Westchester View

Autumn in lower Westchester NY is a very colorful event.

There is something about the color of the leaves and how it lights up the sky that I find very compelling.  Forget leaf peeping in Vermont – our season peaks later, but the foliage is just as amazing.  At this time of year, people flock to parks in Westchester NY for the foliage and crisp weather.

This week had been particularly stressful – so Friday afternoon I escaped to the Rockefeller Preserve in Sleepy Hollow to regenerate.  Among the many things to do in Westchester, this is among my favorite places to decompress and get back in touch with what it is all about.  Although the leaves were more than half gone, the color of the sky and the sunlight caused the remaining leaves light up the sky with a full fall fire.  Jade and Tundra – my faithful Huskies accompanied me and enjoyed the blustery cold air.  We also ran into a friend from my brokerage – Monique another avid walker, arrived just as I was leaving.

Here are a couple of the photos I snapped along the way.    As a nature Preserve, you get to see the beauty of nature’s wild side.

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The Hartsdale NY housing market is in buyer’s market mode.  Prices for coops, condos and single family homes all experienced price reductions when compared with the third quarter of the previous year.   This was the second year of price reductions for the area.  Volume was variable with single-family home sales being down 70% over the previous year while there was a slight increase in the number of coop sales.

Hartsdale Cooperatives:

Coop prices dropped 11.1% over the previous year with the average price being $192k for Q3 2009. That was enough to make them a desirable purchase.  This was particularly true of East Hartsdale Ave.  Demand remained high and volume was up 1% from 2008.   There is a 5.8 month inventory on the market – making it a borderline buyer’s market in terms of inventory.   Prices have dropped nearly 15% from Q3 2007 – which is roughly when sales prices peaked. This is still a buyer’s market, but the reduction in inventory and stable sales volume indicates that we may be near the bottom.

Hartsdale Condominiums:

Condos didn’t fare as well as cooperatives.  Sales prices were down nearly 13% from the previous year.  The average sales price for the third quarter was $370k down from $425k in 2008.  Sales volume was down 33.3% and there is currently an 8 month inventory on the market creating a definite buyer’s market.  This market didn’t really start declining until after the stock market crash – so it may have some more adjustments ahead.

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Manor Park, in Larchmont is a gem for those who enjoy water views and a nice walk.  Unlike the Rockefeller Preserve, where wildlife rules, Manor Park is  has manicured paths and wonderful plantings. The imppecibly  maintained masonry walls that separate the Park from the Long Island Sound, along with the stone benches built right into them flow almost seamlessly with the natural rock that has been smoothed by the flow of water.

The park was established in the 1870s. The Larchmont Manor Park Society was established in 1892 to maintain and preserve the park and is active to this day. Indeed, the society recently was responsible for   a $1 million capital improvement program. The park initially included 6 acres and has expanded to 13 which includes Manor Beach.  The park remains privately owned by the local residents but is generously  open to the public year round from dawn to dusk.  You can job, walk, stroll sit and enjoy the sights, read a book and walk your dog.  Dogs must be leashed and cleaned up after.

I spent part of an afternoon in the park just recently.  Jade and I walked the length of the park.  As usual, Jade was an attractant to kids, adults and dogs alike.  She met several new canine friends and enjoyed watching the boats and the waves.  She is unaccostomed to waves and was quite surprsied that the water was salty.  I had a fresh drink awaiting her – so no dogs were harmed or allowed to go  thirsty during the course of our photo shoot and walk.

For more photos visit my photo-stream on Larchmont Manor Park on  Flickr.

© 2009 Ruthmarie G. Hicks – http://thewestchesterview.com.  All rights reserved.

This is the first time I’m including several “River Towns” of lower Westchseter in one report.   The reason for this is that because of low sales volume in each individual village, it is difficult to nail down market trends.  The small numbers produce wild gyrations that are often the result of one or two sales at the high or low end of the spectrum.   Including villages that have similar price ranges, commutes and tax structures in one report creates a  more accurate picture of the area.

The River Towns included in these stats are in the lower portion of “Area 3″,  including Hastings-on-Hudson, Dobbs Ferry, Ardsley, Irvington and Tarrytown (which are all part of the town of Greenburgh.) Also included is Sleepy Hollow – which shares a school system with Tarrytown.  Sleepy Hollow is located in the town of Mt. Pleasant.

Cooperatives:

In the second quarter  of 2009 13 cooperative units sold – down 50% from the previous year.  Prices remained firm and were even up nearly 5% over the previous year.  Difficulty in securing  a loan may be the primary reason for the  drop in volume as consumer desire for entry level housing is returning.   It is still a buyer’s market with a little over 11 months of inventory on the market.
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Over the past few months I’ve been observing a strange sight: fiberglass roosters nesting all over Scarsdale Village.  “Rooster Row” as it is called is a fundraising event for the benefit of the Scarsdale Historical Society.  It recalls a similar fund raising event in Larchmont involving ducks in 2006.  Although the roosters were supposed to be auctioned off earlier in the year…many of the roosters still remain.  I don’t know exactly what happened at the auction,  but I’m pleased to still see the some of the roosters out and about. They certainly are a colorful addition to Scarsdale Village.  They also serve to showcase local talent and promote local business – all of which is a good thing during these challenging economic times.  I took these photos a few months ago but got caught up with other things.  So I’m posting them now – better late than never.

© 2009 – Ruthmarie G. Hicks, http://thewestchesterview.com. All rights reserved.

