Despite bad news about real estate on the national front, areas like the beautiful Fingerlakes area of Central, NY continue to hold. This is not to say that inventory is not increasing with more homes on the market but there is not the drastic decrease in list to sale prices seen in other areas of the country. We have a very stable environment with Education as our primary business. Cornell University is the biggest employer in Ithaca and the university continues to hire and there continues to be an on going flow of buyers and sellers coming into our market.
Tips for Buying in our area. If you are not planning on staying long-term investigate what factors make a home a good resale opportunity. The factors here are simple: proximity to the University, quiet neighborhood, good acess to services and great views. We love our lake views here! As fuel costs escalate more and more buyers are looking at being able to walk to campus, shopping and restaurants.
Tips for Selling in our area. With inventory growing your home needs to be in good move-in condition. If you don't want to take the initiative in doing repairs and improvements don't think the buyer will want to when they have lots of choices. Pricing is very important. If you home is not well priced then it will probably not sell. You have to be at market value or slightly below. If you are at market value 50% of the potential buyers will consider your home. If you are 10% over market value that number of potential buyers decreases by half. If you are well priced your home will not only sell but it may sale above asking price. Even in this market we are seeing well priced, good location and condition homes receiving multiple offers. If your home is on the market for several weeks and doesn't sell the likelihood is low that you will come as close to the asking price and that you may be in for the long term in showing and trying to sell your home.
Another important factor is the seasonality of our market. Remember wer are an academic community. While homes sell throughout the year remember: Graduation is in May. New faculty and staff start in August. That means that the prime market for selling is April through June, as it generally takes 6 weeks to close. If you plan to sell next year call a Realtor now. Get great photos taken during the "green" season so that you will be ready to go to market when there still may be snow, mud and no leaves pn the trees. A good Realtor can tell you what to do to have your home in sale ready condition when you are ready to sell.
For more information on home sales, prices and current inventory visit www.BethGanem.com
Your Ithaca Realtor.
Beth Carlson Ganem, Ph.D.
Assoc. Broker, CRS, GRI, ABR, SRES
Audrey Edelman Realty USA
Simply the Best
