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The house is launched with the brokers' open and now you wait. I usually request that all calls for appointments go through me, rather than through the owners. It may not be as direct, but I have a better chance to coordinate things that way. I also believe firmly that it's my job to sell the house and this gives me a chance to point out features and answer questions. I can compare this part of the process with throwing a party. You wait for the guests to arrive, uncertain whether they got the invitation ("It's a great house!") or even want to come. If there are no showings immediately, it generally means there are no buyers who have been waiting breathlessly for a home like yours to come on the market. Or they can't get here right away. When properties on the lake were hot commodities and only three or four came on each year, agents had lists of people to call when one did. Listing agents called their buyers first but if they worked for the sellers ass

I am shamelessly stealing this sentiment in the title from someone. But I love it because it says a lot about what we all need to do. I spent the day finishing up odds and ends of real estate in the morning. Jolanta cleaned a house for me - amazing how dirty an empty place can get! I tried to straighten out a couple rentals - March 1st is on Sunday and I have people moving in and hopefully the old people moving out, checks clearing, and smooth sailing up ahead. I sent out postcards about three lots I have listed - hey! you can build for under $300,000 easily in Skaneateles or live on the water for a million with room in the stable for your horses. I took Boo for a walk. Yes, the same Boo who ate my bread from Rosalie's last night. He needed to run it off because Bob left early this morning to supervise his community project at the Samaritan Center in Syracuse and didn't have time to walk him. We climbed the hill to the cornfields and walked across them and back. The sun

Remember this thing originally posted last February? Well, the saga continues. This roach motel has been on the market for roughly 550 days. I repeat, 550 DAYS! Good lord. It's worth noting this short sale slumdog shit shack was originally listed in August of 2007 for $315,000. Hilarious. Your weed dealer deserves a Medal of Valor. After that ridiculous wishing price, the seller began slowly cutting the price and spent the better part of a year-and-a-half chasing the market down. ALL THE WAY DOWN. The current asking price of $149,000 represents a more than 50% price reduction. If by some mountaintop miracle this POS sold today, the loss to the lender would be well in excess of $100,000 . If lenders are writing off 100k on 600-square-foot dumps like this, it's no wonder most of the financial system is insolvent! I mean, did they even look at the thing before lending out hundreds of thousands of subprime dollars? And remember the undercutting neighbor who was asking $129,000

All right, all right! Here it is! I received a demanding e-mail which I must say I appreciate from an anonymous reader who is anxiously awaiting the weekly update. My apologies for the wait: it was my turn to cook tonight, and my turn means picking up "bone" bread at Rosalie's, going to the Bug M (there's never anything in the house), searching for a recipe (Joey's Italian cookbook provided a new sauce), getting wine from the wine store (Ecco Domani chianti - quite good!) while the lasagna baked, then eating it all - mostly, I left the bread and a glass of wine for the ZSU/St. John's game which is DVRd. There are currently 118 active listings in the Skaneateles area. Four new ones came on, actually two re-lists (village and lake rights) and two new ones (waterfront and lake rights). The numbers are staying down, but they will increase as the spring arrives - whenever that is! There are 6 marked as contingent with one new one - village, listed over 6 mo

I'll never understand some people. If you recall, back in August I profiled this property , which, at the time, had been rotting on the market for 132 days. Things were actually looking pretty good for the seller because of an apparent willingness to cut the price aggressively. Unfortunately, the aggressiveness stopped in August, and it resulted in an additional 200 days of wasted time. Pal, if you're waiting for this market to "turn around," you've just been provided with 331 reasons why that isn't going to happen. This 109-year-old bungalow was apparently "Contingent" (which, per this example, is utterly meaningless until the sale is completed) but the deal fell through. So, after losing a month or two of crucial market time to escrow delays, the home was re-listed four days ago... AT THE SAME FRIGGING PRICE IT SPORTED IN FALL OF '08! Worse yet, the housing market has completely passed him by while he was dicking around with this misguided &quo

Your house is ready to be released to the public! You have a price, it's been worked over by both you and the Realtor you've chosen, and you know why and what you want to accomplish. In our Skaneateles market, the Brokers' Open is usually one of the first things that occurs after putting the house in the multiple listing service. By no means does it have to happen at any time, and each agent treats it differently. I like to have a Brokers' Open early because statistics show that it is usually another agent who sells the house. The internet is creeping up, but in the current market with people engaging buyer's agents they are the most important element. Our homes here in Skaneateles are open on Tuesdays, generally 12:00 to 2:00. If I have a home down the lake I like to make it later to allow for people to get there and not need to rush elsewhere. But agents plan to see opens early Tuesday afternoon, so there's no reason to change that. The house should be pr

