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Ho hum. Another price reduction on another incredibly overpriced property. Yawn. Address: 3401 E. 1st Street #6, 90803 Asking Price: $599,000 Year Built: 1966 Size: 2 beds, 2 baths, 1,481 sq. ft. $/Sq. Ft.: $404 HOA Fine: $200 Purchase price: $375,000 Purchase date: 6/2003 MLS#: P623107 On Redfin: 194 days New Down Payment: $119,800 New Monthly Payment: $3,800 New Income Requirement: $150,000 Description: Top Floor Corner unit penthouse With excellent OCEAN VIEW from Unit and Superior 360 degree Roof top deck. Spacious 2 bedroom and 2 bathroom condo with Entertainment size Living room, Dinning Room and balcony. This home also offer an office area and eat in Kitchen. Priced to sell. The last time we featured this "priced to sell" property, the asking price was an eye-popping $649,000 . Now, 42 painful, wasted days later, two price reductions have resulted in a new asking price of $599,000 . Again, do you see why it makes absolutely no sense to buy right now or in the near fut

Well, sort of..... I didn't make it to any brokers' opens this week, why I honestly can't remember. Oh yes! I went to Moravia to meet a young woman interested in buying a home, but she was unable to meet me. It was a lovely drive, however - much recommended if you don't go that way a lot. Last week I went to Saratoga to visit my good friend, Eva. I've known her since our boys went to school at the Waldorf school, Spring Hill. I was the administrator, and Eva and her husband were strong supporters. They had chosen to live in Saratoga because of the presence of a Waldorf school. Eva was originally from Germany and met her husband in Mexico. Her house is the subject though.....it's a small ranch, and when they bought it in 1988 it consisted of two bedrooms, a living room and a galley kitchen plus a full bath, of course. The sunporch overlooking the Vermont mountains was there, too, I believe. Since then they've taken the two car garage and turned it int

My mother taught me from a very young age that the three most important aspects of real estate investment are Location, Location, Location. This advice is so pervasive, and logical, that it’s a bonafide cliché. But what does it really mean? For one, location means neighborhood. To supplement with another clichéd piece of advice: buy the ugliest house in the best neighborhood. Meaning, you can always fix your property up and enjoy the appreciation that comes along with a desirable area, but it won’t do you much good having the largest, most opulent house if it's in the middle of a ghetto nobody wants to live in. Secondly, location means proximity. If you buy a house on a busy street you will contend with traffic noise, pollution, and limited parking. Same goes for power lines, freeways, airports, and sewage treatment plants. Pretty common sense, right? In addition to location, I happen to think there are other equally important aspects to consider, including amenities, layout, size,

This is not what I had planned to write about, so please forgive me if I theorize and cogitate while I'm writing. I honestly don't know where it will come out. A few years ago I sold a house and we had a pre-inspection done on it. The inspector found a couple safety issues - critical safety issues - and the owner fixed them plus followed his recommendations up to a certain point. We ended up with an offer that accepted the inspection and the repair details - basically full price, too. No surprises because there was no inspection. Also a few years ago my buyers brought in an offer on a property but the owner did not accept it and my buyers walked away. Several months later it still hadn't sold and the wood stove caused a major fire. It was taken off the market, repaired, and again listed. Unfortunately it is still on the market. The fire was not disclosed - the repairs were made and the wood stove deleted - but there have been a few offers that somehow don't mat

Another property recently featured on the Long Beach Housing Blog has cut their asking price. That's right, our two wild and crazy guys over at 5585 PCH knocked a whopping $5,000 off the asking price. But, I thought we were supposed to "HURRY" because it "Won't Last." That's odd. Seems like it's lasting just fine at that price point. Anyhow, it's obvious they're not serious about selling. If they were, they wouldn't be yanking our collective chains at $350 per square foot. If they need a quick, merciless sale before the "Supposed Summer Selling Season" ends, these two wild and crazy guys better start acting more like Crazy Gideon .

The post featuring this "ELEGANT EUROPEAN CHATEAU" a few weeks ago was a blast to write. I found the property just at the right time, too. Lately I've been finding myself allowing other priorities to trump blog updates due to a waning sense of motivation. To be honest, it gets tiring to write about delusional a-holes all the time. The severe level of denial out there, coupled with the government's attempts to maintain these outrageous home prices at the cost to responsible homeownership -aspiring taxpayers like myself, can be a little disheartening. But man, once I saw this bad boy I knew I was back. The humor and inspiration just flowed, and it renewed my interest in exposing greed-faced scumbags. Anyhow, just two weeks after my post, the asking price dropped $75,000 . A less than 4% cut is nothing to get excited about, especially when the original astronomical asking price is so hallucinogen-fueled, but it's relevant because it's the first reduction since

