Leaving the San Francisco Bay area for the ground floor of something big in Syracuse

Saturday, July 16, 2011 ~ Post Standard ~ Syracuse, NY


Every time I say it, the truer it becomes: the Syracuse of today is not the Syracuse I moved to in 2004. I marvel at the positive changes that have taken place in this city since my husband and I packed up our Oakland, Calif., apartment and rolled into Syracuse seven years ago this week. We relocated here for work and were lured by the promise of “amazing things on the horizon” as Syracuse University welcomed its new chancellor, Nancy Cantor. In places like Berkeley or New York City (where I was raised), a new leader of an educational institution would hardly be news. But here in Syracuse there was a deep desire for reconnecting Syracuse University to its namesake city and, perhaps, connecting neighborhoods and people one to another.

It sounded exciting at the time. Our friends thought we were crazy — who would leave the San Francisco Bay area with its perfect weather, world-class restaurants, and endless opportunities for cultural enrichment for Syracuse? My new colleagues at Hendricks Chapel reassured me that I was coming in on the ground floor of something big. Syracuse was where Portland, Ore., was 30 years ago. And I love Portland.

The summer of 2004 found us explaining and justifying our move to everyone — including Syracusans. Looking back on it I can see why our judgment would be questioned. This was before a downtown apartment was the hottest ticket. This was before we had small neighborhood farmers’ markets selling delicious local produce, cheeses and sustainably-raised meats nearly every day of the week. This was before The Warehouse expanded our downtown view westward. This was before Syracuse became a destination for major sporting events like the half Ironman triathlon and the national women’s bowling tournament. Five years ago the idea of having your choice of artisanal, local coffee roasters on the West Side would have been laughable. Not today.

I used to worry that the changes I witnessed were just the icing on the cake. All the attention going to the aesthetics that would make Syracuse a desirable place to live for the young urban professionals or creative class that the city seemed so desperate to attract and retain — while the cake itself failed to rise. Meaning, the large and growing underclass that couldn’t get out of the cycle of poverty and inadequate education to be part of the “eds and meds” and biotechnology boom that was becoming the new foundation of our economy.

Initiatives like Say Yes to Education, targeted recruitment in underrepresented communities by University Hospital’s education and training programs, and deep investments in our poorest neighborhoods on the south and west sides give me hope. There is so much work to be done, but no one can say we’re not trying — not anymore.
In a world where the smart phone you buy today is outdated tomorrow, seven years is still an incredibly brief time to see the changes our city has undergone. The only problem with such rapid change is that now I have expectations. It is impossible for me to stroll the undulating Creek Walk through downtown and not dream about the day when an elevated interstate highway will no longer bisect our city. The Creek Walk was a long time coming too, and though it isn’t perfect or complete, it is certainly worth the wait. I hope and trust that I will be able to say the same about the Connective Corridor street improvements now under construction.

I have come to love my adopted home with no sign of the dreaded seven-year itch. And no, I don’t think it is overreaching to dream of the day when people will call Portland the Syracuse of the west. That day may be closer than we think.

By Jennifer Baskerville-Burrows, Contributing writer for the Post Standard

Jennifer Baskerville-Burrows is rector of Grace Episcopal Church and Episcopal chaplain at Syracuse University. She is also the creator of the food blog, Cookin’ in the ’Cuse. She is an occasional guest columnist for The Post-Standard.

Photo by Dick Blume, Post Standard

"A Magical Time In Syracuse"

Following the 10 mile Mountain Goat Run in Syracuse...
Sean Kirst's column is a must read for those who wake up in the 'Cuse and for those who admire her from afar.

The Mountain Goat: Running for all the right reasons

Sunday's Mountain Goat Run was 10 miles long, emphasis on long, on a course that rolled up some of the toughest hills in Syracuse. By the time you hit the last uphill at Thornden Park - unless you’ve got an elite runner’s disposition - you may have been asking yourself why you did this thing.
Yet the hill is quickly gone, and the worst is over. Before long, at the finish line, the answers become clear.

You do the Mountain Goat for the older brothers who’ve inspired you: The brother you lost, a tremendous runner in his day, and the brothers you’ve still got, who like you are out there running.

