The spring home-buying season is upon us. So, what should we expect this year? What you get for your money depends on where you are looking, of course—and this being Westchester, your dollar will never go quite as far as you’d like.
At press time, the median sale price for a single-family home in Westchester was $625,000—but prices vary widely throughout the county, even within a single community. In Yonkers ($430,000 median) and Elmsford ($470,000 median), for instance, you get a lot of bang for your buck, but you’ll need much deeper pockets to afford areas like Rye ($1.675 million median) or Bronxville ($2.175 million median).
But homebuying is not just about price. “Hot communities now are driven by distance and commuting, a feeling of community, and the perceived desirability of the school district,” notes Amy Singer, licensed real estate salesperson with William Raveis Real Estate in Armonk and Scarsdale. Singer notes that always-popular towns like Larchmont (“a walkable, charming village”), Rye (“right on the water”), and Scarsdale/Edgemont (“top schools”) continue to draw buyers. “Today, the Rivertowns are also in demand, because there is a perception of young, hip, down-to-earth areas there,” she adds.
Westchester’s luxury-home market has picked up, according to Dalia Valdes, licensed associate real estate broker at Julia B. Fee Sotheby’s International Realty in Rye, who points to an uptick in these sales—and ample available high-end properties.
So, if you’re in the market for Westchester residential real estate this year, here’s a sample of what’s out there, at three key price points in the county: $500,000, $1 million, and $3 million.
Happy house-hunting!
The overview: Buyers in this price range will have to embrace fixer-uppers, small homes with small lots, or lower-ranked school districts. Co-ops or condos may be a better option. Single-family-home diehards may want to head north.
“In lower Westchester, for $500,000, you’re not going to find a single-family home in the condition most people want,” Singer says. “In White Plains, you can find some cheap starter homes, but you’re still looking at the upper-$500,000-$600,000 range for a home in good shape.” Singer recommends co-ops or condos as another way to go at this price range. “If you want to be in a hot-spot, like Larchmont, you could buy a two-bedroom co-op with that budget but not a single-family home,” she says.
In sought-after towns like Bronxville, for instance, even the co-op/condo options are limited at this budget. “You might get a three-bedroom home in a Bronxville postal code but not in Bronxville proper, and most likely you will get a co-op with no parking, and you’ll have to do work on the unit,” Valdes says.
The best advice for homebuyers with a $500,000 max budget may be to head north. “The further north you go, the easier it will be to find a home in that budget,” Singer says.
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22 Smith Rd
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18 Lincoln Ave
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354 King St
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52 Webster Ave, Apt 5
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514 Nelson Ave
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11 Carlton Drive
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8 Little Mountain Rd
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75 Glendale Rd
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2028 Quaker Ridge Rd
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658 Wolfs Lane
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The overview: As the saying goes, you get what you pay for, and when you’re paying $3 million, you get a lot—even in Westchester.
If you’re working with a $3 million budget, your housing options have opened up substantially, all across Westchester. “If you are looking for a home in Armonk, Chappaqua, or Briarcliff, for example, you can get a new-construction luxury home with a three-car garage and a pool for that price,” says Singer. She adds that “high-end buyers have a lot to choose from, and they are still getting really good values.”
According to Valdes, the high-end luxury market in Westchester was silenced at the end of 2015. “But it has picked up again; we’re seeing an uptick now,” she says.
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98 Fargo Lane
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134 Boutonville Rd
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1 Sycamore Lane
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22 Pryer Manor Rd
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156 Sleepy Hollow Rd
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