A few weeks back I berated our favorite delusional seller at 185 Quincy #202 . In the August 7 post I wrote : Especially with the slower selling seasons of fall and winter approaching, there's no hope for you selling at this asking price. And since reducing your asking price to a reasonable amount would result in the loss of $100,000 plus commissions--not to mention another ~$130,000 in carrying costs since your '05 purchase--you only have two choices: 1. Send the keys back to the bank and and rid yourself of this albatross that, given your astronomical purchase price, won't produce a profit for another 20 years, or 2. Take it off the market today, relax, and start enjoying "Belmont Shore living at it's [sic] finest." Us taxpayers would prefer that you choose the latter, but either way, do us all a favor and throw in the towel. If you can't stand the heat, get out of the Smurf-blue kitchen. Well, the seller has finally heeded my advice and taken the prop

Here we go! It's the start of something big! Currently, in the Skaneateles area of the multiple listing service there are 160 homes active on the market. This number seems to have held steady over the past few weeks, while the number of homes marked contingent or pending has increased slightly. Of the 6 new homes that have come on the market, 2 are re-lists and 3 are waterfront. Waterfront continues to sell and do very well this year. There are also 3 properties marked contingent this past week: 1 residential, 1 waterfront, and 1 for the die-hard investor who got a good deal, I think. The price had come down steadily - until it's last listing was about 60 % of the original price. There are now 30 closed properties this year. The latest is a village property which sold at a reduction of 12% of its original price. Last week I wondered about reducing all homes by 10% to sell them - and I think this is in part a validation of that assumption. I had a wonderful comment about

The last time we profiled this property , we noted a massive price reduction from $499,000 to $399,000. A call of desperation that went unreturned. But now the house has been re-listed with a new description, a sales-killing disclosure, fewer pictures, and a price tag that must make the few remaining true believers out there shudder in their boots. Address: 514 Temple Ave, 90814 New Asking Price: $309,900 New Down Payment: $61,980 New Monthly Payment: $2,100 New Income Requirement: $77,475 Year Built: 1923 Size: 1 bed, 2 baths, 1240 sq. ft. $/Sq. Ft.: $250 (!) Purchase price: $520,000 Purchase date: 9/2005 MLS#: P653081 On Redfin: 2 days Fantastic Value On This Charming Spanish '1 Bedroom + Den' House. Den Could Easily Be Converted Back In To A Master Suite with Fireplace, Master Bath and Walk In Closet. Priced For A Quick Sale!!! Spacious Living Room with Ceramic Tiles, Upgraded Open & Bright Kitchen with Granite Counters, Wood Cabinets, New Plumbing Fixtures, Remodeled Ba

I spent the Tuesday broker's open showing my new listing. It's a lovely cape that from the road looks very, very small, but when you see the rear of the house you realize that a huge addition has been put on and it's actually much larger. Maybe another 500 square feet or so. That changes it from a two bedroom to a three bedroom with a master suite overlooking a private back yard rimmed with trees, and beyond is only a cornfield. The master bed/bath has two large walk-in closets and a decent-sized bathroom. Downstairs is the "piece de resistance", as Dave Schoeneck of Realty USA pronounced it at the broker's open. It's a sunporch, 15 feet by 18 feet with windows on three sides looking out on the "park-like setting." I really enjoy that space! Even though it currently has no heat or heat source, I can see sitting there in the dead of winter with the western sun pouring in. I think I'd add an electric fireplace and camp out! Like other h

"The times they are a-changin'......" I hear it everywhere - things are beginning to move! But not yet in the statistics: There are currently 160 active listings in the Skaneateles area of the multiple listing service. This past week 5 new ones came on the market: 2 were re-lists, and 3 were brand new. Of the 5, an amazing 3 were waterfront properties. Must be that people are reading my blog and realizing that waterfront is still selling! And selling it is! We now have 29 closed properties - 2 new ones this week. One was a lovely home, totally redone, with lake rights, and another was a very pretty country home that sold for over the list price of $599,000. Not so bad! Also, there is a new "K" - contingent sale - another multi-million dollar lakefront home! So what else is selling? Not condos - no closed sales this year. Of the 7 lot sales 4 were in the Parkside development off West Elizabeth Street. Well, actually one was on West Elizabeth - take a look - you

What a treat! I had a few minutes a couple weeks ago so as I stopped to get lovely sunflowers by the side of the road I looked around. There set back from the road was an old schoolhouse with an open sign. "What do you have there?" I asked the young woman who came to take my money (I had grown accustomed to the honor system at the stand). "Oh, it's a country store," she answered. I am paraphrasing, because whatever she said did not do it justice! The brochure states: "Purveyors of the Unique." This is a store worthy of the most interesting of places - from Provincetown to Marin County, Saratoga to Skaneateles. It was wonderful! "A rural rarity with gastronomic departures, confectionary treasures, nostalgic foods, local and global." That's an understatement. I could have bought everything - and come back for more. What a treasure! It will definitely be on my list of places to spend time (and $$$) when I have an hour or two - or I

