J. Philip's Westchester Real Estate Blog: New York: Chappaqua

For the third time in the past 4 weeks, I have been contacted by a buyer who chose to call me directly instead of having their agent call me because their offer was not accepted. In each case, I have told the agent-and the buyer when they called- that I'd be happy to know what comparable sale they used to justify their price. In each case, I have heard the same thing in lieu of any other fact: It is a buyer's market.

This is what I wrote earlier this week on the "buyer's market:"

 the "buyer's market" phrase was thrown around as if it were some childhood game wildcard phrase that granted immunity from logic or true market forces.

In other words, there were no other sales they could use to justify their price- it was just a speculative pipe dream. 

One of the properties we are dealing with is a condominium in Chappaqua in the Old Farm Lake complex. Even though the 4th quarter of 2011 was not good and prices across the Westchester market were down about 5% from last year, the condominium market in Chappaqua is actually up. Here are some facts:

• In 2009, the median price of a condo in Chappaqua was $453,000. 
• In 2010, the median price of a condo in Chappaqua was $467,000.
• In 2011, the median price of a condo in Chappaqua was $505,000. 

This is the market report for Chappaqua, NY for the 2nd quarter of 2011. It covers single family homes in the Chappaqua from April 1, 2011 to June 30, 2011. All data is from the Empire Access MLS. 

In the 2nd quarter  of 2011, Chappaqua had 35 closings at a median sale price of $745,000.

In the 2nd quarter  of 2010, Chappaqua had 37 closings at a median sale price of $773,000.

Volume and prices are quite steady compared to the same time period last year. They are down just a little bit, but they remain steady.   

There are 42 homes currently under contract at a median asking price of $899,000. This is $100,000 more than the median sale price, so higher end inventory is moving. 

There are 186 active listings at a median asking price of $989,000. Higher cost homes take longer to sell, and while Chappaqua is quite healthy, it isn't immune from the overall trend. That's why there is over a year's worth of available inventory. We just closed on a beautiful listing here in the Spring and are working to help the clients find a new home. 

This is a renowned community with renowned residents (the Clintons live here, as does Vanessa Williams), and some of the available properties are multi million dollar, breathtaking places. If you are looking in this price strata and you prefer northern Westchester, Chappaqua could be on your short list. 

Previous posts on Chappaqua Manor are here. 

Search Chappaqua homes like an agent with a free Listingbook account. 

What can you buy in Chappaqua, NY for $443,000? Well, just today a buyer found out. They closed on my listing at 374 Quaker Road in Chappaqua and they got a 3 bedroom ranch in move in condition with a new granite and stainless steel kitchen, 2 new bathrooms, a den, formal dining room, and an almost completely renovated interior. It has great hardwood floors, crown molding, and a beautiful fireplace.

It is set on over a third of an acre on a cul-de-sac with a paver rear patio and a 1-car garage. The location is stellar, mere minutes from downtown, schools, shopping and the train station.

It was featured in  New York Times article this past February, and their offer was accepted not long afterward. It was on the market a mere 27 days before going under contract. The folks got a fantastic home, and they told my seller clients at the clising today how happy they were to make it their own. 

And if you missed this, sign up for a free Listingbook account and search the MLS like an agent to find your own dream home. 

This is the market report for single family homes sold in the Chappaqua school district for the first quarter of 2011. All information is sourced fom the Empire Access Multiple Listing Service. 

In the first quarter of 2011, there were 15 closings with a median sale price of $946,500. 

In the first quarter of 2010, there were 17 closings with a median sale price of $900,000. 

I would characterize this as about even with last year. Median price is certainly up, but we're two sales behind. Chappaqua is stable, which is not surprising for such a nice place. 

21 homes are currently under contract at a median asking price of $787,000 (one of them is  mine!). People are coming in and making deals, albeit on the less expensive side of the market. But sellers are packing. 142 homes are active on the market and available, so if you are interested in seeing what is available you'll have plenty of choices. 

