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. Think what this means for a $400,000 mortgage - takes one's breath away! The other point Sherri begged me to stress was that now is a great time to refinance. She also urged me to send along her phone number (315-424-4022) and her e-mail: sdattler@mtb.com.
Back to business. There are currently 116 active listings in the Skaneateles area. Two new ones came on this week, both re-lists of homes that have been on the market. One is waterfront and another town. Both have been reduced almost 20% from their original price. (Think 20% off the price plus the 15% off for the mortgage....)
Good news! Three other properties have been marked contingent. All have been on the market at least 5 months but reductions vary from 2% to 20% of original price. Of course we won't know what they actually sold for until they close. Nice mix: town, waterfront with lake rights, and village (11 Onondaga - hooray!)
We now have 64 closed properties (last year there were 100 at this time) and one new one. It actually closed a year to the day it was listed. The price was 10% under the original list price - and add in that mortgage savings (think a mortgage of maybe $400,000) and the new owners got a very good deal.
You can, too! Remember those 116 listings? They are all waiting for you! What a great last minute gift one would make!
