Lovely House is in True Move In Condition

This 4 bedroom 2.5 bath house has been truly updated from top to bottom! Features all new bathroom fixtures, new paint, new carpet, wood floors refinished. Bedrooms are spacious and have huge closets! Has a living room, dining room, eat in kitchen, family room, deck, entryway, 2 car garage and a finished basement. It's very close to Liverpool high School. There is a pedestrian path that leads to the local schools right next to the house.

108 Seneca Street Chittenango Village

Prime TIPP HILL Location!

Syracuse Most Affordable Major Market

I'm originally from California and I can tell you that it's much, much easier to buy a house here! (I've been here long enough that a $200,000 house seems expensive!)

Syracuse Most Affordable Housing Market

You can find nice houses here under 100k! It's actually more expensive to rent here than it is to buy, which is why a lot of investors buy property in Syracuse.

The importance of staging

The other night I met a friend for coffee and he told me about buying his current home. He and his wife had been looking for a long time. They had very specific requirements as to area and size, and were not looking in a price range with a lot of homes available.

They went to see one home with their realtor that had sounded promising. It had the right location, size and price. However, when they got there they felt like walking out right away.
Everything in the house was pink - walls, carpets, furniture, curtains. Every available surface was crowded with doilies, wreaths, fake flowers and dolls. There was so much furniture in the rooms it was hard to walk around in. No way could they live in this cramped unpleasant space!

Six months later, they still had not found anything, and they were getting anxious for their son to start high school in the new school district. The pink house had a drastic price reduction, and since they did remember it had a nice back yard they went back for a second look, mostly just to rule it out.

This time, some of the stuff was gone, as the owner had to move for her new job. It didn’t look so bad to them now and they made a low offer which was accepted! They got their house at a great price. They painted the walls their colors and got new flooring and they love the house! So the story has a happy ending for them.

But what about the owner? She had her house on the market for six months longer than she needed to, and sold it for a much lower price. If she had only painted the walls neutral colors, packed up her nick nacks and decor in boxes and cleared out some of the furniture, it would have appealed to buyers and she would have sold quicker and for more money.

If you want to sell your home, stage it!

Great RENT TO OWN Opportunity on ACADEMY HILL, Manlius Village

This is a great house! My favorite thing about it is the huge finished walkout basement. There's a big sliding glass door out to the back yard. It doesn't feel like a basement! I can totally imagine putting my home gym there - perfect! There is also a separate room for an office or hobby room.

The house has a sunroom off of the kitchen so you can enjoy the beautiful back yard in all seasons. There's a small deck too, just the right size for a kitchen table and chairs.

The house is close to shopping in the Village of Manlius and very near Fayetteville Manlius High School.

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Call Melissa at 315-395-7523 for more information on the house or to schedule a viewing!

2000 NYSAR Grants for first time homeowners now available!

The New York State Association of Realtors is providing 2000 first time homebuyer grant for low to moderate income households in the state of New York.

For this program, a first time home buyer is someone who has not owned a home for 3 years and does not own any income or investment property anywhere in the world.

In Onondaga County, buyers must have an income of no more than $49,049. You are also required to qualify for a mortgage before applying for the grant.

If you are in this income level and have been thinking about buying a home, you owe it to yourself to call me. I'll help you find a lender and get you pre approved and then you can apply for the grant.

The grant application is not that long or hard, just one page of filling it out, you need to submit your 2009 taxes, fill out a one page form, and answer 3 questions:

1. How has your volunteerism affected your community and what to do you plan to
contribute to your new community?
2. How would receiving this grant affect your ability to purchase this residence?
3. How would purchasing this home affect your quality of life?

Even if you are not sure if you can qualify for a loan, call me at 315-395-7523. I will set you up with a lender who will be able to tell you what to do in order to buy a home. Even if you don't qualify right now there are steps you can take to repair your credit in order to become a homeowner. It might even be sooner than you think!

RENTED!!!

This house at 216 Conklin in Eastwood rented quickly! Do you have a house you'd like to rent? Are you looking for a single family home to rent in Syracuse? Please call me at 315-395-7523.

People are especially looking for rental homes in Tipp Hill, Eastwood, and Strathmore in the city of Syracuse. Outside the city I get a lot of requests for Liverpool, Clay, Cicero.

Cherub Fireplace

This is a non working fireplace in an apartment I recently rented. I just love it! Very unusual to see something like this in Syracuse. It's a building with 4 very different apartments in it. The outside of the building is white with similar cherubs. I really wonder what it used to be. It's obvious it didn't start out as a 4 family building, the upstairs at least has been chopped up into two apartments. It's also much fancier than the downstairs. It could have just been a single family home created for someone with a real sense of style, or perhaps it was a dance school or something like that.

Another Demolition

Before
After

Cool old houses in the southside of Syracuse

These are two great brick houses in the Southside, which is not known for being a great area. But it has some great houses, like these two. On this street are houses that are boarded up and trashed too.

One of the reasons Syracuse is a great place to live

Dining Room ceiling in new house, originally uploaded by Melsky.

You can buy a beautiful old house like this in good condition in a good area for 100K or so. Syracuse housing prices are much lower than other areas. This means that if you are a first time buyer and taking advantage of the 8 thousand dollar tax deduction for first time buyers, you are saving an even bigger chunk off your house.

You have to close on your house no later than NOVEMBER 31, 2009 to take advantage of this, so the time to get started looking is now.

You can call me at 315-317-2721 for more information and to find out how much of a loan you might qualify for. If you are thinking of putting your house on the market, it's a great time for this too with all those first time buyers out looking now.

Brightly Colored Row Houses

Brightly Colored Row Houses, originally uploaded by Melsky.

This is in the Hawley Green neighborhood. These are old row houses that have been redone inside and out. I'd love to see the insides! My friend Restoman told me about these, he lives nearby and knows the guy who did them.

It makes me really happy to see old urban properties like this redone. These are close enough to downtown to walk.

The property management company I represent has a rental property that has just been remodeled around the corner from here. It's been really well done, new floors, walls, bathrooms, kitchens, etc. The only problem is the houses on either side are not that great as far as being run down and having tons of junk in the back yards. One of them has a bunch of Pitt Bulls. It's hard to show a property when you are worried about having a dog leap the fence and attack you.