February 27, 2024 • 29 mins
Welcome to another illuminating episode of Hudson Valley Real Estate Explained, where we unravel the enigmas of property investment and the intriguing variations of real estate in the Hudson Valley region. Your hosts, the knowledgeable Michael Kahns and Rik Brescia, dive into the captivating evolution of real estate in one of Hudson Valley's treasures – Beacon, New York.
Discover how Beacon rose from being an underdog, with an average home price of mere $199,351 in 2013, to reach staggering heights with the same average soaring to $579,356 by 2024. Examine how it garnered acclaim from Budget Travel as the 'Best Small Town to Visit in the United States', and ponder upon the factors that caused this phenomenal turnaround. Our hosts share their memories of Beacon’s nostalgic charm and analyze the pivotal role of arts and culture in its transformation.
We dive deep into the history of Beacon, its trajectory, and the projections for its future. Hear how Beacon's incredible growth compares to other towns in the Hudson Valley, and explore what sets it apart. Engage in our debates about Beacon's future, and the common factors it shares with other beautiful towns in the Hudson Valley region.
Our investigations explore how dynamic development, a unique culinary culture, attractive antique stores, and other factors have made Beacon an attractive destination. We discuss the suburbs' comprehensive lifestyle blend, preventing overcrowding yet providing ample amenities for residents. We ponder over where Beacon is heading, expressing optimism about its future because of its strategic location, a balance of green space preservation and business growth, and promising art and music scene.
Tune into this thought-provoking episode, as we take you on a journey of Beacon's unique charm, progressive development, and prospective paths. Don't miss this essential episode for everyone intrigued by real estate trends and transformations of small towns into attractive investment hubs.
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Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
(00:05):
Welcome to Hudson Valley's Real Estate Explained, your getaway to understanding real estate.
Whether you're buying your first home, an experienced investor,
or just real estate curious, this is the place for you.
So dive in with us as we unravel the intricacies of property deals and investment
strategies guided by industry experts.
We're demystifying Hudson Hudson Valley Real Estate together. Let's go.
(00:29):
And welcome back to another episode of Hudson Valley Real Estate Explained.
I'm your host, Michael Kahn's joined with my co-host today, Mr.
Rick Brescia. Welcome, Rick. How's it going?
Thank you, Mike. It's going very well. Thank you.
I'm here for my fourth co-hosting event, getting more comfortable every time being locked in a vault.
(00:50):
Yes. I know we're not locked in, but I'd like to, you know, make people think
I'm braver than I actually am, if you don't mind.
Far from locked in, but certainly- We're in a vault.
Yes, we are in a vault, and we're teaching people about Hudson Valley real estate,
and excited to say that we have a topic today that I think is a little bit less,
(01:12):
or should I say more exciting than our typical topics, which kind of gets into
the mundane parts of real estate, but very important parts.
So I think you'd be saying this is less real estate-y, if I may.
Well, I think it's definitely real estate-y. I knew you weren't just going to agree with me.
(01:32):
No, because I think it's, listen, what's the three most important words in real estate?
Location, lunch. Nope. You got the first one. I kill it on location.
Go ahead, man. Location, location, location.
Well, that's really just one word said three times. It's the most important.
It's the most important.
(01:53):
By far the most important thing when it comes to real estate is location.
And today we're diving into one of the most important locations in the Hudson Valley.
And that is Beacon, New York.
And for those of you that have been under a rock for the last 20 years,
(02:13):
I just wanted to share a couple of very interesting statistics.
I pulled up the last 10 years worth of sales for a few towns in the Hudson Valley.
I chose Beacon, obviously.
I chose Fishkill, which is right next to Beacon. And then I went a little bit
northern Dutchess into Hyde Park and I grabbed Chester over in Orange County
(02:37):
just to pull some random towns.
A smathering, so to speak. Yes.
And back in 2013, right, I'm looking at May 2013, the average price of a home
in Beacon was $199,351 to be exact.
$199,351. Fishkill was 241 Chester was 229 Hyde Park was 213 So by far the lowest
(03:05):
on the totem pole Was Beacon,
New York Fast forward to January of 2024,
Hyde Park increased Their home value From 213,000 to 367,000 Big jump.
Chester increased its home value from $229,000 to $498,000. Wow. Nice jump.
(03:29):
Yep. Fishkill increased from $241,000 all the way up to $486,000.
However, Beacon, which was bottom of the totem pole, went from $199,000 to,
get this, $579,356, the average home sale. Massive jump. Huge.
Wow. Absolutely huge. huge. So Beacon went from low man on the totem pole.
(03:52):
And look, I grabbed four towns just sort of ad hoc.
I'm sure you can run that through a ton of towns in the Hudson Valley and find very similar stories.
I doubt you'll find another town that has seen such an increase in home values
like we've seen in Kingston.
I mean, I think it's a little bit of an anomaly.
(04:12):
You said Kingston. I'm assuming you mean Beacon. Yeah, Beacon.
Although Kingston probably being one that's very close.
You know, it's funny because as I was saying that, I started running through
my head like, what could possibly, and Kingston popped into my head as a,
maybe a potential contender.
I didn't necessarily run those. I should. And we can definitely do a deep dive
into Kingston because they've done some amazing things over there as well. Absolutely.
(04:36):
But Beacon is not just seeing incredible increases in home values,
but they've seen, They've been named by Budget Travel, the corporation.
Best small town to visit in the United States, topping out over Sonoma Valley,
which is tremendous. Wow. Wow.
They are home to an absolute barrage of new construction and townhouses and
(05:01):
condos and single family homes.
Lots of gentrification, lots of, lots of change over there.
And it's just this, this, this, this, this magnet for, for people of all walks of life.
And it's just truly amazing. And what I really wanted to do today is dive into
a little bit about its past, what we think some of the changes were,
(05:22):
if there are any towns that are similar to Beacon that are coming up and coming,
I can think of one we're in it right now.
You know, it's certainly not Beacon, but, you know, I think,
I think, I think we, there's some similarities there, but also like,
what does that mean for the future of Beacon?
You know, I mean, is this, is, is, is this train going to keep driving?
Are we, have we arrived? Like what's the future? So, you know,
(05:44):
I think it's a fascinating story and I'm looking forward to sort of unpacking it. Of course.
And since you used train, we could start there.