In order for me to keep my real estate license every two years I must demonstrate that I've taken 23 hours of continuing education. This year I seem to be concentrating on learning things I didn't know before that go into the construction of a home. Tuesday morning I spent a fact-filled class listening to Greg Booth from Pillar to Post home inspection. His first hour was about how to spot and what would be inside a "grow home." This is a home which is rented for the sole purpose of growing marijuana. I learned a lot, but I'm not sure it's applicable to anything I will come across in Skaneateles - but you never know. The second hour Greg spoke about keeping water outside the home. Most of it I already knew - how to create drainage around the house by digging a trench, putting in piping, and stopping the water before it gets there. There were a few facts I will pass on: Extensions for the gutters should be 60 inches away from the building "Get the Fog

Well there's an interesting sales technique: Playing hard to get! Feb 17, 2009 Relisted -- -- Oodle #876297025 Feb 04, 2009 Off Redfin -- -- Oodle #876297025 Jan 18, 2009 Relisted -- -- Oodle #876297025 Jan 04, 2009 Off Redfin -- -- Oodle #876297025 Dec 17, 2008 Relisted -- -- Oodle #876297025 Dec 05, 2008 Off Redfin -- -- Oodle #876297025 Nov 15, 2008 Relisted -- -- Oodle #876297025 Nov 13, 2008 Off Redfin * -- Inactive Oodle #2 Nov 11, 2008 Off Redfin -- -- Oodle #876297025 Nov 11, 2008 Listed * -- Inactive Oodle #2 Oct 27, 2008 Relisted -- -- Oodle #876297025 Oct 26, 2008 Off Redfin -- -- Oodle #876297025 Oct 08, 2008 Price Changed $365,000 -- Oodle #876297025 Aug 06, 2008 Off Redfin * -- Inactive Oodle #1 Aug 05, 2008 Listed * -- Inactive Oodle #1 Jul 21, 2008 Price Changed $369,900 -- Oodle #876297025 Jun 03, 2008 Relisted -- -- Oodle #876297025 Jun 02, 2008 Off Redfin -- -- Oodle #876297025 Apr 23, 2008 Listed $375,000 -- Oodle #876297025 WTF is going on here? And after 302 d

Here we go - short but sweet! There are currently 120 active single family homes listings in the Skaneateles area. The two new listings that came on are actually re-lists, a waterfront and an outside of the village home. This makes sense because there were no open houses today, the usual day for brokers' opens. Last week I believe there were only two. We have two new properties marked as "K" for contingent. One had been on for almost a year, while the other came through three different agents/brokerages and several price changes. The last price was about 30% under the original list price. I understand this was not the final reduction, however. We'll see when it closes. There are 12 homes marked "P" for pending, just waiting to close. Two are headed there next week and I can't wait! The publishing of the closings will take a couple weeks for the corporate offices to run through the paperwork and put it in the computer. The closings will certainl

You've decided on the Realtor, you've done your work on the house and your homework on the price, you've replaced the leaky toilet and given your hardwoods a shine you can skate over! Now you need to consider pricing. There are some Realtors who will tell you the price at which your home will sell. I am not one of them, I have no crystal ball, I really don't know. I can show you what other houses closed for, but in a market like Skaneateles almost every house is unique. You absolutely cannot figure out square footage and say how much it is worth. How do you compare an immaculate turn of the century home on an acre in the village with a run-down cape with no yard? There is no way. Appraisers like to look at the last six months of transactions. Skaneateles - the town, the village, the area - had only 66 sales all of last year. What are the chances that a home similar to yours sold during that period? And was it only one home? We all know how much the economy has

Well look who just woke up from their nap! After 220 days on the market with absolutely no interest, this seller finally decided to downwardly adjust their ridiculous asking price of $325,000 to $215,000 . Address: 445 W 6th St #305, 90802 Asking Price: $215,000 Year Built: 1988 Size: 2 beds, 2 baths, 865 sq. ft. $/Sq. Ft.: $249 HOA Fee: $235 (they didn't list it, I had to research it on my own--GREAT SALES TECHNIQUE!) Purchase price: $78,000 Purchase date: 2/2002 MLS#: S539482 On Redfin: 221 days Down Payment: $43,000 Monthly Payment: $1,300 Income Requirement: $61,000 Description: Super Clean condo, Very Well Maintained! 2 bedrooms & 2 bathrooms. Spacious living room with fireplace. Breakfast bar in the kitchen. Nice balcony with a great view of the city lights. Great community. Perfect for first time buyers! Submit all offers. 221 days and you only include one photo? And it's a fuzzy exterior shot taken from across the street? Dude, are you sure you're actually tryin

