About Ontario County, NY

I love sharing good news about the real estate market in the Rochester area!Today, the good news focuses on the community of Canandaigua.

If you don't know anything about Canandaigua, it's a wonderful community. It's a small city on the Northern end of Canandaigua Lake, one of New York State's Finger Lakes, with a population of approximately 11,000 people. It has a picturesque main street with a variety of shops, lovely Victorian homes, and a fantastic waterfront park with a gazebo.

The name Canandaigua is derived from the Iroquois word "Kanandarque", which means "the chosen spot". This area was very important to the Native Americans, and it's a very fitting name for one of my favorite communities!

So, back to the good news.

There's an agent in my office who is religious about printing up statistics about our local market, and he's kind enough to share those statistics with the rest of us. I usually look them over, see the small ups and downs that are normal for our local market, and move on to doing something else. But this time, some of the numbers caught my eye.

For the municipality of Canandaigua, which includes the city and surrounding town, these are the numbers I saw:

This year1/2/2010 thru 11/19/2010	Last year1/3/2009 thru 11/20/2009	Annual Change in Sales and Median Price
Sales Median	Sales Median	Sales Median
145 $169,500	83 $119,500	+ 74.69 % + 41.84 %

Take a closer look at the right column. Your eyes are not deceiving you. Since late November of last year, sales in Canandaigua have risen a whopping 74.69%, and the median price has risen 41.84%. These numbers are huge. In most of the Rochester area, both the number of sales and the median prices have stayed fairly steady, either rising or falling slightly. These changes are anything but slight!

Does this mean the market in Canandaigua is improving for good? Does it bode well for the rest of our area? Only time will tell.

For now, I'm just glad to see that more buyers seem to be flocking to this lovely community, even in today's less-than-perfect economy!

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P.S.If you're a home owner who is considering selling your Canandaigua home, this is also a fantastic time to sell! Call me at (585) 455-5524 if you'd like a complimentary market analysis!

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I am proud to help buyers and sellers in the Greater Rochester, New York area find their dream homes. If you are considering purchasing or selling a home in the Rochester area, don't hesitate to contact me. I pride myself in providing the best possible service for my clients!

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Visit my website at www.YourNYDreamHome.com to learn more about the services I offer!

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Contact:
Kristen Wahl
Realtor Associate
(585) 455-5524
KWahl@RealtyUSA.com

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Most people think we had a wind storm yesterday. Actually, it was me on a whirlwind tour of the Finger Lakes. I had clients yesterday from Costa Rica that love summers on the Finger Lakes and so we looked at property on five of the lakes. So this seems like an excellent time to give a market report.

Conesus Lake continues to offer some of the most reasonable waterfront property. Currently, there are only ten pieces of property on the market. We found everything from an adorable house on a tiny lot with with only 25 feet of frontage for less than $240,000 to a breathtaking lot with 130 feet of waterfront land and a so-so house for $370,000.

Honeoye Lake had the slimmest pickings with only one current listing, a 3 bedroom ranch for $269,000.

I had forgotten just how beautiful the southwestern tip of Canandaigua Lake is! Had I not had a car full of clients, I would probably still be sitting on the side of the road snapping photographs. The thing about Canandaigua Lake is it is easy to drop a cool million on a house with decent frontage. Currently, there are 16 homes listed, with a 5,000 sq foot beauty listed for $3.5 million as the most expensive home in the Eastern Finger Lakes (curious? click here for details www.RochestersBestHomes.com/720955 ) A less expensive way to own Canandaigua is to purchase property at Bristol Harbor or one of the other communities, but you will be sharing the lake frontage. A 2 bedroom home at Bristol Harbor is currently listed for $179,900.

Next, we visited Kueka Lake, where we learned an important lesson. If a deal seems too good to be true, it probably is. From the photos, I thought we would be looking at an attractive waterfront home. The home was attractive, BUT it was a short hike to the lake and the waterfront was actually across the road. What do you expect for a mere $450,000? Thirty six properties are currently being offered on Kueka, ranging from $73,000 (a 1963 mobile home) to $1,098,000 for a 2005 built contemporary home with 3 bedroom and 4 baths (peek at www.RochestersBestHomes.com/726899 ) Average time on the market for the current listings is 144 days and average asking price is $515,000.

Our final stop yesterday was Seneca Lake. As we drove along the lake, the sun was low in the horizon and lake was bluer than blue. Simply gorgeous, even this time of the year! This was my first time to show property on this lake and so I'm not as familiar with it. I plan to explore the area more thoroughly this spring. Currently, there are 24 offerings on Seneca, with two listing in excess of $2.5 million. Current time on the market averages 126 days.

Without a doubt, it's early in the year for waterfront property shopping. Traditionally, inventory starts increasing between March and June. If you want to be kept up to date on Finger Lakes real estate offerings, drop me an e-mail or give me a call.