Onondaga Lake

Syracuse doesn't make much of it's lake. Other places I've lived like California and Toronto make a big deal of having a "water view". Syracuse pretty much turns it's back on Onondaga Lake - there's no housing developments or condos which advertise lake views, and Carousel Center Mall is right on the lake but you'd never know.

Instead of being built so you could see the lake it has a big ugly parking lot buffer between itself and Onondaga Lake.

There is a Lakeview Street in Syracuse but oddly enough you can't see the lake from it.

The main exception to this is Onondaga Lake Park in Liverpool, where it's built around the lake. However, you can't swim in the lake from there, or anywhere else due to pollution.

For most of the history of Syracuse, Onondaga Lake has been an industrial disposal ground. If you drive up Milton Avenue in Solvay you'll see factories and industrial properties lining the shore. I think that's a lot of the reason it's not used as an asset when developing real estate - it's viewed as an industrial waste site.

Recently the Post Standard had an article on stuff found at the bottom of the lake:

At the Bottom of Onondaga Lake

Photo of Lake above taken from this article

My prediction is in the next ten years there will be a lot of Lake View developments here.

Strong cider

I'm at colemans bar and I noticed the Woodchuck from Woodchuck cider has had it's little woodchuck arms removed and replaced with rubber muscled tatooed arms.

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.

Rainbow over Syracuse

My husband took this from our back yard yesterday while he was barbecuing.

What is a short sale?

A short sale is usually not short, and sometimes it's not even a sale.

The “short” refers to the owner being short on their mortgage. They owe more on their house than it is currently worth. They cannot afford to pay their mortgage.

A short sale starts out with the homeowner calling an agent. First the agent must try and market the home for the amount owed, to show that it cannot be sold at that price.

Then, they apply to the bank for a short sale. There are a lot of documents to fill out, and there must be a hardship letter, showing that the owners are not able to pay the money back on their own.

The house is then marketed as a short sale. Offers are submitted to the owner, and then must be approved by the bank.

Once they are approved by the bank, the sale proceeds somewhat like a normal sale.

This sounds very simple. Unfortunately it is not. The bank can take as long as it wants to approve a sale. They are frequently very uncommunicative. For example, it is now August 9. I wrote an offer for a short sale July 27^th, which was accepted by the seller and sent to the bank. We have heard nothing. All the other agent will tell me is that it is now at the bank and the ball is in their court. There is nothing we can do to speed up the process. The bank really does not care.

Edited to add: This sale closed on December 29, 2011, six months after writing the offer!

This is a sale that was previously approved by the bank for another buyer. By the time it was approved, the buyer had walked so it was put back on the market. Now my buyer wants to look at other homes.

By no means is this a long delay in the world of short sales. It can take months to hear back from the bank.

There has been numerous cases where the bank has taken so long on approving short sales that all the buyers have walked and the property goes into foreclosure. So the seller gets a foreclosure on their record, the bank has to pay an asset management service to take care of the property, and the house will be vacant and subject to break-ins and vandalism. Sometimes the owner will strip the house of all fixtures and /or vandalize it on the way out. It will almost always sell for less than the short sale.

This makes no sense at all.

Banks are also very different in the way they deal with short sales. Some will go out of their way to make it work and some seem determined to have as many delays and hold ups as possible until it goes into foreclosure. Banks have different procedures for document submission and will reject submissions for the most petty reasons. They are also notorious for “not receiving” documents that they have been sent.

It is possible that a short sale could proceed along well and close with limited problems. It's also possible that I will win the lottery tomorrow or that leprechauns have buried gold in my back yard. Nice to think about, but don't count on it.

Sellers will not do any work on a short sale property. They are sold “as is”.

Short sales can be a good deal. Not all of them are though. Never assume that it is a bargain just because it is a short sale. It's important to look at what other comparable properties are selling for.

Who should buy a short sale?

Do you need a home to move into soon, and want a place that is in perfect move in condition? Don't look at short sales.

Do you have a place to stay where you do not have to be out by a certain time, such as living with relatives? Or perhaps you are an investor who is willing to wait. Are you handy and want a good deal? Do you have a lot of patience? You will probably be able to get a good deal with a short sale. You can call or email me and I'll send you a list of bargain properties which will have short sales and foreclosures.

Selling your Syracuse home as a short sale:

First, beware of some foreclosure prevention companies. They work by telling the seller they will negotiate with the bank on your behalf and the fee will be paid by the buyer. Then they put an addendum with the sales contract that the buyer must pay a percentage of the fee to the foreclosure prevention company as a “bargain” fee because the company has worked so hard to make this a great deal for the buyer.

This is a real deal killer. I have had someone ready to make an offer on a property who declined after we found out there was a buyer's fee. There are a lot of real estate bargains to be found and buyers do not need to pay for the privilege. It is the responsibility of the listing agent to negotiate with the bank. If there is a fee for this, it should come out of the listing agent's commission and not be paid by the buyer. I think it's very likely that house will go into foreclosure.

Secondly, “short sale specialist” agents have popped up like mushrooms after a spring rain. Many of them have no idea what they are doing, but they have heard that is where the money is now. People take a three hour class and think they can just wing it.

I don't do short sales from the listing side by myself. I co-list them with my broker, who has many years of short sales experience and a proven track record. I do the marketing for the sale and he does the paperwork and negotiations with the bank. Since I'm an excellent real estate marketer, you have the best of both worlds in dealing with us as a team.

If you want to list your home as a short sale, call me at 315-908-2287 and I will help you get started on the process.

Day Trip to Seneca Lake Wineries for Grapehound Wine Tour

The Grapehounds Wine Tour is a fundraising event for Greyhound rescue. Greyhound racing is not kind to dogs (to put it mildly) and they need to receive vet treatment and find loving homes afterwards.

Participants are given a goodie bag of greyhound related items, a special wine glass with greyhounds on it, 6 tickets for wine tastings and a map of the participating wineries.

I wish I could caption the photos on this page but Blogger really doesn't make it easy to post more than one photo and do a good layout. So below are photos of the gardens in various wineries. Greyhounds all lay down like the one in that photo. I call it the fossil position. The photo that looks like a giant clarinet is the equipment at the Seneca Lake Liquor Distillery.

As usual, my camera was out of batteries. I've had several Kodak cameras and bought them because they had the best battery life. I'm always taking photos for my blog and for real estate, and it's important to have a camera always ready. Sadly this latest model needs to be charged every single day. So I end up taking a lot of photos with my smartphone, which is not a great camera.

I'm in Baldwinsville waiting for the Mountain Goats

The Mountain Goats are a band, I haven't started a new career as a goat herder.  They are opening up for Bright Eyes at the Papermill Island Ampatheater.  Theres a couple of other bands before the bands I want to see so i'm just going to stay in my hotel room for a while.  We are at the Red Mill Inn which is right by the venue.  The photo is the view out my window.  I was hoping i'd be able to hear it from my room but all we can hear is rushing water.