Miriam Bernstein,Westchester County Real Estate

If you are a first time buyer or moving to Westchester County from another part of the country you may receive listings from a Realtor© Real Estate terms mean different things all across the country so you can't assume that if you bought real estate in let's say Florida or Arizona that when it says "pending" on the listing that it means the same thing as up here. There are also differences within the metropolitan area so the following just applies to Westchester County.

ACTIVE - these are properties that are active on the Westchester Putnam Multiple Listing Service. Properties stay active until a contract is actually signed. A property with an accepted offer will still show as active and you may or may not be able to still view it - up to the seller.

CONDITIONAL CONTRACT - the status will change from active to conditional contract when both the buyer and the seller have signed the contract. There might be contingencies such as a mortgage contingency in the contract which is why it is called a conditional contract.

PENDING - the status will change when all of the contingencies in the contract have been met, the mortgage committment obtained and everything is done.

SOLD - the status will change to sold when the title passes and the property changes ownership.

The sales statistics for Westchester County have just been published in two places. One is the New York State Assocation of Realtors and the other is Realist is a company that the Westchester Board of Realtors uses to compile public market data. Let's start with the State numbers.

For existing single family homes in May, 2007 there were 401 sold, May, 2008 there were 306 sold, April, 2009 179 and May 2009 217. The percentages tell the story. From May, 2007 to May, 2009 there were 21.7% less home sold in Westchester County. According to the state the median price has dropped significantly as well. in May of 2007 the median was $675,000, in May, 2008 the median was 703,750 and in May, 2009 the median dropped to $568,000.

Realist picks up stats from public records. This snapshot says 6/3/2009 but when you consider that the sales are not recorded immediately these numbers do not correctly state the market at the current time. There is a lag. Overall however it gives you an indication of what is going on with the market but is not accurate if analyzing the market statistically.

Roaming around the internet this morning I wandered over to Yahoo to check out their Real Estate Section. I thought I would check out what they have on their site for Scarsdale, New York so I punched it into their search and voila up came 278 "home for sale". Then I wandered over to Zillow and put in the same search and voila up came 414 properties for Scarsdale. How can that be? So on the Zillow site I looked at some of the properties listed for Scarsdale and they had properties in Ardsley, Dobbs Ferry, Eastchester all included even though these properties have different zip codes. Interesteing. So I went over to Trulia and punched in Scarsdale, New York again and got a completely different number - 314.

I got curious and thought I would check out who is right. What is the correct number of properties on the market for Scarsdale, New York. I went to the Westchester - Putnam Multiple Listing Service and no one is right. The problem is that none of these sites explains what is included and what is not included in their numbers.

From the MLS for the Scarsdale zip (10583) there are 289 active listings, 191 single family homes, 29 condo, 68 c-op and 1 multi family. This did not include rentals of which when included brings the total properties to 372.

For the Scarsdale School District there are 190 active single family homes, 6 condo's, 4 co-op;s, and 47 rentals.

For Scarsdale Village there are 150 active single family homes, 103 single family, 6 condo, 3 co-op and 38 rentals.

Scarsdale is both a Town and a Village so for the Town there are 184 single family homes, 128 single family, 6 condo's, 4 co-op's and 46 rentals.

Market statistics are not easy to get right and you can't assume that any one site is right or wrong - who knows?

A press release issued yesterday by the County Executive of Westchester County addresses foreclosures in Wetchester County. Mr. Spano has send letters out to 23 financial institutions throughout the County asking for a voluntary 90 day freeze of foreclosures. This is to give individuals time to talk to their financial institutions. The statement:

Spano took the action with statistics showing that there were 2,431 foreclosure filings and judgments in Westchester during the last year, an increased of 58.7 percent over a year earlier.
In the letters, Spano said that the national housing crisis, the downturn on Wall Street and a troubled economy is hurting area families.

"I strongly urge your bank to take immediate action to help homeowners stay in their homes in Westchester County," Spano said in his letter. "...Rising mortgage defaults only exacerbate the credit crisis and are in no one's best interests, including the banking system."

Spano said that sevearl banks on the national level, inlcuding Bank of America, J.P. Morgan Chase and Citigroup, have announced programs to try to help modify problem mortgages. Each of those three banks has branches in the region.

Only in New York? Maybe. On the locals newstations this morning was the announcement that the Triboro Bridge is having a name change. This bridge has had the same name since the 1930's. It is named Triboro because it connects three boros, Manhattan, Queens and the Bronx. Those of us who live here are comfortable with the bridge, the name and we know where it takes us and where it doesn't.

So, on the news this morning was the announcement that this bridge is now the Robert F. Kennedy Bridge or RFK Bridge. Here is the kicker. In these economic times, where our bridge infrastructure is deteriorating, where the there are people losing their homes, jobs and there is an economic weakness the MTA (Metroplitan Transportation Authority) decides to change the name of the Triboro Bridge. Seems a bit disconnected from the world we live in. It costs me $5.00 in tolls to travel over the Triboro Bridge each way and the MTA is always crying poverty and requesting rate increases.

To change all of the signs from Triboro Bridge to Robert F. Kennedy Bridge cost FOUR MILLION DOLLARS, for signs, just the signs. The MTA is also working with the Robert Kennedy foundation to provide information to the public, so we don't get confused by this name change. So we don't cross the
Whitestone Bridge to go to New York City, I guess.

I kid you not. FOUR MILLION DOLLARS for signs.