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.
Hello everyone – given that its Friday - and the Friday before a holiday weekend no less – I decided to stay away from real estate and merely post something fun. As most of you know, I have Siberian Huskies which are not water dogs. But if they were I would hope that they would clean up the beach after their swim as well as these very well-trained canines do…
Enjoy – I think the theme is appropriate for the unofficial first weekend of the summer season…
Seriously, finding out the name and contact information of the actual listing agent of a property should not be an enigma wrapped in a mystery. But that’s what its becoming.
Sites like Zillow and Redfin are turning what should be a rather simple process into a monster of complexity. Finding the listing agent on an IDX site or a major real estate portal should be a piece of cake, no? Hardly. There is no way this isn’t creating confusion for the general public.
Large Portals Such as Zillow - Pay to Play:
You see all those wonderful portals such as Trulia and Zillow that agents happily used FOR FREE are now demanding pay back for all that free exposure. I have no problem with entities like Zillow monetizing. However, the way in which they are doing it marginalizes the listing agent unless they pony up the big bucks. If they don’t, those with fatter wallets get “credit” for the listing.
Zillow now happily puts the mug and contact information of any agent alongside their listing data as long as they cough up the dough. The implication to the public is that the agents listed have something to do with the listing. Most of the time, they have nothing to do with it whatsoever. They simply paid to be a “premier agent” or an area “specialist.” As I stated in my previous blog about “premier agents” and area “specialists” they often are nothing of the sort. Some have had no sales (either on the listing or sales end) in the geographic area that they supposedly specialize in. Where is the actual listing agent in all of this? At the bottom of the page. No photo, no contact information – tossed off as an obligatory afterthought.
Oh! Those Wonderfully “Creative” IDX Sites!
Then there are the uh….”creative IDX sites.”Although there are several IDX sites like this, but Redfin has the most Google support. They at least mention the listing agent underneath the photos. But once again, the actual listing agent is an obligatory afterthought. In their place is another agent’s mug and contact information associated with the listing. Read the rest of this entry »
I have to admit that I really love political comedy. Lewis Black is perhaps one of the best incarnations of “angry man” in political satire. Using his own unique style, Black had some particularly sage advice for Glenn Beck who seems to feel that he is the victim of an American brand of Nazi persecution.
One of the issues that I have had with both the right and the left is their willingness to brand the opposition as “Nazis” or being “Nazi-like.” the Nazi movement was too cruel and sadistic for those on either side of the spectrum to label the other as “Nazis.” When we do this – we’ve forgotten the true implications of the Nazi movement during World War II and we belittle the death of 11 million who were in the Nazi death camps…
Like the rest of the Westchester NY real estate, Larchmont homes for sale have been hit fairly hard over the past year. Nevertheless, even though the village cooperative market is still lagging somewhat the single family home market appears to be in recovery mode. And why not? In general, Larchmont has wonderful Old-World charm with all the modern amenities. The walkable neighborhoods where you can leave the car and walk to shops and fine dining along with the ability to walk to the train station from most locations make the area very desirable.
Larchmont NY Cooperatives:
The cooperative market in Larchmont is much bigger than the condo market. The average sales price on a cooperative in Larchmont was down severely from the previous year. The numbers are skewed because in 2010 – the only units that sold were 1 BR units, while in 2009 there were many more larger units sold in Q1. Using the 1 BR solds from Q1 of 2009 – prices were down about 22% over the previous year. The current average price for a 1 BR unit in Larchmont is $177,000. (down from $228,000 in 2009.) Overall sales volume was down 57% over the previous year. The inventory levels are very high – as can be seen from my chart. However, I would point out that I am gathering the current actives over a month later during the high selling season. The contracts and pendings indicate a better market – though at nearly 8 months inventory – it is still very much a buyer’s market. Read the rest of this entry »
This post was influenced by two blogs that were recently posted on Active Rain. The first was Bob Haywood’s excellent post – How Did We Let This Happen??? Internet Real Estate Tough Talk. Although this blog was a members-only blog - it was about a mass email sent to agents from Zillow offering us all placement as a Zillow Premier Agent in the zip code of my choice. The only requirement was that I (and anyone else contacted) be willing to pay for the privilige. The second was Ron Tarvin’s blog Zillow named in a patent infringement lawsuit. (http://activerain.com/blogsview/1630729/zillow-named-in-patent-infringement-lawsuit) Unlike Bob’s post, this blog was public-facing. So the members of the public might want to stop by and see what agents across the country actually think of the Zillow “Zestimate” – for those who feel that a Zestimate is a fairly accurate indication of home value, this should prove illuminating.
