Seller's Market For Some, Bargains For Others In Westchester County Real Estate
NEW ROCHELLE, N.Y. (CBSNewYork) -- The height of home-buying season is upon us, and experts are reporting lots of activity north of the city.
CBS2's Lou Young took a look at the situation in Westchester County, where the market appears to be segmented by proximity and price.
In the tony towns of lower Westchester County, housing sales are heating up in the spring. They are not necessarily mansions, but handsome homes for merely affluent city-dwellers seeking a suburban lifestyle.
"I put this on the market the Wednesday before Mother's Day for $1.675 (million), and I reviewed multiple offers with my sellers on Mother's Day evening, and they selected one. – like that," said realtor Pollena Forsman of Houlihan-Lawrence.
It is a seller's market in places like Larchmont, New Rochelle, and White Plains, but observers said those of more modest means can find their new home if they are willing to look a little further inland.
David Ruzow examines home values and tax records all over the county.
"People seem to want to be closer to Manhattan, closer to White Plains -- and the northern Westchester prices have become pretty stagnant," said David Ruzow of Granite Property Tax Reduction.
So that is where the bargains are – up-county where the commute to Manhattan might be an hour or more. Sellers there are having a tougher time – the same home could sell for a third of the price if you move it north 45 minutes' drive.
"Some people try to make a killing, and they think it's 2005 again and it's not," said Anthony Sibio of Coldwell Banker. "So in that situation the house will sit."
Observers said the high end of the market north of the city is a little soft, but more modest homes are selling fast.
And some homes sell just to be torn down and then rebuilt. Many homes in lower Westchester are worth less the houses they sit on.
And that house that Forsman put on the market so quickly to see it sell for $1.7 million? How much could a seller get if it were just a shack?
"Probably close to a million," Forsman said.
Peak home-buying season used to be mid-winter, right after Wall Street bonuses came out. That apparently changed in recent years, with fewer New Yorkers seeking to live large in multi-million-dollar homes.
