Sullivan County Real Estate

Current Market Conditions Report Up with September Data

I finally got the latest Current Market Conditions Report finished and posted. Sorry it took so long this month. Usually I have it up sometime between the 15th and 20th of the month. October has been hell month, busier than I can recall in recent memory. Inquiries about properties have been through the roof. Online property searches on my website have been averaging about 300 per day, and over the past month individual property views have averaged over 5,200 a day, with a few days topping 7,000. And a lot of those online searchers are calling or emailing with questions, or to arrange to come up and see houses. Most of the interest is 'deal shopping', but finally with a significant drop in asking prices, there are deals out there to be found. In fact, that's the big nes this month — the average asking price has fallen big time for the second month in a row, and is now down 6% since August.

I hope to be more timely with this in November. But until then, please check out the latest Current Market Conditions Report for Sullivan County Real Estate. Then drop on back here to leave your comments on what you're seeing in the market.

Absentee Ballot Deadline

The crucial town board elections are Tuesday, Nov. 8th. For those who are registered to vote here in Sullivan County, but will be unable to physically go to the polls on Nov. 8th, you can vote by absentee ballot. But you need to request an absentee ballot at least 7 days prior to the election (Nov. 1st) and your absentee ballot must be postmarked at least one day prior to the election (Nov. 7th). You can download the absentee ballot request form at http://webapps.co.sullivan.ny.us/docs/boe/Absentee06152010.pdf . Note: as of Oct. 20th, the Sullivan County Board of Elections website has incorrect absentee application and postmark dates; they're from the last election, not the 2011 cycle.

In many of the western Sullivan townships, this election for supervisors and town boards is shaping up as a referendum on gas drilling. In general, candidates running on the Republican line has pro-drilling. No surprise there. The candidates on the Demoratic line (many of whom are also on the Rural Heritage ticket in some towns) tend to be anti-drilling.  The Democratic canidates largely share the platform of exercising home rule powers to put in place strong zoning to mitigate the impacts of drilling. [Update: See River's comment to this post regarding the Democratic candidates in the Town of Tusten. So, at least in Tusten, Democratic does not equal anti-fracking.]

If this is an important issue to you and you're registered to vote here, PLEASE TAKE THE TIME TO GET AN ABSENTEE BALLOT AND VOTE! This is a crucial election, and every vote counts. Town board elections can be won or lost on a handful of votes. If you're anti-fracking and aren't sure who to vote for, just vote the Democratic or Rural Heritage line in your town.

NY Times Article on Gas Leases and Mortgages

Ian Urbina, the NY Times reporter who's turning out to be a thorn in the side of the gas industry, has penned a new article on the impact on gas leases and mortgages. The possible difficulty in mortgaging a property encumbered by a gas lease has been something Realtors have been talking about for months. It's not been an issue here in Sullivan because we have so few signed gas leases, but up in Delaware County and over in Wayne County, PA, there are a lot of properties with signed leases. In reading the article, Ian seemed to have had the same problem as many of us Realtors — getting anything resembling a direct answer from lenders about whether they will or will not mortgage a property with a gas lease.

Vote Where It Counts - Voter Registration Deadline Oct 14th

If you have a second home in one of the western Sullivan County townships, you probably received a "Vote Where It Counts" mailing in the last couple of weeks. New York State permits citizens to register to vote where their heart is, which in the case of second homers, may be their second home locale rather than their primary home location or tax domicile.

This November there are town elections for town supervisors and council members. These off-year elections have often been a big yawn in the past. But not this year, when in most towns, particularly in western Sullivan, the town elections are shaping up as a referendum on gas drilling. The Republican/Conservative slates are largely pro-drilling, while the Democratic/Rural Heritage slates are largely anti-drilling, or more accurately, exercising a town's home rule powers to control or limit impacts from gas drilling.

These races are likely to be very close in many towns. Local races here can be won or lost with just a handful of votes. That's whynit's so important for second home owners who have their emotional heart here to vote here.

The voter registration deadline is this coming Friday, Oct. 14th. (Forms mujst be postmarked by then.) You can download the voter registration form at http://www.elections.state.ny.us/VotingRegister.html. If you're not going to be in Sullivan County on election day, November 8th, you should also download an application for an absentee ballot and send it along with your registration form. (Note that the Sullivan County Board of Elections website has the wrong deadline dates on it; they haven't been updated for the Nov. 2011 elections.)

You may have some questions about "Vote Where It Counts", particularly the case precedents in New York that permit it, how it affects jury duty, and how it may impact a rent stabilized tenant. (I've told my friends who are rent stabilized in NYC to not even think about changing their registration to upstate.) There's a good overview of Vote Where It Counts at www.countryvote.org. Catskill Citizens for Safe Energy also has a synopsis in .pdf form.

If you've been thinking about shifting your voter registration to Sullivan to participate in thier very important election, but have been procrastinating, the time to do it is NOW! And if you're already registered here, but need to vote absentee, get your absentee ballot application is now, too.

 

Nice Catskills Farms Article in Daily News

Good article last Friday in the Daily News about Catskills Farms. In contrast to other articles that have been written about Catskills Farms, this one focuses on Catskill Farms' design/build approach, which is a big appeal of these houses. Definitely worth a read.