THE revolutionary Thomas Paine, who as a resident of New Rochelle provided it with name-dropping rights starting in the 18th century, was the first of many to do so. By the early 1900s, musical-theater lovers in the thousands had learned from a George M. Cohan show that New Rochelle was only “45 Minutes From Broadway.” In the 1960s, television audiences by the tens of thousands learned even more about the place, which Rob Petrie commuted to so he could be with his wife, Laura, in “The Dick Van Dyke Show.”
But lately, the buzz in New Rochelle has had more to do with real estate titans than artistic ones. Names like Donald J. Trump and Louis R. Cappelli are behind efforts to remake the downtown. And depending on whom you ask, the construction jangling nerves there represents either the rebirth of this city of almost 73,000, or a rejection of the less well off among them.
New buyers snapping up luxury condominiums at Trump Plaza couldn’t be more pleased with the changes downtown. Caren Polino, 30, and her fiancé, Michael Burke, 32, both educators who are buying a one-bedroom, one-and-a-half bath condo there, say they are looking forward to the onset of gentrification, by which they mean cafes, fashionable shops and nightlife.
Since they often travel to New York City, they are also pleased that since Cohan wrote his lyrics, the travel time to Grand Central Terminal has been reduced to 36 minutes (even less during rush hour).
Noam Bramson, the mayor, foresees not only the completion of the residences downtown, but also a realization of plans for developing the Echo Bay section of town along the Long Island Sound waterfront. Three builders have been vying to redevelop the site, over several years, with residences, retailing and public access to the water. The area, which abuts Larchmont, includes some 20 city owned or contracted acres.
But on Main Street, in the center of town, things are still bleak. The traffic stops and starts as cars dart around construction sites, police officers slap $100 tickets on double-parked cars, and tempers flare at the stream of red lights that seem timed to halt traffic at every intersection.
And as rebuilding preoccupies official interest, infrastructure basics like sidewalks show signs of neglect.
“It’s all getting to be too much,” Joseph Russo, a retired grocery store worker and 26-year resident, said one recent afternoon. “All this development may be good for the big boys, but I don’t see how it’s going to benefit people like me.”
What You’ll Find
The 11 square miles of New Rochelle cut a swath in a northwesterly direction from the city’s shoreline to the borders with Scarsdale and Eastchester.
In the historically Italian working-class southern section on the Sound, there are apartment buildings, town houses and neighborhoods of single-family homes. Small storefronts and ethnic restaurants line the three main roads crisscrossing the middle of town, where working-class and poorer residents have lately been rubbing elbows with the wealthier new-condo dwellers. To the north are the older suburban neighborhoods, with their large Tudor-style and colonial houses on well-tended lawns.
Demographically, too, the city is diverse — more so than many other parts of Westchester County. In the 2000 census, Hispanics made up 20.1 percent of the population and African-Americans 19.2 percent. There is a small but thriving Asian and South Asian population, which according to the census is almost 3 percent.
Of the changes taking place downtown, the most noticeable at the moment is the crane atop the 40-story, 187-unit Trump Plaza, which juts up into the sky like a giant thumb and can be seen from several towns away. The building, a Trump-Cappelli venture, is similar to one that the two developers recently completed in downtown White Plains.
Across Huguenot Street from Trump Plaza, the Virginia-based AvalonBay Communities is building a sister unit to the adjacent Avalon on the Sound, a 24-story high-rise rental tower with 412 units. The $180 million building under construction will have 39 stories and 588 rental units.
In all, more than 2,000 apartments and condos are expected to become available in the next five years, including two apartment towers with 371 residences proposed by Cappelli Enterprises as part of its $500 million LeCount Square mixed-use project, also downtown.
Elsewhere in the city, there is evidence of many less ambitious projects — small clusters of new town houses as well as renovations.
What You’ll Pay
The median sales price of a single-family home at the end of October was $715,000, just under the countywide median, which was $716,125 at the end of September, said Kathleen McAteer, manager of Century 21 Wolff’s New Rochelle office.
Forum: Owning and Renting a Home
A sampling of single-family houses on the market includes a four-bedroom raised ranch for $799,000, a four-bedroom, one-bath colonial for $569,000 and a five-bedroom colonial with three full and two half baths going for $1.85 million. At Trump Plaza, one-bedroom condos like Mr. Burke and Ms. Polino’s sell for $500,000 and up, with three-bedroom penthouses going for as much as $2 million.
Along Pelham Road, which runs parallel to the shoreline, new three-bedroom town houses at AnnMar Gardens are on the market for $779,000 to $849,000.
Last week there were 186 homes, 75 condos and 75 co-ops for sale. A house selling for $1.275 million has annual taxes of $19,883; Trump Plaza units selling for $800,000 have a common charge of $1,180 a month and taxes of $5,100 a year.
As elsewhere, said Ms. McAteer, the housing market is in a downturn. Houses are taking an average of 151 days to sell, she said, adding that some sellers have withdrawn properties rather than reduce prices.
But concerns about the opposite — an overheated market — are being fed by all the construction downtown, which could eventually force residents like Pam and Jose Hernandez to move elsewhere. Mrs. Hernandez, an administrative assistant, said she and her husband, who works for a tree service, have a 2-month-old son. They pay about $1,300 a month for a two-bedroom downtown, but she described it as increasingly hard to find an apartment for that amount. “Especially with a new baby now,” she said, “where would we go?”
Last spring, the City Council adopted a rule requiring that 10 percent of any new development be affordable housing. But most current projects, planned before the law took effect, will not have to comply.
Craig King, commissioner of development, said the city wanted to retain lower-income residents. “We’re not looking to drive people out,” he said. “We’re not interested in becoming a typical Westchester suburb.” He described New Rochelle’s Section 8 housing program as “vibrant, with 900 families.”
What to Do
For families with young children, the city’s well-kept parks and the Huguenot Children’s Library on North Avenue, a branch of the New Rochelle Public Library, are among its best assets, said Michelle P. Maidenberg, a mental health therapist. Dr. Maidenberg and her husband, Eric, an investment banker, live with their three sons — Addison, 6, Foster, 3, and Wyatt, 1 — in a six-bedroom colonial north of downtown in an area of homes dating to the 1920s and 1930s. In part, they chose the area because it is close to Beth El Synagogue Center, where they worship.
