Wednesday, October 14, 2009

Skaneateles Real Estate - The Weekly Update

The world has turned to autumn around here. I went to the Sherwood for lunch today and the fire was roaring in the front hall. The piers are down, the Judge is out of the water, the water reflects the grayness of the sky. But the colors on the sumac and maple and oak trees are brilliant. They won't last, just like that Diana Whiting photo of the leaves in the swamp, they will swirl and roll away.

BUT! There are 148 active listings in the current Skaneateles area of the multiple listing service. Five are new-ish: one is a re-listed lake rights house. The other four range from a re-list and re-imagined waterfront home which prefers to retain some of its waterfront and thus has dropped its price to under 2 million. Another is a former FSBO in the village that has now been listed (happens a lot). A farmhouse not too far out of town is back on the market after a few years of ownership - can't wait to see what they've done to it! The last is one of those grand homes by the water down at the south end of the lake that always remind me of Lake George.

I was interested to see how the new MLS rules may affect us - of the 148 active listings, only 130 are actually in the Skaneateles School District. As far as zip codes are concerned, 135 report the 13152 of Skaneateles - but even the Falls has a different one (13153). November 17th the changeover comes for the mls.

The good news is that there are currently 8 homes marked as contingent. Two are new - a sweet little cottage with a great deal of potential in Mottville, and a ranch on the west side with lake rights. Pending shows 7 homes, so with luck there will at least be 15 more closed homes by the end of the year.

We stay at 61 closed, year-to date. I'll take that over last year's 41 closed sales by this time. Other areas - Camillus, Marcellus, and Elbridge - are all well under last year's sales by 10% to 20%. But then, Camillus and Elbridge both had stellar years last year compared to previous times. As my mother used to say "It all comes out in the wash."