Schenectady median could sink below $100K



Could the city’s median fall below $100,000?

It seems likely, considering that the midway sale point for October alone was $77,184, according to numbers released today by the Greater Capital Association of Realtors.

For comparison’s sake, the median in Troy so far this year is $132,500, while it is $158,000 in Albany and $327,000 in Saratoga Springs.

For sure, there are some serious bargains available in Schenectady, like the house on Waverly Place shown above, which is listed for $135,000. But those bargains are tempered by the region’s highest property taxes, which are a reason home values in the city are so low. (Photo via the Multiple Listing Service)

Chris Churchill

47 Responses

  1. Phyllis says:

    I seriously looked at property in Schenectady over the past year and saw some amazing homes. Beautiful and everything I could want. What stopped me everytime were the horrible taxes, the unresponsiveness of city services (and that included the assessor’s office when I tried to get information to inform my potential purchase),and the crime rate. And the closing costs were astronomical. Schenectady and their insistence on going into another year without any creative strategy for lowering the egregious tax rate, the pathetic amount of taxes paid by GE, and the overall ambience of a city determined to commit suicide…no thanks. Really tragic.

  2. sunny the clown says:

    Phyllis, read on this blog how a business person just paid $600,000 to buy a downtown property and is planning on investing $5 million on a new building. Have you actually been to Schenectady, stockade, downtwon, upper union street, lower broadway rather than just calling the assesor’s office? What upstate city with loss of tax base, population and manufacturing has actually lowered an egregious tax rate in one year , are you kidding? It will get lowered when more people buy up properties and move in and pay taxes spreading out the costs over more taxpayers. Until then you still have fixed police, fire, garbage, sewer, roads, etc. costs. How is the city’s fault that GE successfully sued to lower its assessment. What is your genius solution?

  3. Ryan says:

    Wow! They must have some excellent government services in Schenectady…

  4. ike says:

    More like some of the country’s highest property taxes…

    Do idiots who vote for property tax increases not realize that every time the property tax rate goes up, so does the monthly mortgage/escrow payment for potential buyers? The limiting factor in a purchaser isn’t typically the mortgage amount, its the monthly payment. If someone can afford $1,000 a month payment, but $300 is property taxes, that means they can only afford a $700 mortgage in Schenectady.

    Compare that to a mortgage in Texas, where an equivalently valued house would pay maybe 80 dollars a month instead of $300 in tax, and its no wonder that property values are putrid in upstate NY compared to elsewhere.

  5. WrshpStAdalbert says:

    Mr. Churchill, It is the constant nattering and negativism regarding Schenectady from the media and other naysayers who want to knock Schenectady down — rather than build it up. The taxes are not too high in Schenectady — there are simply too many people not paying their taxes! If people realized that cutting taxes would seriously deteriorate the quality of life — and Schenectady has some the highest quality of life — then they would be rushing to make even further investment into our parks, youth, the frail and aging seniors and middle class families. The new Mayor and his Team, along with the County Legislature (gloriously lead by Mrs. Dagostino) have made huge strides in making Schenectady the go-to County for quality of life! With fair coverage of the truth, we expect the county to continue growing…….Viva la Renaissance!

  6. lizzee says:

    I cheer for the city as much as I can but right now our taxes are nearly triple our mortgage payment(admittedly, a low mortgage). We do have terrific services overall and the schools do the best that they possibly can with the demands that the state places on teaching for the tests and not to the students. The housing stock is some of the best in the 518 and superior to our neighbor communities but the fear,and narrow-mindedness of so many people,keeps more good people away and lures them to the burbs which are now beginning to erode with neglect-subtly but surely they are also succumbing to the need for their local governments to raise fees,taxes,etc. as their schools and other services are facing their own dilemmas.

  7. J says:

    @2—-”It will get lowered when more people buy up properties and move in and pay taxes spreading out the costs over more taxpayers”

    Not true.

    It will get lowered when more BUSINESSES and INDUSTRY buy up properties and move in. (ie. Colonie and Latham with lowest taxes in area)

  8. Barbara s says:

    Taxes not too high? Is this comment for real? Schenectady taxes, both city and county are about the highest in the state outside of the upscale suburbs of NYC. In fact, Schenectady taxes are among the highest in the US.

    What will bring the taxes down is to stop spending taxpayer money like there’s no tomorrow.

    Yes, there are too many people not paying there taxes and it is all the politically connected who the Metroplex group and the Democratic mayor and a largely appointed city council composed exclusively of one party only, these downtown people who have been told they will never have to pay property taxes if they move downtown and bring their low wage jobs with them. The power in the city/county have given most of these businesses downtown permanent exemption from ever paying property and school taxes (you can find that recorded with the county).

    Besides the businesses downtown, yes, there are other that don’t/haven’t paid taxes. One is the pair of long time tax delinquents (they are also slumlords and “I buy houses for cash” con artists) who owed tens of thousands in back taxes on their historic building downtown, and the Metroplex paid them $250,000 of taxpayer money so they realized a 100% profit on a building that they never put a penny into. Then the Metroplex used taxpayer funds to pay their back taxes. But not the Metroplex, nor the county nor the city ever made them pay all their delinquent taxes as a condition for paying them for the hotel building downtown.

    Then there are other absentee slumlords who don’t pay taxes and the city largely ignores them, remember when there was an assessor named Popolizio and the city’s biggest slumlord was a Popolizio, definite conflict of interest.

    Then there are the people who don’t pay their taxes because they can’t afford it, or can’t afford to stay current. They are funding downtown from their high property taxes and just can no longer keep up, and for the poster above who appears to be a church going person by virtue (no pun intended) of his or her name, yes, this group may make up the large percentage of those who are not paying. But how can they pay when the taxes are the highest in the region and almost the highest in the US. These people cannot afford to be subsidizing businesses who have the financial ability to pay.

