As the sun beams down on this gorgeous November day we prepare for it to set over the old multiple listing service we've all come to love. (How's that for hyperbole!) I don't know exactly how it will all play out in the next few weeks, but the conversion is next Tuesday. At that point the categories for the different areas will change. For example, a home in the village of Skaneateles will be in a different area than the town's listings. Syracuse will move from north, east, west and south designations to neighborhoods - anyone for Skunk City?
Whatever happens, I know my compilation of facts and figures will somehow be skewed. I hope not, because by comparing numbers to the past we can help to predict the future. If it's as simple as adding the town and village together how lovely that will be! But somehow I doubt it.
There are currently 128 active listings in the Skaneateles area as defined by the multiple listing service we've been using for the past few years. One new/re-list came on - a reduction in price for a home in the town.
Two - hooray! - homes have been marked contingent. One is a mid-$400,000 house with lake rights that started in the $500,000s but has found its buyer at the lower price. The other is a small town listing that has waited patiently through a few reductions.
Although there are no new pending listings, there is a new closed property that came in above list price. Decidedly a fixer-upper - don't roll any marbles on the second floor! - it is one of the lowest priced homes sold this year. This brings to 66 the number of closed single family homes in the area so far this year.
Since it is the last update before the change-over, I thought I'd look at the recent history of Skaneateles, Marcellus, Camillus and Elbridge. Last year at this time we had only 49 closed properties as compared with 87 in 2007, 94 in '06 and 93 in '05. We haven't come back fully yet to the "good old days," but we're at least headed in the right direction.
Marcellus proved to not have the ups and downs of the market. Think of this - with all the economic mayhem that has occurred in the past few years - the town has stayed very, very consistent. between the years 2005 and 2008, the number of closed properties by this date varied between 52 and 55. Honest! This year they reached only 45.
Camillus which seemed to be having major upheavals like Skaneateles had last year has pulled it out. Although not at the high of 2005 when 274 homes had been sold by Veterans' Day, it is now at 230. While a decrease, it is not as bad as the spring numbers might have suggested.
Dear Elbridge, plodding along for years in the mid-40s, has returned to those numbers after a high of 56 last year during tough economic times. The homes are priced lower than the surrounding areas, our coffeehouses have all gone and been replaced by pizza joints, but it alone did very well last year.
I am venturing out today to hopefully write two offers and unfortunately (or not) to pull a sign from a withdrawn property that rented instead of sold. The sun is shining, I have a new front door going in, and Koko is wearing her SU sweater while she's curled at my feet. She will love next week when the new system comes on and I spend many more hours researching for the update.