If you'd like to search for a home in Chappaqua or just check home values, get yourself a free Listingbook account and search the MLS like an agent. 

Previous posts on Chappaqua are here. 

This is the walking tour I filmed today while the New York Times photographer took pictures.  This is not glitzy, but it does give answers and a good feel for the home. After the tour was uploaded, I printed fact sheets that included a QR code linking to the walking tour for people that drive by. 

I believe that video will be taking a more prominent role in the sale of real estate going forward, and that walking tours like this are more desirable than virtual tours. There is nothing "virtual" about this. You are seeing the home from my eyes. Overall, it takes less than 15 minutes to take the video, upload it, and print brochures up with the QR code to the video that people can access as soon as they pull their car over and scan the code. This is more than a talking house, this is a walk through the house and puts people inside the door without ever leaving their car or calling an agent. 

I have another far longer video showing the "behind the scenes." I'll upload that another time when I post about my experience with the reporter, the interview, and the photo session. I hope that the NY Times exposure will help sell the listing! 

We have just listed two very nice starter homes in beautiful Chappaqua, NY. 

173 Birchwood Close, Chappaqua 10514. Old Farm Lake complex. 2 bedroom, 2 bath townhome style condo, fireplace, formal dining room, updated kitchen, deck, and great complex aminities-pool, clubhouse, tennis. $399,900. Short sale. 

374 Quaker Rd, Chappaqua 10514. Terrific 3 bedroom, 2 bath ranch on over a 3rd of an acre in a private cul de sac with den, fireplace, patio, garage, gleaming hardwoods and lovely landscaping. Updated granite and stainless steel kitchen and updated baths. $449,900. 

Chappaqua is located on the Metro-North Harlem line and is only about 50 minutes by train to Grand Central Terminal in Manhattan. Downtown is utterly charming with bistros, shopping and crafts. Call or email me for more information on these great starter homes! 

If you'd like to check out the available home for sale in Chappaqua, get yourself a free Listingbook account. 

We have just listed a very rare short sale in Chappaqua, NY. It is a 2 bedroom, 2 bath townhome in Old Farm Lake with a fireplace, formal dining room, hardwood floors, sliding doors to deck, and a renovated granite kitchen. It has a great master bedroom with a walk in closet and master bath. It is over 1700 square feet and in excellent condition. Complex amenities include a pool, clubhouse, and tennis courts.

The price is $399,900 and it will go fast! Call me for a tour. 

Reader's Digest has a huge world headquarters in nearby Chappaqua, New York. I should say HAD a huge headquarters. The company quietly left the campus this past week to smaller digs in Manhattan. This represents the fall of a local giant, and the final exit of a company that was a Westchester institution. To work at Reader's Digest was special; it was one of the companies that made Westchester County unique. And now it is gone. You can still subscribe to the publication, mind you, but the Reader's Digest I grew up with is dead. 

You really should read the article to get an appreciation of how Roy and Lila Wallace ran their own privately held firm  from 1922 until they passed away in the 1980's. It was a special place that took amazing care of the employees and was loyal to an editorial vision that worked incredibly well. And it was hugely profitable. Amazingly profitable. By the time I was born in 1967 the Reader's Digest Association had a world headquarters that was like a college campus. 

In 1990, after the Wallaces had both died, the company went public. 

And the suits came in and ruined everything. The thing about running any successful business in my experience is that those who truly own the enterprise are not slaves to the quarterly profit. I myself have lost battles in order to win the war. You can't measure success in quarterly statements. Sometimes that makes you burn the axe handle. But that is just what the MBAs who came in the 1990's did, and by 2005 the black ink was gone. The company hasn't made a profit since 2005, and it went from being the sole tenant of their own wholly owned campus to a minor tenant that just got out of their lease with a bankruptcy filing. 

Like I said, read the article- it tells the tale of bad decisions, short sighted moves and strategies antithetical to the core vision of the Wallaces better than I could condense it. That is is ironic, because condensing great stories was what the Digest did. 