You do the Goat for your kids, just so they know the machine doesn’t need to shut down once you’re 50.

You do the Goat for your wife, who’s always tolerated your strange runs to strange places at all hours of the day and night. You do it for other Central New Yorkers who share the same passion, the ones on the turnpike in all kinds of crazy weather, the ones who understand what it means to be “out there.”

You do it for sweet and sudden flashes of memory, because the scents and sights of a long hard run can abruptly give you back childhood images that seemed forever lost.

You do it for everything you love about your city, for the great views from the hills on both sides of the valley.

You do it because the Goat merges with a magical time in Syracuse, that fleeting window when magnolias explode and maple leaves burst open. Somehow — on city streets — you become a part of that.

You do it for the folks who created this run and for the ones who keep it going, true believers who appreciate what makes this town unique.

You do it because a decade ago you could not run two miles, and this race reignited something that you thought you’d lost.

You do the Goat for what it says about the seasons, for the way you start training in March — when you wear long johns as you slog through wet snow — knowing that by race day the weather will take a glorious turn.

You do it for your parents, who died all too young, behind your hope that being out there might improve the chance for you to someday see your own grandkids.

You do it for the energy you feel along the route — the folks who bring live goats to the race, the little kids who slap your hand as you near East Colvin Street, the mysterious authors of chalk slogans on the hill at Thornden Park.

You do it for the chance to see the regulars, the stalwarts who run the whole way in bare feet, the guy who does the race dribbling a basketball.

You do it for a different look at the mansions of West Onondaga Street, or the roundtop at Onondaga Park, or downtown landmarks on those seemingly endless blocks before the finish.

You do it for friends and family along the route who call your name, for the men and women in church clothes who smile as you pass by, for the keyboard guy who plays “Great Balls of Fire” just when you need it most.

You do it for all your friends running the race for the first time, because you remember what that represents.

You do it because you’re at a point in life where your only competition is yourself, when you race against the time you had a year ago, which amounts to shaking your fist at Father Time.

You do it for anyone toying with the idea of the Goat, folks who are tempted but who tell themselves it cannot be done, because you remember feeling exactly that way.

You do it for the little pleasures at the finish, where bananas and apples have never tasted so sweet.

You do it because the race is so fitting to the ancient homeland of the Onondagas, whose Iroquois name, after all, equates to people of the hills.

And you do it for the triumphant embrace of old friends afterward at Clinton Square, that rare moment when no one is worried about sweat.

Beyond all else, you do it as affirmation for all those hours in the middle of nowhere, running in search of something hard to express.

You do it for everything you take from the Goat, because in some deep way — for yourself and for your town — it speaks to hope.

~ Sean Kirst

How much is a Syracuse home worth?

5 Steps to Deciding How Much to Offer – or Ask – for Your Home

One of the hardest, most important decisions homebuyers face is how much to offer for their home.  And the glut of information on the web about real estate only makes buyers even crazier than the decision itself does.  Supply, demand, foreclosure rates, mortgage rates – buyers think they need to run spreadsheets and do fancy math to make a smart offer.  And THAT can be super intimidating.
But the fact is, there is a pretty short list of steps you need to take to make a smart offer – one that gets you a great value, but is also likely to be successful at getting the property. (A low offer does not make for a great deal if you don’t get the house!)  And most of the same steps apply to sellers trying to set the list price that will lure the most buyers (and net them the most cash)!

Step 1: What do the “comps” say?  First things first. When it comes to pricing a home, or making an offer to buy one, the ‘first thing” is the home’s fair market value. Both buyers and sellers should work with an experienced, local agent to understand what the home’s value is. Most agents will do this by offering you a look back at similar properties that have recently sold in the neighborhood – i.e., the  comparable sales, or comps. HINT: You can also find comps for a home listed on Trulia by scrolling down to the section labeled Sold Homes near 1234 Merriweather Lane on the property's Trulia listing page.
Ideally, look for comparables that are very recent sales (3 months or less before you’re listing or buying), very similar properties (i.e., same number of bedrooms, bathrooms, square footage; and similar style, condition and amenities). If you do get into contract, these may be the same comparables which will be considered by the appraiser, so looking at them before making an offer can:
(a) provide factual support for a lower-than-asking offer or for the asking price, in a negotiation, and
(b) result in a sale price at which the property will actually appraise, later on - avoiding the common glitch of the deal falling through because the appraisal comes in way below the agreed-upon price.
Also, looking at comps is the first step for locating a home’s seller and prospective buyer in the reality-based universe of current home values.  The fact that you bought or refinanced the place at a given value 5 or 6 years ago is entirely irrelevant to what it’s worth today, as is the buyer’s belief that the place was worth $100K less at the trough of the market, in 2009.

