kaulat

I must take a moment to run through the past week. There are 115 active listings in the Skaneateles area. There is one new waterfront listing, actually a re-list down almost 10% from the original list price. One home has sold and gone directly to pending - the list price is currently 35% off the original price. Nothing closed. Now it's time for the fun to begin! Skaneateles had 64 closed properties for 2008, as compared with 103 in 2007. The median price was a resounding $410,000 as compared to $300,000 the year before. The least expensive property closed for $68,000. The most expensive closed for $2,066,250 and was not surprisingly waterfront. In 2007 the least expensive was $43,000 but the most was 4.9M. It's the one on West Lake Street currently being remodeled. Camillus by comparison closed 267 this year as opposed to 299 properties last year. They were well ahead of their number until the fall when things seemed to slow. The median price remained virtually the s...

Address: 4201 E 3rd St, 90804 Asking Price: $514,900 Year Built: 1922 Size: 2 beds, 1 bath, 1,163 sq. ft. $/Sq. Ft.: $443 Purchase price: $576,250 Purchase date: 11/6/2008 MLS#: S554980 On Redfin: 41 days Down Payment: $103,000 Monthly Payment: $2,900 Income Requirement: $147,000 Description: Wow! Must see this great piece of property located on the corner of 3rd and Roswell. Darling 2 bedroom 1 bath with great patios on the side and in back for entertaining! Great open floor plan with lots of windows, hardwood floors and indoor laundry area. Fully tiled bath and and upgraded kitchen. Oversized garage for great storage. This one will be gone before you can blink! *Blink* *Blink Blink Blink* *Blink Blink Blink Blink Blink Blink Blink Blink Blink Blink Blink Blink Blink Blink Blink Blink Blink Blink Blink Blink Blink Blink Blink Blink Blink Blink Blink Blink Blink Blink Blink Blink Blink Blink Blink Blink Blink Blink Blink Blink Blink Blink Blink Blink Blink Blink Blink Blink Blink Blink...

In no particular order, I want to memorialize these thoughts so I can go back and check them next year. And I probably will. Knowing that readers are out there, too, may keep me on the straight and narrow. Whatever it takes! I resolve to sell every home I list in 2009. I know selling is a combination of sellers, buyers and agents as well as marketing and the economy, but what the heck! No goal, no drama. I resolve to establish financial goals that are not all monetary. I will run my business as my business; my personal finances will be separate. I've already gone to M&T and spent a wonderful few minutes with their manager, Mary Adsit, who got me rolling. I've done all right so far with my bookkeeping, but this is another level of expertise I want to add to my list of accomplishments. (Besides, it will be easier at tax time!) I predict that Alex and Rachel will be married under sunlit skies on the lawn of the Sherwood Inn in Skaneateles on July 18th. I resolve to fit int...

Back from Vegas with a quick update on a property I featured back in April . To jog your memory, the property was facing a quarter million in equity evaporation if it sold for the then-current asking price of $375,000. Well, I'm happy to report that after a year languishing on the market...it sold! Well, sort of. The house went off the market in September, and in October a sale was posted for $340,000 . Without the actual property records, I'm guessing that's the bank taking it back. Taking it back for $163 per square foot , by the way. OUCHIES. It hasn't popped back onto the market yet, so who knows how much they'll ask. In this neighborhood, that per square foot price sounds reasonable. But then again, the bank just lost -$280,000 and I imagine they want to recoup at least some of that money. Work has been crazy--yes, even during Christmas break--so hang tight for resumption of regular updates. I hope everyone has a safe, exciting New Year's Eve. I, on the o...

M E R R Y C H R I S T M A S , Y'ALL!

Count Chocula over at the Diplomat Dungeon reduced the price for the second time in five weeks. As per ususal, the price cut is a meaningless gesture considering the WTF asking price, but it at least shows the listing isn't a joke. I was seriously beginning to think the seller died and everyone just forgot about the listing. But come on, a pathetic 2% reduction in this buyer's market? Why bother? This guy just doesn't get it. If you want to sell in this dismal market (especially in this neighborhood), you've got to be willing to deal. 6% total reductions in nearly two years isn't going to cut it. But I guess after 659 days rotting on the MLS, you already knew that.

I went into the Elbridge M&T Bank last week and ran into Sherri Dattler, their mortgage consultant. I've known Sherri for years, back to Skaneateles days when I first arrived. I thanked her profusely for putting together a mortgage for the people buying one of my listings. She shared that the rates had gone down substantially since they first applied three months ago. I told her about this blog, and asked if she could share what that meant dollar-wise. She eagerly went back to her office (they've just remodeled) and calculated. It means that if you have a 30 year fixed mortgage for $100,000 and a rate of 6.5%, the cost per month would be $634. The rate currently is 5%, so the payment would drop to $538. That's a savings of $96 every month and almost $1,200 per year. Push that out even 10 years and the savings are almost $12,000. That could buy a lot! The point of all this is two-fold. Those homes that seem expensive can be purchased literally for a lot less. ...