The best page on Facebook in my opinion is 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.
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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.
Overlooking the Hudson River, Peekskill is the only city of all the municipalities in northern Westchester County. When I was growing up it was where you went to do to the Department of Motor Vehicles office and little else. Today it has a far more vibrant downtown with art galleries, cafes and shopping of all kinds. And the DMV is still there.
I started my company in 2005, and the company's first closing was on a home in Peeksksill. I remain in touch with my clients. They have done great things to that house. Like many Manhattan dwellers, Peekskill appealed for the nearby Hudson Line train terminal, the vast array of pre war architecture, Hudson River views and the relatively affordable prices compared to much of Westchester. I continue to do business there.
How has the market in Peekskill fared with the declining housing market? According the to data I have from the Westchester-Putnam Multiple Listing Service comparing the first quarter of 2008 for single home sales to quarter 1 of 2009, Peekskill's market is relatively stable.
| Year | # Sales | Average Price | Median Price |
| 2008 | 16 | $ 355,378.00 | $ 340,025.00 |
| 2009 | 17 |
$ 297,959.00 |
$ 280,000.00 |
Prices were down about 16% but the transaction total was actually higher in 2009 than 2008 by one for single family homes. There are 69 single family homes actively available for sale in the city. 6 are under contract or pending sale; that is a low number, but at this rate the city has about a year's worth of inventory on the books. Not bad.
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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.
One of the things I have heard in certain precincts is that while the overall market might be bad, some places are insulated from the bad economy and will continue to have a thriving market. One of the places mentioned is nearby Chappaqua, NY. Chappaqua is known for being the adopted home of the Clintons, but it is more than just that. It is a lovely hamlet with manageable proximity to Manhattan (on the Metro North Harlem Train Line & 45 minutes to Grand Central), beautiful homes on large lots, a highly regarded school district, and a charming downtown. So how did Chappaqua's 1st quarter of 2009 compare with the first quarter of 2008?
Not very well, I am afraid. The following is the MLS data for single family home sales in the entire Chappaqua school district, which includes part of the Mount Kisco mailing address:
| Year | # Sales | Average Price | Median Price |
| 2008 | 20 | $1,068,620.00 | $ 873,350.00 |
| 2009 | 4 | $ 842,375.00 | $ 835,000.00 |
The 21% drop in average price is not particularly shocking; prices are down everywhere. The real eye-opener for me is the severe drop in transaction totals. Even with lower prices, people held onto their wallets.
Here's the real sobering part. As I type this, there are 133 active single-family listings for sale in the Chappaqua School District. 8 more are under conditional contract and 5 are pending sale. Presuming that none of those deals fall through and all 13 sales close in the 2nd quarter of 2009, that will make 17 closings for the first half of 2009 (a few more contracts might be signed and close in the 2nd quarter-I hope). At that rate, there is just under 3/12 years of inventory for sale in Chappaqua.
Clearly, no place is immune to the economic woes we are experiencing. Let's hope that things heat up for the 9 real estate brokerage companies that serve Chappaqua. 4 sales in a quarter is tough to split among literally hundreds of agents. This is another reason why I am thankful that my market is not one zip code or town. I have sold 2 homes in Chappaqua in the not-too-distant past and expect to sell more, but I would never hang my hat on just one town.
_______________________________________________________________
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.
_______________________________________________________________
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.
I am a proud member of the Villanova class of 1989. Few places can turn a New York-born, Giant and Yankee rooting, Eagle and 76er hating guy like me into a dedicated cheesesteak muncher like that rolling campus on the Main Line. I was on pins and needles yesterday watching that game. It was vintage Wildcat teamwork: no superstar, stingy defense, and smiles at the end.
The best my era's teams did was advance to the final 8 in my junior year. The campus went bananas after they beat Illinois to advance to the Sweet 16. I'll never forget it. They won the whole thing in an upset for the ages in 1985, the year right before I attended. I was a senior in high school here in New York, so I was rooting for St. John's. When I arrived on campus that autumn as a freshman, the place was electric.
If my Facebook page is any indication, my fellow alumni are just as happy as the kids on campus.
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One of Westchester County's top-selling independent REALTORS. Serving Briarcliff, Ossining, Croton, Pleasantville, Sleepy Hollow & beyond. Visit our Briarcliff Manor office or log on- www.jphilip.com
J. Philip Real Estate is a boutique-style, independent brokerage serving all of Westchester, Putnam, Dutchess and Rockland Counties. It is owned and operated by J. Philip Faranda, who has averaged a closing a week for the past 2 years. That's over 100 homes sold in 2007-2008, making him one of the top 5 agents by transaction total in his marketplace! The firm has offices in Briarcliff Manor, Scarsdale and Manhattan. A new branch office is scheduled to open in Nyack, NY very soon.
View all my listings on Realtor.com by clicking here.
View my listed inventory of available homes on my web page here.
Our main office is in Briarcliff Manor, NY - right between Sleepy Hollow, Pleasantville, Chappaqua and Ossining, with Croton, Peekskill, Mount Kisco, White Plains, Yorktown, Tarrytown and many other Hudson River villages in shouting distance. I serve my neighboring towns but also the "bedroom counties" of Rockland, Putnam and even Dutchess in surprisingly high volume, mainly because the largest source of buyers in those place come from Westchester.
The New York Journal News, The Real Deal, ABC News and CNBC are just some of the news outlets that have used Phil as a source for commentary or content. On May 27, 2009, ABC World News lead with a story on the real estate market that featured Phil prominently.
We specialize in residential real estate, serving the buyers and sellers of the Hudson Valley and northern suburbs of New York City. We are one of the few brokers to offer a performance guarantee. Call (866) 343-2889 for details.