Larchmont seemed to be impervious to market forces.  Prices on single family homes kept climbing, national housing crisis notwithstanding.  And why not?  Larchmont is an easy commute to NYC (30 minutes).  It’s got wonderful shops with a nice village feel, fine dining, nice boutiques, terrific schools and established neighborhoods brimming with old-world charm.  Add Manor Park along the Long Island Sound to the mix  – the proximity of downtown White Plains and New Rochelle and you’ve got a winning combination.  But nothing can go up forever and the stock market crash has impacted the housing market.

Cooperatives:

Coops in Larchmont look as if they rose significantly in price.  But this flies in the face of experience and common sense.  The raw stats sighted below show a 33% price increase which is crazy.  On closer examination, the 2008 stats were artificially low due to the large quantity of studios and small 1 BR units that sold.  So skewed were these numbers that closer examination revealed a 6-7% price decrease.  This was accomplished by comparing 1BR units that sold in 2008 to those sold in 2009. The same was done for 2 BR units.   The inventory also indicates a buyers market with about a 24 month supply of units on the market.  Volume is down 50% over the previous year.  Compared to other markets, this decrease is far from dramatic. But this is a good time for buyers to enter this market.

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The housing market in Scarsdale is all over the place.  Single family homes took a very heavy hit last year.  Since they took their hit early, they now appear to be in recovery mode.  The same can not be said for neighboring Edgemont which is now taking a drubbing and the cooperative market has also seen some difficulties.

Cooperatives:

Coops took a big hit this time around.  It is somewhat surprising to see since this entry level type of housing has remained very sturdy and resistant to correction due to high demand.  But it is not immune.   Sales prices for the Scarsdale P.O. are down over 23%.  Less so in desirable areas near the train – such as Garth Rd. But all have taken a hit since the market crash of ‘08.  Sales volume for Q2 2009 is down over 45% with only 18 units sold in Q2.  There is currently about 15.5 months of inventory on the market – making this a buyers market by every criteria that we have.
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The Hartsdale housing market is in buyer’s market territory at this time.  Like White Plains, the area resisted the housing correction particularly in the condo and coop markets until the stock market crashed in late 2008.  Single Family homes had taken a hit prior to the market crash and although declines continued – they were not as severe.

Cooperatives:

The coop market saw a 3.1% price decline from Q2 2008.  Hartsdale currently has an inventory of 11 months.  There are quite a few contracts and pendings at this time.  This reflects the longer escrow periods that the banks are responsible for.   Sales volume is down 12.5% over the previous year.   Much of that decline in slaes volume can be attributed to the slowness of the banks.  The number of contracts and pendings indicates that thinAlthough this is absolutely a buyer’s market, the volume has picked up and the free-fall in prices has stopped.

Condominiums:

The most dramatic price adjustment was in the condo market.  Prices were down almost 35% over the previous year.  Sales volume was down over 14%.  The current inventory suggests an absorption rate of 15.5 months.    Although Hartsdale did not go on a high-rise “building spree” like White Plains and New Rochelle, the excesses of  those markets are filtering their way through the entire lower Westchester  condo market.
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Coffee Labs of Tarrytown NY -  A place to enjoy a great cup of coffee – with your best canine friend!

I confess that I have a coffee habit.  It’s easy to point fingers at my 1/4 Spanish/Cuban heritage – but let’s face it – I’m addicted.  This is particularly true of really fine coffee.  And Coffee Labs offers some of the best blends there are.  Once you’ve tried it, there really is no going back.

Sometimes  I go to Coffee Labs in the morning with Jade – my mellow Siberian Husky.  For those of you who have read the antics of my two White Siberian Huskies,  you know that I hav two females named Jade and Tundra.  Tundra is my wild child and Jade is as relaxed and mellow as Tundra is exuberant.  So Jade gets to accompany me to the coffee shop where I get a great cup of coffee, pull up a table and get to work researching the market and catching up with correspondence.  It’s  my way of getting out of the office and enjoy a change of pace – while still being able to get work done.  There are quite a few regular morning patrons at Coffee Labs.  Many sit just like me – working away at their laptops sharing the bandwidth.  Julie Annello is one a customer who I took note of because she didn’t have a laptop. Instead, she had her sketch book.  For several days Julie tried  to get a nice sketch of Jade, but somehow – it never quite happened…until last Wednesday… It really captures the quiet calm of Jade and her retiring, gentle personality. Julie gave me her sketch which I scanned into my computer and here it is….direct from Coffee Labs…Jade in repose while her “Mom” is working on market stats.

© 2009 Ruthmarie G. Hicks – All rights reserved.

Going into NYC for July 4th is great – but it can be a hassle.  Fact is you don’t need to go to Manhattan to see terrific displays.  Here is a short list of  lower Westchester events and fireworks displays.  This will help get you started….

You can start celebrating as early as tonight:

Events for Wednesday July 1, 2009

Playland’s Weekly Fireworks Display:
Starts at 9:15.   Offered by the Westchester County Parks Dept.  Admission for parking is $4.00

Location & Info:
Playland Park
Playland Parkway
Rye, NY 10580
(914) 813-7010

White Plains Fireworks Display:
An evening out at the White Plains High School. Includes fun for all With inflatable rides and food along with a children’s stage. Free to the public.  6-10 PM. (Rain date July 2)

Location & Info:
White Plains High School
550 North St.
914-422-1200
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