Pleasantville’s Real Estate Market Prepares to Thaw Out

The spring season for residential real estate traditionally begins immediately after the Super Bowl ends with a combination of new listings and new viewers for homes that have been available since the fall.

Pleasantville’s (pre-Super Bowl) inventory of approximately 70 properties was characterized by the local real estate professionals as high. One of the effects of the size of the inventory and the natural slowness of the market after Thanksgiving is more than two dozen listings were withdrawn or allowed to expire.

There is, however, some guarded optimism about what is ahead as characterized by Tom Consaga, owner/broker at Remax/Ace at 356 Manville Rd., who has seen “a significant increase in phone calls, inquiries, showings and web traffic recently.”

Jayne Begley, manager of Prudential Holmes & Kennedy, at 343 Manville Rd. in Pleasantville, believes the recent gains in the stock market, some stability in the metro area job market and pent-up demand by buyers who have been waiting for prices to be at or near the bottom, will coincide, creating more sales.

Fifty-seven of the active listings are for single-family homes. Thirty-five percent of those are priced between $500,000 to $699,000. Forty percent of the homes are listed from $700,000 to $1.8 million, including new construction at Pleasant Village Estates (on the site of the former C.V.Pierce on Route 117), at 112 Bedford Rd. near the Old Village and on Sarles Lane. The balance of the single-family homes are currently listed between $300,000-$500,00. Additionally, 10 condo units, primarily in Foxwood and Roselle, have asking prices between $260,000 and $450,000.

The 35 single-family Pleasantville (School District) homes that have sold since September 1, 2010 were on the market for an average of just under six months according to 30-year Pleasantville real estate veteran Richard Arias of .

But the current market has seen, atypically, a steady flow of sales immediately after the holidays particularly, according to , for those properties that sold for under $500,000. None of the recorded sales in the past six months exceeded $950,000.

The mortgage meltdown and subsequent financial crisis of 2007 have helped redefine expectations. The selling price for a single-family home or condo in 10570 has an average decrease of 15-20 percent.

The six-home development at Pleasantville Village Estates has had approved plans for several years. The abandoned buildings at the four-and-a-half acre C.V. Pierce site were demolished in 2007. Subsequently, some landscaping and site work was begun. Imma Carletto of Houlihan Lawrence in Yorktown, the listing agent for this project, indicates work on a model home is now expected to begin in March.

Because of the change in the market, the individual homes will be 2,500 square feet or more (depending upon the model) and under $1 million dollars, making them smaller and less expensive than originally envisioned.

The changed landscape has also had an impact on local realtor Prudential Holmes & Kennedy. This six-office company was acquired by real estate giant Prudential Douglas Elliman the number one office in their 1,940 office national network. Begley sees this as a benefit as approximately 30 percent of the business in her office comes from Manhattan transplants and she envisions a natural flow occurring through the PDE pipeline.

Many Pleasantville brokers are optimistic about the desirability of owning homes in the village, including Arias.

“Buyers ultimately choose Pleasantville not only for it's strategic location, but it's authentic American village feel. A real sidewalk community, with a reputation for fine , with a thriving eclectic business center, and a growing cultural identity associated with and Media Arts Lab and the annual Music Festival," he stated.

Note: Faranda of of J. Philip Faranda was misspelled in an earlier version of this article. It now reflects the accurate spelling.