Today's Less Than Flattering NY Times Article

This morning, I've received a number of emails about an article in today's NY Times, Few Laughs Left in a Catskill Town Struggling to Survive. The article focuses on Monticello, the county seat of Sullivan County, and doesn't include any notable surprises or misrepresentations. Monticello has been a basket case in decline for years. I was chatting about the sad state of Monticello with a few colleagues a week or two ago, and I described it as "Kind of a rural Newark without the vision or leadership of Cory Booker."

But I caution readers of the Times' article to not paint the whole county with Monticello's brush. Large swaths of the central to eastern parts of Sullivan, the parts of the county that largely comprised the "old" Catskills that had their last heydey more than a generation ago, have fallen on hard times. The tattered remnants of old hotels and bungalow colonies dot the landscape. Once vibrant villages and hamlets like South Fallsburg, Woodbourne and Monticello are run down and depressing.

That isn't the whole picture of Sullivan County. The western and northern parts of Sullivan, which have grown more popular with a newer, younger generation of city escapees, are very different than the central and eastern parts of the county. That's a distinction that is sometimes hard to convey to new buyers just starting to explore Sullivan. They find really inexpensive places for sale online located in those eastern areas, and think they've found a bargain nirvana.

Of course, the more rural western and northern parts of the county aren't insulated from the economic decline in other parts of the county, and agriculture — a mainstay of the rural areas — is having a tough time largely because of depressed milk prices and little help from a state government that can't seem to find two nickels to rub together because dysfunctional politicians are more interested in squabbles than solutions.

Comments

[Ion Kracsny]

{Knudsen remarks}

"...Of course, the more rural __western and northern__ parts of the county aren't insulated from the economic decline in other parts of the county, and agriculture — a mainstay of the rural areas —is having a tough time largely because of depressed milk prices and little help from a state government that can't seem to find two nickels to rub together because dysfunctional politicians are more interested in squabbles than solutions."

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Thus, the allure of gas drilling and the money it will bring to those farmers and hunting clubs that have large tracts of land in the Western part of the country where Marcellus is.

Plus - all the local and state politicians want the gas and the added revenues to the Empire State.

Dave, it's a great blog.

Keep it up.

ion

[Dennis]

Year's almost over folks and it might be of interest to show sold sales for three western townships - Highland, Tusten and Cochecton - from January 1 through December 19 for the past four years of 09, 08, 07 and 06.

Sales for this region of Sullivan County are off by:

(-57%)

comparing Y07 and Y09.

=========

2006 - 71 sales

2007 - 80 sales

2008 - 51 sales

2009 - 34 sales

=================

[David Knudsen]

So, Dennis, how long did it take you to select out those townships to find the worst performing combination? If you look at the entire group of townships that are generally considered the "western" townships --- Fremont, Delaware, Callicoon, Bethel, Tusten, Cochecton, Highland and Lumberland, the picture is a bit different. There were 207 single family sales in those townships reported in the Sullivan MLS in 2007 from Jan 1 through Dec 19, while in 2009 for the same period there were 142, a drop of 31.5%, much smaller than your 57% for the 3 townships. That 31% drop is exactly the same as the performance for the county as a whole.

[ames]

Have you considered David that you may be one of the few people making a living in the area now?

[keith]

Regarding David's comment about Albany being dysfunctional. Just read the first paragraph of the article, I liked the description of NY, had not seen it put that way before.
http://www.newyorker.com/reporting/2007/12/10/071210fa_fact_paumgarten

[Ken]

I haven't seen any decline in the number of people enjoying a canoe ride down the Delaware River. What I have seen is a lot more people being aware that this amazing natural resource is here. I met lots of people last summer that were on their first trip to Sullivan County and a pretty large percentage of them came this way to go to a concert at Bethel Woods. Will that result in an immediate real estate boom? Doubtful. But it's certainly a different picture than centering any discussion around places like Monticello and Middletown.

[estate]

blog of knowledge, i love this