Archive for the 'Sleepy Hollow' Category
Last year I wrote a post about the 4th of July events in Lower Westchester and it was a huge success. I even had people calling me for directions. Although going to the city is great – the Westchester to NYC commute can be painful on a busy holiday. And there really isn’t any need -there is plenty to do right here in Westchester. Soooooo….here’s the list for 2010.
Wednesday June 30:
Fireman’s Parade – Mamaroneck NY – Rain date – July 1
Begins at 7 PM starting near the Mamaroneck Ave. School and includes 30-40 fire departments. www.villageofmamaroneck.ny.us
63rd Annual Fireman’s Carnival – Mamaroneck NY – June 29 – July 5 – 7 PM – Midnight
This can be somewhat pricey but very worthwhile. If you plan to attend for more than one day you might consider buying an armband that covers you for every day.
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The River towns of Westchester NY run along the eastern side of the Hudson River. The area being covered is largely in the town of Greenburgh and includes the villages of Hastings-on-Hudson, Dobbs Ferry, Ardsley, Irvington, Tarrytown and Sleepy Hollow. Sleepy Hollow is actually located in the town of Mt. Pleasant, but Sleepy Hollow shares the 10591 zip code and a school system with the village of Tarrytown. The Westchester to NYC commute is extremely easy from these locations. Each village boasts an Metro North Westchester train station with a commuting time of less than 45 minutes to Grand Central Station. The area is serviced by Metro North’s Hudson line.
The fact that these are commutable villages with walkable neighborhoods, makes these areas very desirable for New Yorkers looking for a nice bedroom community with amenities such as fine dining and entertainment, along with charm and a lower cost of living than can be found in NYC.
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The river towns comprise the towns/villages in Westchester that are located along the Hudson River. This blog covers the lower Westchester region primarily in the town of Greenburgh. Sleepy Hollow is included since it shares a school district with Tarrytown. Initially I ran these statistics on Tarrytown and Sleepy Hollow, but the sales volume was too low to create reliable statistics.
In general, prices in the river towns such as Tarrytown NY showed some signs of stabilization in the river towns. Certainly the area has been badly beaten up over the past few years, so it was good to see a slowdown in declining prices.
Cooperatives:
The pricing for cooperatives was dicey because during the 4th quarter there were practically no 2BR sales. This skewed the price point dramatically downwards. Although the number indicates a decline of over 34% from the previous year, this market is nowhere near that unstable. Because of the unusual sales pattern decent sales figures were almost impossible to come by. However the increase in sales volume of 120% indicates a recovering market. The 6 month inventory reflects a slowly declining market. So the numbers indicate a level or slightly declining market creating some good news for buyers and sellers a like.
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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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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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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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Yes, this report is very late…I’m including it in order for readers to have a complete picture of this market as we move through the year.
Tarrytown and Sleepy Hollow housing stats are giving us many mixed signals. Pricing appears to have stabilized, but inventories remain high given the low rate of sales – which will continue to put pricing under pressure.
Cooperatives:
Coops showed a pricing increase over the previous year by roughly 6%. The number of units sold in both years was quite small, so these statistics need to be taken with a grain of salt. The current inventory reveals a 9 month supply of coops currently on the market – which is actually a good deal less than other parts of the county. The average sales price for a coop in Tarrytown/Sleepy Hollow was $146,000 for the first quarter.
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Tarrytown and Sleepy Hollow have been in the midst of a buyer’s market for some time. This has been particularly true of the single-family home market in the area. The higher tax rates that some of the river towns deal with put this particular market into bearish mode rather early in the correction when compared to other areas of Westchester.
One of the symptoms of a buyer’s market is low volume. Volume was way down on the cooperative market. So much so that there weren’t enough sales to run pricing statistics with any accuracy – which is why they are omitted. Condo prices and volume were down significantly when compared to the previous year. But single family homes that have been really beaten down in the last few quarters – had a volume consistent with 2007 levels – significantly down from the boom era, but not the grim dip seen in other sectors. It might be an early indication that that particular sector is starting to stabilize. Of course it is way too soon to say anything definitive. Market bottoms are always judged with 20/20 hindsight!
Cooperatives:
There were only two sales for the 4th quarter – far too few to draw any meaningful conclusions on – except that this is a bear market for coops. Having said that, sales are low throughout the county and coops are a very small part of this particular market. Yes, its a buyers market, but with only 7 units for sale in a down market, how many sales could one expect?
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Tarrytown and Sleepy Hollow are among my favorite places to hang out in Westchester. You can’t beat the historic landmarks and the places like the Rockefeller Preserve for scenic beauty and a great walk. As much as I love the area, I must admit that housing market is in retreat and will probably remain that way until the Wall Street crash moves past the crisis stage and some stability returns to the job market.
The housing market has been slowing in the villages of Tarrytown and Sleepy Hollow. This general weakness is seen across all housing sectors with single family homes taking the largest hit with respect to pricing. It is important to note that these closings were either completed or under contract prior to the stock market crash. So further reductions in pricing my occur.
Cooperatives:
Cooperative prices are down roughly 5% over the previous year. Sales volume is down 45% over the previous year with about six months of inventory on the market. Although this has all the earmarks of a buyer’s market, the actual numbers are small – so one shouldn’t read too much into the dramatic decrease in sales volume. Sales are down significantly and this is a buyer’s market – there is no doubt about that – but the 45% decrease would be 27% had there been just two more sales in 2008.
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OK, I am digressing to my former life. I was a biology major in college and for many years pursued a career as a research scientist. I still teach at the undergraduate level as an adjunct professor. One of my favorite labs teaches students why leaves change color in the fall. When student’s crush green leaves into a solvent – and separate the pigments using a process called “paper chromatography” the different colored pigments separate out from the green chlorophyll – showing the wide array of color pigments that leaves possess. The pigments are there (carotenoids and anthrocyanins) even when the leaf is green, but you can’t see them because the amount of green chlorophyll simply overwhelms them.
As summer turns to fall, the days grow shorter and the chlorophyll starts to break down. This allows the other pigments in all their splendor to be revealed. Some years, the “show” is more vivid.
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