Disclaimer – There is no love-loss between Zillow and me:
Those who have been reading my comment threads on various forums know that I have absolutely no love for Zillow whatsoever. I consider their forums poorly monitored, and their Zestimates to be pointless bordering on the unethical since any number that is often off by 20% or more that the public tends to implicitly trust has the capacity to cause harm.
The fact that the Zestimate itself is inherently inaccurate doesn’t bother Zillow one wit. Their canned responses in Ron Tarvin’s blog regarding the lawsuit is a strong indication of same. They know the Zestimates are often way off the mark. They know it causes confusion within the public. They know this has the capacity to harm a seller. They know that agents tear their hair over inaccurate Zestimates that cause the public to put lowball offers on their listings. But they don’t care, because it was never about providing transparent information to the pubic. It was – and is – all about the traffic. If it drives people to their site, they simply could care less. The question is why?
For those of you who have been reading The Westchester View for a while now, you might be wondering why I suddenly stopped posting. I’m sad to say that my father lost a three year battle with cancer at 8 PM on April 30. The only post I wrote since that time was one regarding the budget of the city of White Plains – which in truth had already been near publication days before my father’s passing.
All his life, my father had been a fighter. Perhaps it was also something he got from being in the Marines. As he fought in Korea before I was born, my Dad fought hard to defeat the cancer that had been eating him alive for years. It was his life and he was going to fight for it. And fight he did – and in many ways, he was victorious. My Dad outlived even the most optimistic prognosis by about 24 months. By the time he had a diagnosis, in late May of 2007, the cancer had spread to occupy nearly half of his liver. Surgery on the primary tumor and chemotherapy helped to control the spread – but his illness was too far advanced for a cure or even a remission.
Dad took chemo weekly at the Dickstein Cancer center in White Plains from about October of 2007 until November of 2009 when the treatments ceased to be effective. He responded well and if the side effects got to him – he wasn’t about to tell me or anyone else about it.
He was laid to rest on Tuesday at Moravian Cemetery on Staten Island New York – a former Marine – he received a military farewell for his service to his country.
I want to thank the doctors and nurses at the Dickstein Cancer Centerfor seeing warmly and compassionately to his care each week for those two years. I think all who have been there, know that the Dickstein Cancer Center is a very special place with a staff of nurses, doctors and technicians who truly care about each individual patient. I also want to thank Dr. Monroe for all she did to help my Dad during his final illness.
I also want to thank the Marine Corp of the United States for the moving service at the grave site.
Dad – wherever you are – you fought the good fight – your battle is done – rest in peace – you are now in a better place.
There is an old saying that there are only two things you can count on in life – death and taxes. Apparently homeowners in Westchester now have a third thing they can count on – exponentially increasing property taxes. Homeowners in New York are up in arms over property taxes. For those who don’t know the region, New Yorkers enjoy just about the highest property tax rate in the country. Westchester has some of the highest taxes in the state – so you get the picture…..In many areas of Westchester, the taxes actually exceed assessed values.
White Plains NY is a case in point. Taxes have been marching to new heights each year. Year after year, the city, schools and county come with their hands out expecting homeowners already reeling from the worst recession since the Great Depression to fork over more in property taxes. Many are hanging onto their homes by their fingernails. And as more and more homeowners feel the squeeze – many will find they can no longer afford to stay in a community that just a few short years ago was quite reasonable and affordable.
Traditionally, White Plains enjoyed significantly lower property taxes then the rest of the county thanks mostly to our large commercial and retail base. But even though that base has increased, the number successful certioari actions has also increased. The net result has been a shrinking tax base in the commercial/retail sector pushing the lions share of the burden onto homeowners. Most notably: owners of single family homes.
Homeowners and city officials in White Plains need look no further than Sleepy Hollow to see what happens to home prices when the homeowners are saddled with an ever more onerous tax burden. This burgeoning problem needs to be nipped in the bud or home values could well suffer.
I chose Sleepy Hollow for a comparison because it is an analogous community in many ways to White Plains. Although city officials and union leaders prefer to liken White Plains to Scarsdale and Larchmont where high taxes are better tolerated, our community profile is in truth more like that of Sleepy Hollow. The commute to Manhattan is similar the two neighborhoods I chose to focus in are are quite comparable in terms of home size, amenities and lifestyle.
Gedney Farms is an established upscale neighborhood in White Plains. Over the past ear the average sales price in Gedney was $993,000 – just shy of $1 million dollars. The average tax bite in these sold home was slightly more than $16,000 per year.