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An apology here - it's been a while since the last installment primarily because I make a commitment to the writing process that takes a while to fulfill. Like a phone call to a friend I haven't seen in a long time, I want to have enough time and feel relaxed about the time constraints to enjoy the visit. For whatever reason, real estate has been popping the past month. New listings, new clients, closings - so much to do! It's been great - but not for my blog. What I want to do here is make each "chapter" (and I do feel as if I'm writing a book) shorter and more concise. That's difficult for me, and one of the reasons I enjoy blogging is because I have a natural stream of consciousness style. If I leave things out, which I will have to do or never get it written, feel free to e-mail me and ask for more information. Now on to your decisions as a home-seller. Once you've signed all the paperwork and agreed to the starting date, there are still th

WARNING: SOME OF THE INTERIOR COLOR CHOICES FOR THIS PROPERTY MAY CAUSE PERMANENT EYE DAMAGE. PLEASE CONSULT WITH AN OPTHAMOLOGIST BEFORE VIEWING. IF YOU HAVE A PAIR OF POLARIZED SUNGLASSES OR AN INDUSTRIAL WELDER'S MASK, PLEASE PUT IT ON NOW. Address: 1763 Appleton St #1, 90802 Asking Price: $375,000 Year Built: 1959 Size: 2 beds, 2 baths, 1,146 sq. ft. $/Sq. Ft.: $327 HOA Fee: (Not listed, so we’ll assume $200) Purchase price: $510,000 Purchase date: 5/2006 MLS#: P673084 On Redfin: 16 days Down Payment: $75,000 Monthly Payment: $2,200 Income Requirement: $107,000 Description: Beautiful 2 master suite and bath condo with Tuscan interior just a few short blocks from the ocean. Bright upgraded kitchen with tile/slate floors and newer appliances. Oversized living room adjoins elegant dining room alcove. Organized laundry lcoset including pantry. Gorgeous refinished honey-toned oak wood floors. Wonderful, resort-like patio. Clos to shopping, beaches restaurants and freeways. What’s a

I must admit I looked forward to writing this blog all day. After a class yesterday at the Greater Syracuse Association of Realtors on Fair Housing, an agent who doesn't usually sell in our market told me she had sold a home in Skaneateles. While it wasn't marked contingent yet, she urged me to tell others that things are selling again. While the statistics so far don't show it, we are getting somewhere. There are currently 122 active single family listings in the Skaneateles area of the multiple listing service. Five of these are new this week, although four of those are actually re-lists with adjusted prices and a change of agent in some cases. There are no new contingent homes however I know of at least three that are waiting for sign-offs before being marked as such. Fourteen homes are pended, just waiting to close. We still have only 3 closed properties, year-to date. Last year by this time there were 8; the year before there were 9. Am I worried? Not in the least! Wit

I opened the Post-Standard today to Jeff Kramer's column only to find a beautiful photo of Nate, his mongrel sometime columnist, a 70 pound companion. Nate had passed on in late January, and Kramer was reporting on his life and times. I only knew Nate through the columns he wrote and a mutual friend, Lucy, an Old English sheepdog with whom he roamed the parks and byways of Central New York. But he reminded me of everyone's dogs who make life so much better. And since this comes on the heels of another friend's cat's unexpected passing, I wanted to devote a bit of time to what our animals bring us. In the same e-mail batch that announced the white kitty's end on this earth Intrepid Janet wrote to tell me they had adopted another cat, oddly enough a white cat. For those of you who don't have animals, you may not understand the devotion people feel to their animals and this blog won't make sense. Kramer's introduction to Syracuse was aided and abetted b

Well, it looks like the $15,000 homebuyer tax rebate is going to make it into the stimulus bill. Come on, admit it, all this money being thrown around makes fence-sitting a little more difficult to justify. According to the ever-informative Calculated Risk : The tax credit is 10% of the purchase price up to $15,000. The tax credit is for one year (from date of enactment). The credit is available for both new and existing home purchases. This is for primary residences only, and the home must be owner occupied for two years after purchase. There is no income cap (the $7,500 tax credit had an income cap of $150,000 per year). Unlike the $7,500 tax credit, the new credit does not have to be repaid over time. The credit is limited each year to the amount of taxes paid in any one year (with the $7,500 tax credit, buyers received the entire credit and a refund if the $7,500 was greater than taxes for the year) Buyers can split the $15,000 into two separate tax credits to be taken in successi

