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.
