Open House Alert - 5935 Fikes Road

This may be your one chance to see this amazing property.  We have had a great deal of activity on it, and are expecting an offer.  But come and see it tomorrow, Sunday the 10th, from 1:00 until 3:00.

The MLS number is S285950, so you can look it up and see all the photos. There were so many photos to take!  The most difficult one was of the house and the barn/garage/outbuilding.  The two buildings stretch across the skyline.  Having them both contributes to this great place, but add in almost 11 acres of meadows and orchards...my, my!

Come and see it if you can.  Always I have refreshments of some kind and the day promises to be uncharacteristically warm.  Again those photos - the rare snowstorm came up!  It may not still be active in the spring, but it will certainly be even more beautiful.

The basics:  3 BR, 2 full baths, built in 1998 by Mark Harrington, just finished basement and new granite and tile in the kitchen.  $284,900

Fikes is off Route 5 before you get to Elbridge if you are coming from Syracuse (making it an easy hop onto 695...)  Less than a couple miles up Fikes, then up the hill to the house.

Please tell me you read this blog - I will love it!

Big Old Government

Big government doesn't work.  It's that simple.  Also, it's immoral to obligate generations of individuals to operate within and contribute to a system rife with massive policy delusions, particularly a system they had little to no part in creating.

Of course, that's using my definition of morality... policy junkies value things exactly the other way round.

Who's right?

Watching some random FDR-era YoutTube videos brings some insights on the basis for "New Deal" policies but more importantly, you can feel the antiquity.

Roosevelt hardly carried himself in a way that would please the modern eye... the affect of his speech and his mannerisms... watching him conjures images more reminiscent of Oliver Hardy than of a modern presidential figure.

But that's not his fault of course... one can't be expected to operate, down to gesture and tone, in a manner that would hold up over generations... even the avant-garde aren't avant-garde for long!

But therein lays the dilemma...

Big government policies and philosophies, like the antiquated vaudeville style huckster politicians of 1930s, never hold up over time.

Social Security has “benefited” millions from its inception in 1930s, but after it goes cash-flow negative (... purportedly in 2017) and then deep in debt from then on, one has to wonder how assessment’s of this massive and antiquated policy will fare in the minds of the households facing its crushing burden in the 2030s?

The policies that resulted in the creation of Fannie Mae and the twelve federal home loan banks must have seemed innovative in 1938, a move ushering in an unprecedented “public-private” partnership in the effort to sponsor home ownership in the U.S. but as these policies reached their 7th decade, the nation’s housing market reflected, very dramatically, their massive stimulation of mal-investment and all the attendant "unintended" consequences… Consequences that were brought to bear on virtually every household by 2008.

Would the electorate present at the time of the adoption of compulsory unemployment insurance ever have anticipated that future politicians would abandon this program’s simple, actuarially driven approach in favor of one that provides essentially a never-ending stipend to recipients?

How about Food Stamps? Would the electorate of the “Great Society” ever have supported the expansion of this program had they know that in a mere 50 years some 1/6th of the population, nearly 50 million individuals, would be drawing on its “benefits” at a cost of over over $6 billion per month?

Envisioning Employment: Employment Situation February 2013

Today’s Employment Situation Report indicated that in February, net non-farm payrolls increased notably adding 236,000 jobs overall with the private non-farm payrolls sub-component adding 246,000 jobs while the civilian unemployment rate declined to 7.7% over the same period.

Net private sector jobs increased 0.22% since last month climbing 1.86% above the level seen a year ago but remained 2.13% below the peak level of employment seen in December 2007.

Recovery-less Recovery: Unemployment Duration February 2013

Today's employment situation report showed that conditions for the long term unemployed worsened notably in February while still remaining distressed by historic standards.

Workers unemployed 27 weeks or more increased to 4.797 million or 40.2% of all unemployed workers while the median term of unemployment increased to 17.8 weeks and the average stay on unemployment increased to 36.9 weeks.

Looking at the charts below (click for super interactive versions) you can see that today’s sorry situation far exceeds even the conditions seen during the double-dip recessionary period of the early 1980s, long considered by economists to be the worst period of unemployment since the Great Depression.

On The Margin: Total Unemployment February 2013

Today’s Employment Situation report showed that in February “total unemployment” including all marginally attached workers declined slightly 14.3% while the traditionally reported unemployment rate also ticked down to 7.7%.

The traditional unemployment rate is calculated from the monthly household survey results using a fairly explicit definition of “unemployed” (essentially unemployed and currently looking for full time employment) leaving many workers to be considered effectively “on the margin” either employed in part time work when full time is preferred or simply unemployed and no longer looking for work.

The Bureau of Labor Statistics considers “marginally attached” workers (including discouraged workers) and persons who have settled for part time employment to be “underutilized” labor.

The broadest view of unemployment would include both traditionally unemployed workers and all other underutilized workers.

To calculate the “total” rate of unemployment we would simply use this larger group rather than the smaller and more restrictive “unemployed” group used in the traditional unemployment rate calculation.

Extended Unemployment: Initial, Continued and Extended Unemployment Claims March 07 2013

Today’s jobless claims report showed a decline to initial unemployment claims and a slight increase to continued unemployment claims as initial claims trended below the closely watched 400K level.

Seasonally adjusted “initial” unemployment claims declined by 7,000 to 340,000 claims from 347,000 claims for the prior week while seasonally adjusted “continued” claims increased by 3,000 claims to 3.094 million resulting in an “insured” unemployment rate of 2.4%.

Since the middle of 2008 though, two federal government sponsored “extended” unemployment benefit programs (the “extended benefits” and “EUC 2008” from recent legislation) have been picking up claimants that have fallen off of the traditional unemployment benefits rolls.

Currently there are some 1.78 million people receiving federal “extended” unemployment benefits.

Taken together with the latest 3.53 million people that are currently counted as receiving traditional continued unemployment benefits, there are 5.31 million people on state and federal unemployment rolls.

Skaneateles Real Estate - The Sometime Update (February 18th to March 5th)

Things are getting crazy out there!  Properties are being shown and sold!  Hooray!  The spring season has begun!

Currently there are only 73 single family properties listed as active in the Skaneateles area of the multiple listing system.  Of these, 18 are in the Village and 16 are waterfront.

Two new houses came on the market within this time frame, while a few others were freshened with re-listing.  One of the new ones is in the Village and the other is in the Town (aka not in the Village).  Both are listed for almost the same price, under $300,000.

Only 16 homes are waiting to be closed.  Three were added to the list, two of them from the Village and the third from the Town.

We now have 10 sold and closed properties, year-to-date.  Trending like last year, the three new closings were all Village and ranged from the mid-$100,000s to almost a million.

I think we are going to have a fantastic year, if not in volume like last year, but in a return to the old
"if you snooze, you lose" way of doing business.  You can't afford to look at 10 different properties (if there even were 10 that meet your criteria!) and think about it.  Getting a pre-approval is even more important with this type of market (dare I say sellers' market?)  Knowing what you can buy and that you can buy, plus having that piece of paper from a qualified mortgage lender will get your offer accepted long before another offer.   Make the call today, then go online at REMAX.com and call your agent.  No time to waste!