For recreation, the Maidenbergs also frequent New Roc City, a seven-year-old downtown entertainment and retail center with an arcade, movie theater and bowling alley.
Restaurant fare has become increasingly varied, with Indian, Chinese, Thai, Mexican and other Hispanic offerings in addition to Italian places like Juliano’s on Main Street. Gary Fosina recently opened Mo’s New York Grill, and like many other restaurateurs, he is banking on an infusion of residents downtown.
The Commute
From the New Rochelle Transit Center downtown, Metro-North Railroad service to Grand Central Terminal takes about 36 minutes, with some express trains making the trip in 32 minutes. Round-trip tickets during peak hours cost $15; monthly tickets cost $163.
The Schools
There are about 11,000 students in the City School District of New Rochelle in an early childhood center, six elementary schools, two middle schools and a high school.
On the SAT’s, New Rochelle High school students scored an average of 556 on the critical reading section and 572 on the math. The averages for the state were 493 and 510.
Of last year’s 532 graduates, 67 percent went on to four-year colleges and universities, and 28 percent to two-year colleges. Of those going to college last year, five are at Harvard and eight at Cornell. Yale, Brown, Columbia and Dartmouth each accepted one New Rochelle graduate, said Maggie MacNichol-Skau, a district spokeswoman.
The city also has private schools like Ursuline, for girls in Grades 6 through 12, and Iona Preparatory, for 9th- through 12th-grade boys.
The History
In 1929, the planning board wrote that New Rochelle was “at a critical point in its history.” The city had a “vibrant downtown full of entertainment and shopping opportunities,” although the parking shortage was severe, it said. About a decade later, two of the first branch department stores in the country — Arnold Constable and Bloomingdale’s — moved to town.
But during the 1980s, as the suburbs grew, such stores left for outlying shopping centers and the city’s fortune’s plummeted. It is that decline from which New Rochelle is now trying to recover.
What We Like
The waterfront is New Rochelle’s greatest asset, and developing the Echo Bay area could help return the city to vibrancy.
Going Forward
Traffic often snarls on main roads, although Mr. King, the commissioner, cited a study by AKRF Inc., a White Plains consulting firm, suggesting that some congestion was natural in a downtown and even a sign of economic health.
Wednesday, March 14, 2007
IN new developments around the region, model homes and apartments offer scenes of life that seem almost too perfect to be real
In downtown White Plains, at the Ritz-Carlton Hotel complex, for instance, where Louis R. Cappelli is building 213 condominiums, the walls of one bedroom are covered in cashmere, rose petals are strewn about a stainless steel Japanese soaking tub, and the bathroom cabinets are upholstered in leather. The lavishly appointed unit seems made to order for a well-heeled power couple.
At Van Wyck Glen, a community of 221 semiattached three- and four-bedroom single-family homes by Toll Brothers in Fishkill, a wine bottle and glasses sit atop the dresser in a master bedroom suite designed to soothe a young couple after a hard day with the kids. Downstairs, the smell of fresh-baked cookies wafts through the rooms.
At River Ridge at Hyde Park, a community of 162 town houses by Cambridge Development and Construction, a living room includes what most empty nesters have probably only dreamed about until now: a pristine white linen sofa, obviously never used by anyone under 30.
At Harbors at Haverstraw, an 800-unit complex being built on the Hudson riverfront by Ginsburg Development, a model includes an exotic art collection on the walls, expensive rugs on the living room floor and a whirlpool in the bathroom. (Unlike many model-home items, it can be ordered as an option in any unit.) It is a setting designed to project a lifestyle in some of the units for buyers in their late 50s or early 60s who are ready to enjoy the fruit of their labor.
And in Pelham, at the 66-unit Marbury Corners, another Ginsburg Development project, there is plastic sushi on the plates in the modernistic dining room of a stylish condo town house that appears to be occupied by 20-something professionals.
But do model rooms like these, much more picture-perfect than the way people actually live, really help to sell homes? Do suburban couples with children — especially couples commuting long distances from Fishkill to New York or White Plains — really believe they will get a chance to sip wine before retiring? Or are cashmere-covered walls just fanciful decorating notions gleaned from some upscale magazine?
As for the decanter of wine in the bedroom and the rose petals on the bathroom floor, Lauren Brady-Russell, the owner of LBR Design Collaborative in Deer Park, N.Y., an interior design firm, remarked, “Doesn’t everyone live that way?”
Perhaps not in real life, she conceded, but most home buyers at least like to dream about living the way the models depict life. Ms. Brady-Russell designed the model rooms at Harbors at Haverstraw and at Marbury Corners.
Indeed, fantasies about the joys of homeownership are so motivating for buyers that Toll Brothers spent $100,000 to $130,000 furnishing and decorating each model home in the Fishkill development, where houses sell for $465,000 to $527,000.
“It’s a very effective marketing tool,” Dan Zalinsky, a division senior vice president of Toll Brothers, said. “Model rooms help buyers envision what life could be like in a new home. They’re designed to tug on a buyer’s emotions.”
Mr. Zalinsky, who has four sons, the oldest 7, including newborn twins, said that he personally could not imagine taking time out to relax and have a glass of wine before going to bed. “Unless,” he added, “you have a homeowners’ association, like the one at Van Wyck Glen, taking care of outdoor chores like lawn mowing.”
Selling a home using a model involves appealing to all of the senses — hearing, sight, smell, touch and taste — said Rebecca Hanford, president of November Design Group in Austin, Tex. Her company, which designs the interiors of model homes for Toll Brothers, often uses real food, like cookies fresh from the oven, to entice prospective buyers. Sometimes, there is music playing in the background.
“We want home buyers to be able to experience the model in such a realistic way they actually put themselves into those rooms,” Ms. Hanford said. “The same theory applies to children’s spaces. We want a kid to say to his parents: ‘I like playing in that house. I want to stay here!’ ”
At the Residences at the Ritz-Carlton Westchester, the high-end White Plains project, Kylie Travis Cappelli, the developer’s wife, said she designed the interiors of the one- to three-bedroom condos, which cost $678,000 to $3.5 million, with no particular buyer in mind. “We’re just suggesting different options and leaving the rest to the buyers’ imaginations,” she said.
