J. Philip's Westchester Real Estate Blog

Route 6 West approaching the Bear Mountain Bridge has to be the most twisty, serpentine windy road I've ever been on, and to top it off, it is on the edge of a mountain cliff overlooking the Hudson River. Locals have dubbed it the "Goat Trail."

The Goat Trail starts northwest of Peekskill, NY and culminates at the Bear Mountain Bridge, which joins the far northwest corner of Westchester to southeast Orange County. The mountain it is carved into has been known since colonial times as "Anthony's Nose." The road itself is over 400 feet above the river.

How twisty is this road? Click on the video. This is not for people with vertigo.   

• We Are Westchester County, NY Real Estate. Reach Phil at (914) 723-8900.
• J. Philip Faranda, Broker-owner, J. Philip Real Estate, LLC. 2010 Vice President, Westchester-Putnam Multiple Listing Service. 
• I am one of New York's premier short sale REALTORS. 
• J. Philip Serves Briarcliff Manor, Ossining, Croton, the River Towns, Westchester County, and the bedroom counties of New York City.
• Free MLS Search! Register for a Free Listingbook account and search the MLS like an agent. 
• I am hiring agents. 

All content/images, unless noted, are the property of J. Philip Faranda & may not be used without permission

"5 under 5 in the 914"

Some people need a lot of bedrooms. In my case, we have 4 children, so having more than 4 bedrooms was optimal. Here's the challenge: kids are expensive, and so are 5 bedroom homes. Something has to give. Well, something did give. The market crashed, so there are now 44 homes in Westchester County priced at $500,000 or below with 5 or more bedrooms. I personally know of a 45th coming too. I'm going to list a 6 bedroom very soon. 

I found these 5 bedroom homes all over Westchester: My Vernon, Mt Kisco, Croton on Hudson, Ossining, White Plains, Yonkers, Cortlandt Manor, New Rochelle, Millwood, and even one with a Scarsdale mailing address. If you want to search for yourself log onto Listingbook and check out the available homes. 

Westchester is a great place to live and work. I have posted about the place before, and after having lived elsewhere for many years, I am happy to be back home. 

• We Are Westchester County, NY Real Estate. Reach Phil at (914) 723-8900.
• J. Philip Faranda, Broker-owner, J. Philip Real Estate, LLC. 2010 Vice President, Westchester-Putnam Multiple Listing Service. 
• I am one of New York's premier short sale REALTORS. 
• J. Philip Serves Briarcliff Manor, Ossining, Croton, the River Towns, Westchester County, and the bedroom counties of New York City.
• Free MLS Search! Register for a Free Listingbook account and search the MLS like an agent. 
• I am hiring agents. 

All content/images, unless noted, are the property of J. Philip Faranda & may not be used without permission

Westchester County is the first county north of New York City. Westchester's southernmost border is with the New York City borough of the Bronx. To the east, several municipalities are on the shoreline of the Long Island Sound and the rest of the eastern towns border Fairfield County, Connecticut. Putnam County is to the north. The western part of Westchester all lies on the banks of the Hudson River (one reason the area is often referred to as the Hudson Valley), with Rockland County, NY and Bergen County, NJ across the river.

Because it is "upstate" from Long Island and NY City, it is often referred to as Upstate New York by the folks down there. However, Westchester County is not upstate New York. My wife, who grew up in Queens, is one of the people who have successfully dispensed with this notion.    

Because of its close proximity to Manhattan and convenient commuting location, it is one of the largest and most affluent counties in the state, indeed in the country. Because of this popularity, no fewer than three commuter train lines run through: The Hudson line runs along the river communities on the river, making it one of the prettier rides, the Harlem line runs through the central part of the county, and the New Haven line runs through the southern shore towns on to Connecticut. 

The county is punctuated by vibrant cities, bucolic towns and charming villages. You could drive 15 minutes and pass horse farms, high rise condos, and everything in between. It is the epitome of the real estate phrase "location, location, location," because residents benefit from being less than an hour (far less in the southern towns) from Grand Central Station, putting a trip to Broadway, the Arts, museums, and the most amazing array of restaurants tantalizingly close in Manhattan. Westchester is also a close drive to the beauty of the Catskills and the Hudson Valley, Connecticut and New Jersey. 

I grew up in Ossining, NY located right in the center of the county, so I might be biased in my opinion, but having lived elsewhere for many years I am happy to call Westchester home. 

All images courtesy of Wikipedia commons and are either public domain or used with permission.

• We Are Westchester County, NY Real Estate. Reach Phil at (914) 723-8900.
• J. Philip Faranda, Broker-owner, J. Philip Real Estate, LLC. 2010 Vice President, Westchester-Putnam Multiple Listing Service. 
• I am one of New York's premier short sale REALTORS. 
• J. Philip Serves Briarcliff Manor, Ossining, Croton, the River Towns, Westchester County, and the bedroom counties of New York City.
• Free MLS Search! Register for a Free Listingbook account and search the MLS like an agent. 
• I am hiring agents. 

All content/images, unless noted, are the property of J. Philip Faranda & may not be used without permission

If you've ever driven on any of the Westchester County Parkways, perhaps you've seen a quasi-official looking blue and white truck with the initials H.E.L.P. on the side. That stands for Highway Emergency Local Patrol, and they go around aiding people with car trouble. I have no idea what the cost is the the taxpayer; I do know that I ran out of gas Tuesday. 

