I'm trying to put myself in the mood of peace and calm, and I guess I hoped the title of this blog would set the tone. Not yet. Maybe by writing it out I'll get there, and I do want to get there.
I tried walking with the dogs. We stormed the trails until they headed for home with a "Forget you!" wag of tails. I mowed the lawn until the rain came - that didn't help but it got the lawn mowed at least. I tried to pay the bills, but that's hardly a calming gesture. So I'm blogging.
Writing has always been a solace to me. I've got a ton of journals hidden away in boxes somewhere. I've written short stories as inspiration attacks me, but they've begun to scare me a bit because years later they come true. That's another whole story.
The novels came out of loneliness and a need to create, to try to change my own life and live in a writer's life. They were intense. One was written for my own compulsion, the other formulaic for publication. Neither ever got close, except for a chapter/short story that everyone loved.
See how I'm avoiding talking about the Big Issue? And it's not my issue, I'm just the conduit, the person who as friend hears about these things.
I used to think that "doing" real estate was so much less important than teaching severely disturbed children. The sale of a home was not a life and death issue, was not as torturous as my kids' lives were every single day. The future of a sale was money; for the kids it was a question of mental hospitals or a decent job or family or prison.
I've begun to realize that shelter and how people relate to it is incredibly important psychically. Where we live determines how we live, what our lifestyles are, whether we are near friends and family or alone. It's not "just business." Selling a home means often the end of something - a life, a dream, a family, a chance for more memories. It's important.
I think I found that peace now. Not so much a comfortable, settling in peace, but the peace of acceptance. I've chosen to be part of this process, and by absorbing the emotion that swirls around a sale I am doing my job.
Saturday, 31 May 2008
Friday, 30 May 2008
Everything That Rises Must Converge
A few weeks ago I held an open house on Mother's Day. I'd always had good luck that day and I thought this particular house - 130 Raspberry in Camillus - was pefect for the day because it had a potential in-law apartment. I pictured people taking Sunday drives with "Mom" and stopping in to start the conversation about how she should move in and then maybe finish the conversation with an eventual offer. I am an optomist, but I visualized it all right down the line. Unfortunately, no one came.
Bob and I discussed it going in to Syracuse later that day to his mother's house for the annual family gathering. I said that possibly people didn't take Sunday drives like they used to because of the gas prices (then about $3.65, I think) and he told me about life in the Czech Republic. There, the villages are closer together, people ride bikes, the amenities are not far. My friend Eva who is from Ehrlangen in Germany has always talked about the village life.
So what does that mean for the housing market? Does it mean that people won't drive as far from work? My cousins chose not to buy a home farther out of the city because it would mean driving more. They would have had to purchase another car and they didn't want that, but driving in 10 miles four times a day added up in gas costs.
But what will happen as people adjust? I met a man yesterday who went to the Adirondacks over the Memorial Day weekend and he told me Old Forge was like a ghost town - no perpetual line of cars winding their way up into the mountains as they had other years. People are staying home.
I've seen more people walking, especially around Elbridge. Bikes are becoming more noticeable on the roads. I've adjusted by driving slower, amazingly enough. But I also park the car and walk to places in the village, and think twice about running errands.
So at the same time the gas prices are bloating, we have an obesity crisis as well. Maybe our love affair with the car has something to do with that. I know that when I worked in the garden over the weekend I felt great and slept soundly. I ate more healthily, too. The week before I had averaged three hours each day in the car driving - and sitting.
This summer I see people cutting back on driving and eating and increasing their walking and biking. We are suited here in Central New York for the life of the Bavarian villages. Skaneateles actually has been compared to Ehrlangen. Maybe there's no Wegman's, but everything else is there and within walking distance. Elbridge, also! Park the car - get coffee at Creekside or The Red and White Creamery - and walk to P&C or the Big M. Sit by the lake, or marvel at the lovely old homes on Main Street.
And what happens to the homes like Raspberry, not in villages? They are still very, very close to the major highways and only 15 minutes from Syracuse. The subdivisions are excellent walking "trails." Take the dog, meet the neighbors instead of driving off to be with strangers in some other town.
