1000 Islands Economy (Rochester, Syracuse, Utica: real estate, houses, rent)

[JiminCT]

Any thoughts as to what people feel is happening up there? I have noticed a very high escalation of the real estate prices. Also have noticed that many of the people buying the houses up there arent from the nearby areas of Syracuse, Rochester, Utica etc... (lots of Jersey and PA). Is the area in a boom cycle for vacationers, or is it just the real estate going up without any growth in the retail, tourism business? Take out Watertown for this question...because we all know about Drums growth.

[Sgoldie]

Jim, I think you already know the answer to this one. There's not much of an economy in the winter months so I'd say not much has changed. It's gangbusters for the months the kids are out of school, July/Aug and the one or two months on either side a little less so.

[JiminCT]

I keep seeing many retail components of the 1000 Islands CLOSING...yet the real estate is humming beyond logical levels (imo). Alexandria Bay and Clayton have both lost eateries and businesses...

Maybe the lifeline for the retail sector will be in Watertown..and the weekend warriors are just staying at their houses more. The police in these towns have certainly created a lockdown after 10:30 PM...which has changed the tone of these places compared to the 70's and 80's.

[Sgoldie]

I think as you do that it's people from out of the area that are driving the increases in RE prices. It has something to do with increases in the rest of the country spilling over into more affordable waterfront. There are also those who grew up near the area and who left to work and make money buying summer places.