I was driving down the Sprain Brook Parkway, right next to the reservoir when I saw I was on fumes. Just as my mind began to race about the next exit, I felt that hesitation. I coasted to a stop, dry as a bone. I was angry with myself. Trying to do too much for too many in too short a time, I was supposed to meet with a client at a construction site. And it was really cold out. 

After calling Ann & Ronnie (our admin), we found that there was no number for these guys. You have to call 911 and they send them. So I did. And the guy came. Two gallons of gas, courtesy of the taxpayers of Westchester county (the friendly snickers were free), and I was back on the road. I would have taken better photos, but I was too much of a wimp in the cold, so everything was from the drivers seat.  

• We Are Westchester County, NY Real Estate. Reach Phil at (914) 723-8900.
• J. Philip Faranda, Broker-owner, J. Philip Real Estate, LLC. 2010 Vice President, Westchester-Putnam Multiple Listing Service. 
• I am one of New York's premier short sale REALTORS. 
• J. Philip Serves Briarcliff Manor, Ossining, Croton, the River Towns, Westchester County, and the bedroom counties of New York City.
• Free MLS Search! Register for a Free Listingbook account and search the MLS like an agent. 
• I am hiring agents. 

All content/images, unless noted, are the property of J. Philip Faranda & may not be used without permission

We often give clients a subscription to Westchester Magazine after they close on their home. The publication comes out monthly and does a good job of selling the county (and a great job of selling cosmetic surgery).

52 Reasons to Love Westchester is this month's cover story, and here are a few of my favorites. My yapping is in italics:

4. Because we're not New Jersey or Long Island. Many a  truth was spoken in jest.

7. Because Carvel started here. Yum, right on Central Avenue!

40. Because the Drapers live here. Boy Howdy!

There are plenty of good ones in the other 49, but I don't want to give them away. Suffice to say that there is far more to Westchester than subdivisions, good schools and plastic surgeons.

I spent 15 years finding my way in life after leaving for college. I lived in Philadelphia, New Orleans, Boston, Maryland, New Jersey, Texas and Rochester. When it came down to choosing where I wanted to live out my years I came home.

• We Are Westchester County, NY Real Estate. Reach Phil at (914) 723-8900.
• J. Philip Faranda, Broker-owner, J. Philip Real Estate, LLC. 2010 Vice President, Westchester-Putnam Multiple Listing Service. 
• I am one of New York's premier short sale REALTORS. 
• J. Philip Serves Briarcliff Manor, Ossining, Croton, the River Towns, Westchester County, and the bedroom counties of New York City.
• Free MLS Search! Register for a Free Listingbook account and search the MLS like an agent. 
• I am hiring agents. 

All content/images, unless noted, are the property of J. Philip Faranda & may not be used without permission

The best page on Facebook in my opinion is Alexander Yamet's Westchester is Not Upstate You Idiot. This is one of those friendly arguments people in Westchester and the Hudson Valley get into with people when we get to college and meet Long Island and New York City types for the first time in the dorm. 

It goes something like this:

Me: You're from New York also? What part?

Him: Massapequa. 

Me: Where is that? 

Him: LawngGiland. Whehr you from? 

Me: Ossining.

Him: Oh, Yawr from UPstate. 

Me: Upstate? 

Guy from Rochester, overhearing conversation: I'm from upstate. Western New York, really. 

Us: Isn't that near Canada?

Guy from Rochester: Well T'rahnto is across the lake. You can almost see it it when you go there to get hamburgs and a pop. 

It really goes downhill when a guy from Boston walks by, returning from a 2pm shower dressed in just a towel. 

I had similar discussions with my wife, who is from Queens. She regarded anything north of the Bronx as Upstate. She later amended that to anything north of Yonkers, which I consider a moral victory. Westchester may be up the state from NYC and Long Island, but it isn't upstate. Upstate is Albany. Upstate is Ithaca. Upstate is Syracuse. In general, if people in your town can feasibly commute to New York City, you really aren't in upstate New York. Poughkeepsie, for instance is on the Metro North Hudson Line. I don't even consider Poughkeepsie upstate by that metric, but since I don't live there I don't care. I think that upstate starts more or less at the Catskills. More broadly, if you are in the 914 or 845 area code, you are downstate from upstate. It gets tiring. 

Downstate is another post altogether. When I lived in Rochester, where people sound more like they are from Cleveland, Ohio than the Empire State, I was told I didn't talk like I was from downstate. I guess upstate people think that downstate people should sound like Joe Pesci in My Cousin Vinny. 

Rockland, which borders New Jersey, is not Upstate. Westchester County folk do not consider themselves Upstate either, which I think is a requirement for qualifying. I'm fairly certain that residents of Saratoga would tell you they are upstate. This much is true for sure: Westchester, which borders the Bronx, is NOT upstate New York. Anyone who disagrees is overly downstatecentric.

This is my version of the Facebook group's picture, which was too small for this posting. I appreciate Alex's idea. It says it all better than I could have!

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You can search the MLS like an agent at 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.

• We Are Westchester County, NY Real Estate. Reach Phil at (914) 723-8900.
• J. Philip Faranda, Broker-owner, J. Philip Real Estate, LLC. 2010 Vice President, Westchester-Putnam Multiple Listing Service. 
• I am one of New York's premier short sale REALTORS. 
• J. Philip Serves Briarcliff Manor, Ossining, Croton, the River Towns, Westchester County, and the bedroom counties of New York City.
• Free MLS Search! Register for a Free Listingbook account and search the MLS like an agent. 
• I am hiring agents. 

All content/images, unless noted, are the property of J. Philip Faranda & may not be used without permission