Skaneateles Real Estate - The Occasional Update (September 18th)

I was already to go with the update, but then realized I had to get in the open house alert for last Sunday at 149 N. Main Street in Jordan.  And I am glad I did!  I was busy all the time - just lovely, and everyone really liked the house too which is always important.  From that moment on I was swamped with work and did not get back to the update....so this one uses September 18th statistics.

There are currently 102 single family homes on the market in the Skaneateles area of the multiple listing service.  Of these, 25 are in the Village and 27 are considered waterfront.  Eight of the nine "new" listings in the past week or so are actually re-listings.

There are 24 properties waiting to close, or to have contingencies removed.  Two new Village properties came under contract.

As of the 18th, 74 single family homes had closed, year-to-date.  Two were in the town, and the third is in the Village.  We are getting closer to the Fourth Twenty!  I can almost see 100 sales this year for the second year in a row....

Speaking of 100 sales.....I attended very sadly the funeral of Mary Toman from Realty USA's Camillus office last week.  The church was filled; her calling hours on Wednesday night lasted 5 hours.

Mary was a fixture in the real estate world I joined over ten years ago.  We did several sales together, and there always seemed time for her to talk a bit.  She was a legend - she did over 100 sales a year, every year, for the past 15 years.  She - personally - without a huge team.

But what was more poignant for me was her beginning, lovingly described by Mark Re.  She had lost both parents by the age of 14, so she lived alone on Shonnard Street and attended St. Pat's School on Tipp Hill.  The powers that be felt this was not appropriate, and wanted to put her in an orphanage.  At the court date a woman who cleaned the school stepped forward and agreed to take Mary - whom she didn't really know - into her home.  Such love and compassion Mary paid back over the years in her own attention to the family she eventually had.  And what I thought was also fascinating....she only started her remarkable real estate career at the age of 47.

I will miss her.

Open House Alert! 149 North Main Street - Jordan

What a gorgeous weekend this is going to be!  The Jordan Fall Festival will be ongoing from Friday to Sunday with all sorts of fun events.  Check it out at jordanfallfestival.com.

149 North Main Street
Village of Jordan
13080

Meanwhile, a short distance away in the Village of Jordan, I will have the beautiful home at 149 North Main Street (ML#S296384) open on Sunday, from 1:00 to 3:00.  It was built in the mid-1800s and they certainly knew how to erect homes that lasted back then.  The walls are thick, and the owners are amazed at how little the utilities cost for over 3,000sf of living space.  The bedrooms are large - something that is usually only seen in master bedrooms these days.  The kitchen has a walk-in (and around) pantry, plus there's a small office just off the living room.

I love the porch and deck...Just sit on the front porch (accessed only from the house) and watch the world go by!  In the rear the decks overlook Skaneateles Creek.  Buy this house, and you own 5 acres plus have the pleasure of fishing from your own back yard.

I look around at the old homes on my way to the house and try to imagine what it must have been like when the house was new, and surrounded only by other homes as glorious (or almost!) as this one on the far NW side of the Village.

So come to see it please - you will be pleasantly surprised by all the updates. My personal favorite is the second floor laundry - but then again, the walk-up attic has even more potential.  Remember - 1:00 to 3:00 this Sunday!

The Third Twenty

Below are the list of closings (in no particular order) and the published closing prices.  These single family homes were listed in the Skaneateles area of the multiple listing service and closed between June 28th and August 7th.


184 East Genesee Street - Village of Skaneateles - $170,000

23 Calemad Drive - Town of Sennett - $480,000

21 East Lake Street - Village of Skaneateles - $260,000

718 Sheldon Road - Town of Skaneateles - $430,000

782 Franklin Street - Town of Skaneateles - $168,400

2111 Terrace Lane South - Town of Skaneateles - $430,000

1983 Collard Road - Town of Spafford - $355,000

1275 Oak Bluff - Town of Skaneateles - $1,150,000

179 East Genesee Street - Village of Skaneateles - $244,900

2671 East Lake Road - Town of Skaneateles - $585,000

50 West Lake Street - Village of Skaneateles - $816,000

10 Goodspeed Place - Village of Skaneateles - $157,000

2445 East Lake Road - Town of Skaneateles - $975,000

3187 West Lake Road - Town of Skaneateles - $996,000

3 West Austin Street - Village of Skaneateles - $400,000

3543 Lost Hollow Road - Town of Skaneateles - $440,000

111 Twisting Lane - Town of Niles - $342,000

2987 East Lake Road - Town of Skaneateles - $2,835,750

871 Franklin Street - Town of Skaneateles - $222,500

3900 East Street - Town of Skaneateles - $280,000

Skaneateles Real Estate - The Six-Week Update

I am not going to bore you with what came on and what sold.  A lot came and went, and there are more single family properties waiting to close than Village listings.  I can summarize though.

Currently there are only 103 listings in the Skaneateles area of the multiple listing service.  Of these, 24 are in the Village and 30 are waterfront.

There are 26 homes waiting to close.  Of these, 8 are in the Village and only 4 are waterfront.  Village for a second year remains highly desirable.

So far, year-to date, we have 71 homes that have closed.  Of these, 25 (40%) are in the Village and 13 (18%) are waterfront.  The total number of closed homes compares with 2012 when by this date there were 81 sold and closed homes.  Not as good as last year, which was record-setting, but certainly better than 2011 when we only had 50 homes closed.  The trend is upwards, the Village is booming, and the prices have increased also.  The median list price increase is only $10,000, to $300,000.  But there were only 2 homes listing over a million that closed in 2012, and 8 (count 'em!) in 2013.  So far!

