NYC makes move on upstate
Pandemic drives a tide of relocations, and new residents like the quality of life — but internet has got to be fast
By Kenneth C. Crowe II and Leigh Hornbeck
A year ago, Warren Shaw was living in Queens, his home for the past 36 years. But upstate was no stranger to the architect. He grew up in Hyde Park and had friends in Troy he would often visit.
Then the pandemic hit, and hit really hard in New York City.
It crystallized Shaw’s notion to pull up stakes from his longtime Jackson Heights neighborhood and make a northward trek to a new home. All the boxes were checked, he said.
“I fell in love with Troy. I’m an architect so I love the architecture. I love the food scene, the art scene. It had so much energy. I don’t drive, I like small cities that are walkable,” Shaw said.
Shaw, 55, who relocated in December, is now part of the whopping 214 percent increase in the number of New York
City residents who have escaped to the Capital Region’s four main counties. He made that decision after seeing how real estate prices skyrocketed in Poughkeepsie after other New Yorkers sought out the mid-hudson Valley city.
They’re spurred by less anxiety about contracting COVID -19, more living space, housing affordability, friendliness, opportunities and amenities. And, of course, New York City isn’t too far to visit.
Change of address requests from the U.S. Postal Service and tallied by the Capital District Regional Planning Commission are evidence of the surge last year of those coming from the Bronx, Brooklyn, Manhattan and Queens up to Albany, Rensselaer, Saratoga and Schenectady counties. (Staten Island is the only New York City borough not included as the changes of addresses never reached the 10-ina-month threshold required to be counted.)
“It shows that people are changing their addresses to the Capital Region. It could mean they’re relocating and buying home or temporarily relocating to weekend homes or renting,” said Mark Castiglione, Planning Commission executive director.
“All those conclusions could be on the table. Time will tell whether this is a blip or a significant impact during the COVID pandemic of people moving from New York City to the Capital Region,” Castiglione said.
The numbers in the four counties are astonishing. They back up what many have suspected about the downstate influx.
Rensselaer County had a 787 percent increase in address changes from New York City in 2020, compared to 2019. Saratoga County was next at 518 percent followed by Schenectady County at 152 percent and Albany County at 126 percent.
The Planning Commission's review of address changes is the first time local officials have been able to find data to support the tales of downstate residents turning up to buy homes, rent apartments or Airbnbs, move back with family or ride out the pandemic in weekend or summer residences. The available data is only at the county level.
“We don’t know where they’re going. We don’t know if they’re going to rental properties in Albany or luxury weekend houses in Westerlo,” Castiglione said.
Speedy internet, please
As more people from downstate have hired Select Sotheby’s International real estate agent Dona Federico to help them find a house in the Capital Region, she has noticed two themes. One, they want space – relief from the confinement on their homes in the city. And two, they need a fast and reliable internet connection.
“I never before in my career had to test upload and download speed at a listing,” Federico said.
Internet speed is important, not only because they buyers expect to work remotely from home, but because they might have two or three children also using the internet connection for remote classroom learning.
Federico researched multiple options for buyers as to what type of internet service provider would be available and work at a house a buyer was considering.
“A lot of times space and the internet don’t go together,” Federico said. “I had buyers who looked out in the country, but if a house didn’t have high-speed internet, they walked away.”
She’s also watched as buyers spend $20,000 to $40,000 over asking price, but if the price a buyer agrees to spend is over the appraisal amount, banks won’t finance it, Federico said. The loan is tied to the appraisal, so if a buyer is going to spend more, they have to come to the closing table with the difference in cash.
Shaw rented an apartment in South Central Troy at Jefferson and Third streets as part of his switch from New York. He’s preparing to move into a twofamily home he’s purchasing in Lansingburgh.
Emily Menn, who rented Shaw his apartment, said she has seen a stream of people arrive in Troy. They’re getting accustomed to the area before deciding whether to settle in as Shaw has decided.
“I’m really happy they’ve moved in. They’re great people. Troy is a perfect city for the transplants to look for home values. We’re a city of immigrants,” Menn said.
Hey neighbor!
Jesse Leder never intended to live in Manhattan long term.
The lockdown caused by COVID-19 reminded him of his goal to move back upstate, where he was raised in Cambridge and went to SUNY Potsdam and Union College. Leder wanted to move to the Saratoga Springs area, but he had to convince his fiancée, Syracuse-area native Tashina Zamlowski, it was a place she wanted to live, too.
