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I went back and looked at last year's blog for this week. "I think summer came this week." That was my first line. What a difference a year makes! We've had the warmest July on record, I bet! There are currently 147 active listings in the Skaneateles area of the multiple listing service, of which 31 are in the village. Two (only) are new, both having been FSBOs before engaging the services of a Realtor. One is in the village and a newer (!) home - only 50 years old! It is listed around the $300,000 level. The other is actually in Spafford, down the East side of the lake, for over $500,000. Two properties "sold" this week - in other words, were marked contingent but with issues still to be worked out - one for under $200,000 and looking like a good deal, and the other a waterfront in the 1.5M range. When it closes, if it closes near to its list price, it will be the highest so far this year for the area. Another mid-$100,000 property also sold - and

The status was "Active" and changed to "Contingent" I don't buy it. This apartment has been rotting on the MLS at $299,500 since November, and now it suddenly goes contingent after a measly 3% price reduction? I smell horseshit. Anyhow, the current list price of $289,500 is just $27,000 more than what this flipper paid for it in June of 2009 -- a far cry from the $62,500 premium he tried to get last summer. Factor in about $17,000 in commissions and we're looking at a razor-thin profit margin. Oh, but don't forget about the 13 months of carrying costs, including $5,460 in HOA fees, for this unoccupied unit. I think it's safe to say this flipper will absorb a loss in the tens of thousands for his delusional attempt to make real estate riches by "buying at the bottom" of '09. +++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ Address: 5200 East ATHERTON St #125, 90815 Asking Price: $299,500 Beds: 2 Baths: 1.75 Sq. Ft.: 1,241 $/Sq. Ft.: $241 Year Built

I opened up our hotsheet today to check on the new listings. I do it every day - to miss one day is to possibly miss a new home that would be perfect for one of my clients. I check several areas - to do them all would not be efficient. Obviously I look at Skaneateles, Marcellus, Elbridge and Camillus. Spafford, Niles, Owasco and Aurelius give me a view of waterfront for Skaneateles, Owasco and Cayuga Lakes. Other places like Sennett, Brutus and Auburn I just like to watch. Dewitt is in there for comparative purposes, plus mutli-families that several of my clients enjoy buying. The purpose of this rather lengthy paragraph is to give you a sense of what I do, why and to set up what happened today. Today there were 8 new listings since the last time I checked (yesterday morning). But there were 16 revised prices - kind of gives you the idea of how the market is progressing. People are getting anxious and want to sell. This is a signal, buyers, to buy and buy now! There are curr

Last Tuesday Bob and I skipped out of town to just outside Rhinebeck, New York. You know Rhinebeck - where Chelsea Clinton will be married in a few days. We were going to Ramapo for Children, a camp for children with special needs. It has been run for the past twenty-five years by Bernie Kosberg. Last Tuesday the Camp held an official "Hats Off to Bernie" Day. Everyone was invited - the Board of Directors, past counselors, friends of the Camp, and of course the kids and counselors. Bernie's family, too - of which we are proud to be members through marriage. Alex married Bernie's and Susan's daughter in a tent next to the Sherwood a year ago. By way of disclosure, I must say that Alex is now the Director of Business Operations at the Camp and its New York office. I am also an old special education teacher, with many summers working with kids behind me. The Camp was incredible and I found myself in tears often at what they had accomplished. Please look it up

The price was "$219,900" and changed to "$199,900" $220 per square foot for an apartment just 1,000 feet from the sand. This is officially cheaper to own than rent -- even before the tax write-off. But the bank has no intention of letting the property go for this bargain basement price. Because that would mean recognizing a horrific loss on the books. So I expect this charade to go on and on and on...with a few price increases thrown in along the way to restart the process. It's been two-and-a-half years so far...I wouldn't be surprised to see this go on until 2012. As long as there are acronym-filled horseshit government programs left to exploit, this could go on indefinitely. ++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ The price was "$250,000" and changed to "$225,000" In case anyone is operating under the misguided belief that the banking system has stabilized and housing is poised for a big comeback, I want you to consider that this shitt

