kaulat

"You know what's wild? Martin Luther King stood for nonviolence. Now what's Martin Luther King? A street. And I don't give a f**k where you live in America, if you on Martin Luther King Boulevard, there's some violence going down!" --Chris Rock, Stand Up Address: 935 E Martin Luther King Jr, 90813 Asking Price: $375,000 (reduced from a cool $400,000) Year Built: 2005 Size: 4 beds, 4 baths, 2092 sq. ft. $/Sq. Ft.: $179 Purchase price: $620,000 Purchase date: 10/2005 MLS#: R712119 On Redfin: 180 days Down Payment: $37,500 Monthly Payment: $2,400 Income Requirement: $94,000 Description: Beautiful SFR Close to Downtown Long Beach, it is a 4 beds/3.5 Baths, formal dining room, family room, 1/2 bath downstairs, all bedrooms on the 2nd level, Master & 1 Bedroom have full bathrooms, floors downstairs Tile/Ceramic, Carpet wall to wall upstairs, 2 cars garage, this home was built on 2005, imagine to buy an almost new home with only few minutes to the beach & wit...

Patrick.net had an interesting post today regarding the reluctance of banks to get homes off their books despite rapidly depreciating values. Doesn't seem worth it to bleed carrying costs and diminished value each month. It's to the point where if I see a listing that's a short sale or bank-owned, I won't so much as give it a second thought. I mean, what's the point? Sit around for weeks and wait for an overwhelmed, overworked bank rep to finally return your call only to reject your fair-market offer? Hell, by that time the median home price will have lopped off another 1 to 2%. Anyhow, Patrick provides an explanation that makes sense to me. One answer is that if the banks were to really sell their foreclosures for what they’re worth in the open market, that would devalue the collateral they hold on all their other mortgages, rendering the banks instantly insolvent. That pretty much nails it, no? Because of the likelihood a bank would have multiple mortgages in th...

Wow. HOUSE WITH 3 BED 2 BATH, THE HOUSE HAS BEEN DIVIDED INTO TWO SEPARATE LIVING SPACES, 2/1 BATH AND 1/1 BATH (GOOD FOR HELP YOURSELF IN THE MORTGAGE PAYMENT) LONG DRIVEWAY WITH CARPORT. CLOOSE ELEMENTARY SCHOOL. YOU MUST TO SEE TO APRECIATED. I think it's a little too "CLOOSE" to that elementary school because agents are apparently outsourcing their work to third-graders. AND THANK YOU FOR YELLING. YOU HAVE MY ATTENTION. I AM READY TO BUY NOW. First, do we even need to debate whether their little "TWO SEPARATE LIVING SPACES" construction project was permitted? There's about as much chance of that as gas prices dropping to 50 cents a gallon. Second, you know a house is severely overpriced when the realtor herself concedes renting out the Bob-Vila-on-a-two-week-meth-bender 1 Bed/1 Bath "apartment" is your only conceivable shot at swinging the mortgage payment. But the realtor told me it's GOOD FOR HELP MYSELF so perhaps I shouldn't be too ...

I've been asked several times today if I'm finding that things have slowed here in Skaneateles. One question came from a woman who would like to enter real estate as a second career, and another from an owner of a listed home. I replied that while the market is stable in Syracuse - I just had an offer accepted - and healthy, Skaneateles appears to have slowed down. Currently there are 117 homes on the market in Skaneateles. This past week there were 13 new listings, 2 at least re-lists from the past. None sold last week, and there are now 15 closings this year. An old farmhouse on 5 acres was the most recent closing, and because it was priced right it went higher than the list price through a possible bidding war in a matter of days. I was curious about the market as compared with last year. At this point (4/28/2007) we had had 25 closings with a price range of $75,200 up to two waterfront homes closing at 1.3M. Our range in 2008 is low $100s to $875,000, and again, only...

I don't generally do this, but I ran across a couple good ideas on Yahoo yesterday that made sense. I do think presentation of a home makes a great deal of difference. I have one family who has prepared their home like a model, checking out what makes a model so enticing and then copying it. Amazingly everyone who walks through says it "Shows like a model!" Mission accomplished - well, not yet, because it hasn't sold but it's still available for you to buy....! Another family staged the home, complete with fake food on the table for Thanksgiving and a breakfast tray with croissants and tea things set invitingly in the master bedroom. That house did sell, and above the price I had thought privately we would get. But this is what Yahoo says: "If you do only two things before showing your house, clean and clean some more." Very, very true! I recently sold a home that had been supposedly cleaned but the new owners spotted grease on the baseboards and...