By contrast, Ms. Brady-Russell said she “scripted a detailed profile” of potential buyers at Harbors at Haverstraw, where condos are about $600,000 to more than $1 million.
For one model in a three-bedroom unit, the imaginary residents are an empty-nester couple. The husband is retired and has taken up gourmet cooking, and the model kitchen is filled with hanging herbs and cookbooks are open on the counter.
The wife, an art dealer who is still working, has an office in their home, and on the entry level her bookshelves are filled with pottery and other art.
In a survey conducted by the National Association of Homebuilders last year, 43 percent of the developers who responded said model homes were the primary marketing tool they used, and 71 percent said they use model homes at least some of the time to sell a house.
But according to Stephen J. Melman, director of economic services for the association, which is the home builders’ trade group, in the current sluggish housing market, fewer builders are relying solely on models, and more are turning to real estate agents. “When times are tough, you have to use everything in your arsenal,” Mr. Melman said.
As for a bedroom conducive to sipping wine, Mr. Melman said: “Most couples raising a young family are probably happy just to get the kids off to school on time. Instead of wine in the model, how about a nanny?”
Some brokers also think more realism can sometimes be helpful. J. P. Endres, president of the Westchester County Board of Realtors and president of David Endres Realtors in Scarsdale, said: “The bottle of Champagne by the hot tub is fine. The flowers in the vase are great. But sometimes, the model rooms are overdone, and buyers simply can’t relate to them.” That is especially true if a model portrays a lifestyle that is too expensive for a potential buyer, Ms. Enders said, because buyers may not consider the house.
Not that the items in model units are not attractive to somebody. Most such items — furniture, books and silk flowers — are sold off when the model, the last available house in a development, is sold, often to a buyer who has fallen in love with the furnishings and wants the model exactly as is, according to Mr. Zalinsky at Toll Brothers
By ELSA BRENNER
At Van Wyck Glen, a community of 221 semiattached three- and four-bedroom single-family homes by Toll Brothers in Fishkill, a wine bottle and glasses sit atop the dresser in a master bedroom suite designed to soothe a young couple after a hard day with the kids. Downstairs, the smell of fresh-baked cookies wafts through the rooms.
At River Ridge at Hyde Park, a community of 162 town houses by Cambridge Development and Construction, a living room includes what most empty nesters have probably only dreamed about until now: a pristine white linen sofa, obviously never used by anyone under 30.
At Harbors at Haverstraw, an 800-unit complex being built on the Hudson riverfront by Ginsburg Development, a model includes an exotic art collection on the walls, expensive rugs on the living room floor and a whirlpool in the bathroom. (Unlike many model-home items, it can be ordered as an option in any unit.) It is a setting designed to project a lifestyle in some of the units for buyers in their late 50s or early 60s who are ready to enjoy the fruit of their labor.
And in Pelham, at the 66-unit Marbury Corners, another Ginsburg Development project, there is plastic sushi on the plates in the modernistic dining room of a stylish condo town house that appears to be occupied by 20-something professionals.
But do model rooms like these, much more picture-perfect than the way people actually live, really help to sell homes? Do suburban couples with children — especially couples commuting long distances from Fishkill to New York or White Plains — really believe they will get a chance to sip wine before retiring? Or are cashmere-covered walls just fanciful decorating notions gleaned from some upscale magazine?
As for the decanter of wine in the bedroom and the rose petals on the bathroom floor, Lauren Brady-Russell, the owner of LBR Design Collaborative in Deer Park, N.Y., an interior design firm, remarked, “Doesn’t everyone live that way?”
Perhaps not in real life, she conceded, but most home buyers at least like to dream about living the way the models depict life. Ms. Brady-Russell designed the model rooms at Harbors at Haverstraw and at Marbury Corners.
Indeed, fantasies about the joys of homeownership are so motivating for buyers that Toll Brothers spent $100,000 to $130,000 furnishing and decorating each model home in the Fishkill development, where houses sell for $465,000 to $527,000.
“It’s a very effective marketing tool,” Dan Zalinsky, a division senior vice president of Toll Brothers, said. “Model rooms help buyers envision what life could be like in a new home. They’re designed to tug on a buyer’s emotions.”
Mr. Zalinsky, who has four sons, the oldest 7, including newborn twins, said that he personally could not imagine taking time out to relax and have a glass of wine before going to bed. “Unless,” he added, “you have a homeowners’ association, like the one at Van Wyck Glen, taking care of outdoor chores like lawn mowing.”
Selling a home using a model involves appealing to all of the senses — hearing, sight, smell, touch and taste — said Rebecca Hanford, president of November Design Group in Austin, Tex. Her company, which designs the interiors of model homes for Toll Brothers, often uses real food, like cookies fresh from the oven, to entice prospective buyers. Sometimes, there is music playing in the background.
“We want home buyers to be able to experience the model in such a realistic way they actually put themselves into those rooms,” Ms. Hanford said. “The same theory applies to children’s spaces. We want a kid to say to his parents: ‘I like playing in that house. I want to stay here!’ ”
At the Residences at the Ritz-Carlton Westchester, the high-end White Plains project, Kylie Travis Cappelli, the developer’s wife, said she designed the interiors of the one- to three-bedroom condos, which cost $678,000 to $3.5 million, with no particular buyer in mind. “We’re just suggesting different options and leaving the rest to the buyers’ imaginations,” she said.
By contrast, Ms. Brady-Russell said she “scripted a detailed profile” of potential buyers at Harbors at Haverstraw, where condos are about $600,000 to more than $1 million.
For one model in a three-bedroom unit, the imaginary residents are an empty-nester couple. The husband is retired and has taken up gourmet cooking, and the model kitchen is filled with hanging herbs and cookbooks are open on the counter.
The wife, an art dealer who is still working, has an office in their home, and on the entry level her bookshelves are filled with pottery and other art.
In a survey conducted by the National Association of Homebuilders last year, 43 percent of the developers who responded said model homes were the primary marketing tool they used, and 71 percent said they use model homes at least some of the time to sell a house.
