Checking in with the Syracuse Market

[Cerwin Haynes]

Hello all.

Haven't really seen anything written lately about Syracuse, so I wanted to start a check-in discussion. Are sellers still holding onto their criteria as things were 6 months ago (i.e. insisting on as-is sales), or has most begun to adjust?

I'm set to close on the sale of my duplex a the end of this month. Would've loved to have sold it back in the fall, but I had a bad bout with a tenant who just flat out refused to leave: she stopped paying rent, tried to use city code complaints to justify non-payment, refused a cash-for-keys offer back in June when the writing was on the wall, and wouldn't leave after her lease was terminated at the end of Sept. It took me until Feb 1 to finally be rid of her.

My goal is find another investment property within three months after I close. 

[Jin Lee]

If you are doing a cash purchase I think you'd have no problem now. The velocity of sales has dropped but quality properties seem scarcer than before. 

I think "price memory" might be the new challenge with some sellers who saw the premiums their neighbors sold for in the past few years and expect to get the same now but that's just a guess. 

[Stephen Schmitt]

Hello Cerwin, single family homes are still in very short supply with multiple bids. Multi family is still scarce as well, but you can have inspection contingencies. I have put together some economic drivers for the area: 

• Amazon’s new 3.7 million sf Distribution Center created 1,500-2500 new jobs in Liverpool, and an additional hub in Dewitt created another 500
• Lockheed Martin in Liverpool recently won a record setting $3 billion contract
• SRC Inc. a national defense research company added 300 new jobs at its Cicero

  headquarters, already employing 900 highly skilled workers
  

• Raymour & Flanigan hiring 1,000 new employees at their field support and distribution

  center in Liverpool
  

• JMA Wireless investing $100 million to build out an additional 5G component factory in

  Syracuse to complement the existing facility in Liverpool, and bringing much of its workforce to work in the area from around the country, bringing the number of local employees up to around 1,000.
  

• Byrne Dairy investing $28 million to expand its dairy plant in Dewitt, increasing to 300 employees at the plant
• Micron Technology, the second largest semiconductor manufacturer in the US after Intel, is building a $100 Billion computer chip factor in the White Pine Commerce Park – a 1200-acre development site owned by the County in the Town of Clay. The 4 plants will employ 9,000 highly skilled and salaried workers and ancillary supply companies will bring in another 40,000 jobs to the area. Construction will take 25 years beginning in 2024 (site work is already underway), with the first fab up and running at the end of 2026. An anticipated 7,000 construction workers will be on the site. A $500 million community fund is being allocated by an advisory board, and an additional $300 million will be granted to construction projects in the area. Health care and services will need to be expanded in CNY leading to more than 100,000 new people relocating to the area.

[Cerwin Haynes]

Update:

Closed on the sale three weeks ago. That last week leading to close was pure hell - I mean Murphy's Law was full blown that week.

I think for now I'm going to hold onto my little bit of cash. I initially said I'd look for another property within three months, but I have serious reservations about managing from afar right now, particularly with the instability of property managers and contractors in Cuse.