Yesterday I went to the Big M in Elbridge for groceries. I had intended to put them away and go back to the office to work on my mailing list. I love being in the village on a warm spring evening, the door open to passers-by. I found myself taking the opportunity to buy cards to send to people. I needed two sympathy cards and two get well cards. As I stood in the aisle deciding on which cards to buy, I realized I should just go home and enjoy the day, walk the dogs, read in the sunshine, wait for Bob to come home. One sympathy card was for the Woodcock family. Bob had worked for them for a few years off and on, and came to really like and admire Dr. Woodcock. Last Friday his plane crashed in Skaneateles due to engine failure. He was killed by a falling tree, the flight instructor left in critical condition. A friend called us Friday night to tell us after his name was released. He had just retired from his ophthalmology practice and looked forward to flying. The other was for ...

Celebrating Earth Day is a great time to catalogue what our family has done to become "greener." It seems as if the world is on a "green" kick, and we're part of the process. Of course, our main reason - perhaps - is to save money as well as the planet. Since we can accomplish both with the same actions we have a wonderful opportunity to double our pleasure. One thing we do is drive economic cars. My Scion XB gets about 28-30 mpg whether it's city or highway. My husband's Element is in the lower 20s, but still so much better than all the pick-ups and SUVs most painters use for work. We each have convertibles - mine is the Cabrio (32 mpg) and his is an old Honda del Sol (maybe 34 mpg.) Last year I was able to drive the convertible well into October. This year I plan to sell it - interested? - and buy a mini. I thought I was doing well with my mpg rating as a Realtor. I met an agent a couple weeks ago who complained about his big Chrysler - 14 mile...

Remember this post from just three weeks ago? In that post I highlighted the recent price reduction to $265,000. Well, things are progressing just as I've predicted. Just a few days ago the price was reduced another $40,000! The real estate situation in Long Beach is getting ugly, and it's getting ugly fast . Frankly, the whole scene is disintegrating faster than even I anticipated. For those of you keeping score, the asking price has been slashed an incredible $85,000 in just over a month. Can you imagine if you were stupid enough to believe the realtors and commision-zombies claiming "now is a great time to buy" and you bought this place a mere four weeks ago for $310,000 ? Or if you bought just six days ago for $265,000 ? You would be upside down instantly, overpaying for the next 30 years on an "asset" that is depreciating DAILY and that would take at least 15 years to break even. Look, the fact is that nobody knows how to value houses in this market....

Here we go - flying into the springtime warmth! I had the Cabrio out and the top down - absolute heaven! Yesterday's open house up on Raspberry in Camillus was a great success. People came and loved the home, many asking if anyone lived there because it was immaculate and "showed like a model." To Skaneateles: still the 14 closings since the beginning of the year remain on the record. None sold (as marked by contingent), but there were five new listings. The most spectacular is waterfront, 150 feet of it with a 3700 square foot house. Hopefully it will be on brokers' open tomorrow - 5 bedrooms, 4 full baths, 5 car garage and a private setting. The four other listings were split between the village and the town, with one a re-listing. With a little imagination there are bargains out there! We have a much higher percentage of listings - now 106 single family homes - than closings this year. There have been 62 new listings since the beginning of the year which i...

Address: 514 Temple Ave, 90814 Asking Price: $549,999 ( Whaddaya say we call it 550?) Down Payment: $54,999 Monthly Payment: $3,500 Income Requirement: $137,000 Year Built: 1923 Size: 2 beds, 2 baths, 1240 sq. ft. $/Sq. Ft.: $444 Purchase price: $520,000 Purchase date: 9/2005 MLS #: R801951 On Redfin : 55 days Description: Great home for 1st time buyers. Rose Park historic area. Beautiful spanish style home, totally upgraded interior and a few blocks from the beach. New recessed lighting thoughout the home, new kitchen cabinets w/ granite counter tops. Upgraded bathrooms w/ new bathroom vanity's, mirrors, tile and new bathtub, toilets and showers. Master bathroom has walkin closet. New sliding french style rear doors. "Thoughout"? By the way, I love the “perfect for first time buyers” line—possibly one of the dumbest realtor clichés . Hey idiot, you're asking more than half a million dollars! How many first time buyers do you know with that kind of scratch? Plus...