The pendulum swings, always, and what might seem like crisis is always opportunity.
Bob and I discussed it going in to Syracuse later that day to his mother's house for the annual family gathering. I said that possibly people didn't take Sunday drives like they used to because of the gas prices (then about $3.65, I think) and he told me about life in the Czech Republic. There, the villages are closer together, people ride bikes, the amenities are not far. My friend Eva who is from Ehrlangen in Germany has always talked about the village life.
So what does that mean for the housing market? Does it mean that people won't drive as far from work? My cousins chose not to buy a home farther out of the city because it would mean driving more. They would have had to purchase another car and they didn't want that, but driving in 10 miles four times a day added up in gas costs.
But what will happen as people adjust? I met a man yesterday who went to the Adirondacks over the Memorial Day weekend and he told me Old Forge was like a ghost town - no perpetual line of cars winding their way up into the mountains as they had other years. People are staying home.
I've seen more people walking, especially around Elbridge. Bikes are becoming more noticeable on the roads. I've adjusted by driving slower, amazingly enough. But I also park the car and walk to places in the village, and think twice about running errands.
So at the same time the gas prices are bloating, we have an obesity crisis as well. Maybe our love affair with the car has something to do with that. I know that when I worked in the garden over the weekend I felt great and slept soundly. I ate more healthily, too. The week before I had averaged three hours each day in the car driving - and sitting.
This summer I see people cutting back on driving and eating and increasing their walking and biking. We are suited here in Central New York for the life of the Bavarian villages. Skaneateles actually has been compared to Ehrlangen. Maybe there's no Wegman's, but everything else is there and within walking distance. Elbridge, also! Park the car - get coffee at Creekside or The Red and White Creamery - and walk to P&C or the Big M. Sit by the lake, or marvel at the lovely old homes on Main Street.
And what happens to the homes like Raspberry, not in villages? They are still very, very close to the major highways and only 15 minutes from Syracuse. The subdivisions are excellent walking "trails." Take the dog, meet the neighbors instead of driving off to be with strangers in some other town.
The pendulum swings, always, and what might seem like crisis is always opportunity.
Wednesday, 28 May 2008
House of the Week
Yesterday, intrepid Janet and I eagerly went to see the new listings. There were only a few because after a holiday some agents are still away, so it's better not to plan a broker's open for the following Tuesday.
Our eagerness surrounded the Thibault home at the corner of Onondaga and East Street. It's the big brick mansion that presides over smaller, newer homes in the area. I had seen the sign on Saturday as I drove out to the lake and immediately pulled up the price on my palm: $989,000. How do you price these homes?
We walked in the circular drive and felt a part of history. The name was "Teaselwood" and built in 1838 by a Mr. Snook who brought the teasel industry to Skaneateles. There's a barn-like structure not far down East Street that was sold as the teasel barn a few years ago - an amazing home and beautifully remodeled.
But this home has not been renvated in the same way. The walls curve, and we especially liked winding our way through the second floor jack and jill bathroom. The stairway lifts you up to the second floor so that you are constantly turning. And looking up - tin ceilings abound, as do fireplaces and those lovely long windows.
The kitchen boasts a huge wood-burning stove, and as Janet pointed out probably never was the kitchen 170 years ago. In the cellar, where the laundry is now, there remains a brick fireplace, where the servants presumably baked and scrubbed and produced incredible meals for the owners and their guests. Remember the Masterpiece Theatre "Upstairs, Downstairs"? I expected to see Mrs. Bridges in command and what-was-the-name-of-the-butler emerge from another one of the many back rooms to consult with her.
On the third floor the servants would have lived in the angled attic rooms. Not "done," it still added to the living space. From the outside we could see the windows they would have peered out - it's doubtful that there were any houses around the estate at the time it was built. And what a view they would have had of the lake!
The second floor contained three real bedrooms and a smaller room that could have easily been a bedroom. Off the front room was an alcove, in under the eaves and serving as a long closet currently. A lovely touch - The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe came to mind.