Step 2:  What can you afford?  This step is much more critical for buyers than for sellers. (Unfortunately, sellers, the facts that you need to net a particular amount to buy your next home or pay your existing mortgages or credit card bills off has no relationship whatsoever to the price at which you should list or will sell your home.)
Buyers – it’s a must to make sure that your offer price for any given home falls within the range of what is affordable for you.  This includes offering a price within the range for which your mortgage was preapproved, but also includes making sure that the monthly payment and cash you’ll need to close the deal (down payment + closing costs) are affordable in light of the particular house. If, for example, the property will require repairs for which you’ll need to conserve cash, or has HOA dues you hadn’t planned on, you may need to rejigger your offer accordingly.

Step 3: What’s your competition? (And what’s theirs?)  This is another step at which it’s critical to check in with your agent. You need to know what level of competition you’ll face – whether you are a buyer, or a seller.  As a seller, you can find this out by looking at things like how many comparable homes are listed in your town or your neighborhood in your general price range (your agent will brief you on this).  Sellers should also consider what type of transactions their home will be up against – the more distressed properties (foreclosed homes and short sales) with which your home must compete, the more aggressive you must be with your pricing to get your home sold.
The more competition you have, as a seller, the lower you should tweak your list price to attract buyers to come see your home. (And the more buyers come to see your home, the more likely you are to get an offer!)
Buyers should also be cognizant of the competition level they will face for homes.  Believe it or not, even on today’s market there are properties and neighborhoods in which multiple offers are the name of the game. Work with your agent to understand the list price-to-sale price (LP:SP) ratio , which lets you know how much under or over the asking price properties are selling for in your target home’s neighborhood; the lower the LP:SP ratio, generally speaking, the less competition there is among buyers. 
Your agent can also brief you on:

(1)  (1)    The number of offers – if any - that have been presented on “your” property (which the listing agent will usually, gladly tell).  If there are other offers, you’ll want to make a higher offer to compete successfully against them; and

(2)    (2)  The number of days the home has been on the market, relative to how long an average home stays on the market before it sells – the longer it has, the more pressure is on the seller, price-wise, and the less competition the buyer is likely to have.  (One exception is the sweet spot scenario, when a property that has been on the market for a long time has a price reduction and gets a bunch of offers as a result! )

4.  How much do they need to sell (or buy) it?  Buyers: Has the listing in which you’re interested been reduced at all?  By how much?  Has the listing agent informed you that her clients are highly motivated, flexible or have an urgent need to sell?   
Sellers – most buyers are not in a high state of urgency to buy these days, given the long-term, high affordability of homes and interest rates, except when they have an urgent personal reason for moving, e.g., buyers who are relocating for work.  Of course, all of real estate is hyperlocal, so it’s important to understand how motivated buyers are in your local market, generally speaking, before you set your list price.
Trulia’s new, interactive Price Reductions Map offers a number of clues to critical indicators of buyer and seller motivations in your home’s town and zip code, in just a click on the map - including:

·         how many homes in your target property’s area have had at least one price reduction,

·         how likely a home in the area is to have multiple price reductions.

