This week I see on the Times Union website a house in the "House of the Week,"  Wow.  The "House of the Week" is the one in Troy

Naturally it was not at all difficult to find houses almost exactly like it in Schenectady.




Here is pictures of two Schenectady houses extremely comparable to the Troy house  











Troy has been in the news a lot lately, crime issues especially.

I don't even know offhand what party Troy's mayors have been in the past 10 years or what majority party their council members are.  Whether dems or not, Troy seems to be doing well especially compared to Schenectady.


But look at the comparison of these three houses.





Look at the MASSIVE reduction in the value of the houses in Schenectady between the two purchases over the course of time under the dem leadership.  And despite what the city of Schenectady claims is the market value of the two Schenectady houses, the EVIDENCE DISPROVES that, rather the true market values are substantially lower than what the city claims based on the actual selling prices.  

But look at the sale price for the house in Troy back in 2002 compared to now.  Granted, this house was only just listed, and listed for close to $100,000 over the market value per their assessment roll, but even if it sells for $400,000, or even for the market value per their assessment roll, that still proves a huge increase in the home's value.

And look at the taxes in Schenectady in relation to the market value of the house.   Now who in their right mind would pay those taxes for the paltry value of the houses, especially when the value of the houses in Schenectady is plummeting so much.  The taxes for the houses in Schenectady were checked on the school tax site and then the co and city taxes on the county website, and then the trash, sewer, and water taxes calculated based actually on costs from a few years ago so, so the taxes shown are obviously a bit higher.   The taxes on the house in Troy are stated by the realtor and because it stated "without STAR" we know it will be a bit lower.


But about Schenectady, "the city is improving."   Still haven't seen any detailed evidence (tax base, tax bills, property values, essential services, desirability of buying a house, etc)

The Dems ?

These listing agents should have their  asses kicked. Sch3nectady Realestate agents should have to answer to someone. What a bunch of scumbags.  What a disgrace.  

Someone I know was just telling me about looking at a house there. It must have been one of these. She wants to return to the area to be nearer aging parents. When I say "looked at", I mean online, of course. She didn't bother to come up and view the actual house after seeing the taxes.

Real Estate agents and the real estate business s are making money off of peoples misery, misfortune and bad arithmetic.

Quoted from Sombody

Real Estate agents and the real estate business s are making money off of peoples misery, misfortune and bad arithmetic.

Especially and particularly in Schenectady.  

I guess I'd say the RE agents aren't making much in Schenectady--the city.  Then I'm thinking on the other hand that what commissions they do get from selling in Schenectady is coming from the taxpayers' pockets--between the mayor spending close to 3/4 of a million in taxpayer's money to try in desperation to sell houses in the city and then via the taxpayer funded handouts to pay for homebuyers' down payments, closing costs, etc.


Now, the comparison if that House of the Week located in Troy, yes, those taxes are high, rather comparable taxes to the similar houses in Schenectady so one might say there's not much difference in the two cities.   But the thing is that the house in Troy, look how much it has appreciated in value since it was last sold.  And while the asking price is well above the market value (per Troy's assessment roll and based on Troy's equalization rate at 100%), I'd bet the house ultimately sells for it assessed and market value.   But look at the two houses in Schenectady, their market value is SUBSTANTIALLY LOWER than the previous selling prices.   So pay close attention to what the three houses sold for in the early 2000s, then look at what they were assessed for, i.e., the market value of the houses AFTER the housing bubble that reduced home prices across the country.   And then look at what the houses in Schenectady sold for 3 and 4 years AFTER the assessed value in 2010 which was the market value at the time.  Troy seems to have assessed in 2012.

So the two houses in Schenectady have MASSIVELLY PLUMMETED in value while the house in Troy seems to have increased substantially in value.

The two Schenectady houses are paying similar or more taxes than Troy but yet the market value of the houses in Schenectady is much much much lower than the house in Troy.


And if you pay attention to the real estate reports, the typical selling prices in Troy this year is $50,000 more than Schenectady and number of house sales increasing in Troy as well.  In Schenectady this year virtually every month both selling prices AND number of houses sold is falling.   And this is all despite what seems to be a tough time for Troy with lots of shootings recently.  


So, is Schenectady improving?   Where is the evidence that Schenectady is improving?   Oh, we won't get an answer to that.  Not unless it's cheering a nd praising of the opening of yet another taxpayer funded gin mill downtown (those who lavish the most praise about the city, cheer the loudest, won't engage in any discussion whatsoever about the real facts, like the evidence of the massively falling home values compared to houses outside of Schenectady appreciating in value).

Quoted from Sombody

Real Estate agents and the real estate business s are making money off of peoples misery, misfortune and bad arithmetic.

I'm sure you are correct.....but the real estate agents we know....steer their potential home buyers AWAY from the city of Schenectady!!!! We hear this ALL the time.

Folks have been buying homes forever.
is it just this generation that are that stupid that they can't do simple math????? O-M-G!!!

Quoted from bumblethru

.....but the real estate agents we know....steer their potential home buyers AWAY from the city of Schenectady!!!! We hear this ALL the time.

And that so believable.  

What real estate agent is going to have two possible houses to sell, very similar, one in Schdy, one in Troy.  Agents don't want to be bothered with the puny commission from a house in Schenectady when they can list a similar house in Troy and make more than twice as much in a fraction of as much time.

But, "the city is improving"  

"There's more to do"   Been hearing that line, oops, that lie, for the past 10 years.

You get a wide variety of people with a wide difference in knowledge and skill going into real estate. During the "bubble", a number of people jumped in because they thought it was easy money. They do have a professional license, however, to call themselves a realtor, so there is really no excuse for the lying and deceitful ones.
Some younger people don't understand that the agent represents the seller, unless you specifically work with a 'buyer's agent'.
One of the things I want to point out is that even if our houses here were worth the assessed values, they are still taxed too high. McCheese is trying to fix that by becoming one of those deceptive realtors, hoping he can trick enough people into paying too much for a house that he can make the houses "worth" the assessed value, but that doesn't solve the problem, because even if you have two houses of equal value, and one is in Schenectady, the Schenectady house is taxed higher.
I know some young families, they really, really, really want their own home. They aren't as enamored of the suburban trend as previous generations were, they really should be able to take advantage of the buyer's market, remember, these are people who sat out the "bubble", and the one thing standing between them and their dream is some hack all-ten-fingers-in-the-pie sorry excuse for a leader, the troll under the bridge, the intermediary standing in between the property owner and the willing buyer, the shakedown artist demanding a cut for him and his boys. It's highway robbery, plain and simple, and when these young people are told it's time to stand and deliver, they run for the hills. Burnt Hills.