One day of riding bikes around Saratoga Spa State Park persuaded her to make the move, Leder said.
When the pandemic hit, Leder, 35, a human resources consultant, and Zamlowski, 34, director of a modeling agency, found being cooped up in their 700-square foot apartment was a strain. When they started looking for a house to buy, space was a priority, and a backyard – a place where they could breathe without wearing a mask and watch their French bulldog, Amelia Peppercorn, run around.
Leder and Zamlowski closed in September on a Cape Cod style house on Meadowbrook Road, an eight-minute drive from downtown Saratoga Springs. Leder is proud to say they paid less than the asking price while many other buyers since then have paid more. They kept their New York-based jobs with written agreements from their companies they will be able to work remotely. In addition, Leder got a license to sell real estate. He joined Monticello Real Estate, where the agent who helped him and Zamlowski find a house, works.
The move from New York exposed Leder and Zamlowski to neighborliness they hadn’t known before. Leder bought a shovel when they moved in, but when 3 feet of snow fell in December, one of his neighbors cleared their driveway with a snowblower. The first night they were in the new house, they both froze when the doorbell rang.
They weren’t expecting anyone.
“In New York, when the doorbell rings and you aren’t expecting someone, you ignore it,” Leder said.
Peering out, he saw a woman at the door holding a package. It was a takeout order of food from a neighbor, meant to welcome the newcomers.
“Time will tell whether this is a blip or a significant impact during the COVID pandemic of people moving from New York City to the Capital Region.” — Mark Castiglione, Planning Commission executive director
Solid bookings
Capital Region real estate, whether it’s residential, commercial or available for development has become a lure for investors seeking a deal. That could be purchasing from one of the area’s land banks or negotiating through a local real estate agent.
“I had a lot of inquiries from New York, a lot of people from all over downstate. They’re scattering out of the main metropolitan area looking for opportunities,” said Deanna Dal Pos of NAI Platform, who represents commercial properties in Troy and put together a promotional package highlighting the city and the region.
Dal Pos said Airbnbs also have become popular. She said they’re booking solid.
Rental prices are more attractive in Rensselaer County and the Capital Region than Manhattan, said James Mccleghan, assistant broker/manager of Howard Hanna Real Estate Services Greenbush in North Greenbush.
People paying $3,000 to $4,000 month in New York find the local Airbnb market and renting homes are more reasonable, Mccleghan said. Prices also have them looking at buying.
“There’s definitely been a lot of people from downstate,” Mccleghan said, recounting how a couple came to Troy from New York and purchased a residence on Broadway downtown. They decided to rent it out while they pursued business investments farther north in Glens Falls.
The Capital District Regional Planning Commission intends to expand its sampling from the four boroughs to include the greater New York Metropolitan Area, Castiglione said. This would allow a better estimation of where people are heading into the Capital Region.
A welcome change
Lyndsay King, 41, and her parents, Joseph S. K. Wisneski of Bridgeport, Conn., and Robyn Sklar of
West New York, N.J., moved to Harmony Mills Lofts in Cohoes to get away from the pandemic last summer. Wisneski and Sklar would be counted in the expanded regional sample while King ’s move from London would still be missed.
“I could tell we were going into the COVID for the long haul. What’s the point of living in the city if COVID lasts for two years?” said King, who left Europe with eight suitcases and eventually landed in the Capital Region.
The three family members moving into their own apartments at Harmony Mills has brought the trio closer together and set them on new paths. Sklar and Wisneski both have family ties to the region.
“It’s been a big change. I love living here,” said King, who’s an entrepreneur, planner of events for women that was based in
London but now has become virtual and international. She is also a mentor and is building her Accelerate for Life business. King also founded Hourglass, an events platform connecting entrepreneurial women.
“I’m online all the time. I work all over the world,” King said about her business reach from Cohoes.
Settling into Cohoes has opened up new vistas for King. It means ice cream at the Snowman in Troy, having a pet cat Zeus as her companion, seeing her parents, riding her new bicycle around Cohoes and along the Capital Region’s network of bike paths. When she passes her upcoming New York state driver’s license test, she intends to expand her explorations of the region.
King said what has struck her is how friendly everyone has been since she arrived in June: “I love it here.”