There's a vague reference here to real estate, so please bear with me. I just need to send these three people's accomplishments out there so you can appreciate them, too. Mike Quigley has a new book out: Childhood Without a Helmet: Stump City Two . His first book was a recollection of his earlychildhood in Stump City, an area in Skaneateles Falls located behind the current WelchAllyn facility. One of seven brothers and sisters, they scraped together a life of childhood dreams and stellar personalities. When my clients bought an incredible home in Stump City last year, I became even more enamored of Mike's writing. Their home is in the book - guess what they got for a closing present! And now there's a new one - with the kids older and more irascible (or at least some of them). Great reading by the fire - it's our history, too. If you'd like to hear Mike speak, he will be at Creekside on Thursday, March 5th at 7:00 PM. Go to http://www.creeksidebooks.com/ for up

While some downtown sellers are snorting huge lines of delusion and raising prices amidst the worst employment news in 30+ years (and are too stupid to change the listing description proclaiming, "HUGE PRICE REDUCTION!!!"), some people are beginning to see the light: In this post I updated you on a kick-ass loft that suffered from WTF pricing when it was originally listed in June 2008. The Housing Kool Aid buzz has slowly worn off, and now we're looking at an asking price nearly 20% lower than the original. I'll recap so you don't have to look through all the old posts: Jun 20, 2008 Listed $549,000 Nov 17, 2008 Price Changed $553,000 ("SHORT SALE APPROVED AT $553,000!" ) Jan 01, 2009 Price Changed $425,000 Jan 07, 2009 Price Changed $395,000 Feb 05, 2009 Price Changed $374,900 That right there is a beautiful portrait of what it's like to chase a horrendous market down. Each price reduction is like a David Beckham penalty kick right to the

Address: 140 N Claremont Ave, 90803 Asking Price: $739,900 Year Built: 1925 Size: 2 beds, 1 baths, 957 sq. ft. $/Sq. Ft.: $773 Purchase price: $899,000 Purchase date: 8/2005 MLS#: P662996 On Redfin: 96 days Down Payment: $147,980 Monthly Payment: $4,000 Income Requirement: $211,000 Description: JUST REDUCED! REDUCED! $50,000. This is a great LOCATION, don't let the square footgage keep you away from seeing this Sunny and Bright Home on a Corner Lot just Steps from the BAY. This Unique Location has BAY VIEW from the Kitchen, Backyard and Sideyard. There's Nothing like it in the Shore. Not only do you have the Fantasic View, but the Owners have made Significant Upgrades, such as: Remodeled Kitchen with Stainless Steel Appliances, Copper Plumbing, New Mahonaney Wood Floors Throughout, Double Hung Windows with Low-E Insulated Glass, Remodeled Bathroom, Crown Molding, New Roof, New Awnings, Freshly Painted Inside and Out, Sprinkler System and last but not least a Security System. Pr

Seems we have hit a bit of stasis, but now that the Super Bowl is over, the snow turning to ice, and Billings, Montana posting 56 degree weather today which is certain to head our way in the next week - things will change. There are currently 117 active listings, the same as last week. Three new ones came on but they are all re-lists. All three dropped their prices, ranging from a high of almost 25% from the original list price to a mere 5%. Two are under $200,000 and the third is waterfront/lake rights over $500,000. No property is immune from price reductions, it seems. There are 6 properties marked contingent, two of which are new. Both are village homes in the $350,000 - $500,000 range. One was listed for a year and dropped the price 10% and the other must have had the right price (I know it had the right location) because it sold in a week. It will be interesting to see what the actual sale prices are; generally the quicker the sale, the closer to the list price. Eleven p

I'm back from my worldly travels. I'm tired, sunburned, and most importantly, clear-headed. Nicaragua, as I'm sure you're aware, is a very poor country. The people were incredibly nice and were laudably patient as I stumbled my way through poorly-conjugated verbs and an endless stream of "come se dice?" When you see how Nicaraguans live, you gain instant perspective about our lives in America and just how ridiculously fortunate we are. I mean, deciding between granite and Corian counter tops is a legitimate, keep-your-ass-up-all-night concern back home. "Damn it, Bryce, they're out of the maple cabinets! Now our stainless steel fridge won't look right! Why, God, whyyyyyyyyyyyy!" Nicaraguans, on the other hand, are at their happiest when they have a glass of potable water. For those of you who believe I'm too hard on used house salesmen, loose lenders, gold-bricking government "leaders" and materialistic greed-heads, you have to