But according to Stephen J. Melman, director of economic services for the association, which is the home builders’ trade group, in the current sluggish housing market, fewer builders are relying solely on models, and more are turning to real estate agents. “When times are tough, you have to use everything in your arsenal,” Mr. Melman said.
As for a bedroom conducive to sipping wine, Mr. Melman said: “Most couples raising a young family are probably happy just to get the kids off to school on time. Instead of wine in the model, how about a nanny?”
Some brokers also think more realism can sometimes be helpful. J. P. Endres, president of the Westchester County Board of Realtors and president of David Endres Realtors in Scarsdale, said: “The bottle of Champagne by the hot tub is fine. The flowers in the vase are great. But sometimes, the model rooms are overdone, and buyers simply can’t relate to them.” That is especially true if a model portrays a lifestyle that is too expensive for a potential buyer, Ms. Enders said, because buyers may not consider the house.
Not that the items in model units are not attractive to somebody. Most such items — furniture, books and silk flowers — are sold off when the model, the last available house in a development, is sold, often to a buyer who has fallen in love with the furnishings and wants the model exactly as is, according to Mr. Zalinsky at Toll Brothers
By ELSA BRENNER
Application by Developer to Build Apartments along Port Chester’s Recently Renovated Waterfront
Port Chester has seen great change along its coast on the Long Island Sound. Many developments have been made and several are still to come; everything being built so far is for the enrichment of the community. Not building apartments.
The new Costco is great for the village, the new movie theater, Marshall’s, Bed, Bath & Beyond and Commerce Bank are all incentives for people to come into downtown Port Chester. FMB Asset Management is looking to build a100-unit mid-rise building which would run alongside the currently under construction retail development.
Spending my entire 23 years living in Port Chester, I see the negative impacts that such an apartment would bring. The waterfront, or the marina as all the locals refer to that area as, used to be a place to hang out, enjoy the water (as filthy as it may be, it’s ours), meet friends before going out, etc. It was a social place; the youth could relax and stay out of the heavier traffic areas of Port Chester (and I don’t mean a place to hide and do bad things).
Now, with all of the construction and cops patrolling, there is no space for us anymore. Maybe the village feels that retail and recreation attractions will help those who once walked around the marina aimlessly, just passing time. They are wrong and adding apartments would make it even worse. These apartments will be on the higher end of prices due to their location and all the development going on around the area. This only means more pedestrian congestion in an area already losing surface area. Traffic is a nightmare already and an apartment building bringing 100 units will undoubtedly make matters worse.
There is simply no room for an apartment building. There was no room for Costco; they managed to squeeze it in there. There was no room for a theater, Marshall’s and Bed, Bath & Beyond but the village made room for them. And unless they literally build these apartments on the water, there is no room for them either but I’m sure they’ll find someplace to put it.
The new Costco is great for the village, the new movie theater, Marshall’s, Bed, Bath & Beyond and Commerce Bank are all incentives for people to come into downtown Port Chester. FMB Asset Management is looking to build a100-unit mid-rise building which would run alongside the currently under construction retail development.
Spending my entire 23 years living in Port Chester, I see the negative impacts that such an apartment would bring. The waterfront, or the marina as all the locals refer to that area as, used to be a place to hang out, enjoy the water (as filthy as it may be, it’s ours), meet friends before going out, etc. It was a social place; the youth could relax and stay out of the heavier traffic areas of Port Chester (and I don’t mean a place to hide and do bad things).
Now, with all of the construction and cops patrolling, there is no space for us anymore. Maybe the village feels that retail and recreation attractions will help those who once walked around the marina aimlessly, just passing time. They are wrong and adding apartments would make it even worse. These apartments will be on the higher end of prices due to their location and all the development going on around the area. This only means more pedestrian congestion in an area already losing surface area. Traffic is a nightmare already and an apartment building bringing 100 units will undoubtedly make matters worse.
There is simply no room for an apartment building. There was no room for Costco; they managed to squeeze it in there. There was no room for a theater, Marshall’s and Bed, Bath & Beyond but the village made room for them. And unless they literally build these apartments on the water, there is no room for them either but I’m sure they’ll find someplace to put it.
Projects Being Razed, People Left Devastated
To outsiders, they are eyesores; they are nothing but dirty, un-kept brick buildings which house the poor or the criminally minded, lower, darker side of society. Housing projects house more that these negative stereotypes, they also give some of America’s most denied citizens a place to live outside of the nasty, sometimes dangerous streets they roam.
A new trend has been developing in Westchester County. Thanks to the recent attractiveness of the county that has helped lure the likes of the Clintons, Joe Torre and Vanessa Williams, the cost of properties in Westchester has gone up and its appeal is helping a lot of people profit.
This newly formed interest, while making some realtors and developers very rich, is making some of Westchester’s oldest residents quite nervous about their future in this county.
Two of the biggest cities in Westchester, Yonkers and New Rochelle, have seen proposals written up requesting the replacement of tenement housing, which officials and developers see has havens for crime and poverty, to replace them with new townhouses.
Particularly targeted in Yonkers is Mulford Gardens, the 550-unit apartment project that has been around since 1940 and in New Rochelle, officials are trying to replace the Hartley Houses which opened their doors in 1947 and have 240 units with 236 single and two-family houses.
“They are trying to push us out of out homes,” said Heather Ashford, a 17-year tenant of Mulford Gardens. “Not everyone who lives in the projects is a poor criminal; some of us have jobs we go to everyday.”City officials are trying to replace old public housing and in their place, they hope to insert townhouses which will serve both the citizens and the city’s economics positively. Those residing in the tenements would not simply be disregarded. Many living in the projects will have the opportunity to live in the new townhouses that would be built, but not all.
A percentage of the houses to be built will be set aside for those lower-income families that presently reside in the projects. Another percentage, however, will be put on the market for normal rates. This would be done in an attempt to diversify the area and in essence, enrich the neighborhoods.Much of this change is thanks to a Federal incentive known as HOPE VI, a program which grants cities $20 million to replace “superblock” projects. “Superblock” projects are those stereotypical, high-rises that span a few blocks. Virtually, they become cities within cities.