The best part of the home in my opinion was the front enclosed porch with a window that opened into the parlor at some point in the past. There were other touches to the home - the wooden carved half openings in the sides for the front door wooden handles, the wrought iron trim above the bay window (Janet pointed out), and always the tin ceilings.
Should this sell at the asking price, there is precedent. The huge brick home out on Andrews Road sold for just under one million a few years ago. But other than that, the Falcone estate on Genesee Street, and another renovated home overlooking the water, all the other million dollar properties - 35 of them - have been waterfront.
Whoever does buy this historic home will undoubtedly make changes, but I hope they keep the integrity of the exterior - it truly is grand.
Our eagerness surrounded the Thibault home at the corner of Onondaga and East Street. It's the big brick mansion that presides over smaller, newer homes in the area. I had seen the sign on Saturday as I drove out to the lake and immediately pulled up the price on my palm: $989,000. How do you price these homes?
We walked in the circular drive and felt a part of history. The name was "Teaselwood" and built in 1838 by a Mr. Snook who brought the teasel industry to Skaneateles. There's a barn-like structure not far down East Street that was sold as the teasel barn a few years ago - an amazing home and beautifully remodeled.
But this home has not been renvated in the same way. The walls curve, and we especially liked winding our way through the second floor jack and jill bathroom. The stairway lifts you up to the second floor so that you are constantly turning. And looking up - tin ceilings abound, as do fireplaces and those lovely long windows.
The kitchen boasts a huge wood-burning stove, and as Janet pointed out probably never was the kitchen 170 years ago. In the cellar, where the laundry is now, there remains a brick fireplace, where the servants presumably baked and scrubbed and produced incredible meals for the owners and their guests. Remember the Masterpiece Theatre "Upstairs, Downstairs"? I expected to see Mrs. Bridges in command and what-was-the-name-of-the-butler emerge from another one of the many back rooms to consult with her.
On the third floor the servants would have lived in the angled attic rooms. Not "done," it still added to the living space. From the outside we could see the windows they would have peered out - it's doubtful that there were any houses around the estate at the time it was built. And what a view they would have had of the lake!
The second floor contained three real bedrooms and a smaller room that could have easily been a bedroom. Off the front room was an alcove, in under the eaves and serving as a long closet currently. A lovely touch - The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe came to mind.
The best part of the home in my opinion was the front enclosed porch with a window that opened into the parlor at some point in the past. There were other touches to the home - the wooden carved half openings in the sides for the front door wooden handles, the wrought iron trim above the bay window (Janet pointed out), and always the tin ceilings.
Should this sell at the asking price, there is precedent. The huge brick home out on Andrews Road sold for just under one million a few years ago. But other than that, the Falcone estate on Genesee Street, and another renovated home overlooking the water, all the other million dollar properties - 35 of them - have been waterfront.
Whoever does buy this historic home will undoubtedly make changes, but I hope they keep the integrity of the exterior - it truly is grand.
Tuesday, 27 May 2008
Skaneateles Real Estate - The Weekly Update
It's all in the numbers, I'm afraid. There are now 136 active listings in the Skaneateles area. Over the past week 5 new ones have come on the market. Two are re-lists of previous listings, two are new listings. One of them already has an offer on it - an offer contingent on the sale of another house, but it has an offer. The fifth one is also new, and the subject of "The House of the Week" blog coming up next. (Hint: the price is $989,000 and it's not on the water.)
There are still 17 closings listed for the year-to-date; last year by this time there were 31 closings. Yikes!
In bright spots, 2 homes were designated "contingent." One is listed in the mid-$300s and the other in the mid-$200s. Both came on the market last June, and while one took a break over the winter they each had original listings prices reduced. Of course, we won't know until they close what the selling price was. That number is totally concealed should anything happen with the sale and the house needed to be returned to the market.