The price was "$279,000" and changed to "$269,000" I've been seeing $10,000 price reductions ALL OVER THE PLACE since the Federal tax-credit expired, and all it really tells us is that the free government ponies make housing that much more expensive. I'll remind you, this flopped flip first arrived on the market in March with a wishing price of $339,000 . And since then he's been gingerly chasing the market down, perpetually 10 steps behind the curve. Thus far his lackadaisical pricing strategy has resulted in being forced to cut 60 Grand from the original ask -- all to no avail. And now that the tax credits are history, you have to wonder how much more cold, hard cash his ridiculous strategy will cost him. Factoring in commissions, he is looking at a profit of $28,000 for this exercise in futility. A pittance compared to what he could have walked away with, but at least it's not a loss, right? Oh, but we forgot to factor in the ~$10,000 spent spru

Mike in LBC wrote in with a great question. In case you don't read the comments (come on, join the discussion!), here is what he asked: El Bee, could you school me on a blog when you have a few? This article will probably interest you regardless: http://finance.yahoo.com/news/5-Home-Ownership-Myths-to-usnews-3874381652.html?x=0 But I was particularly interested in the "myth" that you don't save in tax deductions from the purchase of a home. I'm really scratching my head about THAT one. Here is what that section said: "I'll get a tax deduction." While the government provides a tax deduction for mortgage interest as well as other tax credits related to energy-efficient appliances and other green technologies, these benefits do not outweigh the expenses. Many homeowners find that even with the availability of a mortgage interest tax deduction, their tax return isn't affected because they are better off taking the standard deduction. Below is my res

Such a lovely day! It's hot outside as it's been most of the summer, but inside Boo and Koko and I are enjoying a quieter day than it has been recently. I ran out this morning and heard a presentation by an architect, managed aspects of a sale, put Open Sunday signs on 2 Green Street in Camillus for this weekend (1:00 to 3:00!) and then placed a most glorious SOLD sign on 109 Snowberry. The commitment came through this morning - thanks to fellow RE/MAX agent, Don Gendron - and we are getting ready to close! But there are currently 144 active listings in the Skaneateles area of the multiple listing service that have no offers on them and are ready to be explored. Of these, 28 are in the Village. Seven new ones - well, sort of - came on this week. Actually 6 are new and one is a village property that will now be sold because, in part, of its reduced price - I hope! Two others in the village are priced around $200,000 and offer pretty streets and front porches. Two water

Special thanks to JK for keeping us informed about this property. Sold on 7/8/2010 - $325,000 Purchased 11/23/2005 - $465,000 Loss - $160,000 And this was not a short sale, meaning that massive hit was taken directly in the pocketbook, in cash. Brutal. The bright side: At least their FICO score is intact. So after eight months on the market, how did it finally sell? Well, the nearly 20% in price reductions surely helped. Not to mention it appears they finally put some effort into making it presentable. BEFORE: AFTER: Yeah, not a radical improvement, but it's something. That bamboo wallpaper was nauseating. You know what's funny? I never even noticed how freaking awesome that big window is until the "flair" was removed. Anyhow, by waiting way too long to get realistic about the price for this average apartment, I'm convinced the seller left serious money on the table. I was sure it would nab a sale for around $360,000 in December given the comps ($360 per square f

133 The Promenade #103, Long Beach, CA 90802 Purchased 3/2007 - $800,000 ($509 psft) Sold on 7/9/2010 - $330,000 ($210 psft) Loss - $490,000 Oh how the mighty have fallen. After nearly two years spent chasing the market down, ostensibly hoping for "things to get back to normal," pinning hopes on "green shoots" and the elusive arrival of "the bottom," the bank finally accepted the truth. I think $330,000 is a good price for 1,500 square feet of brand new construction, but I have a feeling the bank views that massive, absolutely mind-boggling 60% loss a bit differently. What an utter disaster.

Sold on 7/8/10 - $315,000 ($6,000 above asking price) As I said in May: Who knows...maybe the bank has it priced correctly for today's low-inventory, low-interest-rate environment. I think $309,000 is straight up Jocelyn Wildenstein crazy for this shite neighborhood, but given all the manipulation and interference in the market, it's tough to determine the true "value" of anything these days. ...so I'm not terribly surprised by the sales price (especially given the bevy of Fed and State tax incentives that essentially reduced the sales price by $20,000). But I still think the new owner overpaid (dude, burglar bars). Congratulations on purchasing the most expensive house in a one-mile radius! The good news for the bank is that it recouped some of its money, but the bad news is overall they are still in the hole about $180,000 . +++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ 705 East 8TH St, Long Beach, CA 90813 Asking Price: $309,900 Beds: 2 Baths: 1.5 Sq. Ft.: 1,310 $/Sq. Ft

