I was able to get the Sold Properties feature working on my PC by disabling the firewall. Sadly, that seems to have worked only a few times. I’m still able to access the tool from my wife’s laptop for some odd reason.

Nine houses sold in Babylon in October of 2008. That’s pretty good, actually, but I expect more than a couple were holdovers from August/September.

62 Mayhew Ave

• MLS# 2097581 – Zillow Page
• Sold: $580,000 – 10/14/2008
• Prior Sales: none
• 4 bedrooms – 2 bath – Hi Ranch
• Taxes: $9,426 – Village Taxes: $866

A waterfront home on the canal. It seems to have a nice deck and a good sized lot. W. Babylon schools. the listing mentions 2 stoves and 2 refrigerators, which is often code for an illegal two family house

36 Burnage Ln

• MLS# 2095165 – Zillow Page
• Sold: $355,000 – 10/17/2008
• Prior Sales: none
• 3 bedrooms – 1.5 bath – Split Ranch
• Taxes: $8,610 – Village Taxes: none

N. Babylon schools – not in the village –

156 Cockonoe Ave

• MLS# *1016440 – Zillow Page
• Sold: $545,000 – 10/20/2008
• Prior Sales: none
• 4 bedrooms – 3 bath – Colonial
• Taxes: $11,969 – Village Taxes: $1,684

Eastern edge of the Indian section.

109 Whalers Cove

• MLS# 2075720 – Zillow Page
• Sold: $340,000 – 10/22/2008
• Prior Sales: none
• 2 bedrooms – 1.5 bath – Condo
• Taxes: $4747 – Village Taxes: ??? – Common Charge: $235

Another condo in the Whalers Cove complex. This seems about the going rate for one of these two bedroom units, but it’s hard to see spending this kind of money for a condo when you could get a whole house for not much more.

47 Frederick Ave

• MLS# 2088868 – Zillow Page
• Sold: $340,000 – 10/22/2008
• Prior Sales: none
• 3 bedrooms – 1 bath – Ranch
• Taxes: $8,523 – Village Taxes: $338

We saw this one shortly after it came on the market and wrote about it. The house needs a ton of work and I’m very surprised that it wen for $340,000. That’s only $9,000 under asking price. Still, there’s not a lot of houses in the Village in this price range, so when one comes on the market, there’s a lot of interest.

79 Mayhew Ave

• MLS# 2105961 – Zillow Page
• Sold: $400,000 – 10/27/2008
• Prior Sales: 10/04/2001: $168,500
• 3 bedrooms – 1.5 bath – Ranch
• Taxes: $6,662 – Village Taxes: $826

W. Babylon schools.

14 Araca Rd

• MLS# 2027699 – Zillow Page
• Sold: $450,000 – 10/27/2008
• Prior Sales: none
• 3 bedrooms – 1 bath – Colonial
• Taxes: $7,098 – Village Taxes: $735

Looks like a decently sized house on a bigger plot of land south of Montauk.

19 Howard St

• MLS# 2099534 – Zillow Page
• Sold: $490,000 – 10/28/2008
• Prior Sales: 07/14/2006: $411,000
• 3 bedrooms – 1.5 bath – Colonial
• Taxes: $5,440 – Village Taxes: $339

We saw this house and it’s very oddly laid out. The place was expanded some time in the 80′s and the owners were in the process of renovating. It’s significantly over the 2004 price, but I’m sure that accounts for some fairly significant work put into the place in the intervening years.

565 Pinto St

• MLS# 2032940 – Zillow Page
• Sold: $315,000 – 10/28/2008
• Prior Sales: 06/04/2004: $338,000 /li>
• 3 bedrooms – 3 bath – Ranch
• Taxes: $10,249 – Village Taxes: None

Another one of those houses that are north of the village, south of Sunrise and just over the line into the North Babylon school district. This seems to be a nice one with a full finished basement and three full baths.

Of course, for the real story here check out the prior sale. The discount off the 2004 price isn’t huge, but it’s there and it’s unmistakable.

30 The Crescent Unit #: 6

• MLS# 2101664 – Zillow Page
• Sold: $235,000 – 10/30/2008
• Prior Sales: none
• 2 bedrooms – 1 bath – Co-op
• Taxes: $??? – Village Taxes: $???

We used to run past these units all the time. They look nice from the outside, although parking is an issue.

For those of you who are interested, little Aurora Jane is officially the light of my life. Mom and baby are doing well as we all adjust to our new circumstances. I’m back to blogging, so let’s get caught up.

After all my complaining about the MLSLI Sold Properties tool not working, I was able to get it to work on my wife’s laptop, a fairly generic Dell running Windows XP.  Just for the record, I’ve attempted to get that page to work on at least a half dozen different machines, running Windows XP and 2000, using Firefox, Internet Explorer and the new Google Chrome browser with no joy. I even attempted to run it on one of my HPUX workstations at the lab with no success.

I suspect a subtle bug in the JavaScript, but the guys at MLSLI obviously wouldn’t know a subtle bug in their JavaScript if it painted itself purple and jumped about on a harpsichord screaming, “I’m a subtle bug in your JavaScript!”