Philipse Manor in Sleepy Hollow is quite similar in many ways to Gedney Farms. However, Sleepy Hollow is a village with relatively little commercial activity resulting in a higher tax burden on the homeowner. Over the past year the average sales price in Philipse Manor was $847,000 – a significant 15% drop from the prices enjoyed by Gedney residents. That’s a difference of $147,000 – not exactly chump change. When you look at the tax bite that Sleepy Hollow extracts from Manor residents, one can see why. Its enough to make your head spin. The average tax on the homes sold that year was a crushing $22,500 or 29% higher than what is seen in White Plains.
Does the tax rate account for the price difference? Uh….ya think? Think of it this way….taxes that high are like another mortgage payment. For Gedney residents its about $1333.00 a month, but that goes up almost $550 a month for Sleepy Hollow residents. Assuming a 6% mortgage rate (assuming they have enough cash to not need a jumbo loan) that translates to a drop of over $90,000 in buying power. If you don’t believe me – the charts below tell the story.
City, county and school officials take note. I know you have turned a deaf ear to the voters on this issue for many a year. Your special interest groups have drowned out the silent majority. But now you are looking off the cliff and into the abyss. Single-family home values could easily implode. Here is the scenario that I fear the most.
Raising the taxes the proposed 19% will make homes in surrounding areas such as Scarsdale, Larchmont, & Rye – more attractive to buyers. Many single family home buyers preferred these areas over White Plains, but high home values put them out of reach. Now that home prices have declined and taxes in White Plains have risen, the trend has been towards these higher-end areas and away from White Plains. Fewer buyers means lower prices.
As taxes rise, those who were hoping to retire (or simply age) “in place” will realize that this is no longer possible. The increase in taxes will be just that extra shove off the cliff that will force many homeowner’s hands. They will have to sell in a bad market. This will push additional inventory onto an already weak market. More homes for sale = more downward pressure on home values.
Further, as home values decline, more homeowners will be able to successfully grieve their taxes. Thereby further eroding the tax base. And the merry-go-round keeps going round and round.
In the past, home owners were just giant money cows to be squeezed to the heart’s content of public officials, educators and unions. But declining home prices translates into lower property values and lower assessed values – and that should put the fear of God into you. The message is loud and clear! Keep hiking taxes and you erode home values AND your tax base.
The Westchester NY real estate market has been in turmoil over the past 18 months since the stock market crash of 2008. Many parts of the county are still in decline, but some areas are perking up with lower inventories and lower prices. A few areas in the county are starting to see minor price increases. Real estate in Scarsdale NY is one such area. In general, this should be no surprise since there has always been a demand for Scarsdale NY homes. Such homes also include Scarsdale coops which are also quite desirable.
Scarsdale NY Single Family Homes – Scarsdale Schools
The average price for Scarsdale homes for sale – saw an average price increase of about 14% to $1,437,000. Although prices had not truly increased in such a dramatic way. It points to health in the market because is shows that higher end homes are actually closing. The banking crisis kept the larger homes out of the market place in Q1 of 2009. So this increase reflects a broadening of the viable market and not a true price increase. The price range of solds was far broader in 2010 than in Q1 of 2009. Prices ranged from $558,000 to $3,625,000.
Looking at sold listings, the inventory on the market is considerable over 15 months. However, if you look at contracts and pendings – the picture is brighter with a little more than five months of inventory. But that assumes that everything under contract will sell. The truth lies somewhere in between. This is still a buyer’s market – but it is definitely not a fire sale.
Edgemont Single Family Homes – Edgemont Schools – Scarsdale P.O.:
Average housing prices increased in Edgemont as did sales volume which was up 200%. The average sales price at the end of the first quarter was $1,608,000 – up from $840,000 at the end of Q1 in 2009. Interestingly, the price of lower end homes was static, but the price increase reflects the fact that higher end homes are now selling again. For example the highest priced home that sold in Q1 of 2009 was $1.1 million. But in Q1 in 2010 the highest priced closing was $4.2 million. So prices haven’t risen dramatically – but the price range closed sales has increased dramatically. There is still considerable inventory on the market – so this is still very much a buyer’s market. With respect to closed sales in Q1 there is a 15 month inventory. But there are many contracts and pendings in the pipeline. If you use that as your benchmark – the inventory is a little over six months.