You know, we got Metro North. It's basically, I think if I recall correctly,
it's an hour six down to Grand Central.
And I think that's, that's one of the reasons why.
(06:05):
Yeah. Having a, having an express train out of Beacon is a, is a huge benefit
for sure. Of course. Of course. Huge benefit.
But let's start at the beginning. You, you know, I have some memories of Beacon from a long time ago.
Not quite as many as people that were sort of raised here.
(06:25):
I was raised on the other side of the river, so I didn't really get to spend
much time in Beacon. My wife was raised in Cold Spring, and you just, you know, it's funny.
We bought our house in Fishkill in 2011, our first home, and I was intrigued by Beacon.
I'm not going to say I'm a prophet. I'm not going to say I saw it coming,
but I was like, oh, this place seems kind of cool.
(06:46):
And my wife forbid me, us, from considering anything in Beacon because of the
history that was attached to it and her history was you didn't go to Beacon.
You didn't go to Beacon. It was kind of dangerous.
Yeah, I don't want to say it was dangerous, but.
But, but if there were homes available in other towns, I could see why your,
(07:10):
your wife might've made that choice back then.
Of course, you also cost you a tremendous amount of money to see, you know. I know.
I, a reminder of that sometimes.
My history. We did well in Fishkill too. It wasn't the worst.
My history in Beacon is, although I never lived there, my parents did.
That's where my parents grew up and my grandparents.
And, you know, so, so I knew the area well because we constantly visited Beacon.
(07:34):
Okay. We were there all the time, especially, you know, Italian Sunday afternoon dinners.
And yes, you do have dinner in the afternoon when you're Italian.
Love it. Yeah. And my grandfather actually owned the first pizza place in Beacon
called Ralph's Pizza, which is now Trax Coffee.
Is that so? Yeah. Oh, I love that place. Yeah. Yeah.
(07:55):
I love it as Trax. And actually, my mother was born in a house right behind
there, even though my father's family owned the pizza place.
But my, my mother, uh, for some reason, I have no idea why, who was actually
born in the home that's right behind there.
So, so we do have some history down there. Spent a lot of time there.
And, you know, for, for me, it was a place where I went there when,
(08:18):
you know, when we needed to go there, there, there was always a little bit of
nightlife. There were, there were always some decent restaurants.
It's not like it is now where, you know, you, you honestly can't walk two doors
without finding amazing food, you know?
Yeah. Yeah. The restaurants surely have come up to a well above high standards at this point.
And I'm sure going back even further, Beacon was a pretty hip little spot,
(08:44):
a long, you know, again, probably before my time, even there was a casino,
uh, it was a ski mountain at Beacon.
It was, it was probably a, you know, my, my understanding was.
A kind of cool place to start, maybe lost its mojo along the way.
And since it's totally been reinvented. Most definitely.
(09:04):
And my parents have shared those memories because that casino that was up top
there, and that's, that's where some of their very first dates were.
And they went up there and went dancing and all that stuff. There was a trolley. Oh, so cool.
That took you up the mountain. So that path right now that everyone hikes and
mountain bikes, you know, it was a trolley line.
Yeah. That, that went like straight up and I can't really expand much upon that
(09:26):
because I never saw it, but, but I do know, I remember my cousin skiing Mount Beacon.
So even in my teens, she was older than me, but, but there was still skiing
up there at that point. So.
Yeah. It's one of my favorite hikes in the whole Hudson Valley.
And I do a lot of hiking. I go to a lot of different places and there's something
about Mount Beacon. Yes.
Proximity helps. It's simple, but it's, it's such a cool trail and you can expand.
(09:50):
And you can go to the ruins essentially of where the casino was,
get these great, amazing views.
And if you wanted to push yourself a little further, you can go up to the fire
tower. You can walk past the reservoir up there.
If you're brave enough to climb the fire tower, which full disclosure, I'm not.
My kids are up there and I'm freaking out because it's windy and it's high and I'm scared of heights.
(10:11):
But, you know, 360 degree views, it's such an amazing hike.
And we could see the remains of the old trolley as well.
Some of those cables and stuff it's it's it's all there which
is which is really really cool but i guess you
know i don't know maybe you know 70s 80s you
know things sorted to because my my couple of memories going through there was
(10:34):
you know a lot of boarded up you know buildings it seemed to have a lot of vacancies
it seemed to not be a a place where i was like hey let's you know we should
try and we should hang out here.
No, it didn't feel that way at all. For a while. Yeah.
Well, so, you know, it's a great little town, kind of lost its mojo for a little while.
(10:57):
Can you, as somebody that's, I don't want to say native, but,
you know, I've seen it sort of change.
Is there a defining moment or a pinpoint factor that kind of was maybe the starting
off point that, that, that started to change Beacon?
Well, you'd think I would probably know this, but instead I'll just make something up.
(11:18):
Okay. So a guy named Dave who lived in Brooklyn once came up to Beacon and he
said, we should settle here. And then he brought about a thousand friends.
And that's the story of Beacon. And took over. Yeah. You content with that?
(11:42):
Well, we can't edit, so we're keeping it in.
We can't edit. We're keeping it in. Yeah. By the way, these podcasts are not
edited guys. We just, we, we don't do it.
Whatever it is, it is. I mean, you know, it's, it's, it's how we roll,
but you know, a lot of people have shared with me the, the belief that cause
(12:02):
it's, it's the, the town has become a destination for a variety of things,
including food, entertainment,
you know, beer, wine, any, you, you name it. but also very specifically art.
Absolutely. And when I've asked this question to other people,
they point to the opening of Dia Beacon. Mm-hmm.
(12:27):
Probably should have looked this up, but when, do you know when that opened?
I don't know when Dia opened. I would assume shortly after Dave came up.
Yeah, you're probably right.
But Dia Beacon is this amazing art sort of gallery,
you know, of, of, of, of really incredible things and its proximity to the train
station meant people could day trip up without needing to take a taxi cab because
(12:50):
at the time Uber didn't exist or have a car.
So they get to come to this, you know, museum of art and kind of eat and spend
some time in Beacon, maybe go for a hike without needing to travel too far.
And I think it just started to grow from there.
I think you may have just answered the question there as opposed to my fictional
story of how Beacon grew.
(13:11):
But I think people started coming up here as a weekend destination,
falling in love with it, and then finding a home here and staying and realizing
that it really is just an hour and change on that train down to the city for their jobs.