So what happens to homes that don't sell? Of the 30 marked expired this year in the multiple listing service, about 65% have been re-listed either with the original agent or a different brokerage. In most cases the listing price has been reduced, if only nominally. Another few have been rented - people are looking and if a home can garner enough to pay the taxes and the mortgage interest for another year, the owners feel that it makes sense to wait. Others have just remained expired. It's not easy having a home on the market and if the response initially to the price wasn't encouraging, this year's response would probably be less so. Or so the owners believe, perhaps.
I really am looking forward to the week when everything changes.
There are still 17 closings listed for the year-to-date; last year by this time there were 31 closings. Yikes!
In bright spots, 2 homes were designated "contingent." One is listed in the mid-$300s and the other in the mid-$200s. Both came on the market last June, and while one took a break over the winter they each had original listings prices reduced. Of course, we won't know until they close what the selling price was. That number is totally concealed should anything happen with the sale and the house needed to be returned to the market.
So what happens to homes that don't sell? Of the 30 marked expired this year in the multiple listing service, about 65% have been re-listed either with the original agent or a different brokerage. In most cases the listing price has been reduced, if only nominally. Another few have been rented - people are looking and if a home can garner enough to pay the taxes and the mortgage interest for another year, the owners feel that it makes sense to wait. Others have just remained expired. It's not easy having a home on the market and if the response initially to the price wasn't encouraging, this year's response would probably be less so. Or so the owners believe, perhaps.
I really am looking forward to the week when everything changes.
Wednesday, 21 May 2008
House of the Week
Busy, busy day yesterday for broker's opens! I did two houses - pretty 204 South Street in Elbridge and then I ran over to 11 Onondaga for a 1:00 to 3:00 open. Thank goodness for Janet! She came over to open up for me and as I drove up there was a steady stream of agents from Gallinger going through the front door. Everyone who came in complained that there were too many opens and they were too spread out, even in Skaneateles. One agent even called and asked to see 11 Onondaga because she got stuck at the south end of the lake and couldn't make it back in time. We accommodated her, of course!
But my house choice - despite the excitement and praise of 11 Onondaga - is actually South Street. As I spent the time - 11:00 to 12:30 - in the kitchen and speaking with agents, I realized what a truly great deal the home is. I mean, here you have a large 4 bedroom home, but with new mechanicals, new septic, and mostly new windows! The front porch (the wicker helps, of course!) is lovely; the side entrance from the driveway takes you over an ancient marble step.
And with this rain and chill I was actually warm in the kitchen with the gas stove cranking out the heat. Being warm doesn't happen often - and you wouldn't think so in an old (1889) home, but it's also efficient (remember the new furnace and windows?)
Also, having had my mother live with us, I am always aware of in-law potential in a home. Certainly we all need that first floor bathroom, for those times when the stairs are impossible. But on the south side there are also two rooms divided from the rest of the house by the center hall, and these could easily be converted to a suite. One even has a closet, so if I overpromised I could have listed it as a 5 bedroom even. Privacy, plumbing, and preparation all equals potential. (Can you tell I wrote ads this morning?)
And the price! My "price it to sell" policy is in effect here, courtesy of the owners' realistic appraisal: $174,500. I challenge you to rent a home this size virtually anywhere for what the mortgage payment would be - including taxes, principle, interest and insurance with nothing down it would be approximately $1,700/month. And with ownership comes equity and tax write-offs.
So if broker's opens are to help agents get to know a home and spend time there, this one worked beautifully!
But my house choice - despite the excitement and praise of 11 Onondaga - is actually South Street. As I spent the time - 11:00 to 12:30 - in the kitchen and speaking with agents, I realized what a truly great deal the home is. I mean, here you have a large 4 bedroom home, but with new mechanicals, new septic, and mostly new windows! The front porch (the wicker helps, of course!) is lovely; the side entrance from the driveway takes you over an ancient marble step.
And with this rain and chill I was actually warm in the kitchen with the gas stove cranking out the heat. Being warm doesn't happen often - and you wouldn't think so in an old (1889) home, but it's also efficient (remember the new furnace and windows?)
