I see the GOP is planning to run  Whiskers for Mayor

Anybody or anything would be better than Stratton IMHO.

Anyone But Stratton. He will not be running again-he will not be getting any lob jobs from Gov elect Cuomo. Fritz the Cat could beat Mayor SOS.

    The last thing our new Governor needs is Mayor SOS. He's supposed to be cleaning up corruption and featherbedding. Not adding to it.

Fellow readers.   I FIRST call your attention to the date this was originally posted.   You see that, right?   It DOES say 2010.   Just slightly under one year ago.

So, what are the results?

Checked the official records, NOT ONE of these houses sold!  

122 Elmer Ave was listed for sale in Nov 2010, the official records show the last time there was a sale was 2007
518 Rankin Ave, says "no sales information available" but at the county bldg, the old index cards show the current owner purchased in 1977
12 Morris Ave, last sold in 2005
773 Eastern Ave.   Last sold in 2002

And this post also responds to the question if Councilman Erikson's house sold.   On Nov 21, 2010, above, gadly stated that his house had been for sale "at least a few months ago...."     NO, HIS HOUSE HAS NOT SOLD!    A WHOPPING MORE THAN ONE WHOLE YEAR and a very nice hosue in probably the nicest area of the city and house did not sell.  

Gee. and while we're talking about it, remember Schenectadys disgraced superintendent of schools, Eric Ely, he put his house up for sale in spring of 2010.   NO TAKERS, THE HOUSE HAS NOT, I REPEAT, HAS NOT SOLD.

Thank you

Thank you

I take a bow once again  

So, how are those home sales in the city doing????     How wilL they do after the 4 to 7% tax increase in city taxes alone?

Gee, I believe the very knowledgeable Pat Z said at yesterdays' council meeting that some 1,000 houses were for sale in the city.

On top of that there are also 500 city owned properties for sale.

Gee, so very many houses for sale, no one buying, and the proof of the houses that were for sale a year ago still never sold, wonder why.

Who in their right mind would move to the city of schenectady ON PURPOSE?

Just checked and there are 985 residential properties for sale right now in Schenectady County -- and 376 residential properties sold so far this year.    

Quoted from bumblethru

Who in their right mind would move to the city of schenectady ON PURPOSE?

What DVR doesn't mention are the 1,200 abandoned properties from people fleeing the working together crew. Not on the market-worth zero. Prices down, foreclosures up, abandonment at depression levels. Keep the DEM implosion going?

Quoted from benny salami

What DVR doesn't mention are the 1,200 abandoned properties from people fleeing the working together crew. Not on the market-worth zero. Prices down, foreclosures up, abandonment at depression levels. Keep the DEM implosion going?

No one can "just check" and provide a number.   One cannot even go to a realtor's website and come up with a number because some are MLS, some are not.   Entering in a zip code, e.g.,. 12309 provides some houses in the city and some houses in Nisky.   School district can help, but then, there is overlap of city and town there too, houses in ROtterdam but Schenectady school district.   There are the city owned residential proeprties, there are the abandoned because taxes are higher than the mortgage so it makes more sense to walk away (tough on the credit though), there's all the "I buy houses for cash" which, while for sale are mostly scams, there are those that are by owner, there are houses that are listed with various realtors, and there are those that, such as the houses above which were listed for sale and because no one wants to buy houses in Schenectady city, they go unsold and the owners are just stuck with keeping them.

Didn't the Gazettos neighborhood fluff articles just state that many neighborhoods have a high vacancy rates?

Reputation is what others think about you. Unfortunately for cities, a reputation will linger and fester if problems are ignored and not solved. Schenectady, far and wide, has a reputation of violence, illegal activities and, coupled with high taxes, earned the City a scarlet letter long ago.

If the current leaders keep ignoring reality and allow pit bulls to roam free, have 4 incidents of gunshots in one weekend YET they don't address the issues and don't even address that these incidents have HAPPENED - well, they perpetuate this reputation. No chart, statistic or mortage enticement will bring people to the City.