Today’s projects are synonymous with poor people, non-working minorities or government leeches that would rather collect welfare than find a job. Many residents are resentful of these images and are afraid that false stereotypes are going to be the cause of their losing their neighborhoods.
“People think that all we do is hang out, make noise and cause trouble,” said Kendra Wilkins of Hartley. “I graduated High School, I got an associates degree and I work! People need to do their research before they go and label others.”
Whether the residents of housing projects are contributing to society or not, the fact is their situations need to be addressed. It is understandable for City officials to want to change housing to better enrich the city. It is also understandable for those living in the projects to be nervous and upset that their homes might be razed and they might be forced to relocate.
A new trend has been developing in Westchester County. Thanks to the recent attractiveness of the county that has helped lure the likes of the Clintons, Joe Torre and Vanessa Williams, the cost of properties in Westchester has gone up and its appeal is helping a lot of people profit.
This newly formed interest, while making some realtors and developers very rich, is making some of Westchester’s oldest residents quite nervous about their future in this county.
Two of the biggest cities in Westchester, Yonkers and New Rochelle, have seen proposals written up requesting the replacement of tenement housing, which officials and developers see has havens for crime and poverty, to replace them with new townhouses.
Particularly targeted in Yonkers is Mulford Gardens, the 550-unit apartment project that has been around since 1940 and in New Rochelle, officials are trying to replace the Hartley Houses which opened their doors in 1947 and have 240 units with 236 single and two-family houses.
“They are trying to push us out of out homes,” said Heather Ashford, a 17-year tenant of Mulford Gardens. “Not everyone who lives in the projects is a poor criminal; some of us have jobs we go to everyday.”City officials are trying to replace old public housing and in their place, they hope to insert townhouses which will serve both the citizens and the city’s economics positively. Those residing in the tenements would not simply be disregarded. Many living in the projects will have the opportunity to live in the new townhouses that would be built, but not all.
A percentage of the houses to be built will be set aside for those lower-income families that presently reside in the projects. Another percentage, however, will be put on the market for normal rates. This would be done in an attempt to diversify the area and in essence, enrich the neighborhoods.Much of this change is thanks to a Federal incentive known as HOPE VI, a program which grants cities $20 million to replace “superblock” projects. “Superblock” projects are those stereotypical, high-rises that span a few blocks. Virtually, they become cities within cities.
Today’s projects are synonymous with poor people, non-working minorities or government leeches that would rather collect welfare than find a job. Many residents are resentful of these images and are afraid that false stereotypes are going to be the cause of their losing their neighborhoods.
“People think that all we do is hang out, make noise and cause trouble,” said Kendra Wilkins of Hartley. “I graduated High School, I got an associates degree and I work! People need to do their research before they go and label others.”
Whether the residents of housing projects are contributing to society or not, the fact is their situations need to be addressed. It is understandable for City officials to want to change housing to better enrich the city. It is also understandable for those living in the projects to be nervous and upset that their homes might be razed and they might be forced to relocate.
Westchester May be Becoming the Land of the Wealthy but Many May be Getting Forced to Move Out
Westchester County has rapidly been developing both commercially and residentially. Over the past 15 years, the average cost of a home in Westchester has increased tremendously. In 1990, the median housing value was $283,500 and today the median is up almost 35% at $419,000.
Westchester’s close proximity to NYC, along with its own attractions, has made it a very desirable place to live. Businesses are also trying to establish bases in Westchester County having realized its great potential. The only problem with so many people yearning to live in this now prestigious county is that home sales increase at a swift pace. Going into the city is no longer the only option for Westchester residents looking to maintain high standards of living so luxury must be provided close to home.
Westchester is home to 23 colleges and universities, over a dozen private high schools, an airport, a nationally renown medical center in Valhalla (among other local hospitals), and hundreds of religious institutions. Every religious denomination is represented in this county, making it fairly easy for those from every facet to find a place of worship.
The racial diversity found throughout the county is revealing of a culture based on hard work and the appreciation of neighbors. The county is made up of many ethnicities and although improvements can be made to better diversify the county, it is more racially diversified than the US average. The majority of the county is 71.3% White, 14.2% Black, 15.6 Hispanic, 4 % Asian and the rest of the county is divided into smaller ethnic proportions.
Westchester County has so much to offer that every city, town and village from Mt. Vernon to Pound Ridge is seeing a transformation in the value of homes.
Russ Baker, a retired business owner from Pleasantville, saw his home profit 2,400% at its closing. He bought his home in 1982 for $35,000 and this year, it sold for $850,000. “The only bad thing is I have to relocate now,” he said. “There is no way I can retire in Westchester, living here is too expensive.”
Westchester residents cannot ignore the need for an increase in income necessary to survive in their county. Many people want to follow Hillary and make the move to the great suburbs of Westchester. Many businesses want to follow Pepsi, Kraft, IBM and MasterCard and make Westchester their headquarters.
Having so much wealth in the county would appear to be a positive gain for the image and the people of Westchester. The truth is many people are being left behind by this new upward trend. Some people are having a hard time keeping up with the changes; many are being left behind, perhaps even pushed aside.
Westchester’s close proximity to NYC, along with its own attractions, has made it a very desirable place to live. Businesses are also trying to establish bases in Westchester County having realized its great potential. The only problem with so many people yearning to live in this now prestigious county is that home sales increase at a swift pace. Going into the city is no longer the only option for Westchester residents looking to maintain high standards of living so luxury must be provided close to home.
Westchester is home to 23 colleges and universities, over a dozen private high schools, an airport, a nationally renown medical center in Valhalla (among other local hospitals), and hundreds of religious institutions. Every religious denomination is represented in this county, making it fairly easy for those from every facet to find a place of worship.
The racial diversity found throughout the county is revealing of a culture based on hard work and the appreciation of neighbors. The county is made up of many ethnicities and although improvements can be made to better diversify the county, it is more racially diversified than the US average. The majority of the county is 71.3% White, 14.2% Black, 15.6 Hispanic, 4 % Asian and the rest of the county is divided into smaller ethnic proportions.
