Akiko Matsuda

amatsuda@lohud.com

On a recent Sunday afternoon, a constant flow of people visited an open house on North Ridge Street in Rye Brook — a well-maintained three-bedroom split-level that had been put on the market about a week earlier for $699,900.

The 26 groups of visitors, mostly families with young children, toured the 1,798-square-foot home, checking out the spacious living-dining area with open kitchen, ground-level family room and upstairs bedrooms with hardwood floors.

A day later, the listing agent, Sam Kobata of Shoen Realty, reported the owners already had received multiple offers.

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The story is just one example of the high demand in the Lower Hudson Valley this season for what is always the Holy Grail of the local real estate market: Single-family homes priced below $1 million in reputable public school districts.

Bidding wars were already commonplace for move-in-ready homes in river towns and southern Westchester communities that offer easy Metro-North access to Grand Central. But those scenarios are spreading across the region, and the inventory isn't keeping up with the demand, real estate professionals say.

"The story of the real estate market right now is the lack of inventory," said Joseph Rand, managing partner for Better Homes and Gardens Rand Realty, which operates in the Hudson Valley region and in New Jersey. "The market is hot and buyers' demand is very strong, but just there's not enough fuel for the fire. We need more listings coming on the market."

The tight inventory has started driving prices up, he and others say.

Reiko Okumura, 46, who has been searching for her ideal house in Westchester for almost a year, said the competitive nature of the market caught her by surprise.

"We've made several offers," said Okumura of Danbury, who is hoping to shorten her commute to Manhattan by relocating to southern Westchester. "But the homes we liked received multiple offers, and some people made offers above the asking price."

Hyperactive market

The volume of home sales has been rising in both in Westchester and Rockland in recent years, statistics show, with many of the buyers said to be young couples and families in New York City looking for more space for their buck.

"In fact, (Westchester's) single family home sales in this first quarter was the highest first quarter in a decade," said Jonathan Miller, president of Miller Samuel Real Estate Appraisers & Consultants. "And the single-family inventory was the lowest first quarter in 13 years. The combination of very high sales activity and low inventory made the market move unusually fast during the first quarter."

The number of single-family homes for sale in the first quarter of 2017 was down 17 percent from the same period last year both in Westchester and Rockland, according to the quarterly report by the Hudson Gateway Multiple Listing Service, a subsidiary of the Hudson Gateway Association of Realtors.

Kenyatta Jones-Arietta, the owner of Nyack-based R2M Realty, can attest to the tight market based on her experience.

"When properties come on the market especially in our area, if they are priced right, they get offers and don’t last. They go within a first week if not the first few days," she said. "So working with our buyers, you have to be really aggressive. If (a home) comes on the market Wednesday, we are there on Wednesday."

Rand said the level of sales activity is back to where it was in the pre-recession era, leading to some creative tactics on the part of desperate would-be homeowners.

"We're already seeing a buyer doing things like writing letters to sellers to say how much they loved the house” to get the sellers' attention, he said.

Price points

The median sales prices wildly vary in different communities in the region, but the most desirable price points seem to lie between $400,000 and $600,000. When homes in good condition in this price range come on the market, they don't last, experts agreed.

So when Joe and Katie Nash of Pearl River recently found their dream home in New City, they made a move immediately.

"We went to an open house," said Joe Nash, 35, who is a member of a local rock band N.A.S.H. and an Orange and Rockland Utilities employee. "We both saw it for about 10 minutes and we called our real estate agent and put in an offer."

The couple is now in the process of closing the deal for the four-bedroom house priced at $450,000 in the Lake Lucille private community.

That $450,000 figure is exactly what Rich Reilly and his wife, Melissa Janjic, have in mind. The couple is currently selling their one-bedroom co-op in Queens, aiming to find a home in Rockland.

"What we can afford here (in New York City) is basically a one-bedroom apartment," said Reilly, 35, an NYPD officer. "What we can afford in upstate New York is a house on an acre or three-quarters of an acre of land. Their school systems are better. The crime is lower. There’s less people. For us, it’s just a better quality of life."

To better prepare for the competitive housing market, Reilly and Janjic got pre-approved for a $450,000 mortgage, Reilly said.

"Our strategy is to look into until we find something that fits us," he said. "We understand that the market is tight right now. There’s not a lot of inventory. But I'm sure everything happens for a reason, so we'll just look until we find something we like."

