Rob Goodling discovered the Corn Hill neighborhoood when he first attended its summer arts festival in the 1970s.
A decade later when Goodling started house hunting, he remembered how much he had admired the architecture of Rochester’s oldest neighborhood.
“When I was looking for a place to buy, Corn Hill was high on my list of places,” Goodling says.
More than 30 years later, Goodling still resides in his 5,500 square-foot Second Empire Victorian home on Adams Street — and he is president of the Corn Hill Neighbors Association. With the arts festival taking place in less than two months in Corn Hill, Goodling thinks it’ll bring positive attention to the neighborhood for real estate sales.
“There’s no question the success of the arts festivals we have bring people into this neighborhood,” he says.
As the summer arts festival season kicks into full gear in the Rochester region, real estate professionals and neighborhood residents say the festivals often provide an opportunity for would-be home buyers to check out the area in a casual, social way.
Some buyers may act quickly on a home purchase after seeing the area while others may keep the area in mind until they are ready to buy, said Lynn Miller, an agent at ReMax Plus’ Glenn Miller Team. The team specializes in the University Heights area near Highland Park — where traffic is currently very brisk due to the 10-day Lilac Festival. They currently have two homes listed in University Heights and have left out brochures for the high volume of pedestrians strolling through the area.
The festivals “definitely get people in the neighborhoods,” says Micheal Faucher with the Richard Sarkis team at Nothnagle Realtors. Faucher is very active in the Corn Hill and Highland Park areas; he currently has a home under contract in the Highland Park neighborhood on Mulberry Street and another about to be listed on Highland Parkway. Festival goers often look at houses while they are walking through the neighborhoods, Faucher says.
Keller Williams Greater Rochester agent Beverly Howe thinks neighborhood special events are a great time to market a home as they are festive and social. She hosted an open house for her client during the Park Avenue holiday open house with drinks and food.
“If you’re selling a home in Park Avenue, you’re selling a lifestyle,” she says.
While the home did not sell during the open house, the sale was the indirect result of someone who attended that open house telling a friend, Howe says, noting “the exposure was tremendous.”
Homes listed for sale during the festivals may get noticed, but they may also get lost in the hustle and bustle of activities. Jimmy Catalano was at a Park Avenue Festival some 20 years ago when he saw a friend at the home he would come to own. Had the friend not been there, he would have missed the fact that the 3,800 square-foot Queen Anne style-home was for sale.
Catalano had lived in the Maplewood neighborhood, but decided to make Park Avenue his home.
“There was a aura about this neighborhood,” says Catalano, who is now secretary of the Park Avenue Neighbors Coalition. He felt a connection to the neighborhood and its energy. The festival brings attention to the area as people do get to experience the social and shopping scene on Park Avenue. Catalano acknowledges that some people may be turned off as what they perceive as partying on the nights of the festival, but says that is only one weekend a year.
“I wouldn’t trade this location for any place in the world,” Catalano says of Park Avenue.
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