That’s a Blackadder reference, for those of you playing along at home.

Anyway, I was able to extract data on sold homes in September and will soon be writing a brilliant post on that very subject. Watch for it here.

Here are some quick hits from my saved links over the last couple weeks.

• Apparently there will be group art show at the Conklin House this Friday, October 17th.  Artist Sara Furey notes that she’ll be there. She links to the Conklin House Blog. I’m interested in the idea of a Conklin House Blog, but the current iteration is less that useful since it only has one post.
• Over 5000 people showed up at a recent foreclosure showcase in Uniondale looking for bargains in the teeth of the real estate blowup. The big attraction was an auction of 35 foreclosed homes.

  A warning to bargain hunters, these types of auctions can end up being no bargain at all for the buyer. You are often buying these properties sight unseen and may even be responsible for evicting the current occupants before you can take possession or settling outstanding liens. In this market, it’s generally better to buy a REO (bank-owned home) directly from the lending institution. You can inspect the home and be assured of getting clear title.

• Realtor Tom McGiveron advises people to Sell Now Or Hold On…For A Long Time. It’s rare to find a working Realtor who understands and accepts what the Case-Schiller housing index says about current real estate market.

  The short version is that historically, housing prices go up about 5% to 6% per year. In the boom years, 2000-2005, housing went up at about three times that rate. Since there was no fundamental reason for house prices to go up that much, except for a lot of bad loans chasing the market, house prices won’t go back up until those unearned gains are eaten up by price drops or  time and inflation.

  Read the whole thing. Tom makes it nice with multicolored charts, graphs and other visual aids. And while you’re there, check his October foreclosure report.

The missus and I didn’t get to see inside of any of these places. Mostly because none of them were really on our radar for various reason. We were debating about asking to see 71 Mason, given its price and its location in the Presidential Section, but we drove by it a few times to snak a peek and I really didn’t like the look of the place.

Let me know if you like the pictures. I’m inlining them directly from MLSLI, not copying them.

13 Washington St

• MLS# 2080244 – Zillow Page
• Sold: $535,000 – 8/14/2008
• Prior Sales: 02/02/1999 – $185,000
• 3 bedrooms – 1.5 bath – Colonial
• Taxes: $8,570 – Village Taxes: $774

A nice, updated colonial in the Presidential section.

71 Mason Ave

• MLS# 1995941 – Zillow Page
• Sold: $350,000 – 8/14/2008
• Prior Sales: 11/29/2005 – $435,000
• 3 bedrooms – 1 bath – Colonial(?)
• Taxes: $6,636 – Village Taxes: $500

Like they say on Flipper Nation, “The ugliest girl on the block, you make her pretty” and this house certainly qualifies.

We saw this one on MLS last year some time in the spring. I figured out which house it was based on the MLS map and we drove by it a few times. The impression we got from the outside wasn’t a good one. There were never any pictures of the inside of the place. I assumed, based on the 2005 sale and the condition of the house that it was a foreclosure or pre-foreclosure.

The house was bought in 2005 for $435,000 listed at $420,000 and eventually sold for $350,000. That was a lot of money somebody lost in a very short period of time.

54 Paumanake Ave

• MLS# 2034516 – Zillow Page
• Sold: $490,000 – 8/8/2008
• Prior Sales: 11/09/2006 – $460,000
• 3 bedrooms – 1.5 bath – Colonial
• Taxes: $5,733 – Village Taxes: $400

A bit of an anomaly here, selling for $30K more than its 2006 sale price. I’m thinking that there were some extensive upgrades done and that the owners lost some money there, but maybe they just got lucky.

49 Cadman Ave

• MLS# 2078866 – Zillow Page
• Sold: $390,000 – 8/8/2008
• Prior Sales: None Listed
• 3 bedrooms – 2 bath – Split
• Taxes: $10,521 – Village Taxes: $842

The last ask for this was $429,000. Looking at the MLS listing and the odd Zillow page, I’m guessing that this is, or at least was, an illegal two family. A mention of two stoves and two fridges is pretty much a dead givaway.

I’m a little dissapointed that I never got in this one.l I don’t think it was on MLS very long. I don’t even remember seeing it listed.

91 Little East Neck Rd

• MLS# 2075323 – Zillow Page
• Sold: $759,000 – Sold Date: 8/1/2008
• Prior Sales: None Listed
• 4 bedrooms – 3.5 bath – Colonial
• Taxes: $15,228 – Village Taxes: $1,633

I’m including this one just for completeness sake. Obviously this one would never even be on out radar.

The last ask for this was $790,000. This house is south of Montauk Ave, although not waterfront or waterview. It’s nice looking, modest 13 room mansion.

38 Tappan Ave

• MLS# 2066353 – Zillow Page
• Sold: $416,000 – 8/15/2008
• Prior Sales: None Listed
• 4 bedrooms – 2 bath – Exp Ranch/High Ranch
• Taxes: $8,269 – Village Taxes: $634

Babylon Village ammenities but the W. Babylon school district. These houses are usually a good deal, but we’re pretty set on the Babylon School District if we can swing it.