Westchester County has so much to offer that every city, town and village from Mt. Vernon to Pound Ridge is seeing a transformation in the value of homes.
Russ Baker, a retired business owner from Pleasantville, saw his home profit 2,400% at its closing. He bought his home in 1982 for $35,000 and this year, it sold for $850,000. “The only bad thing is I have to relocate now,” he said. “There is no way I can retire in Westchester, living here is too expensive.”
Westchester residents cannot ignore the need for an increase in income necessary to survive in their county. Many people want to follow Hillary and make the move to the great suburbs of Westchester. Many businesses want to follow Pepsi, Kraft, IBM and MasterCard and make Westchester their headquarters.
Having so much wealth in the county would appear to be a positive gain for the image and the people of Westchester. The truth is many people are being left behind by this new upward trend. Some people are having a hard time keeping up with the changes; many are being left behind, perhaps even pushed aside.
Monday, February 26, 2007
A Thaw in the Housing Market
WHEN it comes to home sales in Westchester, spring seems to be arriving earlier than usual this year, according to brokers and others who monitor the residential real estate market.
After a November and December that were more sluggish than usual, phones are jangling again in real estate offices throughout the county and attendance at open houses is swelling, they report.
Usually, the spring selling season doesn’t start to warm up until mid-March, and its early arrival this year may indicate that an upswing in the market is finally under way, according to Greg Rand, a managing partner for Prudential Rand in White Plains, and other brokers.
This does not indicate that residential sales prices will be climbing, however; on the contrary, median sales prices may drop even further before stabilizing, Mr. Rand cautioned.
For the first time in an October-December quarter since 1994, when the Westchester-Putnam Multiple Listing Service began reporting statistics on a quarterly basis, the median price for a single-family home in Westchester dropped from the same quarter a year earlier. The median as of Dec. 31 was $630,000, down 3.4 percent from $652,250 at the end of the fourth quarter of 2005.
In addition, the number of sales for all residential properties in Westchester dropped 13.6 percent, to 2,077, in the fourth quarter of 2006, and the dollar volume of sales was down by 12.7 percent, to $1.315 billion, compared with the fourth quarter of 2005.
The median will probably be even lower at the end of the first quarter on March 31 — perhaps by as much as another 3 to 5 percent, Mr. Rand said, based on his tracking of sales so far this year.
These sales numbers, which at first glance could be seen as bad news, may actually be signs of a market that is finally growing healthier in Westchester, one of the most expensive counties in the United States, observed Joseph Houlihan, an owner of Houlihan & O’Malley Real Estate Services in Bronxville.
A continued decrease in the median sales price may be a dose of reality in what has been an inflated and one-sided market, he said. “There was a growing gap between what sellers wanted and buyers were willing to pay,” Mr. Houlihan said. “Now, though, it seems sellers are becoming more realistic and that gap may be closing.”
As an example, he cited the case of a three-bedroom, two-bath split level house in Eastchester that went on the market for $669,000 and sold within three weeks because it was priced in line with what comparable houses in the neighborhood were going for.
By comparison, Mr. Houlihan said, several of his agency’s listings that buyers perceived as overpriced have languished on the market, and some sellers have even taken them off the market altogether hoping that prices will soar again soon.
But many professionals believe that a resurgence in sales prices is not likely to happen in the short run. At the offices of the Westchester County Board of Realtors and the Westchester Putnam Multiple Listing Service in downtown White Plains, P. Gilbert Mercurio, chief executive of the Board of Realtors, said one reason for the recent slowdown was that “prices had overshot their mark” in recent years.
In addition to the increased realism on the part of sellers, Mr. Houlihan said, there were other factors causing an early flurry of activity in the market — notably, the handsome bonuses being handed out on Wall Street. “And even if they’re not actually buying yet,” he said of the current crop of house hunters, “there’s definitely a lot more looking going on.”
Linda Roth, the manager of Coldwell Banker Residential Brokerage’s Scarsdale office, cited a seven-bedroom newly built $4.5 million Tudor with lots of high-end extras on Carstensen Road in Scarsdale as “just the kind of house that Realtors are hoping will draw Wall Street financial types with bonus money in hand.”
But even investment professionals are exhibiting considerable caution, according to Cynthia Landis, a vice president and brokerage manager in Larchmont for Sotheby’s International. “There’s definitely bonus money out there,” she said, “but people are being very cagey when it comes to talking about it.”
Mr. Mercurio agreed that the county “is very dependent on what happens in New York City,” but he saw other factors in Manhattan that may also have contributed to the increased activity so early in the season.
“Even during the slowdown, about 24 percent of all single-family home sales in 2006 were in the $1-million-plus range,” he noted. “Westchester’s high-end market has always shown strength.”
He speculated that the thriving condo market and lower-than-average unemployment rates in Manhattan were enabling some owners there to sell and begin their search for homes in the suburbs.
The relatively broad selection of properties on the market is also playing a key role in the pickup in activity, said Mr. Rand, whose company has 21 offices, including seven in Westchester.
Westchester’s year-end inventory of 5,774 units in all categories was 21 percent higher than at the end of 2005, according to the latest report from the Board of Realtors. The current levels of inventory are comparable to those of the mid-1990’s, “which supported high-performing markets at the time,” the report said.
The largest choice of inventory is occurring in the condo market — “everything from new luxury units to ordinary duplexes and 20- to 30-year-old construction,” Mr. Mercurio said.
The condo market has fared better than the markets for single-family homes, co-ops and two to five-family homes, with the number of condo sales in October through December down only 4.2 percent, to 345, from the same quarter in 2005.
By comparison, sales for single-family homes were down 14.8 percent, to 1,121; co-op sales dropped 14.8 percent, to 437; and multifamily home sales slid 19.1 percent, to 174.
In addition, mortgage interest rates are expected to remain relatively stable, acting as a further lure for buyers, said Joseph Tringali, a banker with the Melville-based Capstar Mortgage Bankers, which has an office in New Rochelle.
“We’ve seen an upward trend in rates, but historically they’re still low,” he said.