The higher these numbers are, the stronger of a buyer’s market it is, and the more bargaining power buyers likely have.   And if you’re the seller, the higher these numbers are for your area, the lower you may need to price your home to be successful at getting it sold.
5.  How much do you want to buy, or sell, the place?  Step #4 was about taking the motivations of the folks on the other side of the bargaining table into account when formulating your offer and your list price.  This step is all about you – what’s your level of motivation?  Now, buyers, you certainly shouldn’t offer a price way above what the place is worth (see Step #1) just because you really, really want it, unless you have the cash to throw around.  But within the range of the home’s fair market value, it may make sense to move higher within that range if you are highly motivated to get that particular property.
Sellers: think of your list price as the most powerful marketing tool at your disposal. if you really want or need to sell, get aggressive about setting your price as low as makes sense for your your home's value and local market dynamics to attract qualified buyers and help your home stand out against all the competition.
Tara-Nicholle Nelson

Thinking of selling 'Cuse? Make cost-effective home improvements | SummitDaily.com

Real Estate Forum: Make cost-effective home improvements | SummitDaily.com

In Pictures: America's Best Places To Raise A Family

 

 

 

 

 

 

What a great place to live!

Forbes No. 4: Syracuse, N.Y.

Cost-of-Living Rank: 11
Crime Rate Rank: 13
Commuting Rank: 9
Household Income Rank: 72
Home Ownership Rank: 47
Homeowner Costs Rank: 20
Education Rank: 6

http://www.forbes.com/2010/06/04/best-places-family-lifestyle-real-estate-cities-kids_slide_8.html

50 Ways To Spend A Snowday!

Enjoy the snow!

NEW YORK (AP) — Another day, another blizzard. Here are 50 ways to spend a snow day.

Make an abominable snowman. It's like a regular snowman, but less friendly to passers-by.
Practice multiplication and script with your kids. That'll put them in a REALLY good mood. For older kids, break out the practice tests.
Delete all of the expletive-laden "music" from your teenager's Napster playlist on the family computer, while she's not looking.
Make snow ice cream, slushies or 'tinis. Harvest icicles for the latter.
Put on your fanciest evening dress and jewelry, grab your cocktail and pretend you're in an old movie. That sounds a lot better than, "Sit around your apartment and get wasted."
Fill squirt bottles with water and food coloring and make art on the snow. Let your dog help out.
Trudge around town for a store that hasn't sold out on sleds.
Wash the floors by hand. Or use a toothbrush.
Do that mending and ironing you've been putting off since 2004.
Groom the dog. Then suck all the fur off your couch.
Make freeze-ahead dinners. The ones you wish you had right now.
Go rooftop luging.
Get kids the Lil' Capt. Robert Scott Antarctic Expedition playset.
Shovel through piles of climate change theories.
Shred your pile of old documents. Better yet, multitask. Use them to light up the fireplace.
Change the batteries in the smoke detectors, since you forgot during Fall Back.
Find all the lids to the Tupperware.
Play Monopoly with the rules that make the game go slower.
Go through your junk drawer. Do not be afraid.
Clean your silverware and jewelry. Alternatively, pine for silverware and jewelry worth cleaning.
Sort mementos into keep and toss piles. Spend time poring over the keepers — after all, that's why you're keeping them.
Make a master calendar for gift-giving dates. Shop ahead online. Or for yourself. Pretend there are sales.
Invite over neighbors you rarely see for a potluck dinner.
Make a list of all the things you love about your valentine for a card or scrapbook. Make stuff up if you have to.
Actually use those cross-country skis, or skates or showshoes you were always planning to try out after a big snow. C'mon, you can do it!
Scan old photos and make a photo book. Then force the kids to look at pictures of their parents when they were little.
Do your taxes! April 15 only feels far off.
Chug a shot and break open your financial portfolio.
Order seeds and plants for your spring garden. Yes, spring will come eventually.
Update your resume. Hey, it's better than doing it at work and leaving it in the copying machine.
Go through clothes in drawers and closet. Try on and toss.
Upload your CDs, finally. Now, this may be difficult: Toss the CDs and the CD player.
Take out all the beach chairs, umbrellas and boogie boards and make a beach day in the snow.
Google yourself.
Collect all the pennies from the corners of the house, coat pockets, sofa cushions, jeans in the laundry. Maybe you'll have enough for a cup of coffee at Starbucks. Then again, maybe not.
Write a letter. You know the kind, with pen and paper.
Make snowflakes out of paper. Tape them to your windows to block out the white piles outside.
Teach haiku — five, seven, five — and make a book of illustrated snow haiku.
Create air fare alerts for deals to your dream destinations.
Play this fun game with your kids: Let's Clean the Bathroom!
You know that neighbor who won't stop blasting music? That's where your shoveled snow goes.
Play family-friendly spin the bottle with your chore list. Hope it doesn't point to you when it's time to clean toilets.
Mani-pedi, scrub or mask, deep condition. You choose the body parts.
Bubble bath. Turn down the lights, light a candle and pretend you're in a spa. Doesn't do it for you? It's not completely impossible that a real one is open.
Experiment all day on devising the ultimate chocolate chip cookie. Tasting mandatory.
Begin your memoirs.
Take pictures of all your belongings to inventory for insurance. Now do a written inventory.
Sleep. If that doesn't work, make some nookie!
Send hate mail to your friends and relatives in warm-weather places. Or block them on Facebook.
Look at Florida real estate online, so you never have to read this again.

