Thursday, July 31, 2008

All the Listings, All the Time

To see everything currently on the market in the Rochester, NY area click on http://www.rochestersbesthomes.com/

Wednesday, July 30, 2008

Hot Areas! South Wedge & Highland Park Area

It was reminiscent of 2005!

I had an appointment to show a property at 8:30 last night in the Ellwanger Berry/Highland Park neighborhood and when I arrived, there were people lined up on the street to get in. It wasn't too big of a surprise since the last three properties I tried to show in this neighborhood sold before I could get in.

In a similar fashion, I put a "for rent" sign up on my South Wedge property Saturday and it took exactly 12 minutes before someone knocked on the door to see it. My phone has been ringing off the hook ever since and I have appointment to show it to 8 different tenants and I have one offer on the table to buy it.

I've written three purchase offers this week and it is only Wednesday at 8:15 am. At the moment, we are not having a housing slump in Rochester!

Wednesday, July 16, 2008

Real Estate is Local!

Every time I watch the news these days I have an anxiety attack. Price of Oil! Recession! Crime! Fannie Mae & Freddie Mac! Global Warming! Cancer! Depression (no, not the economy; me!) And just about the time that I'm convinced that times are too difficult to sell real estate, my phone starts ringing.

Fortunately, real estate is local and the Rochester market is not all doom and gloom. I did about a million in sales in June and the only reason July is off to a slow start is that I've been on vacation.

I'm not the only one effected by the daily news. When I'm out and about talking to people, they often start the conversation with a sigh, shake their head and ask in a hushed tone, "How's the market?" Perhaps the number one question I'm asked these days is how long does it take to sell a house in Rochester these days.

Of course, there is no definitive answer to that question. There are parts of our area that are still getting multiple offers first week on the market. It's not happening much, but it does still happen. And there are other areas that are not even getting showings, much less offers. But just as a glimpse of our market, I did a quick analysis of yesterday's pending transactions.

Yesterday was a typical Tuesday in the summer of 2008. All total, there were 52 single family homes that went pending. Approximately 20% of the homes were located in the city of Rochester which supports my theory about the price of gas driving people to move closer to where they work.

Two of the houses that went pending were sold their first day on the market and two additional properties sold in 7 days or less. The average number of days on the market was 51. The longest time on the market was 166 days for a $200,000 property in West Irondequoit.

The average asking price for the single family homes that went pending yesterday was $153,142 with six of the homes with asking prices of $300,000 or more. There were five city properties listed for less than $20,000 as well as one mobile home in Wayne County.

There! I feel better and hope you do as well. I think I will keep away from CNN and instead stay tuned to the MLS. And if you'd like specific information about our real estate market, don't hesitate to call.

Tuesday, July 08, 2008

Welcome Back David!


Most of my real estate dealings are residential transactions but every once in a while I get to dabble in commercial real estate. I was tickled pink when my friend David Soldi called me when he decided he want to open his own salon and spa. We spent several months searching until we found a nice spot in East Rochester.




Finding the spot was easy compared to what followed. For the next few months, David worked day and night to transform a cute but very 1980's beauty shop in to a sleek and stylish salon and day spa, named L. David Salon.


Just as David got the finishing touches done on the salon, his doctor insisted that he he have surgery on his shoulder last summer. During his recovery from shoulder surgery, an aneurysm was located behind his liver. On January 3, 2008, he entered Highland Hospital for the surgery. He was in intensive care for weeks and in the hospital for months. Eventually, he was even treated for MRSA and was told over and over how lucky he was to be alive.

Due to a very dedicated and loyal staff, L. David Salon never missed a day of operation while David was recuperating. And I'm pleased to tell everyone that starting today, David is back to work. In addition, he has some exciting new products and plans for his business.


So, if you like to be treated very special when you have your hair or nails done, I'd suggest you check out L. David Salon. Their web site is http://www.ldavidsalon.com/ or you can call 385.7550 for an appointment and directions. I apologize for such a direct endorsement but I am so excited to have David back!

Friday, July 04, 2008

Capture Rochester Dot Com


I finally did it. I signed up and submitted a few photos to the Capture Rochester program being conducted by the Democrat and Chronicle. You can check out my photos here: http://www.capturerochester.com/people/MaryShelsby And if you want to vote for them, well, I'd like that very much too!


It is a pretty neat project for those that love photography. Photographers submit their photos, complete with title and caption...(writing the caption is the hard part for me - I thought pictures are suppose to be worth a thousand words so there is nothing left for me to say). Then the general public votes for their favorite photos. If your photo gets enough votes, well, then it will be included in a coffee-table book about Rochester. That's pretty heady stuff for someone who always dreamed of being a real-live professional photographer! So, if you want to vote for my photos, I'd very much appreciate your support!
Have a safe and fun 4th of July!