Still, there is a concern about possible defaults among a group of people who took out adjustable rate mortgages two years ago and who also borrowed 100 percent of the purchase price of their house, Mr. Tringali said. A house that was purchased for $500,000 then, for example, might be worth less now, and the mortgage rates might be due to be adjusted upward.
Meanwhile, whatever the reason or combination of reasons, the Westchester market seems to “have finally passed through the low point,” Mr. Mercurio said, and appears to be moving ahead.
By ELSA BRENNER
After a November and December that were more sluggish than usual, phones are jangling again in real estate offices throughout the county and attendance at open houses is swelling, they report.
Usually, the spring selling season doesn’t start to warm up until mid-March, and its early arrival this year may indicate that an upswing in the market is finally under way, according to Greg Rand, a managing partner for Prudential Rand in White Plains, and other brokers.
This does not indicate that residential sales prices will be climbing, however; on the contrary, median sales prices may drop even further before stabilizing, Mr. Rand cautioned.
For the first time in an October-December quarter since 1994, when the Westchester-Putnam Multiple Listing Service began reporting statistics on a quarterly basis, the median price for a single-family home in Westchester dropped from the same quarter a year earlier. The median as of Dec. 31 was $630,000, down 3.4 percent from $652,250 at the end of the fourth quarter of 2005.
In addition, the number of sales for all residential properties in Westchester dropped 13.6 percent, to 2,077, in the fourth quarter of 2006, and the dollar volume of sales was down by 12.7 percent, to $1.315 billion, compared with the fourth quarter of 2005.
The median will probably be even lower at the end of the first quarter on March 31 — perhaps by as much as another 3 to 5 percent, Mr. Rand said, based on his tracking of sales so far this year.
These sales numbers, which at first glance could be seen as bad news, may actually be signs of a market that is finally growing healthier in Westchester, one of the most expensive counties in the United States, observed Joseph Houlihan, an owner of Houlihan & O’Malley Real Estate Services in Bronxville.
A continued decrease in the median sales price may be a dose of reality in what has been an inflated and one-sided market, he said. “There was a growing gap between what sellers wanted and buyers were willing to pay,” Mr. Houlihan said. “Now, though, it seems sellers are becoming more realistic and that gap may be closing.”
As an example, he cited the case of a three-bedroom, two-bath split level house in Eastchester that went on the market for $669,000 and sold within three weeks because it was priced in line with what comparable houses in the neighborhood were going for.
By comparison, Mr. Houlihan said, several of his agency’s listings that buyers perceived as overpriced have languished on the market, and some sellers have even taken them off the market altogether hoping that prices will soar again soon.
But many professionals believe that a resurgence in sales prices is not likely to happen in the short run. At the offices of the Westchester County Board of Realtors and the Westchester Putnam Multiple Listing Service in downtown White Plains, P. Gilbert Mercurio, chief executive of the Board of Realtors, said one reason for the recent slowdown was that “prices had overshot their mark” in recent years.
In addition to the increased realism on the part of sellers, Mr. Houlihan said, there were other factors causing an early flurry of activity in the market — notably, the handsome bonuses being handed out on Wall Street. “And even if they’re not actually buying yet,” he said of the current crop of house hunters, “there’s definitely a lot more looking going on.”
Linda Roth, the manager of Coldwell Banker Residential Brokerage’s Scarsdale office, cited a seven-bedroom newly built $4.5 million Tudor with lots of high-end extras on Carstensen Road in Scarsdale as “just the kind of house that Realtors are hoping will draw Wall Street financial types with bonus money in hand.”
But even investment professionals are exhibiting considerable caution, according to Cynthia Landis, a vice president and brokerage manager in Larchmont for Sotheby’s International. “There’s definitely bonus money out there,” she said, “but people are being very cagey when it comes to talking about it.”
Mr. Mercurio agreed that the county “is very dependent on what happens in New York City,” but he saw other factors in Manhattan that may also have contributed to the increased activity so early in the season.
“Even during the slowdown, about 24 percent of all single-family home sales in 2006 were in the $1-million-plus range,” he noted. “Westchester’s high-end market has always shown strength.”
He speculated that the thriving condo market and lower-than-average unemployment rates in Manhattan were enabling some owners there to sell and begin their search for homes in the suburbs.
The relatively broad selection of properties on the market is also playing a key role in the pickup in activity, said Mr. Rand, whose company has 21 offices, including seven in Westchester.
Westchester’s year-end inventory of 5,774 units in all categories was 21 percent higher than at the end of 2005, according to the latest report from the Board of Realtors. The current levels of inventory are comparable to those of the mid-1990’s, “which supported high-performing markets at the time,” the report said.
The largest choice of inventory is occurring in the condo market — “everything from new luxury units to ordinary duplexes and 20- to 30-year-old construction,” Mr. Mercurio said.
The condo market has fared better than the markets for single-family homes, co-ops and two to five-family homes, with the number of condo sales in October through December down only 4.2 percent, to 345, from the same quarter in 2005.
By comparison, sales for single-family homes were down 14.8 percent, to 1,121; co-op sales dropped 14.8 percent, to 437; and multifamily home sales slid 19.1 percent, to 174.
In addition, mortgage interest rates are expected to remain relatively stable, acting as a further lure for buyers, said Joseph Tringali, a banker with the Melville-based Capstar Mortgage Bankers, which has an office in New Rochelle.
“We’ve seen an upward trend in rates, but historically they’re still low,” he said.
Still, there is a concern about possible defaults among a group of people who took out adjustable rate mortgages two years ago and who also borrowed 100 percent of the purchase price of their house, Mr. Tringali said. A house that was purchased for $500,000 then, for example, might be worth less now, and the mortgage rates might be due to be adjusted upward.
Meanwhile, whatever the reason or combination of reasons, the Westchester market seems to “have finally passed through the low point,” Mr. Mercurio said, and appears to be moving ahead.
By ELSA BRENNER
Sunday, February 18, 2007
How to Sell Your Highly-Appreciated Home Tax-Free (or Almost)
It's been 10 years since Congress brought us the homeowner gain exclusion deduction -- one of the most powerful and useful tax-saving tools ever given to homeowners.