And I think it became easier to do that and substantially cheaper than what
(13:32):
they were accustomed to.
And they just ate it up because they got that sort of village and city atmosphere
that they were accustomed to. But at the same time, the nature surrounding it
was just amazing to them.
Absolutely. And, you know, but here's the thing, I'm going to draw a parallel
for you because Beacon has done something quite unique.
(13:52):
Take Cold Spring, for example. They have a lot of similarities to Beacon in
the fact that there's access to good restaurants.
It's a quaint little village.
You, you know, the train station is right there at the end of the village.
So it's, it's very accessible.
It's one stop closer. I understand they don't have an express,
but commute time isn't a drastic difference, even if it's a little bit longer
(14:17):
because they don't have an express.
You know, plenty of nature, plenty of food, plenty of small town vibes,
but they didn't see the, I mean, don't get me wrong.
All of the towns and villages in the Hudson Valley has seen progress and home
values rise and population increases, but not to the extent that Beacon has,
(14:39):
right? right? Beacon is what's different.
Let's say about beacon than a cold spring in your opinion.
You know, when you say we do these live, I mean it, I throw curve balls.
Had you prompted me on that question ahead of time, I might've had some sort
of witty answer or even an answer where I can't say necessarily.
(15:04):
I have an answer. That's great. Cause you started this sounding like you were
starting with an answer, but never said it.
I do. I do have an answer, but I wanted to get your opinion.
So I'll ask myself the question and then, you know, you tell,
you give me your opinion. So I think, I think beacon has been.
From a development standpoint, from a zoning, from a building department standpoint,
(15:27):
far more progressive than a cold spring.
That's that, that, that, you know, if you walk through cold spring,
it looks and feels the same as it did, you know, in the early two thousands,
there's been very little development or change.
And I'm not saying what's right or wrong. I'm not agreeing or disagreeing this,
I'm not taking sides, but they have worked very, very hard to keep cold spring
(15:51):
exactly the way it is where beacon has really allowed for development.
It's gotten a lot of very unique restaurants.
They've got a beer arcade.
They've got, you know, so many really cool hip things.
And, and I think that has a lot to do with why people gravitated towards there,
(16:11):
because there has been this development.
There's this forward thinking, future thinking, sort of like we're kind of giving you what you want,
which is this suburban sort of lifestyle with lots of amenities,
but not too congested, where Cold Spring is still littered with antique stores, right? Correct.
(16:33):
And hasn't seen a lot of change. So what do you think? You think I'm onto something there?
I think if you asked me the question again, Again, I would answer it exactly
like that because I think you're spot on.
Although I might not have used littered with antique stores.
Sorry, Cold Spring. Or brought it to the attention again. I love you, Cold Spring.
I didn't mean to say you're littered. No, but I think you're right though.
(16:54):
They made, you know, knowing because I've sold down there, they've made restrictions
very tough in Cold Spring, especially for commercial.
Commercial because they wanted to completely keep the aesthetic of what cold
spring looked like, which is great because it does sort of bring you back in
time a little bit when you go down there.
But at the same time that might've prevented some growth in,
(17:14):
And Beacon has that growth. Not that they don't have restrictions.
They have, they have pretty decent restrictions. But at the same time,
they, they've allotted or encouraged, I should say, new businesses to go down there and develop.
And, uh, and there's just a tremendous amount of them. There's every specialty
store you could possibly imagine is available to you in Beacon.
(17:34):
I, I realized that was the truth when they opened the marshmallow store.
We have a store in Beacon dedicated to marshmallows.
And a store, I believe, dedicated to gourmet donuts.
Absolutely glazed over. Oh my God. And you happen to know the name of it. Yes. It's great.
It's, you know, it's so interesting because my family and I really enjoy going
(17:59):
to Outer Banks every year.
And for those of you that have ever been to Outer Banks, there's a town down
there called Duck and there's a little place called Duck Donuts.
And it's a very similar concept, right? right? They make the donuts right there
and you can kind of mix and match your toppings.
And it's just, you know, this, this, this sugar bomb of whatever you want.
And when glazed over opened up here, we were like, this is, this, this is magical.
(18:22):
I mean, it's a, it's a once in a while treat for me because you know,
the sugar is so much, but my God, is it amazing.
I feel we'll be ending this podcast a bit earlier than normal because right now all I want is a donut.
Well, or I mean, there's, I can probably spend hours on a podcast talking about
all of the different places to go and beacon.
(18:43):
You can, you know, Trax Coffee is great, right? There's.
The vault closed, but I forgot what it turned into. Oh my God,
I'm embarrassing myself now.
Trax Coffee is great. You've got. Here, let me, if you don't mind,
let me do a couple of these.
Town Crier Cafe. Yeah, please. Yeah, Town Crier Cafe is really cool because
that's a music venue you as well.
(19:04):
So you've got the town crier, it's got a main stage that houses,
you know, national acts, and yet it has a cafe setting where you can catch acoustic acts.
You know, at least on the weekends, it might be on weeknights as well, with great food.
At the same time, a quick shout out to my buddy Dana, who owns Melzinga's,
which is my personal favorite restaurant down there.
(19:25):
Melzinga's is very, we eat there regularly. It is such a great spot.
Such a great hidden gem. Absolutely. Max's on Main is your your hometown bar
atmosphere that serves extraordinary food for like a little restaurant like that.
It's a bar menu, but it's a great bar menu.
We're touching on a few. There's so, so many. You can go axe throwing.
(19:46):
Like I said, you can play old school arcade video games from the 80s and have some beers down there.
It's so, so cool.
There are these great little, there's one place called the Kitchen Sink,
which doesn't really open up too often, but they do these pop-up dinners where
you can just order these amazing dinners and come and pick them up.
(20:07):
Yeah, it's really cool. You know, there are so many options from Barb's Butchery
to some of the best steaks you can get in the area to vegan options for people.
There are so many different types of Indian and Thai and so many different styles of food.
The Beacon Bread Company makes some amazing food. I mean, you can just go on
(20:28):
and on and on, up and down the street.
Yeah. Yeah. And when Michael says that you can go axe throwing,
he didn't name a specific location, but it doesn't mean that you can just throw
axes on the streets of Beacon.
