Home buyers who are drawn to Westchester County for its proximity to the majestic Hudson River sometimes insist on a house right on the water, and are willing to pay for it. When told there are virtually no houses with direct water access they are incredulous. Thirty-five miles of shoreline from New York City to Peekskill, and the number of waterfront houses for sale is zero? How is that possible?

The explanation is quite simple: the railroad. In the 19th Century, trains offered a faster, more efficient means of transport than boats, and the shoreline, unlike the rocky hills above it, was flat. Tracks were laid in 1850, and soon attracted factories and warehouses that cemented the character of the riverfront as largely commercial and industrial.

Not that there’s any shortage of houses with great views of the river. And commuters to Manhattan get the full benefit of those Hudson Line tracks, watching the changing seasons as the river scrolls by, and those glorious sunsets on the way home. But homes on the water? Mostly ruled out.

There are a few exceptions. Condos, for instance. In the late 1980s a strip of land on the water side of the tracks in Croton-on-Hudson was reclaimed for development of Half Moon Bay, an upscale, gated condominium complex. (More about that in a future blog posting here.) Similarly, another luxury condo complex, Ichabod’s Landing, has just been constructed where the huge former General Motors assembly plant used to sit, on the water just north of the Tarrytown train station.

Farther north, just above Croton, the tracks suddenly veer inland at Crugers and don’t reappear at the water’s edge till Peekskill, leaving the river hamlets of Montrose, Verplanck and Buchanan on a peninsula free of the railroad. Most of the shoreline here is taken up by a veterans hospital, a county park, a power plant, a yacht club and some light industrial buildings. There are, however, a few tiny enclaves of mostly (but not exclusively) modest houses on the water that very occasionally come on the market. It helps to know an agent who pays attention to these areas who can alert a buyer to an upcoming opportunity.

The next best thing to actual water access is a close-up river view from just behind the tracks, and here there are usually some interesting opportunities, especially between Tarrytown and Ossining, including Sleepy Hollow, Philipse Manor and Scarborough, but also in Croton and a bit farther north. More distant river views are more plentiful, and they too will be addressed in future postings. The point for now is to have realistic expectations of houses with direct water access on the Hudson River.

For more detailed information, contact me at Bruce@BruceDollar.com.

Posted By: Bruce Dollar