Scarsdale NY Cooperatives:
Cooperatives in Scarsdale – including Garth Road with a Scarsdale P.O. – showed moderate gains in prices – up 3.8% over Q1 in 2009. The average sales price in Q1 of 201 was $246,000. Sales volume was static from the previous year and inventory vs. closings indicates that there is a 9.7 month supply of active listings if you look at closed sales from Q1 2010. Looking at contracts and pendings that goes down to 6.5 months.
An Important Note About the Criteria for the Statistics:
I handle each type of housing in Scarsdale differently. I also include a special section for single family homes in “Edgemont” which is really in the town of Greenburgh with a Scarsdale post-office and zip code.
For condominiums and cooperatives, I use the Scarsdale post office and zip code as my criteria. Many of these complexes are actually located in Greenburgh and Eastchester.
This reflects the way most buyer’s shop for housing. Coop and condo buyers work by address whereas those looking for single-family homes are often shopping municipality and school districts.
The title pretty much says it all – but I should add the caveat that agents embrace social Darwinism when the herd being thinned does not include THEM.
Before continuing further – full disclosure here – I am a full-time agent. I do sometimes work as an adjunct professor of biology/natural sciences. But such work is very part-time and more because I enjoy it than for income. (I’d be in a ton of trouble if I relied on teaching for income.)
There have been several recent blogs about the war between part-time and full time agents. It kind of reminds me of the war between stay-at-home vs. working moms of the 1980s. Each camp is armed and dangerous – and with fewer sales to go around – the goal is the extinction of competition that they feel is squeezing their ability close enough sales in order to survive. It’s kill or be killed so the waring parties are in opposite fox holes exchanging fire.
I don’t know what it was like before. I came into this industry at the tail end of the boom. Productivity was already heading well south and new agents were hated beyond belief. When I walked into my first brokerage – bright-eyed and bushy tailed – I was greeted with a mixture of out and out hostility and anger combined with smug amusement. Skirmishes between the long-term full-timers and part-timers were common. Over the next few years this escalated to out and out warfare.
“Part-timers are better because they aren’t so pressed to make a sale…There is nothing worse than desperate agent breath!” Major artillary
“Full-timers are available 24/7/365 – a part-time agent means part-time service and a lack of dedication. “ Saturation bombing.
Blah, blah, blah!
Two recent articles by Bernice Ross showed me just how explosive this issue has become. The articles – Crackdown on independent contractors and8 reasons we need independent contractors, and were actually about the potential loss of the independent contractor status for most agents. But the comment stream led me to realize that in war of the part-timers vs. the full-timers we are at DEFCON 2 and the leaders on either side of the argument are ready insert the brass keys and launch their ICBMs. Rather than looking hard at the issue itself – many chose to view it through the lens of “how can this work to thin the herd.”
Some of the comments included:
” Elimination would allow brokerages to run themselves as real businesses. Training, coaching, team work, company and individual goals and on and on. Such a breath of fresh air. “The agents who sell one or two houses a year would be gone leaving more for the agents who take this business seriously.” “If 50% of the agent’s left the field, it would probably be the agent’s who are not committed to being in real estate.”
“If it curtails or eliminates the part time agents it could not be a bad thing. They cannot answer their phone or return calls while mixing paint or selling merchandise. Many are not being fair to their agency, peers, or clients.”
“There are way too many non-professional and part-time agents in this business…. It is time to professionalize this business and hire agents with years of experience and industry knowledge, who have taken the time to get their CRS, their GRI, and many other real estate designations.”
“Memo to Bernice: It’s 2010 and the real estate buying public is one hell of a lot smarter than the average Realtor slug! Improvise, adapt and overcome or go the way of the Fuller Brush Man!”
Note that the article wasn’t even ABOUT part-time agents…Also note that the responses rather CONVENIENTLY cast the surviving agent’s mold in the image of the poster.
To me it comes down to professionalism. I’ve met some very professional and attentive part-timers and some real laggards that were supposedly full-time. Do we need to raise the bar? Absolutely. I think demanding an apprentice period along with a more intensive course of study is in order – perhaps even a two-year degree. That would get rid of dabblers trying to turn a quick buck. But I draw a line of distinction between part-timers and dabblers.
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.
There is an old saying that there are only two things you can count on in life – death and taxes. Apparently homeowners in Westchester now have a third thing they can count on – exponentially increasing property taxes. Homeowners in New York are up in arms over property taxes. For those who don’t know the region, New Yorkers enjoy just about the highest property tax rate in the country. Westchester has some of the highest taxes in the state – so you get the picture…..In many areas of Westchester, the taxes actually exceed assessed values.