Also, having had my mother live with us, I am always aware of in-law potential in a home. Certainly we all need that first floor bathroom, for those times when the stairs are impossible. But on the south side there are also two rooms divided from the rest of the house by the center hall, and these could easily be converted to a suite. One even has a closet, so if I overpromised I could have listed it as a 5 bedroom even. Privacy, plumbing, and preparation all equals potential. (Can you tell I wrote ads this morning?)
And the price! My "price it to sell" policy is in effect here, courtesy of the owners' realistic appraisal: $174,500. I challenge you to rent a home this size virtually anywhere for what the mortgage payment would be - including taxes, principle, interest and insurance with nothing down it would be approximately $1,700/month. And with ownership comes equity and tax write-offs.
So if broker's opens are to help agents get to know a home and spend time there, this one worked beautifully!
Monday, 19 May 2008
Skaneateles Real Estate - The Weekly Update
So there I was, sitting in my car at 4:30 after a long weekend of new listings and open houses. I had switched to jeans and warm clothes to wait for an agent and her investor client from NYC to see my multi-family on Otisco Valley Road. (Really, it's a good deal - $164,900 for two houses containing 5 apartments plus 22 storage units...needs a bit of exterior work, that's why the price...) I had rushed over after my Elbridge open house but there I sat, waiting.
I hadn't brought any reading material because I thought I would be the late one arriving, so I was left with my phone to entertain me. That and the goldfinches playing in the high grass, the contemplation of a busy week ahead, the satisfaction of a great weekend behind....
I love math so I started doing some of the numbers of the data available to me on my Palm, courtesy of having the MLS information updated daily along with my key.
Results of interest (or so I thought as I waited):
I hadn't brought any reading material because I thought I would be the late one arriving, so I was left with my phone to entertain me. That and the goldfinches playing in the high grass, the contemplation of a busy week ahead, the satisfaction of a great weekend behind....
I love math so I started doing some of the numbers of the data available to me on my Palm, courtesy of having the MLS information updated daily along with my key.
Results of interest (or so I thought as I waited):
- There are currently 3,104 agents in the multiple listing service. I've been told that when there are hard times in the market, this number is reduced tremendously - we'll see -
- Current active listings up to $500,000 - Skaneateles has 78, Manlius has 251
- Camillus has only one listing over $500,000 - it's gorgeous! - and 164 under the half million mark
- Onondaga has 108 of 112, Dewitt comes in at 120/148
- Auburn's highest priced home in the ML is $275,000 - and it only has 136 listings (time to check the internet, but Auburn is MUCH larger than most of the other towns). Seems an indication that in the lower priced markets in Central New York, houses are selling.
The agent arrived, we apologized to the tenants, then toured and talked, and I got to the office before the heavy rains hit around 7:00.
So now the real update!
Yes, there are currently 133 active listings in the Skaneateles area. Five new ones came on last week - a re-list of a spectacular waterfront property in the village under 2 million, two in the village and two more in the town. And none showed up as sold; there are still 16 listed as having closed this year.
I played around again with the numbers this morning, basically to get my facts straight myself for listing appointments and to simply know the numbers. There are 57 single family residences that have been listed over 100 days. Within the past 30 days, 36 new listings have come on the market in Skaneateles.
These numbers are not as accurate as they appear. Many of these homes are re-lists - they didn't sell last year and so they have come on again either with a different agent, at a different price, or simply to refresh their image. For some, the snow pictures have been replaced with spring pictures.
The village will be filled over Memorial Day weekend - the weather is expected to co-operate - and perhaps then the deluge of home-selling will occur. It will happen!
Saturday, 17 May 2008
Saturday Open House
I held my first Saturday open house today at 11 Onondaga Street. It won't be my last on a Saturday.
Some background here. Saturdays were always the day that open houses were held in the Syracuse metropolitan area, I've been told. They are still the day in many other places; we noticed them particularly on the Cape. (We never go anywhere, so I have limited experiences...but that's okay.) But many years ago - probably in the 70s, Mary McNeill (our former broker/owner) who might have been with Eagan Real Estate then, began holding her open houses on Sundays. As the tale is told, the other agents had to fall in line because she was so successful.