Sold on 07/09/10 - $1,150,000 And all it took was a 65% price reduction. HAHAHAHAHAHAHA. The weird thing is, the final sale price is $150,000 more than the March asking price. Although, that $999,000 asking price seemed a bit low to me and some readers (basically the double-lot land value) so I guess I'm not surprised it got bid up. I'll remind you that this property was purchased in 2007 for $750,000 and was a short sale at $1,150,000 --despite three-and-a-half years of principal payments. That must have been one hell of a party. Anyhow, the long, delusional journey has come to an end. I hope she learned a valuable lesson about greed, denial, and the price of abject stubbornness. This idiotic empress left a hell of a lot of money on the table by dicking around with insane wishing prices for so long. But now someone gets to enjoy one of the absolute weirdest Long Beach homes for what I think is a pretty good deal. Click here for the whole pathetic saga...

It's been a very tough week around Skaneateles for the Chamber members and friends. I was stunned to hear of Karen Foltz from Pomodoro Too's passing. I knew she had been sick, but I always believe people are on the recovery track or there will be another new drug or trial. Thursday afternoon at the Sherwood friends and family celebrated what Karen had meant to them. It was a very important occasion, I believe, for everyone to get together, and I'm glad they did. John Yuhas' calling hours were Tuesday in Marcellus. He was a real estate attorney for years, brother and son of Ann and Babette Yuhas, both Marcellus Realtors. When I bought my house in Skaneateles 20 years ago he had been my attorney. I remember he congratulated me on getting a 9.5% home loan for it. He fought through ALS (Lou Gehrig's disease) for years and years, but the fight, not the disease should define him. Jan Loveless from the Kreb's and Bob Herman from the old Skaneateles Savings Bank

Sadly, much like that 4th of July parade in Iowa , someone's about to get trampled. After chasing the market for ages, doling out piss-ant 4% price cuts, this tidy place with possible structural issues (thanks Olaj!) is asking $479,000 ...the same price from April! It's time for the bank to get serious. The distressed asset manager (hyphen intentionally left out), who seems to think he'll be a hero if he can eek out a small profit for the lender after commissions (the bank took it back at auction for $424,000 ), failed to notice that the market had already spoken: THERE IS A VERY GOOD REASON NOBODY OUTBID THE BANK, AND THAT REASON IS THE MARKET DOES NOT THINK IT'S WORTH A PENNY MORE THAN $424,000. Until the bank at least gets below that price, I simply don't see how this nabs a sale. Then again, I noticed the transaction price from the bank taking it back is no longer on Redfin, so maybe buyers uninterested in performing due diligence will glady cough up this

Blogger.com has been having issues, so I'm going to get this in while I can! I know it's the heat! There are currently 139 active listings in the Skaneateles area of the multiple listing service, of which 25 are listed as village properties. Only one new listing came on this past week - and it's a "three-for." It's listed as a single family home (which it could be, with a great carriage house) or a multi-family, or as it's zoned, commercial. All this in the village for under 400K. There are only 5 properties listed currently as contingent, continue to show, but three of these are newly contingent. One each in the village, the town and on the water. Nothing new in the "under contract, do not show category" though - 4 in all waiting for a new status. Pended is another village property that has been out there for a much higher price for a while - congratulations to them! We now have 34 sold single family homes, year-to-date. Two are new - one

Sold on 04/29/2010 - $432,000 ($292 per square foot) In February I said: But judging by the comps, and a price per square foot about to drop below the $300 mark, this seller might be able to find a greater fool for around $425,000 . That still means a major loss, but at least he'll be free from his colossal error in judgment. Damn, it feels good to be a gangster. Congratulations seller on finding a slack-jawed dummy to take your ancient, overpriced digs off your hands. And buying at the "bottom" only cost you $79,000 in cold, hard cash. Way to go! ++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ 3101 East 2ND St Unit 4C, 90803 Asking Price: $447,000 Beds: 3 Baths: 1.75 Sq. Ft.: 1,481 $/Sq. Ft.: $302 Year Built: 1963 MLS#: P716383 On Redfin: 34 days HOA: $175 Down Payment: $17,880 (FHA) Income Requirement: $128,000 Monthly Nut: $2,900 Description: Spacious Bluff-Park-Condo in great location . .. This top floor light and bright unit features 3 bedrooms, private balcony with peek-a-boo o