What's trending

A majority of first-home buyers flocking to the Lower Hudson Valley market aren't looking for something fancy, said Dorothy Botsoe, president of the Hudson Gateway Association of Realtors and the owner of Dorothy Jensen Realty in White Plains.

"A lot of people are just looking for a basic house with three bedrooms, two baths," Batsoe said.

But not basic and dated: They do want their homes to be pretty much ready to move in.

"They'd do a little bit of work — painting or replacing carpet — but they don't want to do a major renovation, like redoing a bathroom or kitchen," she said. "If you're spending $400,000, and this is your first home, you don't have a lot of money saved to do a major renovation."

Buyers from New York City aren't necessarily ready to change their lifestyle after moving to the suburbs, said Alison Bernstein, president of Suburban Jungle Realty, a real estate firm exclusively focused on buyers leaving the city for the suburbs.

"Those that are moving from New York City are looking to replicate as much of their urban life as possible. They are attracted to walkability, smaller homes and a town with a great vibe," Bernstein said. "One of the major trends I am seeing in Westchester and Rockland counties is that land and large homes are no longer desirable."

In the past several years, city dwellers who are looking for more space than their one-bedroom apartments headed to Westchester communities south of Route 287, including the Rivertowns, Sound Shore and the towns between these two areas, such as Scarsdale.

Those communities continue to be popular, but as the inventory shrinks, some buyers may be broadening their search north of I-287.

The first quarter single-family-home sales in northeast Westchester — including the towns of Bedford, North Castle and Mount Pleasant — increased by 10.2 percent compared to the same period last year. The sales in northwest Westchester — including the village of Croton-on-Hudson and the town of Yorktown — increased by 9.8 percent. On the other hand, the sales in Rivertowns and the White Plains-Greenburgh area decreased by 11.3 percent and 9.5 percent respectively.

"Sometimes those people who want to live in the Rivertowns area, they are willing to wait because they are not in a rush," Batsoe explained. "If you are trying to get into the school system, then you want to be able to buy and close before August because you want to make sure you can register your children for school. Otherwise, if they are just starting out ... they'll wait until the right house comes on the market."

Prices inching up

Until recently, sales prices haven't budged in the region despite the heavy market activity. But that changed in the first quarter.

The median price of single family homes in Westchester was $600,000, up 5.3 percent from the year before. In Rockland, the figure was $425,000, up by 6.5 percent from a year ago.

And the market conditions indicate the trend is likely to continue, said Rand.

"The market right now reminds me of 2002, 2003. The sales volume is back to where we were. It’s a sellers’ market," Rand said. "But the prices are still 25 percent below (earlier high points). So the prices still have the room to rise. Now the demand is so strong, and the inventory is low, I think those things start driving prices up."

A recent sale handled by Kobata of Shoen Realty may be a good indication. A $750,000 home with Scarsdale ZIP code brought in nearly 60 groups for its open house, generating multiple offers.

"It was sold about 10 percent higher than the asking price after bidding," Kobata said.

Twitter: @LohudAkiko

Area single-family home median sales prices for the first quarter of 2017 (Figures in parentheses are from the same period last year)

Rockland: $425,000 ($399,000)

Westchester: $600,000 ($569,950)

Putnam: $295,000 ($300,000)

Source: Hudson Gateway Multiple Listing Service

Median sales prices by Westchester communities

Northeast [Bedford, Byram Hills, Chappaqua, Katonah-Lewisboro, North Salem, Pleasantville, Somers]: $655,000 ($625,000)

Northwest [Croton-Harmon, Hendrick-Hudson, Lakeland, Peekskill, Yorktown]: $370,000 ($364,000)

Rivertowns [Ardsley, Briarcliff Manor, Dobbs Ferry, Elmsford, Hastings, Irvington, Mount Pleasant, Ossining, Pocantico Hills, Tarrytown]: $607,000 ($565,000)

White Plains & Vicinity [Greenburgh, Valhalla, White Plains, Hawthorne]: $1,041,000 ($998,888)

Sound Shore [Blind Brook, Harrison, Mamaroneck, Port Chester, Rye City, Rye Neck]: $560,000 ($518,750)

Lower [Eastchester, Edgemont, Scarsdale, Tuckahoe]: $1,280,000 ($1,095,000)

South [Mount Vernon, New Rochelle, Pelham, Yonkers]: $489,000 ($476,750)

Source: The Elliman Report [Names of the school districts in each region are listed in the brackets.]