March 30, 2007

2,418 sqft house with .71 acres for $999,000 - where?

A while ago, Burbed reader CatSynth asked:

OK, that’s at least two Long Island posts in the last couple of weeks. What about Westchester - New York City’s northern suburb? Having grown up there, I’m pretty sure it has some pretty high housing prices - you’ve got Scarsdale, and Chappaqua (my home town, and home of Hillary Clinton).

Burbed serves his readers. (Sometimes late though.) I thought it would be fun to see what $999,000 buys you in Chappaqua - home of CatSynth and Hillary Clinton. Let’s see:

REALTOR.com: Find a Home - Listing Detail
Chappaqua, NY 10514
MLS ID#: 2625526
$999,900

chapp.jpg
4 Bed, 3 Bath
2,418 Sq. Ft.
0.71 Acres
Building Lifetime Relationships . . . One House at at Time

Single Family Property, Area: New Castle, County: WESTCHESTER, Approximately 0.71 acre(s), Lot is 30928 sq. ft., Year Built: 1920, Central air conditioning, Swimming pool(s), Fireplace(s)

Wow… so for $999,000 you get .71 acres of land, a 2418 sqft house with 4 bedrooms and 3 bathrooms. Oh, and it has a pool.

Why did I pick this house? Because yesterday we saw what $999,000 gets you in the Bay Area:

So - your choice. $999,000 for a 506 sqft home with 2 bedrooms and 1 bath in a place that’s truly special?

Or $999,000 for a 2418 sqft home with 4 bedrooms and 3 bath in a place that doesn’t have Stanford, Cal, nice summers, nice winters, tech jobs, good burritos/guacamole, gangs, Walmart, or El Camino Real?

The answer is obvious!

Happy Friday everyone!

EDIT: It was pointed out that the Mountain View house was actually an R3, so you’re buying that house to tear it down to build multiple ones. For the sake of fairness, here’s another special $99xk Bay Area house:

http://www.burbed.com/2007/02/07/949000-mi-1092sqft-casa-is-su-casa/

Posted by: burbed @ 5:27 am

14 Responses to “2,418 sqft house with .71 acres for $999,000 - where?”

  1. Brendan Says:
    March 30th, 2007 at 10:17 am

    You’re completely right. I’d be out of here if I didn’t have a good job, and family here. I also grew up here so I am somewhat reluctant to let go of this area.

  2. henry Says:
    March 30th, 2007 at 12:16 pm

    What are the property taxes like in Chappaqua?

  3. Liz Says:
    March 30th, 2007 at 12:44 pm

    I LOVE million dollar week on Burbed! Used to be a million dollars actually BOUGHT you million dollar home. NOT ANYMORE….

    Please tell me who would actually spend the money to live in those california homes you have listed. Wouldnt you feel like the hugest asshole paying that monthly mortgage and getting a rather crummy home?

    liz

  4. burbed Says:
    March 30th, 2007 at 12:49 pm

    It’s probably just a smidge more than the equiv in California.

  5. burbed Says:
    March 30th, 2007 at 12:50 pm

    >Wouldnt you feel like the hugest asshole paying that monthly mortgage and getting a rather crummy home?

    It’s special here. Only smart people live here.

  6. Norcalboomer Says:
    March 30th, 2007 at 6:19 pm

    I think the reason this property is so valuable is because the blue car ( obviously a classic) is included in the purchase price. A savvy homedebtor should be able to rent that out to an immigrant family to help make the mortgage payment!!

  7. henry Says:
    March 31st, 2007 at 3:24 pm

    > It’s probably just a smidge more than the equiv in California.

    Actually Westchester County, NY has the highest property tax rates in the country. For example, in 2005 the median home value in Westchester county was $541,000 while the median property tax bill was $7327 (source: http://www.fairfieldcbj.com/archive/101606/1016060008.php). The rates in Chappaqua are higher still.

    So I guess when when you say “a smidge higher” you mean 50-75% higher.

  8. burbed Says:
    March 31st, 2007 at 4:54 pm

    http://www.zillow.com/HomeDetails.htm?o=North&testAds=false&zprop=19634176

    This Cupertino house was assessed at $697,068 and its tax bill was $8,344.

    If it were a direct proportion, in Westchester it would be $9440. About 13% more.

    I’m not sure how mathematically sound that is though.

  9. henry Says:
    March 31st, 2007 at 6:03 pm

    According to zillow, this house (http://www.zillow.com/HomeDetails.htm?zprop=33065193)in Chappaqua is worth $944,000 with a 2005 property tax bill of $16026. It last sold in 1977 for $477,500.

    In California, the average tax is 1.1% of sales price, so a house bought at $944,000 today will have a tax of $10,384. In addition, the property taxes can only go up by 2% per year in California. A home owner gets no such protection in NY.

    You are comparing apples and oranges.

  10. burbed Says:
    March 31st, 2007 at 7:49 pm

    Ouch - I guess my theory wasn’t mathematically sound.

    No wonder everyone’s flocking here.

  11. CatSynth Says:
    April 2nd, 2007 at 8:40 am

    One thing you don’t mention is the schools. Chappaqua has an *good* school system, something that it hard to imagine here in California, where no one wants to pay for such luxuries. Who needs agood schools when you have great burritos, Frys, and live within walking distance of Google and Apple, right?

  12. burbed Says:
    April 2nd, 2007 at 8:55 am

    By walking, CatSynth means “driving less than 30 minutes.”

  13. henry Says:
    April 2nd, 2007 at 2:17 pm

    > One thing you don’t mention is the schools. Chappaqua has an *good* school system, something that it hard to imagine here in California, where no one wants to pay for such luxuries.

    Again, apples vs oranges. There are plenty of places in California that would willing raise local property taxes to fund local schools. Unfortuately that isn’t allowed in California. See Serrano v. Priest.

  14. burbed Says:
    April 2nd, 2007 at 2:22 pm

    “no one” is probably too strong.

    But being that Prop 13 continues to have a 70%+ approval rating, perhaps “most landowners” would probably be more accurate.


Leave a Reply