Research note

00 - Overview

5707 Scenic Ave Research Overview

Goal

Evaluate whether 5707 Scenic Ave, Mexico, NY 13114 is a good buy as a larger in-community move for the family.

Important context

You already live in the same broader area at 3 County Route 35, Fulton, NY 13069.
This property being closer to school / same community / similar commute is not a decision driver and is intentionally de-emphasized here.
Focus is on:
property history
ownership and sale pattern
historic designation risk/opportunity
financials
title / flood / permit / condition due diligence

Current view

This is a real candidate, not junk research noise. The biggest open questions are:

Is this property formally the Timothy Skinner House / NRHP-listed asset, or just strongly related?
Why is John R Alessio selling so soon after buying in Sept 2024?
Is the 2-family classification accurate in practice?
What work was actually done to the house, and what systems are near end-of-life?
What is the real risk on title / flood / major deferred maintenance?

Folder structure

00 - Overview.md → this file
01 - Verified Facts.md → hard facts only
02 - Historic Designation.md → Skinner House / NRHP thread
03 - Ownership & Sale Pattern.md → owner chain and likely interpretation
04 - Financials.md → assessment, taxes, value, cost implications
05 - Due Diligence TODOs.md → clean action list for you
06 - Open Questions & Working Theories.md → hypotheses, not facts
13 - Skinner Family Network.md → family/people map around the house
14 - Current Owner Profile.md → current-owner timing, behavior, occupancy clues
archive/ → older superseded notes from earlier research passes

Current deal status (March 2026)

Initial offer submitted: $317,000
Buyers: Benjamin Townsend & Helen Severson
Seller: John R. Alessio
Financing: Conventional loan through Empower FCU
Down payment: $20,000
Inspections: Waived
Bank repairs: Buyer to cover up to $1,000 in repairs if necessary
Closing target: May 22, 2026 (flexible)
Contingencies: None
Seller countered: asking price ($339,900)
Buyers agreed to counter: yes
Current status: waiting on officially signed contract; tentatively looks good

Offer package and listing/prequalification details saved to media/docs/2026-03-30-offer-package-benjamin-townsend-helen-severson.pdf.

Site visit / walkthrough media

The repo includes extracted stills from the upstairs walkthrough video, with both a full gallery and a curated subset:

These were captured from the walkthrough video supplied during the property-evaluation process and are part of the site-visit evidence set.

Walkthrough / pre-offer inspection note

Benjamin Townsend and Helen Severson completed a walkthrough inspection before submitting the offer. Video was captured during the visit. A handful of issues were pointed out, but nothing the buyers felt warranted calling out as a repair request or deal issue.

Recent research reconciliation (March 2026)

Recent added research has now been reconciled into the main pages. Key additions include: Avery W. Skinner obituary/education-department career details, Charles Rufus Skinner biographical context, Railroad Street references from the Mexico Independent, later A. W. Skinner newspaper mentions, 1958 Richard B. Skinner wedding notice, and broader Skinner genealogy/property-history notes.

Final summary-sync status (audited source set)

A formal source-to-page audit has been completed for the recent late-March research tranche. For the audited source set, key facts have been mapped into the appropriate core summary pages, with remaining weak spots documented in the audit matrix for future refinement rather than left implicit.

Audit artifact: media/docs/2026-03-30-summary-sync-audit-final.md