A leader has to lead. The City needs a good leader and I don't see McCarthy doing that at all.

Actually there is a website that provides an analysis of real estate markets all over the country -- and they do have statistics   # of homes on the market  .. # of homes sold  .. average and median prices .. etc.

The he/she earthworm just can't handle the idea that someone is challenging his/her bullshit comments with HARD FACTS.

Quoted from rachel72

Didn't the Gazettos neighborhood fluff articles just state that many neighborhoods have a high vacancy rates?....

.......

THat's true.   While they did state that, and it IS true, it would have been best if they cited what sources.   I'd like to know whether the gazette referenced official records or whether they obtained the information from some of these website that allegedlly analyzes stuff across the country, but they don't have any methods to distinguish fact from fiction or cities from towns, etc. You see, there are indeed sources that make claims about prices, whether homes are selling or not, but those websites really don't tell the truth.  The real proof is in looking at the official deeds transfers and revenue stamps.   And that's why to use tabloid websites which often use cite trends or just use a random sampling is deceiving.   And that is even why using a zip code can be deceiving.  For some organization out there to take a zip code of, say, 12303 and present average sale prices, median sale prices, etc, and include that for Schenectady, however, what idiot would ever use a source of sales information that would have inflated home values by virtue of the fact that zip code 12303 not only includes Schenectady city, but also Rotterdam and yes, even the very high values in Guilderland which are Albany County.    Information provided by various organizations that present.

And since, zip codes cross city/town lines, if the Gazette used info based on zip codes, then the numbers could be skewed to make the city look better than it is.  If there is one house in the 12309 zip code that is vacant AND WITHIN THE TOWN of Nisky, which would necessitate including an increased number of total houses as well, and anyone with a brain would know that 100 vacant houses among 1,000 houses vs 101 vacant houses among 1,5000 houses would result in a lower percentage of vacancies, so it depends what official records the Gazette obtained information from.

And this is why I suggest to others on these boards that if they live within the city, they should be pouring through the real estate ads for comps in their area for houses for sale, save the ads and follow it through with multitudes of price reductions so that when the houses have had asking prices reduced several times over six or more months, then the homeowner has a good case to grieve their assessment.   To present information showing a hoiuse assessed (by the city) at $90,000, with an asking price of $80,000 reduced to $75,000, then reduced to $70,000 and ultimately sells for $60,000 in an arms length sale, and multiply this example several times over with all the comps combined with showing proof of lack of sales despite continual reduction of asking prices, does indeed show how one's assessment is too high.   This is a task that needs to be continually worked on throughout the year prior to the month of May.

Even the lists of real estate transactions in the newspaper, when it lists "Schenectady county," one still needs to distinguish between towns and city.  One house could be listed as an address with Rotterdam and another as Schenectady, when the latter is actually located within the town.   And those listings do not make a distinction between arms length sales vs other types of sales.

speaking of idiots -- how are you doing MC ?    have you stopped beating your spouse and children yet?

Another house of the week from Schenectady.   Link provided below.

Cute house but OBVOUSLY has been for sale for a while becuase does anyone live in an empty house?   Not even paying money to stage the house.  Oh, that kitchen is oh so dated, I think the counters must be 40 years old, no one has used tile counters since the 1960's.   THe photo that faces the back door of the kitchen shows panelling on the wall!  So outdated.  

So it was used in the movie, big whoop.  Since the movie was getting filmed back in the summer and it was for sale even before that, it's obvious it's been for sale for quite a while with NO TAKERS.  

Mentions the taxes are $5,600.   They will be closer to $5,900 after all the taxes increase.

Also, the city claims the house is worth $139,500.    Funny, it's only listed for sale at $131,000.   Gee, and some claim property values are going up?   They aren't even asking what the city claims it's worth

http://blog.timesunion.com/realestate/house-of-the-week-a-schenectady-movie-set/10051/

Maybe the admin can change the title of this thread because it may not be limited to Eaatern Ave