Among our areas of expertise is helping clients avoid foreclosure by brokering a short sale. What makes us different from all the other firms that claim to specialize in short sales? Log onto www.NYShortSaleTeam.com to find out.
Do you have someone in or moving to the New York metropolitan area? We pay a 25% referral fee for any client you refer. We service Westchester, Putnam, Rockland, Dutchess and Fairfield (CT) counties. All referrals are personally attended to by the broker-owner. Go to www.JPhilipRealEstate.net for details.
Some Frequently Asked Questions, answered in the First Person:
Q: What does the "J." stand for?
A: Joseph. My father was named Joseph Faranda and wanted to name me Joseph, but my mother did not want a "Junior." They compromised by making Joseph my first name but calling me by my middle name, which was different from my father's middle name.
Q: So what do people call you? "J?" "Jay?" "Philip?"
A:You can call me Phil. I won't be insulted if you call me J., but I'm not very accustomed to it. Some people call me J. and I don't correct them because it confuses matters.
Q: Why did you get into real estate?
A: Like many people, real estate is my second career. I never had any intention of going into it in college. I started in publishing sales for an educational concern in New Jersey, and I advanced to management rather quickly. However, they relocated me six times in seven years and I was dissatisfied with that and the compensation. My college roommate convinced me to move to Rochester and work with him in real estate.
Q: Where do you see the real estate market going in the next 2-3 years?
A: The last big correction (or crash, depending on your preferred nomenclature) was 1987. The lost value was not recouped until the mid 90's. Anyone who sees the market turning the corner in the next year doesn't understand that we have years worth of inventory on the books now and a great deal of it is foreclosed property, which suppresses prices further. And there will be many more foreclosures in the next 18 months, which means a recovery is not close at hand.
We could stabilize the market very quickly if sellers were able to simply lower their prices enough to bring the buyers back, but most cannot because they owe too much. This is why short sales are so necessary to a sustainable recovery.
Q: Who is to blame for the current real estate crash?
A: Everyone shares some culpability- government, bankers, Wall Street, lenders, speculators, and borrowers/homeowners themselves. We can argue about percentage of blame until we are old. I believe that everyone lost sight of the fundamentals because they were too self interested. Responsible self regulation by the lending industry as well as prudent governmental oversight should keep history from repeating itself.
Q: You left out real estate agents. Don't they share in the blame?
A: Real estate licensees and mortgage loan officers were the foot soldiers in the economic Waterloo we are experiencing. They are certainly paying the price for it- an attorney I know tells me that he is frequently helping real estate agents file for bankruptcy. As I said before, we are all responsible.
Q: Why are you blogging?
A: I love real estate and I love to write. My degree is in English, so I have a copy of the Elements of Style right next to my real estate books. I also feel that my commentary is credible due to the fact that I am in the field daily and not an armchair quarterback. I am one of the few real estate brokers I know with substantial mortgage experience and I am an active investor. The perspective from my marketplace is also rather unique- I straddle a very cosmopolitan New York market, suburbs, and a rather rural Hudson Valley. All that is a wide lens.
"Phil is everything you'd want in an agent ...we wish we had him here where we moved!" - Chuck and Otto, Ellenville, NY
"J Phillip's sophisticated use of technology and the Internet delivers better results than other real estate brokerages. We listed our house with J Phillip during the slow winter months at the bottom of the market. In less than a month we had two offers, and had closed the deal in less than three months. The final sale price was actually above the initial listing price recommended by the other brokers! " -Matt and Jodi, Armonk, NY
"For the record: Phil listed my house on August 1st and it was sold and closed 36 days later. The prior agency wasn't able to sell it for over a year. " -Angelo, Pleasantville, NY
"Phil, you went above and beyond. We are grateful." -Tom and Janine, Mahopac, NY
"I am very pleased with the job you did. What other previous companies couldn't do, you did all by yourself in the middle of winter. Stay in touch." Margaret, Wappinger Falls, NY
"God bless you and thanks for getting the job done." -Anabel, Peekskill, NY
"Thank you for selling my mother's home. It was a very difficult situation but you hung in there and got us out of a jam. We will use you again." Carlos, Yonkers, NY
"We are very happy and please with the job Phil did in selling our house for above full price." -Rudolph, New City, NY
" Fantastic job. You are by far the best agent we've ever dealt with and we will recommend you. We are very pleased." -Jeff and Helene, Poughkeepsie, NY
"Thank you for all your help!" -Richard, New City, NY
"I've never seen an agent hustle the way Phil does." -Vasal, New Windsor, NY
"I am amazed at what you do to get the job done. Thanks for all you did to sell my home." -Barbara, New Windsor, NY
"We are extremely grateful for the fine job you did in getting our house sold. We highly recommend you!" -Daniel and Louise, Newburgh, NY
"We are finally closed and finished! Thanks for all you've done!" -Farisha, Cortlandt Manor, NY
"Phil, that makes it two times you've helped me out. Thanks for getting me out of the spot I was in and getting my house sold. I appreciate your efforts and will recommend you in the future." -Walter, White Plains, NY
"We can't believe how fast you sold our house-and for full price! best of luck to you in the future." -Cally and Justin, Hawthorne, NY
"Phil, you did it. Thanks for getting the job done. We are relieved and grateful." -Jim and Danielle, Mt Kisco, NY
"Phil you did and outstanding job." -Joe and Madelyn, Rye, NY
"Thanks and great job. We got more than we paid for. " -William and Pat, Bronxville, NY
"Just a great job. Thank you for getting the job done when previous agents couldn't." -Jim and Theresa, Poughkeepsie, NY
"Thank you so much. I would use you again!" -Kathy, Wappingers Falls, NY
"You're the man. Thanks for getting our house sold so quickly, for over the asking price." -Sterling and Rosalind, Poughkeepsie, NY
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