That's still legal as it is in most towns. But there is a very cool arcade slash
brewery slash axe throwing,
(20:49):
which I always have a hard time with saying brewery and axe throwing together,
but it's very safe, I promise you, called District Social down there. District Social.
That's the name of it. It's a pretty cool spot for sure. Yes, definitely.
So lots, lots of, lots of things going on. Obviously you have the nature, the hiking.
All right. Beacon has a 18 hole disc golf through the woods,
(21:14):
which I've done several times, which is super, super fun.
It's, it's unique. It's just another option.
Down by the water, right on the Hudson River is an amazing park with playgrounds
and, and, and, and things to do down there.
They, during the summertime, regularly have farmer's markets down there,
which is, I think, a local favorite, you know, to be able to go down there.
(21:37):
Yeah, and I think that's one of the things we didn't hit on,
assuming we're only talking to people who are from the area.
But by all means, it is a river town. So this is right on the beautiful Hudson River.
Also, its proximity to other places is pretty cool. Besides the train,
you legitimately have Route 84, which will connect you to Connecticut in about
40 minutes and Pennsylvania in maybe 45 or so.
(22:01):
It's sort of smack dab in the middle of those two, and 84 is right there.
And if you hop on 84, go a few miles, you're at 87, right?
You go a few miles the other way, you're at the Taconic, and a little bit further
from that, you're at 684. You, you're right.
It is in great proximity to a lot of great things. And that's, and that's traveling.
(22:23):
I mean, you also have a stone's throw away Newberg waterfront.
You've got Fishkill, which is another great foodie town, right?
You're, you're, you're.
30 minutes, 25 minutes by car
to the city of Poughkeepsie, which has a lot to offer in and of itself.
Of course. You're a stone's throw away from New Paltz and Mohonk Mountain and Minnewaska.
(22:45):
And, you know, these are all things that are a lot easier to make little day
trips of when you're in Beacon as opposed to, say, living in the city.
Of course. Or White Plains or something like that. Most definitely.
And I think most importantly, we
get to end this soon and go have a donut because I'm still on that kick.
Yeah, no, the donuts are great.
(23:05):
So, well, let's, let's do this, right? So obviously we've kind of unpacked a
lot of why Beacon is so great, right? You've got the, the commutability factor.
You've got, it's very picturesque.
It's very forward thinking. There are a lot of things to do,
a lot of options, whether nature is your thing, whether food is your thing,
whether nightlife is your thing.
(23:26):
There's, there's all kinds of things available traveling.
Where does Beacon go from here? Do you see, not to be cheeky,
but the train to continue to roll or, or, or has Beacon arrived?
Like, where does Beacon go from here? Is it, are home values going to continue
to go up? Are they going to continue to develop?
And I, I know I'm asking you to predict the future, which nobody can,
(23:48):
but in your mind, you know, where do we go from here with Beacon?
Yeah, I think at this point when, when a hotspot like that has developed,
it will maintain or grow. I don't think you're going to see any sort of reverting
back to maybe what it was when it wasn't such a hot spot.
I think it'll always be hot. Sure, housing gets a little more limited.
(24:11):
There's not a ton of land for growth for new construction.
And they're, and the good thing about them is they're, they're a little bit
choosy about what they do allow. Yeah. So that, that's good.
They're, they're leaving green space for people, which is awesome.
At the same time, they do allow building and we've seen some buildings go up
and you'll see a few more, you know, but, but I think you're only going to see
(24:32):
a, at least it's going to hold steady or grow. I don't see it going backwards.
That's the best I can do as far as protecting the future, except for the donuts. Yeah.
Have I mentioned those? Do you think we'll get a cheesecake factory in there?
I don't know. What are you doing to me, man?
Why are you doing this? Of course, I don't see a cheesecake factory in our future,
(24:56):
but I don't think anybody would want that.
I don't even think the people that live in Beacon would want it.
No, they certainly would.
I don't think they would mind one in Newburgh somewhere not in their backyard
that they can access, but I think that would take away from the charm of Beacon.
The quaintness. Absolutely.
I agree. When I look at Beacon and I think of Dutchess County,
(25:17):
when I think of how New York City just continues to expand,
I kind of think of Dutchess County as the future Westchester County.
What Westchester County was or is, I think at some point, will be Dutchess County.
And, and, and, and I know that there are a lot of people that are listening
(25:40):
to this that might go, oh God, please no.
Like I, I love Dutchess County. I like it the way it is, or maybe the way it was 10 years ago.
Cause I think there are definitely two, two, two.
Giant populations of people that are, you know, sort of social media battle
warriors that love the old Dutchess County of 15, 20 years ago,
(26:03):
where it was a lot less congested and there was a lot less options,
but they liked the peacefulness and it was the country.
And now it's becoming suburban, right? It's becoming more congested.
It's really interesting that you say that because having
previously run a business on main street and beacon
and being still part of some beacon social media
groups yeah i see that battle all the time there's
(26:26):
people that grew up their entire lives here they're like oh my god it's so congested
it got crowded they've destroyed our town it was except then someone else will
go yeah but what about and they'll name like a restaurant or something they
go and and the The first person that grew up here, the native will go,
oh, you're right. I love that place.
That place was opened by somebody who moved up here.
(26:47):
Yeah. You know, and then all of a sudden they're fine with it.
Once you've, you know, it's the place where they get those lamb chops that they
couldn't get anywhere else.
You know, so, so it all tends to work itself out. Everybody gets along together.
And, and I don't think we stress enough. I mean, we talked about the art,
but the art and music scene down in Beacon is insane.
There's, there's just like any night of the week you can go down to Beacon and
(27:08):
there is a place where you can go see live music. somewhere. Yeah.
I, I proved that this last week, Thursday night, we were down there watching
a buddy of mine do an acoustic set in a place that I didn't even know had music.
And they did and great sound and it was, it was fabulous. That is awesome.
Yeah. That is, that is very, very cool. So I agree with you.
I think that, I think that Beacon will continue to be a popular spot.
(27:33):
People will continue to be interested in, in Beacon and developing Beacon.
I hope that Beacon city officials do a very good job with planning and organizing
the growth and, and, and, and do it in a very, very smart way. so it doesn't backfire.
I think they've done a relatively good job. I know everybody has an opinion
(27:55):
on what they might've been able to do better, but ultimately if you look at
where they are, they've, they've, they've, they've maintained this,
this, this incredible magnet of people that want to be there.