The deduction itself is simple: If you have lived in your home for two out of the previous five years, you get a tax break when you sell it. If you're married and you file a joint tax return the first $500,000 of gain (the difference between what you paid to buy the property and what you sold it for) you make on the sale is tax-free. If you're single, you get a tax break on the first $250,000 of gain. What constitutes "living in" is pretty flexible, too. Those two years don't have to be consecutive, nor do you have to physically live in your home every day. The IRS allows you to have temporary absences from your home each year that can be up to 11.5 months! You can literally buy a home, live in it for 2-3 weeks per year for two years and take the entire tax-free gain exclusion.
In most cases, this is a great strategy -- buy, hold for 2 years and sell, tax-free. But what happens when the tax-free gain exclusion amount is less than the profit you make on your home sale?
Sometimes the path of least resistance is the best path of all. Simply by taking the gain exclusion deduction you're saving $75,000 on the first $500,000 in profit. Because you've owned the property for more than one year, the remaining profit will only be taxed at the capital gains rate of 15 percent.
Another option would be to convert the home into a rental property by selling it at fair market value (FMV) into a business structure you own. A limited liability company (LLC) is a good choice in most states.
The advantages to this option are huge. First, you still get the tax-free gain exclusion deduction when you sell. Second, your home becomes a source of monthly income. You can refinance to pull some equity out if you need it for the purchase of another home, and, depending on how much equity you pull out, you should still be able to keep your "new" rental property cash-flowing, meaning the price you rent it out for will still be more than the costs to maintain it (mortgage, insurance, utilities, etc.). You'll still get the benefit of appreciation, even though the market isn't appreciating as fast anymore.
Third, because your LLC paid FMV, it gets the benefit of the "step-up" in basis, meaning that the sales price is the new basis. This is important, because an investment property can do something your personal residence can't: Depreciate.
Depreciation is perhaps the number one (or maybe number two) reason to get into real estate. The government looks at real estate (the buildings, not the land) as something that goes down in value. So every year the building is worth a little less than the year before. After a certain period of time (27 years for commercial, 39 years for residential) the building has depreciated to zero.
In practical terms, this means your LLC can take a yearly depreciation deduction against the basis. That's why being able to step-up the basis to current FMV is such a good thing -- your LLC has a much bigger basis to depreciate against. Depreciation doesn't cost you a dime, either -- it's what we call a "phantom" expense -- which means it is created without you having to spend any money, first.
Depreciation is just one of the deductions you are now able to claim through your LLC. There are hundreds of others. But because depreciation is a phantom expense, it can have a huge impact on your tax bill at the end of the day. Depreciation often contributes to the LLC reporting a paper loss at the end of the year, which can be used to offset your personal W-2 income, meaning your personal tax bill will go down, too. Yet even though the LLC shows a paper loss, it's actually making money for you each and every month.
So you get a huge tax break up front with the gain exclusion, a continuing source of passive income (from the rent) that is taxed at a lower rate than earned W-2 income, a giant source of deductions, a potential paper loss that will further reduce your W-2 income (and taxes), and you get to keep control of the property and benefit from its continued appreciation. What's not to love?
By Diane Kennedy
The deduction itself is simple: If you have lived in your home for two out of the previous five years, you get a tax break when you sell it. If you're married and you file a joint tax return the first $500,000 of gain (the difference between what you paid to buy the property and what you sold it for) you make on the sale is tax-free. If you're single, you get a tax break on the first $250,000 of gain. What constitutes "living in" is pretty flexible, too. Those two years don't have to be consecutive, nor do you have to physically live in your home every day. The IRS allows you to have temporary absences from your home each year that can be up to 11.5 months! You can literally buy a home, live in it for 2-3 weeks per year for two years and take the entire tax-free gain exclusion.
In most cases, this is a great strategy -- buy, hold for 2 years and sell, tax-free. But what happens when the tax-free gain exclusion amount is less than the profit you make on your home sale?
Sometimes the path of least resistance is the best path of all. Simply by taking the gain exclusion deduction you're saving $75,000 on the first $500,000 in profit. Because you've owned the property for more than one year, the remaining profit will only be taxed at the capital gains rate of 15 percent.
Another option would be to convert the home into a rental property by selling it at fair market value (FMV) into a business structure you own. A limited liability company (LLC) is a good choice in most states.
The advantages to this option are huge. First, you still get the tax-free gain exclusion deduction when you sell. Second, your home becomes a source of monthly income. You can refinance to pull some equity out if you need it for the purchase of another home, and, depending on how much equity you pull out, you should still be able to keep your "new" rental property cash-flowing, meaning the price you rent it out for will still be more than the costs to maintain it (mortgage, insurance, utilities, etc.). You'll still get the benefit of appreciation, even though the market isn't appreciating as fast anymore.
Third, because your LLC paid FMV, it gets the benefit of the "step-up" in basis, meaning that the sales price is the new basis. This is important, because an investment property can do something your personal residence can't: Depreciate.
Depreciation is perhaps the number one (or maybe number two) reason to get into real estate. The government looks at real estate (the buildings, not the land) as something that goes down in value. So every year the building is worth a little less than the year before. After a certain period of time (27 years for commercial, 39 years for residential) the building has depreciated to zero.
In practical terms, this means your LLC can take a yearly depreciation deduction against the basis. That's why being able to step-up the basis to current FMV is such a good thing -- your LLC has a much bigger basis to depreciate against. Depreciation doesn't cost you a dime, either -- it's what we call a "phantom" expense -- which means it is created without you having to spend any money, first.
Depreciation is just one of the deductions you are now able to claim through your LLC. There are hundreds of others. But because depreciation is a phantom expense, it can have a huge impact on your tax bill at the end of the day. Depreciation often contributes to the LLC reporting a paper loss at the end of the year, which can be used to offset your personal W-2 income, meaning your personal tax bill will go down, too. Yet even though the LLC shows a paper loss, it's actually making money for you each and every month.
So you get a huge tax break up front with the gain exclusion, a continuing source of passive income (from the rent) that is taxed at a lower rate than earned W-2 income, a giant source of deductions, a potential paper loss that will further reduce your W-2 income (and taxes), and you get to keep control of the property and benefit from its continued appreciation. What's not to love?
By Diane Kennedy
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