Sullivan County second home market up 50% over 5 years

Real Estate Weekly, August 21, 2002 by Elise Platt

New York's Sullivan County is enjoying an explosive affluent second-home market, with buyers from the metropolitan area driving average prices of second homes up by as much as 50% over the past five years. In contrast, overall property values in the area have risen about 10 to 20% during this same time period.

Much of the increase in second home prices is due to The Chapin Estate, a gated residential preserve set on 5,600 wilderness acres in the county.

Created by The Woodstone Companies on land that was once owned by industrialist Chester Chapin, Jr., prices at The Chapin Estate range from $137,900 to $385,000 for the five-acre-plus home sites, with the lakefront sites commanding the premium. Houses are priced from $262,000 to $1.2 million, depending upon the amount of custom design and hand crafted finishes desired.

In other sales in Sullivan county, the highest price transaction this year has been $750,000. Another home is on the market for $1.25 million.

"It used to be that we didn't see too many homes in the area selling for half a million, but now it's common," says Linda McKean of McKean Realty, White Lake, NY.

Prices are expected to soar even higher when the new $40-million performing arts center opens in the area in 2004.

The New York Philharmonic will begin performing there, helping turn the area into a new center for culture and the arts.

At The Chapin Estate, nearly $4 million dollars of home sites have been sold since September this year. The construction value of the custom designed homes being built on those sites ranges from $700,000 to $1.3 million each. The total value of homes under construction, together with lots already sold, at The Chapin Estate is thus more than $12 million dollars.

The home sites range from five to eight acres and are spacious enough to offer the utmost privacy and serenity. They provide ample property on which to build a home, as well as a guest-house, in-law cottage, studio, dock or other personal amenities.

The homes being built have rustically elegant Adirondack camp style architecture, one-of-a-kind artisan details and hand-crafted elements. Buyers may choose a home from Woodstone's collection of designs, work with Woodstone's builder to design their own custom home, or build with another approved builder.

Currently, The Chapin Estate has two distinct enclaves available. At The Peninsula at The Chapin Estate, there are 35 lakefront sites located along the northern shores of the pristine Toronto Reservoir. The first residents have already moved in.

Home-sites at the enclave known as Swinging Bridge at The Chapin Estate are just becoming available.

These sites are set in heavily wooded rolling hills on the shores of lively, active nine-mile Swinging Bridge Reservoir. Thirty-five of the 48 sites in Swinging Bridge are lakefront.

The Swinging Bridge offshore sites start at $137,900, and at $180,000 on the lake. Houses start at $262,000.

New-York's Catskill Mountains were hailed recently by W Magazine as New York's hip new hideaway. There also galleries and museums, antique stores, fine restaurants, a cabaret with weekly performances by Tony-award winning Broadway stars, and more arts facilities.