And I agree with you. I don't think it's going anywhere. I think it's going to continue to develop.
And I think it's a, it's a great investment opportunity if you're thinking about
real estate because it's going to maintain, it's going to hold and go up.
(28:20):
At least that's my future prediction.
Yeah. And I mean, if you could pass predict too, you know, when your wife didn't
want to move there, you should have just bought real estate there. Yeah.
I've done it without her permission. Right. Well, no, you shouldn't have done
that because I know she listens to this podcast and I want to be the one who's on her side.
I would have been divorced, but well off.
(28:40):
A single guy with a decent amount of property and a portfolio.
All right mikey well there you have it that is a wrap for us today we are so
grateful team banks hudson valley's x factor in real estate there's the lowdown
on beacon that is where it is and where it's going we're going to keep doing
these and i'll see you around the valley we're out.
(29:03):
Music.
Welcome to Hudson Valley's Real Estate Explained, your getaway to understanding real estate.
Whether you're buying your first home, an experienced investor,
or just real estate curious, this is the place for you.
So dive in with us as we unravel the intricacies of property deals and investment
strategies guided by industry experts.
We're demystifying Hudson Hudson Valley Real Estate together. Let's go.
(00:29):
And welcome back to another episode of Hudson Valley Real Estate Explained.
I'm your host, Michael Kahn's joined with my co-host today, Mr.
Rick Brescia. Welcome, Rick. How's it going?
Thank you, Mike. It's going very well. Thank you.
I'm here for my fourth co-hosting event, getting more comfortable every time being locked in a vault.
(00:50):
Yes. I know we're not locked in, but I'd like to, you know, make people think
I'm braver than I actually am, if you don't mind.
Far from locked in, but certainly- We're in a vault.
Yes, we are in a vault, and we're teaching people about Hudson Valley real estate,
and excited to say that we have a topic today that I think is a little bit less,
(01:12):
or should I say more exciting than our typical topics, which kind of gets into
the mundane parts of real estate, but very important parts.
So I think you'd be saying this is less real estate-y, if I may.
Well, I think it's definitely real estate-y. I knew you weren't just going to agree with me.
(01:32):
No, because I think it's, listen, what's the three most important words in real estate?
Location, lunch. Nope. You got the first one. I kill it on location.
Go ahead, man. Location, location, location.
Well, that's really just one word said three times. It's the most important.
It's the most important.
(01:53):
By far the most important thing when it comes to real estate is location.
And today we're diving into one of the most important locations in the Hudson Valley.
And that is Beacon, New York.
And for those of you that have been under a rock for the last 20 years,
(02:13):
I just wanted to share a couple of very interesting statistics.
I pulled up the last 10 years worth of sales for a few towns in the Hudson Valley.
I chose Beacon, obviously.
I chose Fishkill, which is right next to Beacon. And then I went a little bit
northern Dutchess into Hyde Park and I grabbed Chester over in Orange County
(02:37):
just to pull some random towns.
A smathering, so to speak. Yes.
And back in 2013, right, I'm looking at May 2013, the average price of a home
in Beacon was $199,351 to be exact.
$199,351. Fishkill was 241 Chester was 229 Hyde Park was 213 So by far the lowest
(03:05):
on the totem pole Was Beacon,
New York Fast forward to January of 2024,
Hyde Park increased Their home value From 213,000 to 367,000 Big jump.
Chester increased its home value from $229,000 to $498,000. Wow. Nice jump.
(03:29):
Yep. Fishkill increased from $241,000 all the way up to $486,000.
However, Beacon, which was bottom of the totem pole, went from $199,000 to,
get this, $579,356, the average home sale. Massive jump. Huge.
Wow. Absolutely huge. huge. So Beacon went from low man on the totem pole.
(03:52):
And look, I grabbed four towns just sort of ad hoc.
I'm sure you can run that through a ton of towns in the Hudson Valley and find very similar stories.
I doubt you'll find another town that has seen such an increase in home values
like we've seen in Kingston.
I mean, I think it's a little bit of an anomaly.
(04:12):
You said Kingston. I'm assuming you mean Beacon. Yeah, Beacon.
Although Kingston probably being one that's very close.
You know, it's funny because as I was saying that, I started running through
my head like, what could possibly, and Kingston popped into my head as a,
maybe a potential contender.
I didn't necessarily run those. I should. And we can definitely do a deep dive
into Kingston because they've done some amazing things over there as well. Absolutely.
(04:36):
But Beacon is not just seeing incredible increases in home values,
but they've seen, They've been named by Budget Travel, the corporation.
Best small town to visit in the United States, topping out over Sonoma Valley,
which is tremendous. Wow. Wow.
They are home to an absolute barrage of new construction and townhouses and
(05:01):
condos and single family homes.
Lots of gentrification, lots of, lots of change over there.
And it's just this, this, this, this, this magnet for, for people of all walks of life.
And it's just truly amazing. And what I really wanted to do today is dive into
a little bit about its past, what we think some of the changes were,
(05:22):
if there are any towns that are similar to Beacon that are coming up and coming,
I can think of one we're in it right now.
You know, it's certainly not Beacon, but, you know, I think,
I think, I think we, there's some similarities there, but also like,
what does that mean for the future of Beacon?
You know, I mean, is this, is, is, is this train going to keep driving?
Are we, have we arrived? Like what's the future? So, you know,
(05:44):
I think it's a fascinating story and I'm looking forward to sort of unpacking it. Of course.
And since you used train, we could start there.
You know, we got Metro North. It's basically, I think if I recall correctly,
it's an hour six down to Grand Central.
And I think that's, that's one of the reasons why.
(06:05):
Yeah. Having a, having an express train out of Beacon is a, is a huge benefit
for sure. Of course. Of course. Huge benefit.
But let's start at the beginning. You, you know, I have some memories of Beacon from a long time ago.
Not quite as many as people that were sort of raised here.
(06:25):
I was raised on the other side of the river, so I didn't really get to spend
much time in Beacon. My wife was raised in Cold Spring, and you just, you know, it's funny.
We bought our house in Fishkill in 2011, our first home, and I was intrigued by Beacon.
I'm not going to say I'm a prophet. I'm not going to say I saw it coming,
but I was like, oh, this place seems kind of cool.
(06:46):
And my wife forbid me, us, from considering anything in Beacon because of the
history that was attached to it and her history was you didn't go to Beacon.
