(From the Putnam County Courier.com website)

Economist praises Putnam County

SOUTHEAST-Marc Goloven is one of America's leading economists.

By: Eric Gross

02/10/2005

The Bedford resident knows a winner when he sees one and last week during a luncheon sponsored by the Putnam County Economic Development Corporation, the recently retired chief economist of the J.P. Morgan Chase Bank, praised Putnam's economic picture.

Educators, business leaders and elected officials listened for 90 minutes as Goloven talked about Putnam's economic stance as compared to other communities across New York.

Goloven said that Putnam had the fastest payroll job growth among the 62 counties in the Empire State. "Putnam is eclipsing every other county when measured by the speed of job growth. The unemployment rate that is one of the key barometers of local economic performance in the $800 billion New York State economy has dropped in Putnam to 2.9 percent. The figure is the lowest rate of unemployment in any county in New York. When the two economic statistics are twinned, many of the challenges being faced by county leaders are what I call the 'challenges of prosperity.' This opulence is seen everywhere from increased traffic congestion during rush hour to the difficulty of small businesses being able to attract and retain qualified employees."

Goloven talked about the escalating price of homes in Putnam County.

"Putnam boasts the fastest rate of home price appreciation. Outside of two counties in New York City - Richmond County or Staten Island and Queens County - Putnam is experiencing the fastest rate of population growth of any of the 57 counties outside of New York City," he said.

During the 1990s, Putnam experienced a 14 percent growth in population, according to the U.S. Census Bureau. New York State grew by 5.5 percent during the same time.

Goloven described the increase as part of the "relentless tide of population that continues to shift northward throughout the entire Hudson Valley."

Goloven said some of the most expensive real estate in the Hudson Valley "outside of the oxygen requiring prices of Westchester are found in Putnam and Rockland. As a result, those seeking a home are being required to move even further north into Dutchess County. Southern Dutchess is becoming one of the hottest real estate markets in the state."

Goloven attributed much of Putnam's successes to the rebound of the national economy. " America is in the midst of a full fledged boom in investment spending. The prognosis for 2005 and 2006 seems favorable for a continuation of significant and sustained economic growth," he said.

Goloven told an amusing anecdote about a meeting he attended in Albany with Dr. Stephen Kagann, the state's chief economist. Kagann told Gov. George Pataki that Putnam ranked third in terms of nationwide growth.

"Kagann said that Putnam was eclipsed only by Loredo, Texas, and by Las Vegas, Nevada. Then came Putnam County. You should have seen the jaws drop in the executive chamber of the government when the governor found out that his home county was the third fastest growing area in the nation today," said Goloven.

©Putnam County Courier 2005

(From the JournalNews.com website)

Prices climb, but buyers still rate Putnam a value

By Noreen Seebacher

THE JOURNAL NEWS

(Original publication: April 23, 2004)

When John and Barbara Esau downsized their home, they traded a four-bedroom, two-bath Cape Cod in Chappaqua for a five-bedroom, three-bath Colonial in Carmel. They got more than twice as much land, cut their property taxes almost in half, and spent $200,000 less for the new house than the one they sold.

Barbara Esau and her husband, John, sold their home in Chappaqua in Westchester County and moved to this house in Carmel.

 "So much for our downsizing. We had good intentions, but we got it mixed up. It happens when you move to Putnam County," John Esau said. "Relatively speaking, you still get a lot of bang for your buck."

Since the Esaus moved to Putnam two years ago, the value of their home and their property tax bill have both climbed. They're paying $11,000 a year in real estate taxes now, $2,000 more than when they first moved in. But neither one is complaining. "It's still less than the $16,000 we were paying in Chappaqua," said Esau, a sales associate at Houlihan Lawrence in Mahopac.

The housing market always depends on your perspective.

In the past two years, according to statistics from the New York State Association of Realtors, the median prices of homes climbed 48 percent statewide. In the metro area alone, where prices started significantly higher than the state average, price increases ranged from nearly 25 percent to more than 38 percent between the end of 2001 and the end of 2003.

The greatest appreciation locally was in Putnam County. Median prices climbed from $255,000 in December 2001 to $353,250 at the end of last year. During the same period in Westchester, median prices increased from $449,900 to $560,000.

The higher prices climbed in Westchester, the more desirable Putnam became, real estate agents said. Patti Arndt, a sales associate at the Coldwell Banker office in Somers, said it was only natural. As a rule, the longer the drive to Manhattan, the more house you can get for your money.

"Many people drive up here because they're priced out in Westchester. So they consider Putnam, and then, if they can't find what they want, continue on to Dutchess," she said.

As recently as the end of 1999, the median sale price was $197,000 in Putnam and $335,000 in Westchester. "People looking for starter homes in Putnam now may not be able to find them," Esau conceded. "They're being squeezed out, just like some buyers have been squeezed out of Westchester."

"Even so, there's more value in Putnam today than in northern Westchester, and certainly more value than in Southern Westchester."

But for newlyweds Joe and Lisa Cacciatore, the pleasures of Putnam cannot be measured in money alone. The Cacciatores are moving from an apartment on Long Island to a home in Patterson to escape "constant traffic and congestion."

"I'm tired of spending 30 minutes in traffic on a Saturday morning trying to get to a bagel shop a mile from my home," Cacciatore said.

Cacciatore, an insurance consultant, works in midtown Manhattan. Although the train ride via Metro-North from Brewster will be slightly longer than the trip from Babylon on the Long Island Rail Road, Cacciatore expects his overall commute to decline slightly. "Grand Central is closer to my office than Penn Station," he said.

His wife, a respiratory therapist, works at a Long Island hospital. She plans to look for a position closer to her new home, he said. They are in contract to buy a three-bedroom, two bath bi-level house that was on the market for $349,900.

"Maybe 20 years from now Putnam County will be just as saturated as Long Island is. But for now, you can still get around without bumper-to-bumper traffic. You can breathe. There's a lot of open space. It's almost like being in the country."

 ©Journal News 2004