 1970 it was a star among the Manhattan buildings in its own right. Across the street in Central Park, in 1882, were farms! (For a great photo of it, and a description, go to http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Dakota)
There was no snow this weekend, and I didn't make it down to The Dakota as I will some day. The wind blew off the East River and froze us, but the parks were filled with kids on a Saturday afternoon in the sun. So different from Finney's descriptions - but still the same fascinating city.
Friday, January 27, 2012
The Last 10 in 2011
So here they are, the last 10 homes that closed in the Skaneateles area of the multiple listing service in 2011. This brings the total to 70 homes. It WILL get better in 2012 - I know it!
In no particular order:
181 Hemlock Hollow - $159,750
3859 Highland Avenue - $245,000
9 Wicklow Drive - $309,000
2989 East Lake Road - $1,375,000
1698 Amerman Road - $225,000
2424 West Lake Road - $215,000
48 West Genesee Street - $350,000
14 State Street - $300,000
61 State Street Road - $285,000
25 Leitch Avenue - $530,000
On to a better year!
In no particular order:
181 Hemlock Hollow - $159,750
3859 Highland Avenue - $245,000
9 Wicklow Drive - $309,000
2989 East Lake Road - $1,375,000
1698 Amerman Road - $225,000
2424 West Lake Road - $215,000
48 West Genesee Street - $350,000
14 State Street - $300,000
61 State Street Road - $285,000
25 Leitch Avenue - $530,000
On to a better year!
Thursday, January 26, 2012
Skaneateles Real Estate - The Weekly Update
I am learning to navigate through the new year with all my resolutions mostly in place. I still find that I am drawn to doing more than needs to be done and feeling rushed, at least real estate-wise. I rearrange my own schedule - walks, blogging time, friend-time - to accommodate people because I never want to feel the guilt about someone missing out. But then other things don't get done, things that need to be done and things I enjoy, like this blog, and I feel guilty anyway! I know it is all part of living, and subject to "monitor and adjust." Recognizing the issue is the first step towards solution.
Currently there are ONLY (and I do mean ONLY!) 91 active homes in the Skaneateles area of the multiple listing service. Of these, 29 are in the Village, and 22 are waterfront. I say ONLY because we have been as high as 150 as recently as the past six months. And the new ones that have come on - four in the last week - are all re-lists of homes that have been on the market before. Three of these have been reduced - one has been increased in price. There are no new listings except these.
There are new contingent properties, bringing the total to 5. One is waterfront and the other is Village - great! There is nothing new in the Under contract or Pending categories, which add up to 11 homes.
We added another sold property, a gorgeous home in the Skaneateles School District and listed as Skaneateles, although really in the Town of Sennett. That brings to four the number of closings for 2011 - already! And I know another one that will show up closed within the week.
So go out there and see these few homes. It's almost down to the good old days of showing five homes and saying "Pick one - it may not be here tomorrow!"
Currently there are ONLY (and I do mean ONLY!) 91 active homes in the Skaneateles area of the multiple listing service. Of these, 29 are in the Village, and 22 are waterfront. I say ONLY because we have been as high as 150 as recently as the past six months. And the new ones that have come on - four in the last week - are all re-lists of homes that have been on the market before. Three of these have been reduced - one has been increased in price. There are no new listings except these.
There are new contingent properties, bringing the total to 5. One is waterfront and the other is Village - great! There is nothing new in the Under contract or Pending categories, which add up to 11 homes.
We added another sold property, a gorgeous home in the Skaneateles School District and listed as Skaneateles, although really in the Town of Sennett. That brings to four the number of closings for 2011 - already! And I know another one that will show up closed within the week.
So go out there and see these few homes. It's almost down to the good old days of showing five homes and saying "Pick one - it may not be here tomorrow!"
Wednesday, January 18, 2012
Skaneateles Real Estate - The Weekly Update
I feel so comfortable at this desk. I will probably go back into the office this evening, but I want to get the update done here, with a cup of tea and a dog at my feet. I showed a house this afternoon that froze me totally. Gorgeous house (falling in love with the potential) but colder than the outside temperature of 20 degrees, I swear! I needed to warm up!
Currently there are only 96 single family homes listed as active in the Skaneateles area of the multiple listing service. Of these, 31 are in the Village and 22 are considered to be waterfront. Three properties came back on the market this week, two in the village and (brrrrr) a lovely waterfront home. The median list price of all these homes is $325,000. The lowest is $89,900 (and the only one under $100,000) and the highest is $3,095,000.
There are only three homes marked contingent, but one of them is new - a fine home in the town which I showed repeatedly to no avail. Alack and alas! Someone is getting a very pretty home! In the under contract, do not show - may I just refer to it as "U" please? - category there are seven homes listed. In the pending column are five. I can assure you the pended homes would like to become "SOLD!" As would their buyers, sellers, attorneys and agents....probably also the loan officers who get tired of hearing from the buyers, sellers...etc.
We still have only three homes sold this year - see the previous paragraph please!
Currently there are only 96 single family homes listed as active in the Skaneateles area of the multiple listing service. Of these, 31 are in the Village and 22 are considered to be waterfront. Three properties came back on the market this week, two in the village and (brrrrr) a lovely waterfront home. The median list price of all these homes is $325,000. The lowest is $89,900 (and the only one under $100,000) and the highest is $3,095,000.
There are only three homes marked contingent, but one of them is new - a fine home in the town which I showed repeatedly to no avail. Alack and alas! Someone is getting a very pretty home! In the under contract, do not show - may I just refer to it as "U" please? - category there are seven homes listed. In the pending column are five. I can assure you the pended homes would like to become "SOLD!" As would their buyers, sellers, attorneys and agents....probably also the loan officers who get tired of hearing from the buyers, sellers...etc.
We still have only three homes sold this year - see the previous paragraph please!
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