Update - All Summer Long

I opened up today to finally write an update.  I took an unprecedented two months away (although it hasn't seemed that long).  I wrote to a friend that I wasn't going to let real estate consume my life - but it did this summer.  This blog falls somewhere between personal and business....I love writing, always have, but like much of my non-professional life it has to take a seat behind the pressing needs of seeing, showing, and selling homes.  This can wait.  And has - way too long!

What was missed in the past couple months?  Personally, I can say the biggest change in my life was the birth of our second grandson, Oliver, on August 2nd.  I was taking photos of my new listing in Jordan (see above, and more on that later) when the call came that maybe we should think about heading down to Manhattan.  Bob came back from his job down the lake, I called for "dog support," and we left around noon.  A few minutes later we learned they were at Mt. Sinai.  An hour later the texts stopped.  At the Scott exit on Route 81South we stopped for a minute - and got the text the Oliver had been born.  We were in the City and able to hold him by 5:00 - amazing!  He is dark-haired (for now) and has a lot of it that sticks straight up.  Smaller than Liam, we know he will hold his own.

The week before my poor little Fiat was smashed as I showed a house on Orchard in the Village.  Never seen, it was sent flying over lawns to rest in the street.  No one - thank goodness - was hurt.  The driver experienced the opening of air bags and walked away, refusing medical assistance.  I was able to drive away (sort of) and after 5 long weeks in the Elbridge Summit body shop, am back on the road.  I doubt I will park on a Village street again - and think, please, before you do!  It's the second time I've been hit while parked.

Many of my listings have been sold and closed, with new ones coming on for the fall season.  The beauty above is in the Village of Jordan, at 149 North Main Street.  Huge house with huge bedrooms, a grand deck, sittable front porch, walk in and around pantry, second floor laundry, newer windows and a remarkably low utility cost.  The roof and furnace are basically new - what's to do but enjoy?  Oh yes - you can fish, too - the five acres is bisected by Skaneateles Creek!  An amazing property - listed for $245,000.

Skaneateles Real Estate - The Summer Update

High summer - rainy day....perfect for writing this blog.  I had thought about doing an open house out at Ten Mile Point in part because it's the boat show this weekend.  Glad I didn't.  On days like these Alex and I would head for the movies from camp.  We'd stop at McDonald's - a rare treat - and avoid going back to the lake as long as we could.  Now I love days like this - if I start at the lake and don't have to think about going there.  Curl up with a good book, put on an old movie.  Or, like today, write my blog.

Currently in the Skaneateles area of the multiple listing service there are 108 active single family listings.  Of these, 27 are in the Village and 30 are deemed waterfront.

Ten new ones have come on the market since I wrote the last update - 22 days ago!  They range from a low of around $200,000 to a high about $600,000.  Only two are waterfront and only two are in the Village.

There are 23 homes listed as under contract.  Five are new - and four of these are in the Village.  The homes under contract range from $200,000-ish to well over a million dollars.

Year-to-date there are now 54 sold and closed homes.  Twelve of these have closed since the last update.  Five were in the Village and 3 were waterfront.  Prices range from under 200K to over a million.

Last year was a record-breaking year for sales in Skaneateles.  At this time there were already 61 closings, so we are near that mark.  There were also a great number of Village homes and I thought that trend may have waned.  The numbers show differently - 19 of the 54 closings this year were Village as compared to 27 of the 61 closings in 2012.  The Village is still quite a desired commodity.

By the way - we had a very wonderful dinner last evening at the Glen Haven Hotel at the south end of the lake.  I had my brie that I love so much, and Bob had huge shrimp and a pasta of some kind.  For me, a rhubarb and mango crisp (a la mode, of course!) for dessert finished it off.  But mostly we just soaked in the beautiful setting on the porch, looking out at the lake while the sun set.  A splendid place to celebrate new beginnings and remember old times.

The Second Twenty - Plus one

Odd how it's turning out that these are batches of 21 - but that's fine, because they are closings!

And now, in no particular order, here they are:


1390 Coach Road - Town of Skaneateles - $405,000

28 Orchard Road - Village of Skaneateles - $251,000

3959 State Street Road - Town of Skaneateles - $289,895

1053 Jewett Road - Town of Skaneateles - $285,000

718 Sheldon Road - Town of Skaneateles - $430,000

4519 Jordan Road - Skaneateles Falls (Unincorporated Community) - $30,000

1 Highland Street - Village of Skaneateles - $142,000

3754 Fisher Road - Town of Skaneateles - $134,000

1275 Oak Bluff - Town of Skaneateles - $1,150,000

42 East Elizabeth Street - Village of Skaneateles - $305,500

3858 East Street - Town of Skaneateles - $164,900

50 West Lake Street - Village of Skaneateles - $816,000

2 Prentiss Drive - Village of Skaneateles - $570,000

2605 East Lake Road - Town of Skaneateles - $995,000

130 Locust Lane - Town of Spafford - $525,000

2445 East Lake Road - Town of Spafford - $975,000

3187 West Lake Road - Town of Skaneateles - $996,000

1562 Heifer Road - Town of Skaneateles - $270,000

1 Teasel Lane - Village of Skaneateles - $390,000

682 School Street - Skaneateles Falls - $60,000

2987 East Lake Road - Town of Skaneateles - $2,835,750