You didn't go to Beacon. It was kind of dangerous.
Yeah, I don't want to say it was dangerous, but.
But, but if there were homes available in other towns, I could see why your,
(07:10):
your wife might've made that choice back then.
Of course, you also cost you a tremendous amount of money to see, you know. I know.
I, a reminder of that sometimes.
My history. We did well in Fishkill too. It wasn't the worst.
My history in Beacon is, although I never lived there, my parents did.
That's where my parents grew up and my grandparents.
And, you know, so, so I knew the area well because we constantly visited Beacon.
(07:34):
Okay. We were there all the time, especially, you know, Italian Sunday afternoon dinners.
And yes, you do have dinner in the afternoon when you're Italian.
Love it. Yeah. And my grandfather actually owned the first pizza place in Beacon
called Ralph's Pizza, which is now Trax Coffee.
Is that so? Yeah. Oh, I love that place. Yeah. Yeah.
(07:55):
I love it as Trax. And actually, my mother was born in a house right behind
there, even though my father's family owned the pizza place.
But my, my mother, uh, for some reason, I have no idea why, who was actually
born in the home that's right behind there.
So, so we do have some history down there. Spent a lot of time there.
And, you know, for, for me, it was a place where I went there when,
(08:18):
you know, when we needed to go there, there, there was always a little bit of
nightlife. There were, there were always some decent restaurants.
It's not like it is now where, you know, you, you honestly can't walk two doors
without finding amazing food, you know?
Yeah. Yeah. The restaurants surely have come up to a well above high standards at this point.
And I'm sure going back even further, Beacon was a pretty hip little spot,
(08:44):
a long, you know, again, probably before my time, even there was a casino,
uh, it was a ski mountain at Beacon.
It was, it was probably a, you know, my, my understanding was.
A kind of cool place to start, maybe lost its mojo along the way.
And since it's totally been reinvented. Most definitely.
(09:04):
And my parents have shared those memories because that casino that was up top
there, and that's, that's where some of their very first dates were.
And they went up there and went dancing and all that stuff. There was a trolley. Oh, so cool.
That took you up the mountain. So that path right now that everyone hikes and
mountain bikes, you know, it was a trolley line.
Yeah. That, that went like straight up and I can't really expand much upon that
(09:26):
because I never saw it, but, but I do know, I remember my cousin skiing Mount Beacon.
So even in my teens, she was older than me, but, but there was still skiing
up there at that point. So.
Yeah. It's one of my favorite hikes in the whole Hudson Valley.
And I do a lot of hiking. I go to a lot of different places and there's something
about Mount Beacon. Yes.
Proximity helps. It's simple, but it's, it's such a cool trail and you can expand.
(09:50):
And you can go to the ruins essentially of where the casino was,
get these great, amazing views.
And if you wanted to push yourself a little further, you can go up to the fire
tower. You can walk past the reservoir up there.
If you're brave enough to climb the fire tower, which full disclosure, I'm not.
My kids are up there and I'm freaking out because it's windy and it's high and I'm scared of heights.
(10:11):
But, you know, 360 degree views, it's such an amazing hike.
And we could see the remains of the old trolley as well.
Some of those cables and stuff it's it's it's all there which
is which is really really cool but i guess you
know i don't know maybe you know 70s 80s you
know things sorted to because my my couple of memories going through there was
(10:34):
you know a lot of boarded up you know buildings it seemed to have a lot of vacancies
it seemed to not be a a place where i was like hey let's you know we should
try and we should hang out here.
No, it didn't feel that way at all. For a while. Yeah.
Well, so, you know, it's a great little town, kind of lost its mojo for a little while.
(10:57):
Can you, as somebody that's, I don't want to say native, but,
you know, I've seen it sort of change.
Is there a defining moment or a pinpoint factor that kind of was maybe the starting
off point that, that, that started to change Beacon?
Well, you'd think I would probably know this, but instead I'll just make something up.
(11:18):
Okay. So a guy named Dave who lived in Brooklyn once came up to Beacon and he
said, we should settle here. And then he brought about a thousand friends.
And that's the story of Beacon. And took over. Yeah. You content with that?
(11:42):
Well, we can't edit, so we're keeping it in.
We can't edit. We're keeping it in. Yeah. By the way, these podcasts are not
edited guys. We just, we, we don't do it.
Whatever it is, it is. I mean, you know, it's, it's, it's how we roll,
but you know, a lot of people have shared with me the, the belief that cause
(12:02):
it's, it's the, the town has become a destination for a variety of things,
including food, entertainment,
you know, beer, wine, any, you, you name it. but also very specifically art.
Absolutely. And when I've asked this question to other people,
they point to the opening of Dia Beacon. Mm-hmm.
(12:27):
Probably should have looked this up, but when, do you know when that opened?
I don't know when Dia opened. I would assume shortly after Dave came up.
Yeah, you're probably right.
But Dia Beacon is this amazing art sort of gallery,
you know, of, of, of, of really incredible things and its proximity to the train
station meant people could day trip up without needing to take a taxi cab because
(12:50):
at the time Uber didn't exist or have a car.
So they get to come to this, you know, museum of art and kind of eat and spend
some time in Beacon, maybe go for a hike without needing to travel too far.
And I think it just started to grow from there.
I think you may have just answered the question there as opposed to my fictional
story of how Beacon grew.
(13:11):
But I think people started coming up here as a weekend destination,
falling in love with it, and then finding a home here and staying and realizing
that it really is just an hour and change on that train down to the city for their jobs.
And I think it became easier to do that and substantially cheaper than what
(13:32):
they were accustomed to.
And they just ate it up because they got that sort of village and city atmosphere
that they were accustomed to. But at the same time, the nature surrounding it
was just amazing to them.
Absolutely. And, you know, but here's the thing, I'm going to draw a parallel
for you because Beacon has done something quite unique.
(13:52):
Take Cold Spring, for example. They have a lot of similarities to Beacon in
the fact that there's access to good restaurants.
It's a quaint little village.
You, you know, the train station is right there at the end of the village.
So it's, it's very accessible.
It's one stop closer. I understand they don't have an express,
but commute time isn't a drastic difference, even if it's a little bit longer
(14:17):
because they don't have an express.
You know, plenty of nature, plenty of food, plenty of small town vibes,
but they didn't see the, I mean, don't get me wrong.
