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$580,000 will go far even in this market, as this 4 bedroom, 3 bath raised ranch demonstrates. Set on a pretty 1.1 acre lot, this 1991 build has a two car garage, a rear deck overlooking the yard, and a wonderful primary suite. The remarks on the MLS said the following:
Contemporary flair in this appealing Raised Ranch on a wooded acre! Super convenient location to train and highways. Main level living room has vaulted ceilings and Skylights, leading to a formal dining room, then a large eat in kitchen with more natural light and sliders to the rear deck overlooking nature’s splendor. 3 good sized bedrooms with master suite that has a shower and generously sized tub. Lower level has a summer kitchen, rec room and additional quarters currently used as a 4th bedroom, and sliders to the patio and yard. Gorgeous rear yard back up to walking and bike path. Wonderful lifestyle at a fantastic price point you do not want to miss!
This one is gone, as we had it under contract in 24 days, but we can help you find one for yourself! Just call me at 914-450-8883 and the team will take great care of you.
I get an apologetic phone call from clients now and then, and I think its kind of sweet. They don’t want to transact but have a question they know I can answer, and feel like they are imposing. Post sale service is a legitimate thing to me, and I always tell them that their call is a welcome one. Every agent wants to stay top of mind with their past client if they have half a brain, and these “impositions” are anything but.
You can still buy a nice 3 bedroom home in Putnam County for under $350,000 like the one our buyer client closed on last week. It is a fully renovated 1100 square foot 3 bedroom, 2 bath bungalow on a level lot with parking for at least 4 cars. The siding, roof, HVAC, walls, kitchen, and baths are all new. It is in the Putnam Lake community, so the property has lake rights- as a matter of fact the water is only about 500 feet from the front door. Putnam Lake (or “Put Lake,” as the locals and agents affectionately refer to it) is a woodsy, sleepy community of tidy homes that tend to be on the smaller side, so it is a great place for starter homes for anyone who likes lake living. There is shopping and food nearby, and the area is served by the Brewster school district.
Decades ago when I was tending bar, we always knew to avoid any discussion of politics or religion because it was a powder keg. In real estate, that would also include any discussion involving Zillow, dual agency, and square footage.
Escalation clauses are sometimes included in offers that essentially state that if the offer being presented is outbid by another competing offer that the buyer will raise their number by a set amount over the higher competing bid. Sometimes they are clever due to the confidential nature of closed bids in New York real estate, but they are not the cure all that some agents think they are.
The term “in law apartment” or “in-law space” has become misunderstood lately by both agents and consumers, so I’d like to clear up what should be fairly straightforward.
If I were asked by a seller what separates me from other agents to get them the best price for their home, I’d answer their question with a question of my own.
NIMBYs and the Damage They do to Communities
It is a pejorative term, and, as I will explain, that is for a good reason. Real estate professionals with any involvement in their community will inevitably get exposure to NIMBYs, and, in my view this should be viewed as an opportunity to show some backbone.
Resisting change is a natural human behavior. Skepticism about proposed additions to the community is not only understandable, but a vital check and balance to progress and the democratic process. Once the process is followed, however, in some instances the opposition to the proposed development or addition dig in their heels. The outcome is in those cases is not the best side of humanity in my experience.
I’ll preface the rest of my thoughts with a few facts:
Some years ago I was asked to speak at a town hall meeting on behalf of a proposed group home for men in recovery from addiction. The facility would require a special use permit, variance, or some other type of approval from the town, and the hearing was to give the public an opportunity to make comments.
There was a vocal opposition to the project. People are entitled to support or oppose matters like this; the issue I witnessed was the lengths some will go to have their opinion dictate the town’s decision. I heard quite a bit of ugliness in that meeting, and when I spoke in support of the project I had a few hecklers ask how much I was being paid to speak. The answer was zero; many real estate agents will steer clear of discussions lie these because taking sides will alienate potential clients in their community. But I felt that I had to speak up, because the data is pretty clear- group homes neither adversely affect property values.
Moreover, the safety concern is also overblown. As I stated above, the vast majority of crimes against children are committed by people they know, not strangers jumping out from behind the hedges. Of the thousands of child abductions occurring every year in the USA, only a few hundred are committed by strangers.
I wrote recently about another NIMBY situation, that time about the expansion of a children’s hospital. At that time, assertions that property values would plummet were refuted by the fact that values actually doubled, along with a higher sales volume.
NIMBYs are for some agents a touchy subject but not for me. 99% of the time I think they kind of suck. I understand the resistance to change, and a healthy dose of skepticism applied to new projects is healthy. But once the facts are on the table, doubling down on misinformation, baseless assertions, or hijacking the legitimate concerns about the safety of nearby residents and environmental concerns undermines legitimate cases where exploring alternatives should occur.
Recently, an acquaintance expressed to me a concern about the possibility of building a new school in their neighborhood. They said, and with solid evidence backing them up, that the roads were insufficient to service the two nearby schools that were there already. In that instance, I think they had a point. Moreover, their plan was simply to move away if the initiative passed. That is a far cry from scorching the earth at town planning meetings.
No community can be just cute neighborhoods and a quaint downtown commercial center to the expulsion of other societal needs. Communities needs sewage treatment facilities, school bus parking, recycling plants, public works and garbage trucks, storage for asphalt, salt & sand, hospitals, industrial areas, and yes-affordable/subsidized housing and facilities like group homes and halfway houses for the people who can’t live in picket fence suburbia.
The protests that granting permission for some of these facilities is social engineering seem to miss the point that municipalities that only zone for single family homes on acre lots is in itself a form of social engineering.
Some of the damage caused by the pushback is as follows:
I totally understand the resistance to change many have, and I relate to skepticism about new plans for change in a community. But once the facts are presented, all parties need to know that while they are entitled to their own opinions, they are not entitled to their own facts.