For those of you that missed it, the village of Ellenville made an appearance in the New York Times' "Havens" real estate section last Friday. Area residents received the article with lukewarm enthusiasm but not everyone had the same response.

"I had two solid days of phone calls. It was unbelievable. Amazing," said Cindy Welch, a local realtor for Coldwell Banker. Welch had one of her houses featured in the Times' piece.

Local realtor, Cindy Welch, stands in front of the house profiled in the New York Times' piece. Artwork by Roger Baker. Clich image to see larger view.

"I have had calls from Long Island, Philadelphia, New York City and California. I haven't sold the house yet but I am sure I will soon."

Welch, who has been a realtor in the area since 2004, has said that properties in Ellenville and the surrounding areas receive the most requests for information on a daily basis. "People want to move here because the price per acre is the cheapest in Ulster County," said Welch.

In addition to affordability, Welch cites the area's location and its recent attempts at revitalization in drawing more attention, and buyers to the area. "The area has a tremendous amount of potential."

Local realtor Lucille Hand feels the same way about Ellenville's future, saying, "I do think Ellenville is going to grow. And I think the kind of growth you will see is going to surprise people."

With regard to possible drawbacks, Welch lists one. Taxes. Welch says that property taxes, particularly for first time homebuyers, can sometimes place an "affordable house" out of reach when those numbers are added to monthly payments.

The tax issue is not as significant a concern for city transplants used to paying high rents and taxes. Hence, Welch concentrates much of her advertising efforts in New York City publications.

Building Code Enforcement Officer for the Village of Ellenville, Brian Schug is thinking that the Times' piece might be successful in drawing people to the area. "I hope a lot of people are reading [it] and saying, 'Hey, maybe we should take a day trip up to Ellenville and see what's up there.'"

Schug, who has been with the village for five years, said that he has noticed that the area's housing market has tapered off slightly from last year and the year before.

"2005 for us was huge in terms of construction. During that year the village had around $6 million in construction. That year we had almost as much as the entire town of Wawarsing, which is several times larger. We haven't even come close to that figure before or since." Last year's figure of $4 million is still just two-thirds of the 2005 high.

Schug says that his records, dating back to the late 1980's have some years that show less than $100,000 worth of construction. "That's how bad things were at one point."

For several months Schug has said he would like to see more owner occupied spaces within the village. Currently, he estimates that Ulster County's percentage of renters is 32% whereas Ellenville's is almost 60% of its nearly 1,600 units with a significant portion of that total designated as Section 8 (low income) housing.

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