Highland, N.Y.: A Small Community With a ‘Feel-Good’ Spirit

Mr. Smykowski was dwelling in Kingston earlier than he and Ms. Henneberry married, however “Highland is small,” he stated, “and it’s simpler to get to know the neighborhood.”

He’s in contract to purchase a pair of business buildings that he plans to lease. His agent, Elizabeth Decker, who owns Hiya Dolly Actual Property, stated she has “been doing this for over 40 years on this identical space” and has “by no means seen such demand or such an increase in costs.”

That’s true not only for industrial actual property in Highland: As in different areas outdoors New York Metropolis, residential stock has been low because the pandemic, and competitors for houses fierce.

“The issue is nobody desires to depart Highland,” stated Daybreak Passante, an affiliate dealer with Coldwell Banker Village Inexperienced Realty, who moved to Highland from Queens together with her mother and father when she was 12. “There’s a saying among the many locals that after you reside in Highland, you keep in Highland. When Covid hit, homes had been promoting nearly, with out the consumers bodily seeing them, and most presents had been money and for above asking value.”

Ms. Passante, who stated she offered 30 houses in Highland in 2020 and 2021 mixed, in contrast with 18 in 2018 and 2019, famous that proximity to the Metro-North Railroad in Poughkeepsie and the New York State Thruway has been a robust promoting level, though many consumers are nonetheless working remotely. Just lately, she has been seeing native consumers lose out to consumers from town with money.

It’s a far cry from the state of affairs in 1998, when Jessica Stirberg and her spouse purchased a 2,000-square-foot vintage farmhouse for lower than $200,000. “We had been extra all in favour of New Paltz, however we fell in love with this home,” stated Ms. Stirberg, 52, the assistant director for a child-care middle. “It’s on the border between New Paltz and Highland, and the city and college taxes are extra reasonably priced.”