Just so we're clear on our definitions... Investment Property [in-vest-muhnt prop-er-tee]: A property that is not occupied by the owner, usually purchased specifically to generate profit through rental income and/or capital gains. Address: 2739 E. 10th St. 90804 Asking Price: $300,000 Year Built: 1903 Size: 3(?) beds, 2 baths, 1008 sq. ft. $/Sq. Ft.: $298 Purchase price: N/A Purchase date: N/A MLS#: R800232 On Redfin: 99 days Down Payment: $30,000 Monthly Payment: $2,000 Income Requirement: $75,000 Description: Investment property in very good conditions. It has 3 bedrooms and 2 baths new paint interior and exterior, large kitchen, living room and dining room area, front yard, a room for washer and dryer machine and the garage has been converted as a two separate rooms without permit. Ideal & Perfect for big family or first time buyers. It has parking for 6 cars with security gate and one of the rooms have an attic that could be as a storage room. Hey, does the dishwasher come...

Years ago I looked for houses with a family relocating to Skaneateles. We went through a lovely new home, built high on a hill overlooking the lake. Well, not exactly "overlooking." Close, but the only view of the lake was from the second story bedroom window if you leaned down and squinted a lot. I demonstrated, and they howled with laughter. "You're doing 'The Realtor Thing!'" I did it spontaneously, not really thinking it out and laughed at myself. I've remembered ever after to introduce moments like that as "The Realtor Thing." Fast forward to this week - different price point, same family. They are now downsizing so we have combed the area for homes under $300,000. There actually are quite a few - trust me on that! We have seen almost all, I think. Three of them had The Realtor Thing in the written listing: 1 - 'Two car attached garage' - except that only one car could go through from the driveway and the garage was op...

It's been a very busy week! I had a Tuesday brokers' open in a great home in Camillus, then offers to write after seeing properties, and a difficult closing which we all celebrated. This doesn't include looking for the perfect down-sizing home for a family, too! So much fun! An agent we ran into along the way said he has had 13 showings of his property in the past week. While it's a function of price, he told us in his 31 years of real estate he knows that when the weather gets better, things start to jump off the shelves. Not yet in Skaneateles. There are 14 homes closed since the beginning of the year and 5 new listings came on for a total of 101 single family residences in the multiple listing service. Of these new listings, two were re-lists and 1 isn't even in the area, but was placed in the Skaneateles area to catch attention. It caught ours! The average price remained the same as last week: $546,700. And there are still 12 condos out there, too! Sell...

It makes me sick seeing attempts by congress to bail out greedy speculators, home (over)builders , flippers, and people too dumb to read and understand their mortgage terms before signing. The politicians claim that taking money from me to rescue them is justified because the most important thing is "helping families keep their houses." But these are the same panderers who claim The American Dream of homeownership is so important that every effort must be made to "ensure housing is affordable." You can't have it both ways, a**holes. Either you're for affordable housing, or you're for using taxpayer money to bailout the lenders, gamblers, and dolts that got us into this mess in the first place to ensure house prices stay inflated and home ownership stays out of reach for responsible, hard working people. It's as simple as that. For all of the debate about bailout plans, everybody loses sight of the big picture: None of it will work. The return to real...

It's been said that if you bury a statue of St. Joseph upside down in the back yard of the house you want to sell, it will be sold. Yes, well....the only client of mine who will admit to burying St. Joseph in this fashion and for this reason, well....sold the house within a couple months. The proponents of a St. Joseph statue - i.e. the company that makes them - agrees that he can help. "Can't Sell Home?" the package asks, "Ask St. Joseph.....He's Helped 1000's!" Then there's a picture of a man apparently burying something in his back yard. Inside the package there are petitions to St. Joseph and a great thought: when the house does sell, remember the Pious Union of St. Joseph in Michigan with a donation, or give to a homeless shelter for all the people who are not as fortunate. I like that. They also de-bunk the upside down, 12" deep, facing away from the house, etc., myths. The Way is more spiritual - ask, believe and trust through p...

Address: 700 East Ocean Blvd., 90802 Asking Price: 384,900 Down Payment: $38,490 Monthly Payment: $3,100 Income Requirement: $96,000 Year Built: 1965 Size: 2 beds, 2 baths, 1080 sq. ft. $/Sq. Ft.: $356 Purchase price: $518,000 (OUCH, THAT'S GOTTA HURT!) Purchase date: 6/2007 MLS #: P630438 On Redfin : 6 days Description: Long Beach Iconic Architecture at its best. 'The Round Building. ' Spacious 2 bedroom, 2 bath condo located on the 21st floor. Travertine floors. Wrap around balcony views with sweeping views of downtown and the mountains. Security building with gated underground parking. Sparkling pool and gymn . Make offer subject to inspection Ah yes, “The Round Building.” I’ll bet this place was the cat’s pajamas when it was built in the 1960’s, but now, 45 years later, it’s looking a bit ragged. This is a cool location, no doubt. Amazing balcony too. However, like most of the condo buildings on Ocean, the HOA fine is absolutely embarrassing. $600 of non-tax-deductib...