The current situation. The owners of 11 Onondaga asked if we could have the first open on a Saturday because Sundays were reserved for family days. I thought it over, and realized that I had at least one other house coming on that would require an open as quickly as possible, and so agreed. I knew that the house and the price would be an attraction in and of itself, so the day shouldn't matter. I did a few quick line ads in the paper and a picture ad on Saturday morning, but the majority of interested buyers would be Skaneateles people anyway. They would see the sign and the flyer in the window and with word of mouth I thought we'd do well.
Another agent from another company also had her signs out for two opens the same day. I asked her about her success rate, and she said that in the past she had been quite happy with the response. She reasoned that out-of-towners would be in the village on Saturday and leave Sunday afternoons. That made a great deal of sense - flights home would require drives to the airport and early arrivals, or mid-afternoon leave-takings. These people would be less likely to go to an open house.
Cutting to the chase, because dinner (asparagus and spinach salad with walnuts blended with a blue cheese dressing...) is on the horizon (thank you Bob!) - I had people non-stop from 1:00 to 4:00. I finally had to go get my signs because the owners wanted to come home!
People came in with agents, without agents, on walks around the village, purposefully to see the house and others just out of curiosity. I had an agent call her clients and tell them to pack the kids in the car and hurry before I left! I haven't had such a successful open house in a while - and this in a market that has by all standards, slowed.
The house and grounds are spectacular, the presentation all but flawless. Problems with the home were corrected (e.g. the ceiling raised in the kitchen) and other issues confronted (e.g. no tenant in the carriage house.) The price is competitive. The weather was changeable - sun then rain then wind and rain then sun again - but the day was spectacular. Yes, I think Saturday, at least in Skaneateles, will be my preferred day.
Some background here. Saturdays were always the day that open houses were held in the Syracuse metropolitan area, I've been told. They are still the day in many other places; we noticed them particularly on the Cape. (We never go anywhere, so I have limited experiences...but that's okay.) But many years ago - probably in the 70s, Mary McNeill (our former broker/owner) who might have been with Eagan Real Estate then, began holding her open houses on Sundays. As the tale is told, the other agents had to fall in line because she was so successful.
The current situation. The owners of 11 Onondaga asked if we could have the first open on a Saturday because Sundays were reserved for family days. I thought it over, and realized that I had at least one other house coming on that would require an open as quickly as possible, and so agreed. I knew that the house and the price would be an attraction in and of itself, so the day shouldn't matter. I did a few quick line ads in the paper and a picture ad on Saturday morning, but the majority of interested buyers would be Skaneateles people anyway. They would see the sign and the flyer in the window and with word of mouth I thought we'd do well.
Another agent from another company also had her signs out for two opens the same day. I asked her about her success rate, and she said that in the past she had been quite happy with the response. She reasoned that out-of-towners would be in the village on Saturday and leave Sunday afternoons. That made a great deal of sense - flights home would require drives to the airport and early arrivals, or mid-afternoon leave-takings. These people would be less likely to go to an open house.
Cutting to the chase, because dinner (asparagus and spinach salad with walnuts blended with a blue cheese dressing...) is on the horizon (thank you Bob!) - I had people non-stop from 1:00 to 4:00. I finally had to go get my signs because the owners wanted to come home!
People came in with agents, without agents, on walks around the village, purposefully to see the house and others just out of curiosity. I had an agent call her clients and tell them to pack the kids in the car and hurry before I left! I haven't had such a successful open house in a while - and this in a market that has by all standards, slowed.
The house and grounds are spectacular, the presentation all but flawless. Problems with the home were corrected (e.g. the ceiling raised in the kitchen) and other issues confronted (e.g. no tenant in the carriage house.) The price is competitive. The weather was changeable - sun then rain then wind and rain then sun again - but the day was spectacular. Yes, I think Saturday, at least in Skaneateles, will be my preferred day.
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