Why it’s so hard to buy a home in Uniondale

The Uniondale housing market is currently difficult because very few people are moving out of their homes in any given month. This causes prospective homebuyers to look elsewhere, even if they strongly want to join the Uniondale community, says Uniondale real estate agent Nicole Burke.

Known for her popular “Voice of Uniondale” radio program, which airs Wednesdays at 5 p.m. on WRHU Hofstra Radio, Burke has sold houses here for over 20 years. She is currently with Charles Rutenberg Realty.

“It’s like everyplace else,” said Burke, “low housing inventory, and now that interest rates are going down, I’m afraid that what happened last year — prices driven up by high demand — will happen again.”

Uniondale is attractive. It has cohesive community organizations, two colleges, widely known museums, and major business plazas, like Roosevelt Field Mall. The business property taxes contribute so much to Uniondale’s financial base that residential property taxes are about half those of surrounding communities, topping out around $7,600 yearly.

All of these factors make Uniondale a desirable — and expensive — housing market.

“I get calls from young people trying to buy here,” said Burke. “They are looking to spend no more than $500,000. But the median sales price of houses in Uniondale last month was $544,500. So these young people look farther east.”

Even if Uniondale homeowners are motivated to sell, including longtime owners who might be trying to downsize, the hot market is a deterrent.

“Picture somebody who never refinanced and the mortgage is paid off,” said Burke. “Let’s say taxes are $1,100 monthly. If I sell my house, where can I find another house in the area, or an apartment to rent, for $1,100 a month? We lose our older people who do sell their homes because they move out of New York State.”

Finding a reasonably priced rental unit for young people and families meets the same barrier: low inventory, high demand, and lease agreements whose terms are out of reach.

“I get calls from people in my church,” said Burke. “They can’t find a place except a basement apartment, which is illegal.” The only solution may be a shared-occupancy situation found on Craig’s List or posted at a laundromat.

Two venerable Uniondale homeowners, who have no plans to leave their homes, spoke of their bond with their community.

Kathleen Lyons, 85, moved into her home on California Avenue, near Cedar Street, when she was only three years old.

“My parents bought this house in 1941 for five thousand dollars,” she said. “There were two houses on my side of the street and two across the street. If you went east on Hempstead Turnpike, the next traffic light was probably Newbridge Road, and not another traffic light until Farmingdale. All farms, potatoes and corn.”

Lyons has not been burdened by a mortgage. “The original mortgage was paid off when my father died,” she said. “My parents had mortgage insurance, which was unusual in 1949.” Not until Lyons added a handicapped-accessible extension to the house in 1982, to accommodate her elderly mother, did she add to the house debt, and then not very much.

Lyons’ roots here are deep. Her maternal grandfather, William N. Robertson, moved into the home when her grandmother died in 1951. A trustee for the Uniondale Public Library, his name is on a plaque there, and his picture is in the Sherman Van Ness firehouse from his days as fire commissioner. And Lyons herself has always been civically minded. She is a longtime member of the Uniondale Community Council.

She has not investigated the current value of her house because she isn’t selling it.

“I could get on a train and get into Manhattan in less than an hour,” she said. “I now have excellent medical providers, all within a few minutes of my home. Why do I need to go anywhere else?”

One of Lyons’ compadres in the Uniondale Community Council, 95-year-old Julia Ross, who is African American, moved into her home with her young family in 1970.

It was the middle of the white-flight era. But the Uniondale neighborhood was friendly.

“Uniondale had a good school district, and we had good neighbors. They would pick up my sons for school,” said Ross. “My husband, James Ross, worked in the city and it wasn’t so long a drive to get to work. He was a policeman. He got four of his buddies to move out here. Most of them are still here. My husband passed away a couple of years ago.”

Ross herself joined the PTA. Later, she joined the Nostrand Gardens Civic Association, the Uniondale Community Council, and a garden club that meets monthly in Baldwin.

“When I leave, it will be my last resort,” said Ross. “I love the area.”