All of the towns and villages in the Hudson Valley has seen progress and home
values rise and population increases, but not to the extent that Beacon has,
(14:39):
right? right? Beacon is what's different.
Let's say about beacon than a cold spring in your opinion.
You know, when you say we do these live, I mean it, I throw curve balls.
Had you prompted me on that question ahead of time, I might've had some sort
of witty answer or even an answer where I can't say necessarily.
(15:04):
I have an answer. That's great. Cause you started this sounding like you were
starting with an answer, but never said it.
I do. I do have an answer, but I wanted to get your opinion.
So I'll ask myself the question and then, you know, you tell,
you give me your opinion. So I think, I think beacon has been.
From a development standpoint, from a zoning, from a building department standpoint,
(15:27):
far more progressive than a cold spring.
That's that, that, that, you know, if you walk through cold spring,
it looks and feels the same as it did, you know, in the early two thousands,
there's been very little development or change.
And I'm not saying what's right or wrong. I'm not agreeing or disagreeing this,
I'm not taking sides, but they have worked very, very hard to keep cold spring
(15:51):
exactly the way it is where beacon has really allowed for development.
It's gotten a lot of very unique restaurants.
They've got a beer arcade.
They've got, you know, so many really cool hip things.
And, and I think that has a lot to do with why people gravitated towards there,
(16:11):
because there has been this development.
There's this forward thinking, future thinking, sort of like we're kind of giving you what you want,
which is this suburban sort of lifestyle with lots of amenities,
but not too congested, where Cold Spring is still littered with antique stores, right? Correct.
(16:33):
And hasn't seen a lot of change. So what do you think? You think I'm onto something there?
I think if you asked me the question again, Again, I would answer it exactly
like that because I think you're spot on.
Although I might not have used littered with antique stores.
Sorry, Cold Spring. Or brought it to the attention again. I love you, Cold Spring.
I didn't mean to say you're littered. No, but I think you're right though.
(16:54):
They made, you know, knowing because I've sold down there, they've made restrictions
very tough in Cold Spring, especially for commercial.
Commercial because they wanted to completely keep the aesthetic of what cold
spring looked like, which is great because it does sort of bring you back in
time a little bit when you go down there.
But at the same time that might've prevented some growth in,
(17:14):
And Beacon has that growth. Not that they don't have restrictions.
They have, they have pretty decent restrictions. But at the same time,
they, they've allotted or encouraged, I should say, new businesses to go down there and develop.
And, uh, and there's just a tremendous amount of them. There's every specialty
store you could possibly imagine is available to you in Beacon.
(17:34):
I, I realized that was the truth when they opened the marshmallow store.
We have a store in Beacon dedicated to marshmallows.
And a store, I believe, dedicated to gourmet donuts.
Absolutely glazed over. Oh my God. And you happen to know the name of it. Yes. It's great.
It's, you know, it's so interesting because my family and I really enjoy going
(17:59):
to Outer Banks every year.
And for those of you that have ever been to Outer Banks, there's a town down
there called Duck and there's a little place called Duck Donuts.
And it's a very similar concept, right? right? They make the donuts right there
and you can kind of mix and match your toppings.
And it's just, you know, this, this, this sugar bomb of whatever you want.
And when glazed over opened up here, we were like, this is, this, this is magical.
(18:22):
I mean, it's a, it's a once in a while treat for me because you know,
the sugar is so much, but my God, is it amazing.
I feel we'll be ending this podcast a bit earlier than normal because right now all I want is a donut.
Well, or I mean, there's, I can probably spend hours on a podcast talking about
all of the different places to go and beacon.
(18:43):
You can, you know, Trax Coffee is great, right? There's.
The vault closed, but I forgot what it turned into. Oh my God,
I'm embarrassing myself now.
Trax Coffee is great. You've got. Here, let me, if you don't mind,
let me do a couple of these.
Town Crier Cafe. Yeah, please. Yeah, Town Crier Cafe is really cool because
that's a music venue you as well.
(19:04):
So you've got the town crier, it's got a main stage that houses,
you know, national acts, and yet it has a cafe setting where you can catch acoustic acts.
You know, at least on the weekends, it might be on weeknights as well, with great food.
At the same time, a quick shout out to my buddy Dana, who owns Melzinga's,
which is my personal favorite restaurant down there.
(19:25):
Melzinga's is very, we eat there regularly. It is such a great spot.
Such a great hidden gem. Absolutely. Max's on Main is your your hometown bar
atmosphere that serves extraordinary food for like a little restaurant like that.
It's a bar menu, but it's a great bar menu.
We're touching on a few. There's so, so many. You can go axe throwing.
(19:46):
Like I said, you can play old school arcade video games from the 80s and have some beers down there.
It's so, so cool.
There are these great little, there's one place called the Kitchen Sink,
which doesn't really open up too often, but they do these pop-up dinners where
you can just order these amazing dinners and come and pick them up.
(20:07):
Yeah, it's really cool. You know, there are so many options from Barb's Butchery
to some of the best steaks you can get in the area to vegan options for people.
There are so many different types of Indian and Thai and so many different styles of food.
The Beacon Bread Company makes some amazing food. I mean, you can just go on
(20:28):
and on and on, up and down the street.
Yeah. Yeah. And when Michael says that you can go axe throwing,
he didn't name a specific location, but it doesn't mean that you can just throw
axes on the streets of Beacon.
That's still legal as it is in most towns. But there is a very cool arcade slash
brewery slash axe throwing,
(20:49):
which I always have a hard time with saying brewery and axe throwing together,
but it's very safe, I promise you, called District Social down there. District Social.
That's the name of it. It's a pretty cool spot for sure. Yes, definitely.
So lots, lots of, lots of things going on. Obviously you have the nature, the hiking.
All right. Beacon has a 18 hole disc golf through the woods,
(21:14):
which I've done several times, which is super, super fun.
It's, it's unique. It's just another option.
Down by the water, right on the Hudson River is an amazing park with playgrounds
and, and, and, and things to do down there.
They, during the summertime, regularly have farmer's markets down there,
which is, I think, a local favorite, you know, to be able to go down there.
(21:37):
Yeah, and I think that's one of the things we didn't hit on,
assuming we're only talking to people who are from the area.
But by all means, it is a river town. So this is right on the beautiful Hudson River.
