10 Best Deals of 2009

It's the last day of 2009, and it's a year that many in the real estate business will want to forget. As we headed into the year most of us battened down the hatches for a very rough ride. Much to my surprise, I ended up having a far better year than I expected, largely by shifting focus to "great deal" properties. Luckily, not all buyers disappeared this year. There has been a steady stream of buyers on the hunt for a great deal, and as I've discussed many times on this blog, those are the properties that have largely been selling.

While sellers may have been losers in 2009, many buyers have, in my opinion, been big winners. A lot of buyers have succeeded in sweeping up houses at jaw dropping prices. Over the last few weeks, I've been casually asking other agents about what they thought were the best deals of the year. I also spent a few hours scrolling through all the closed single family sales in the Sullivan MLS for the year to refresh my memory. I ended up with a list of abut 40 properties that got my "Wow, what a deal!" juices flowing. Admittedly, my approach is neither scientific nor impartial because I'm selecting from areas I'm most familiar with, as well as properties that have appeal in my core second home market.

Then I set out to whittle that group of 40 down to 10 Best Deals. It was not an easy task. There were 4 or 5 that were no brainers — a log house on 94 acres in Fallsburg township, originally on the market for $769,000 and selling for $400,000 earned my top "Oh my God, what a deal" spot. My next 4, in no particular order, were a cute new construction repro farmhouse on 2.5 acres in Bethel, originally listed at $289,000 that sold for $155,000; a seasonal lakefront cottage on Division Pond at Wolf Lake for $220,000 (originally $345,000); a very privately set 6 bedroom lakefront house on 5 acres on Edgewood Lake in the Beaverkill Valley that sold for $360,000 (originally $819,000 when first listed in 2006); and a 3,300 sq. ft. non-lakefront house in Chapin Estates that went for $450,000 (originally listed in 2008 for $819,000.)

Rounding out my top ten was a tougher call, and I had to do some tough triage. But my final 5 include a 5 bedroom house on 19 acres up at Lew Beach that sold for $460,000 (originally listed over $800,000), and three bank-owned foreclosures — one on Baxter Mountain Road north of Roscoe that sold for $98,900, a log home on Decker Road near Glen Spey for $165,360, and a vinyl sided ranch outside of Jeffersonville on 5 acres outside of Jeffersonville for $70,000.

Click here to see the listings from the MLS for my top 10. Note that the "original asking prices" shown in these listings are the origional asking prices for the last listing for that property, and a number of these had earlier listings with higher asking prices. (In my comments above, I included the original asking prices from previous listings when I was able to find that information.)

I'm sure folks have other ideas about the houses that should have made my top 10. As I mentioned, I started out with close to 40 — and anything in my bigger group was a pretty darn good deal, but for one reason or another, I thought these 10 rose to the level of "spectacular deals."

And now, signing off at the end of 2009, I'd like to wish everyone a very, very Happy New Year!

Comments

[cfrench]

Dave - here are the December 1 through 31 2009 closing numbers.

37 sold homes and the median was $123,000.

My good man, the median continues to drop.

You think there were good buys in '09?

Just wait until 2010!

Happy New Year -- and be careful out there while kicking those tires!

cfrench

[ar]

The Fallsburg house has nearly 20 times as much land as the Chapin Estates house but its taxes are less than half as much as the Chapin house. Insanity.

[Andrew]

Dave,

Thanks for an excellent blog. I've been following you throughout 2009 and look forward to the New Year of posts. If we ever decide to hop off the fence, I'll give you a call.

Best regards,

Andrew

[Rod]

David - I have to wonder why the fact-challenged post. The repro farmhouse was anything but cute, and the market (including you) universally panned it as ill-conceived and badly designed - a 'new coat of paint' won't change that. And the Chapin house was first at $990,000 in 2006.

[David Knudsen]

My apologies about the Chapin house. It wasn't in the MLS when it was first listed, so I was going on memory as to what I thought the original asking price was. And regarding the house on Mt. Hope Road --- at $289K or whatever it's initial asking price was (again, it wasn't first multiple listed) it was ill conceived and had flaws for something at that price point, given what else could be bought at that price. But at $155K it was a damn good deal, and the floor plan wasn't bad. Change out some of the surfaces, paint the house a lighter color, add some shutters and maybe some wainscotting here and there and you'd have a pretty nice place for the price.

[ms]

Deals Dave?

Well, you just had two houses in good condition that sold in Callicoon for UNDER 100k in the last month.

Not handyman either.

4 BR/ 1.5 Bath.

One went for 95k and the other for 85k.

They were offered in the low to mid 100's and three / four years ago - they would've sold in that range my friend.

You should include those too so your visitors get the real picture.

ms

[David Knudsen]

Maybe not condition challenged, but I would venture that both of the sales you mention are 'location challenged'. The $85K sale in Callicoon is on Viaduct Road, under the Route 97 overpass and across from the hamlet's waste treatment plant. The $95K sale you reference, I assume, is the one one Dyker Road above North Branch in Callicoon Township. That one actually made my first cut of 40 houses, but in the end I didn't include it because whether it turns out to be a great value will depend largely, in my opinion, on what happens to the old Oasis animal sanctuary property next door that is on the market. There is a large kennel building on that property, and while I don't believe that it has an active kennel permit, if it does revive at a kennel that could negatively impact this house. If it doesn't revive as a kennel, I think somebody got a great deal. If that wasn't a potential issue, I probably would have included that one in my top 10, instead of the $70K one outside of Jeffersonville.