Do you remember the movie Big with Tom Hanks? Of course you do. It was the film that led an entire generation of boys to grow up wanting an enormous light-up piano keyboard, a job at a toy company, and a huge loft apartment decorated with cool stuff like pinball machines and trampolines. Yeah, see, the problem is that I never outgrew those prepubescent desires when I grew up [Note: To this day there is still much debate about whether I, in fact, ever "grew up"]. I want a loft. And I want one bad. And I'll even live in a crappy area of downtown Long Beach to get my hands on one. The problem with loft living (aside from heating/cooling issues, the cold, industrial, concrete-infested, echo-laden feel, living in a much less desirable area, and the lack of a yard) is that there are many young, single professional males like myself who vowed to procure a fat bachelor's loft when they had the means. That contributes to lots of demand. And that, in turn, translates into high

I have been debating all week whether to write about the house I saw on Tuesday when I should have been running around at broker's opens. I can say that my clients didn't reject it until Thursday, but that's not an excuse for waiting so long. I wasn't sure what to do, quite frankly. The house is fantastic, a four bedroom, two full and one half bath newly built home in Camillus. It has a pool that will take your breath away. The interior painting brings the home alive - and the decorating is lovely. It sits high in a development and except for the lack of trees - please, developers, leave the trees! - it has a premium setting. Here's the issue. The seller is motivated, with a capital M that stands for Money, that rhymes with "Bring an offer, honey!" My clients won't - they are waiting for spring - and I have no one else at the moment looking there. And why is it still there? My guess: the owner started way too high a full year ago and got stuc

During the housing bubble, prices became so grossly inflated that creativity was a must for those rushing to buy out of an irrational fear they would be "priced out forever." Creativity in the way of financing allowed subprime deadbeats with terrible credit histories to borrow six or seven times their incomes, and we had an influx of Alt-A loans which allowed people with decent FICO scores--but no verifiable income or ability to handle such extreme debt loads--to buy overpriced homes (usually with nothing down). In addition, we heard creative advice from real estate "professionals" for buyers to raid their 401(k) for down payment help, and heard buyers should rent out rooms to offset the crushing weight of the monthly mortgage payment. From a financial perspective, buying a 2 bedroom, 2 bath place and renting out a room is a good idea. Why anyone would work so hard to finally buy their own home only to have a Craig's List Creeper cramp their style and lower thei

I hadn ’t really been following the Olympics until I happened to catch the men’s 400 meter swim relay. Now that was some exciting television! It made me so proud to be an American. Sure, competing for gold medals on the world stage and representing your country is an incredible experience, but ultimately these athletes are competing for extremely lucrative endorsement deals. When they return from China, they will be absolutely inundated with offers from companies trying to get these men and women to shill for their consumer goods. Don’t get me wrong, there’s nothing wrong with that. I don't think a love of money is ALL bad. I just think we should talk honestly about it. Anyhow, it got me thinking about all the cash involved in putting these Olympics on and what the root driver of the Olympics, in this day and age, actually is; from the reasons countries fight tooth and nail to host the games, to the competition for broadcasting rights, to the estimated $1.5 Billion spent on adverti

We are still creeping along here, but I see progress although not in the numbers. There are currently 161 active single family listings in the Skaneateles area of the multiple listing service we all use. This week only 3 new listings came on: 1 in the village (looks lovely!), another in the town and actually Marcellus schools, and the last is a re-list. Rumor has it that the day before closing the buyers walked away on the advice of their lawyer - but not for any logical reason that the agent could see! There have been no new contingent sales but one lake rights home has been marked "pending." And there was that beautiful closing of the property on Widewaters - for the reported price of 2 million dollars. The list price, I might add. We now have 27 closed for the year - compared with 61 at this time last year. But I wrote several offers this past week and a couple have come to fruition. I heard from an agent today that she was getting frustrated - properties are still ma

This is it - this is the time - let's go! I've spent the past week working with investors looking for deals in Skaneateles. And there are deals. While we were finding properties, more people came into the office, again looking for deals. I just left a small group from out-of-state who asked me what the best deals were and I could show him a 3000 sf home on 3 acres for under 200K, a 40 acre ranch with a new home under 400K, and of course my lovely 11 Onondaga now for $489,000. Under $200,000 investors have to be ready to put in some work. Many of the homes are vacant - amazingly - and waiting out the current market. Some are bank-owned or estates and in need of major renovation. Foreclosures usually mean unfortunately that the kitchen sink - quite literally - goes with the former owners. If they could have gotten the new jacuzzi out of the upstairs bath that would be gone, too! But how pretty it all could be! Does anyone doubt that Skaneateles will continue to grow? Do y

Are you familiar with that bit from Late Night with Conan O'Brien, In The Year 2000 ? Conan dons a black robe and a futuristic collar, and cuts the lights. With a flashlight underneath his chin (like telling a ghost story at camp), he makes wacky predictions about what will take place in the future. It's absolutely hilarious. "In an effort to make fast food even faster, McDonald's will begin pumping their food directly into customers' stomachs. To keep pace Wendy's will pump their food directly into people's toilets." Anyhow, the bit was created before the year 2000, but the title stayed even after the millennium . It's a little off-putting to watch a bit premised on what will happen in the future, even though we are already 8 years past The Year 2000 . But still a classic bit. The reason that applies to this post is because there is so much debate about what the future holds, when we will hit a pricing bottom in housing, and the "price year