http://blog.syracuse.com/entertainment/2011/01/50_ways_to_spend_a_snow_day.html

I was a fly on the wall at a funeral I'll never forget

It was a funeral which celebrated Syracuse and the incredible life of Mayor William Walsh. 

Cities are built like Lives...with passion, hard work and determination. 

Mayor Walsh was a man of integrity who gave his life to raising his family and to building up our community.

He was driven, not by his ego, but by a strong commitment to a city that he loved. 

We are lucky to have such a wonderful example of leadership, which no doubt, if followed, will bring us continued growth and success.

William Walsh was the Mayor of Syracuse from 1961 - 1969.
He served as United States Congressman for 3 terms starting in 1973.

"In the end he was who he was raised by his parents to be
– a good and gentle man.”

Rest In Peace

http://www.syracuse.com/news/index.ssf/2011/01/family_syracuse_says_goodbye_t.html

http://www.syracuse.com/news/index.ssf/2011/01/william_walsh_former_syracuse.html

"Syracuse is steeped in an irreplaceable sense of place and cohesion difficult to find elsewhere."

"There is as much sense of belonging, more nostalgia, more accumulated aspiration, more embodied history and remembered purpose in the drumlins, streets and neighborhoods here as in any other spot in this nation."

Syracuse Post Standard 1/8/11

To the Editor:

Sean Kirst’s columns are always a treat, and his Dec. 29 piece recollecting his 20 years in town brought tears to my eyes.

Many of us have marveled from the same views he described. From the panorama atop Woodland Reservoir on South Geddes, and from Schiller Park’s intimate vista down upon the church spires and chimney smoke plumes, I’ve also said to myself, my hometown.

I arrived too, 33 years ago for social work graduate school, and stayed. And stayed and stayed. The more I’ve learned of Syracuse past, the deeper and richer my connection has grown to the people, organizations, architecture, the lands, lakes and woods of home. I’ve grown roots

We may be a struggling, Rust Belt, has-been city, but by God, there is as much sense of belonging, more nostalgia, more accumulated aspiration, more embodied history and remembered purpose in the drumlins, streets and neighborhoods here as in any other spot in this nation. From our native predecessors who worshipped our lake to the nation-building laborers whose work still stands, from Jermain Loguen’s abolitionists to the anti-war/social justice tradition recognized the world over, from three centuries of lacrosse to Syracuse University’s latest undefeated basketball squad, Syracuse is steeped in an irreplaceable sense of place and cohesion difficult to find elsewhere.

Kirst captures what a lot of us feel. Thanks for his eloquence.

Gary Weinstein
Syracuse

http://blog.syracuse.com/opinion/2011/01/sean_kirst_column_captures_aff.html

Syracuse is...Creative Talent Improving And Becoming Competitive At The Highest Level

If the last few days have been any indication...Syracuse, in general, is headed for a spectacular year.

Syracuse University athletic teams have been remarkable as of late in the national spotlight and could be viewed as a metaphor for whats happening here as a community: 

Creative Talent Improving And Becoming Competitive At The Highest Level.

We'll keep the support and momentum going and will enjoy watching each other succeed.

Happy New Year!