Westchester County Short Sales- March 2009

Unless otherwise indicated, all data in this post is from the Westchester-Putnam Multiple Listing Service.

There are 3,454 single family homes actively for sale in Westchester County. Of those, 148 are disclosing either a short sale or foreclosure proceeding in process. This is about 4.3% of the available single family home inventory.

The actual number is probably far higher than that. That is because on many homes the listing agent has not disclosed, either knowingly or unknowingly, that the house is upside down or delinquent. Also, there are hundreds of overpriced listings which would be short sales if the price were lowered to market value. In other words, there are lots of $450,000 homes listed for $550,000 because the mortgage balance is $500,000.  

The average number of days on market for an active listing is 135 days right now, and the median asking price is $775,000. In January of 2009, the median sales price was only $550,000 in Westchester. There is a $225,000 disparity between median asking price and median sales price. According to Realist, the public data conduit for the WPMLS, only 105 homes sold in January of 2009 compared to 393 the same month in 2008.  Homes are still very overpriced.

People can ask for whatever price they want; what they get is another story. Too many people are upside down and don’t even know it. You can’t price your house based on what you want or need to pay off the mortgage, the bills, or recoup expenses. You can only get what people are willing to pay. Too often, that is not enough to satisfy the mortgage balance.

More people need to realize that if they need to sell and they have no equity,  the only way out is a short sale.

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J. Philip Faranda is the Broker and Owner of J. Philip Real Estate, LLC in Briarcliff Manor, NY. He is a Top 10 Producer for closed single family transactions out of almost 7000 licensees in the Westchester-Putnam MLS in both 2007 and 2008. You can log onto the company Home Page at www.jphilip.com

You can search the MLS like an agent and find your dream home before other buyers for FREE confidentially & at no obligationat http://jphilip.listingbook.com.

J. Philip Faranda ranks among New York’s premier short sale REALTORS specializing in short sales in Westchester, Rockland, Putnam & Dutchess Counties. www.NYShortSaleTeam.com. Read Phil’s short sale blog at http://NewYorkShortSaleBlog.wordpress.com.

J. Philip Serves Briarcliff Manor, Ossining, Croton on Hudson, Pleasantville, Sleepy Hollow, White Plains, Yonkers, Peekskill, Cortlandt, Tarrytown, Yorktown, Montrose, Hawthorne, Thornwood, Valhalla, Hartsdale & all of Westchester County, New York.