Since I am on vacation - see the last blog - I have all the time to write freely. I thought I would, but the vacation in my mind does not equal the vacation on the clock. I have had a wonderful time in the last couple days getting a listing and putting it online. I am pleased with it, for many reasons. And I also am learning - did you know that if you make your listing price an even number then it will be caught by people going up and going down in price. For example, if the property you have listed is $299,900 then it will be missed by people looking at $300,000 and up. But at $300,000 (this isn't WalMart!) you catch the people at 300K to 400K as well as 200K to 300K....Such a small point - but it's about how people search.
And as long as I am having this lovely conversation with myself I must inject a word about what people search for. I remember our esteemed broker-emeritus, Mary McNeill, wondering why her fabulous 4 bedroom, 1.5 bath home wasn't being shown regularly. Turns out people needed to see 2 bathrooms or they wouldn't "see" the house on the computer. So she added a bathroom - at least the plans for one - and it sold. The new owners never put in the bath, she said, but they saw it.
I know someone else who is looking at square footage. The price per square foot must be a certain number. The quality of the home doesn't matter, but the price per square foot does. An interesting concept - the idea being that the interior can always be changed, but to add size to a property means an additional cost and therefore the price per foot would be too much.
When we bought our house we looked for an in-law apartment. We never actually looked - I remembered this one from a serendipitous brokers' open day. I literally just happened down the road, saw the sign, and decided to check it out. Not at all looking for us - just because it was there and I had time. But when my mother called and said she was moving in, it came to mind.
Down to business. There are currently 147 active single family homes listed in the multiple listing service of Central New York under Skaneateles. Thirty-three of these are in the village. I think that's actually a record of some sorts. Six are new - three in the village and three in the surrounding town. None, surprisingly, are waterfront. Square footage price - I wouldn't go there in Skaneateles!
Five properties have a "C" label and one is new - waterfront listed under $500,000. There are no new "U" homes (under contract do not show), but there are 4 in this category altogether. Twelve are pended, just itching to get closed, I am sure!
We are up to 38 closed properties in the Skaneateles area. The latest is a HUD home, a house that fell on hard times and was virtually stripped and left to critters and rain. A very adventurous man who happens to be my client, bought it and is looking forward to fixing it up.
Last year there were 46 homes closed by this time - I had written two 20-properties synopses. But the year before when it all fell apart there were only 27 sold. This compares with 2007 when there were 59 homes closed by this time. Sigh...those were the good old days! Still - the rates are great - go buy a house!
