Stay tuned for a quiz - you get the guess the most expensive homes sold in the following areas: Skaneateles, Marcellus, Camillus, Elbridge and Onondaga. Think about it now, write down the numbers, and I'll reveal the answers at the end of the update.
Currently there are 141 active listings of single family homes in the Skaneateles area as defined by the multiple listing service. There were seven new listings this week - 5 having waterfront somewhere within reach/access of the property. Only two were re-lists, which must mean that homes are selling rather than being re-listed. Two of the re-lists are waterfront well over one million dollars. There's a new one close to that, but not going over. Two others have lake rights and are priced under $500,000. If you hurry, a village Victorian is for sale, similar to my 11 Onondaga from last year, both in size, vintage and price. And then there's a tiny house with a smaller price in the low $100,000, a re-list with a reduction.
One home was marked contingent at the same time the price dropped 20% - which came first? Who cares as long as it's sold!
And there were no closings this past week - none whatsoever - to keep our total of 35 year-to date. This still ravages last year's total of 18 by June 10th. We're fine! The worst is over!
On to the most expensive property closings in the towns I mentioned. Ready? This all started thanks to a conversation with a friend who was looking at pricing. We thought a house was priced too high for the area, so I took a look. Imbedded in all this is the information - and more because it was so interesting to me once I got in to the statistics.
Marcellus. This was difficult, because "Marcellus" encompasses both some listings from the towns of Onondaga and Camillus, but they are placed in the Marcellus area because they are Marcellus schools. I was a purist and looked for the town only. That said - The most expensive house along with many, many acres to sell within recent memory (like 2002) was $500,000. The second most expensive was on Otisco Lake and sold for $460,000, an unbelievable sum to me as an owner of a camp there. But it went on multiple offers, above list price. There were 23 homes altogether that sold for over $300,000.
Camillus. I was surprised here. Only 8 homes sold for over $400,000. The most expensive closed last year for $617,500, but then there was a gap to the next most expensive. Once again, acreage and obviously a fantastic home were involved.
Elbridge. We are farm country, remember? There were 5 homes that sold over $250,000 with the most expensive being waterfront on Cross Lake for $279,000. My house might give this number a run, but like most of my neighbors we prize what we have and I'm not going anywhere.
Onondaga. Another surprise! I keep showing these absolutely gorgeous homes with views that go for miles up in the hills, so I think that there must be at least 100 that have sold for the list prices. But no - only 20 have sold for over $400,000. The most was $960,000 in 2008 and the next was $650,000 in 2004.
Skaneateles. I started my search at 2 million, but there were too many. Over 2.5 million there are 11 closed properties - and yes, this is the closed price. All, of course, are on the water. The most expensive is the beautiful home on West Lake Street which is undergoing extensive renovations but was purchased at 4.9 million. The most expensive non-waterfront home was 2.15 million and I bet you can guess which one on Genesee it is. It is followed by another Genesee Street property (lakeside, but no frontage or rights) and the pretty brick on Andrews Road.
Especially in Skaneateles' case many homes are bought or sold or built without passing through the multiple listing service. You can try, as my friends did, to search numbers out on www.ongov.net - or just continue to read my blog even though it may not contain all the facts, all the time. Hopefully it's fun!
