By Cindy J. Roth
"It's a very strong market," said Tina Canaris, a real-estate agent with Prudential Long Island Reality who has several listings in Bellmore. "I've never seen it as busy as it is now."
Jim Faulkner of Homestead Act Reality in Bellmore said he has seen a 75-percent increase in home sales over the past few months. Faulkner said the trend is owing to baby boomers retiring and moving to smaller homes or people leaving the state because the taxes are too high.
Prevette-Hirsch Reality agent Mike Wagner said that, over the past seven months, the Bellmores have definitely seen an increase in houses on the market. Wagner said he has found that many people are either upgrading or downgrading within the community, in addition to others who are simply leaving the area.
One Lydia Lane resident who is closing on the sale of his home said his family is leaving south Bellmore for Pennsylvania because of financial problems. The south Bellmore resident, who did not wish to be identified, said he enjoyed living in Bellmore for the past five years, especially because shopping is convenient and the area is safe. But since Sept. 11, the resident said the financial downturn countrywide has hit home for him and he needs to be more conservative with his income.
The average selling price for a home in North Bellmore is $320,000, central Bellmore $300,000 and south Bellmore $400,000. Property taxes range upward of $5,000.
The Lydia Lane house, which was originally priced at $544,000, was reduced to $480,000 after several months without any decent offers. Prudential real-estate agent Bonnie Goldstein said she has noticed that some of the prices on houses are simply "weird," and even she cannot explain why some homeowners get what they are asking and others do not.
"Some houses that are overpriced are getting the prices and others that aren't [overpriced] aren't getting their prices," said Goldstein.
The median house price in Nassau County rose 9.7 percent over the last year. Bellmore homes saw a 25-percent jump in prices, the largest in Nassau and North Bellmore saw a 6.5-percent increase. Local real-estate agents attribute the significant growth of home prices with lower interest rates, which are stimulating people to buy homes in growing numbers.
In short, said Canaris, "It's a very healthy market."