Also, its proximity to other places is pretty cool. Besides the train,
you legitimately have Route 84, which will connect you to Connecticut in about
40 minutes and Pennsylvania in maybe 45 or so.
(22:01):
It's sort of smack dab in the middle of those two, and 84 is right there.
And if you hop on 84, go a few miles, you're at 87, right?
You go a few miles the other way, you're at the Taconic, and a little bit further
from that, you're at 684. You, you're right.
It is in great proximity to a lot of great things. And that's, and that's traveling.
(22:23):
I mean, you also have a stone's throw away Newberg waterfront.
You've got Fishkill, which is another great foodie town, right?
You're, you're, you're.
30 minutes, 25 minutes by car
to the city of Poughkeepsie, which has a lot to offer in and of itself.
Of course. You're a stone's throw away from New Paltz and Mohonk Mountain and Minnewaska.
(22:45):
And, you know, these are all things that are a lot easier to make little day
trips of when you're in Beacon as opposed to, say, living in the city.
Of course. Or White Plains or something like that. Most definitely.
And I think most importantly, we
get to end this soon and go have a donut because I'm still on that kick.
Yeah, no, the donuts are great.
(23:05):
So, well, let's, let's do this, right? So obviously we've kind of unpacked a
lot of why Beacon is so great, right? You've got the, the commutability factor.
You've got, it's very picturesque.
It's very forward thinking. There are a lot of things to do,
a lot of options, whether nature is your thing, whether food is your thing,
whether nightlife is your thing.
(23:26):
There's, there's all kinds of things available traveling.
Where does Beacon go from here? Do you see, not to be cheeky,
but the train to continue to roll or, or, or has Beacon arrived?
Like, where does Beacon go from here? Is it, are home values going to continue
to go up? Are they going to continue to develop?
And I, I know I'm asking you to predict the future, which nobody can,
(23:48):
but in your mind, you know, where do we go from here with Beacon?
Yeah, I think at this point when, when a hotspot like that has developed,
it will maintain or grow. I don't think you're going to see any sort of reverting
back to maybe what it was when it wasn't such a hot spot.
I think it'll always be hot. Sure, housing gets a little more limited.
(24:11):
There's not a ton of land for growth for new construction.
And they're, and the good thing about them is they're, they're a little bit
choosy about what they do allow. Yeah. So that, that's good.
They're, they're leaving green space for people, which is awesome.
At the same time, they do allow building and we've seen some buildings go up
and you'll see a few more, you know, but, but I think you're only going to see
(24:32):
a, at least it's going to hold steady or grow. I don't see it going backwards.
That's the best I can do as far as protecting the future, except for the donuts. Yeah.
Have I mentioned those? Do you think we'll get a cheesecake factory in there?
I don't know. What are you doing to me, man?
Why are you doing this? Of course, I don't see a cheesecake factory in our future,
(24:56):
but I don't think anybody would want that.
I don't even think the people that live in Beacon would want it.
No, they certainly would.
I don't think they would mind one in Newburgh somewhere not in their backyard
that they can access, but I think that would take away from the charm of Beacon.
The quaintness. Absolutely.
I agree. When I look at Beacon and I think of Dutchess County,
(25:17):
when I think of how New York City just continues to expand,
I kind of think of Dutchess County as the future Westchester County.
What Westchester County was or is, I think at some point, will be Dutchess County.
And, and, and, and I know that there are a lot of people that are listening
(25:40):
to this that might go, oh God, please no.
Like I, I love Dutchess County. I like it the way it is, or maybe the way it was 10 years ago.
Cause I think there are definitely two, two, two.
Giant populations of people that are, you know, sort of social media battle
warriors that love the old Dutchess County of 15, 20 years ago,
(26:03):
where it was a lot less congested and there was a lot less options,
but they liked the peacefulness and it was the country.
And now it's becoming suburban, right? It's becoming more congested.
It's really interesting that you say that because having
previously run a business on main street and beacon
and being still part of some beacon social media
groups yeah i see that battle all the time there's
(26:26):
people that grew up their entire lives here they're like oh my god it's so congested
it got crowded they've destroyed our town it was except then someone else will
go yeah but what about and they'll name like a restaurant or something they
go and and the The first person that grew up here, the native will go,
oh, you're right. I love that place.
That place was opened by somebody who moved up here.
(26:47):
Yeah. You know, and then all of a sudden they're fine with it.
Once you've, you know, it's the place where they get those lamb chops that they
couldn't get anywhere else.
You know, so, so it all tends to work itself out. Everybody gets along together.
And, and I don't think we stress enough. I mean, we talked about the art,
but the art and music scene down in Beacon is insane.
There's, there's just like any night of the week you can go down to Beacon and
(27:08):
there is a place where you can go see live music. somewhere. Yeah.
I, I proved that this last week, Thursday night, we were down there watching
a buddy of mine do an acoustic set in a place that I didn't even know had music.
And they did and great sound and it was, it was fabulous. That is awesome.
Yeah. That is, that is very, very cool. So I agree with you.
I think that, I think that Beacon will continue to be a popular spot.
(27:33):
People will continue to be interested in, in Beacon and developing Beacon.
I hope that Beacon city officials do a very good job with planning and organizing
the growth and, and, and, and do it in a very, very smart way. so it doesn't backfire.
I think they've done a relatively good job. I know everybody has an opinion
(27:55):
on what they might've been able to do better, but ultimately if you look at
where they are, they've, they've, they've, they've maintained this,
this, this incredible magnet of people that want to be there.
And I agree with you. I don't think it's going anywhere. I think it's going to continue to develop.
And I think it's a, it's a great investment opportunity if you're thinking about
real estate because it's going to maintain, it's going to hold and go up.
(28:20):
At least that's my future prediction.
Yeah. And I mean, if you could pass predict too, you know, when your wife didn't
want to move there, you should have just bought real estate there. Yeah.
I've done it without her permission. Right. Well, no, you shouldn't have done
that because I know she listens to this podcast and I want to be the one who's on her side.
I would have been divorced, but well off.
(28:40):
A single guy with a decent amount of property and a portfolio.
All right mikey well there you have it that is a wrap for us today we are so
grateful team banks hudson valley's x factor in real estate there's the lowdown
on beacon that is where it is and where it's going we're going to keep doing
these and i'll see you around the valley we're out.
(29:03):
Music.
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