The lesson: those that own their own firm take the best care of it. In 2005, after busting my posterior working for others for 16 years, some of whom I adored, others that I abhorred, I opened my own firm. I can tell you firsthand that I have never worked so hard, martialed as much creativity, or been more resourceful than when I held the rudder in my own hands. This company is my baby. Having ownership makes the buck stop at my desk. I am accountable for solutions. I navigate obstacles. I have to plan and execute. And there is no safety net. When what I do succeeds, it is as sweet as it gets. When I fail, I get up again and attack, because it is all me and no one will do it for me. 

Most real estate licensees are 1099 independent contractors, and that is ownership that a w-2 employee seldom grasps. And some of us take the plunge and run our own firms, building our brand and practice on the mere capital of our good name, our good work, and our vision. That is not something to dismiss lightly. Those of us who are succeeding in this environment aren't doing so because we're lucky, as much as the fact that we are on to something. If I speak, it might be worth a listen. I am sure the suits at Reader's Digest would sure love to get a little advice from the Wallaces. 

I read the events in the local paper and my jaw keeps dropping. 

Two 13 year old boys in Chappaqua had their bake sale stand shut down for not having a permit. The police officers who had to stop the little venture were very polite, but the parents were incensed, and eventually the local paper filed a Freedom of Information Law (FOIL) request to find the complainant and it was actually a town councilman. 

The councilman, Michael Wolfensohn, said he called the cops because he essentially didn't feel he could handle the situation himself. The press the case has now attracted has yielded the local politician some rather unwelcome attention, and he has admitted that he could have done things better in hindsight. The story has gotten legs, and he has gotten angry and threatening calls and emails. Sad. 

"In hindsight, maybe I should have done that <approach them himself-JPF>, but I wasn't sure if I was allowed to do that," he said. "The police are trained to deal with these sorts of issues."

For me, the moral of the story is that engaging in commerce in this modern age, especially in New York, is not easy. There is always someone around the corner ready to take you down, invoking some arcane minutiae of the law or perceived shortcoming. In the case of these two young men, an innocent effort was scuttled and I hope they do not lose heart. 

I think the councilman has regrets too, but frankly, if he were in my town I'd vote him out. I don't have faith in the judgment of a person who feels the police are the best way to handle two 13-year olds selling cookies and brownies. We don't need the blind leading the blind around here. 

If it is this hard to sell brownies in this environment, imagine the challenges facing those selling homes. 

Chappaqua is a beautiful hamlet located in the town of New Castle in north central Westchester County. It is known, nominally, as the adopted home of the Clintons and Reader's Digest, and for being a idyllic, bucolic setting. New Castle abuts the Town of Ossining, and it is time to give the place a little more ink. 

Vanessa Williams is a product of Chappaqua schools, and hails from nearby Millwood. (Ms. Williams, by the way, is THE most talented creature to ever wear the crown of Miss America, and is an extremely nice lady. She still lives in the area as far as I know, and when I was tending bar during my sabbatical way back when she was one of the patrons at Mediterraneo. I did not fix her a drink; she was nursing. If you ever see a re run of the 1984 Miss America pageant, Miss Williams promised to star on Broadway. She did. That is calling the shot on the level of Babe Ruth, another adopted New Yorker. But on to Chappaqua.)

Chappaqua is served by the Chappaqua school district, and includes parts of the town of Mount Pleasant. It is located on the Harlem Line of the Metro North railroad and is about a 50-minute train ride to Grand Central Terminal. 

This market information is for single family homes in the Chappaqua school district. All data is from the Westchester-putnam Multiple Listing Service. 

Prices are up from 2009 and the transaction total is up a tick as well. 22 homes are under contract, another healthy total, and there are mega options for buyers with 124 active listings, or roughly 7 months of inventory on the books. The vastness of the price range of available homes opens the doors to a wide variety of budgets.