On March 30th I wrote Part One - to get to it, do a search on my blog home page and it will show up. That blog ended: "Now, what do we do about it?" Enter Mary Poppins - or should I call her Mary All-gone? (There's got to be something better than that...) I will never get rid of the stuff. I have neither the time, the energy, or the ability to sort through it all and let it go. But it will be "all gone" with Mary. Her job description: come into our home and spend however much time is necessary to go through every closet, shelf, drawer and display cabinet and make it all go away. She will use garage sales, e-bay, consignment shops, Salvation Army and her own wits to "place" everything. In exchange, she will receive half the profit. My estimate is that it will take two weeks of working long days to make it all go away. The concept is this: When we renovated the camp, everything went out in order to have it gutted and re-built. It's a very...

The spring season is upon us! Of the 5 new listings, 3 are waterfront. The roads down to the lake for seasonal cottages are passable, interest is there, and if you buy now you most likely will be closed in time to enjoy the summer. How's that for a sales pitch? On the closed market there are now 14 in the multiple listing service for Skaneateles this year. Last week none sold, as marked by a contingency status. Remember, "sold" is not "closed." Closed means money has changed hands and more importantly the deed has been filed with the county. I learned that years ago from an agent who had been in the business since World War II and unfortunately at least once a month I am reminded of it in one way or another. Stay tuned to a later blog - I have a sad, sad tale in the works now (not mine, not here.) Those condos I wrote about also could be listed as residential. There are currently 12 on the market and none have closed since the beginning of the year. ...

Yesterday spring seemed to have sprung, and although it was still too chilly for the convertible (and Bernie has it in the garage anyway) I took off with my old friend Rebecca to explore Canandaigua with our other friend, Dodie. We intended to go to the the Spice Shop and then Wegman's and north to visit my sister, but Dodie had other ideas. She thought we should see the New York Wine & Culinary Center ( www.nywcc.com ). She is the town supervisor for East Bloomfield and wanted to see it for herself, but also because Rebecca is an expert chef, specializing in gluten-free products and food design. We were all thrilled with the place! We walked in to see a wine and cheese tasting seminar in the educatonal theater. Down the hall in the Viking Range Hands-on Kitchen a group was learning about sushi in a lengthier class. At the end of the hall looking out to the lake was their wine-tasting room. It felt as if we'd been transported to Napa Valley! Except, of course, all t...

Address: 464 Cherry Ave, 90802 Asking Price: $475,000 Year Built: 1911 Size: 2 beds, 2 baths, 1196 sq. ft. $/Sq. Ft.: $397 Purchase price: $637,500 Purchase date: 7/2006 MLS#: P622225 On Redfin: 49 days Description: [Left blank by listing agent] Down Payment: $47,500 Monthly Payment: $3,100 (that doesn't factor in the maintenence costs on a 100-year-old house with no interior photos) Income Requirement: $118,750 (Four times the local median income!) You all know how I feel about anything on, near, or past Cherry, so I won't elaborate further on the undesirability of this neighborhood when the housing budget is approaching half a million dollars. Instead, I want to focus on the financial meltdown occurring here. Rough calculations inform us that if this seller manages to find a sucker to pay full asking price, the loss will be - $200,000 in a tragically brief year and a half . The worst part is that this place, positioned directly on a busy street (good luck backing out of your...

I saw in the Post-Standard today ( www.syracuse.com ) that Mr. Trabold had passed away. Odd - I thought of him on Monday when I was in the village. I turned a corner and there was a gentleman who looked so much like him that I thought momentarily it was him. Then I realized I hadn't seen him in a while. Mr. Trabold had the garage in town for 58 years. You know it now as "Joe's Pasta Garage" on Jordan Street, new since 2004 (?) Prior to that Mr. Trabold owned - well, owned doesn't really do him justice - presided over, maybe - the stone building complete with cars on lifts, dark passages, years and years of grease and grime. It cleaned up really well, though. He was a "tough customer" as my father used to say. A crotchety old man when I knew him. My son was told to bring the car in "early." He showed up at 9:30 - early enough to a 17 year old - and heard what Mr. Trabold thought of lazy kids. He remembers that tongue-lashing to this...