    To Ike, yes, you are partially right. In more cases than not, the tax portion of the mortgage payment, for homeowners in Schenectady in the city, is equal to or more than the mortgage amount.

    The services in the city have been drastically cut back over the years. No one can really complain about the elimination of carry out service for trash with the carry back service, that is, when the sanitation crews would go to your back yard and carry the cans out to the curb, then return them after pick up. But to look over time and see how that “service” was eliminated coupled with paying a separate trash fee in addition to paying for trash collection via the property tax, and then on top of that having the fee increased twice, or maybe it’s been three times already, I’ve lost track. This is a perfect example of elimination of service combined with a drastic increase in taxes. I think we can all handle taking our cans to the curb, but our trash is not even collected 52 weeks of the year. Oh yeah, and this week, we lose two days of trash collection! Privates pick up regularlly 52 weeks a year. And other locales with public collection don’t have their day changed almost every week.

    We have seen great increases in city taxes yet closing of fire stations, reductions in fire staffing, reductions in police staffing, closing of playgrounds, cuts in parks, closing of pools, cuts, or I should say delays in snowplowing, elimination of all snow emergencies thus rendering streets almost impassable, an ignoring of addressing cars parked illegally on priority streets in 3 inches or more, and a great reduction of attention to infrastructure despite that the infrastructure of our taxes (the sewer and water fees) have doubled if not more in just 10 years. Then of course we have far too many drugs, stabbings, shootings, it’s just not safe. I’m not even going to bother starting a topic about the schools.

    That all said, there are many houses that are really nice, the features, etc. However, besides paying the highest taxes than any other capital region cities, people don’t buy a house in order to stay inside behind locked doors, and hiding their children in a moldy basement (after road flooding due to infrastructure that is not maintained) rather than letting them play outside in the fresh air just because of the drive-bys.

    Most of us Schenectadians are stuck. Even we tried sell we would still have two mortgages, one on the new house and then the remaining amount on the Schenectady house to make up the big loss we’d take take selling.

    This has all been exacerbated greatly in the past 5 years, maybe 10, and it’s sad.

  9. ap says:


  10. Being Real says:

    You just can’t make this stuff up. Denial, inability to see reality, refusal to reverse course. The City and its residents are steering the ship towards an ice berg. Property values in the city of Schenectady are heading off a cliff because NO ONE WANTS TO LIVE HERE AND PAY THE CRIMINALLY HIGH TAXES. All we will have is people on welfare, and confused and trapped elderly people who suffer from Stockholm syndrome and the inability to realize this is not 1957. Then you have a super-entrenched political patronage class of government workers who lead the cheering squad for the infamously inept and corrupt Democrat Party, who never saw a pension they couldn’t pad. So what if taxes will be double in 5 years? Here in the City of Pain, we masochists cry for help!

  11. CAK says:

    I own a home in Woodlawn, have it on the market and have had almost zero activity. I have a great realtor, but the taxes are definitely a deterent to any would be purchaser – my tax escrow is $100 more than my principal/interest payment. The services are fair at best – and the city government is pretty much non responsive to any criticiscm or need for help – but I have great neighbors and helpful friends who have lent a hand in emergency situations. While I hope to sell and get the hell out of Schenectady asap, I have to realize that I may be stuck here until I can at least break even on the house – and trust me those 5 years or so can not pass quickly enough! Schenectady politicians should be ashamed!!!

  12. Phyllis Alberici says:

    Dear Mr./Ms. Sunny the Clown…if I hadn’t wanted to live in Schenectady I wouldn’t have looked at nearly 75 houses. Yes, I know the city and no I’m set that the city may have some sort of upswing in many years to come but for right now the taxes are a killer. And, yes, GE, the Mother Ship, can debate their taxes with more success than the average home owner but that doesn’t mean they are anywhere near paying their fair share for the size of their facility. Asking me to come up with a “solution” for a city I no longer wish to invest money in is absurd and was the never the intention of my statement. Perhaps as what I suspect you are, a Schenectady native, you might want to offer your services to the new Mayor to help rectify an untenable situation. And, yes, I did hear the good news about someone investing money. Wonderful! I hope it doesn’t turn out to be stalled pie in the sky.

  13. Sharon says:

    #5 – highest quality of life? Where would that be – over by Union College and the hospital? Schenectady is in large measure a dirty city as there is no way to force home owners to keep their property clean. Garbage blows all over the streets. People put out garbage for collection any which way they feel like it rather than in cans and sturdy bags. Everywhere I go I see people blowing their leaves into the streets rather than bagging them for pick up. In the winter, there are hundreds of properties where no one shovels the snow. Even on State Street people are walking out in the street because they cannot pass on the sidewalks, especially at the corners. Everywhere I go I see illegally parked vehicles without tickets on them. Usually when I see the traffic enforcement people they are downtown rather than out in the neighborhoods. When peopl are looking to buy property and they drive around and see filthy streets, why would they stop to look? I live here and work here so I cannot be accused of criticising from outside. But the pols who run this city better find ways to make the quality of life better before more people start walking away from their homes and just leaving. Empty property invites squatting and drug dealing and useage which is usually the beginning of the end for a neighborhood.

  14. LouHarv says:

    I looked at purchasing a house in Schenectady, but ultimately it was the double whammy of high taxes and troubled schools that drove me to buy elsewhere. I am aware that many students get an excellent education in Schenectady Public Schools, but far too many don’t and I can’t take a chance on something as important as my child’s education. The graduation rates and results on statewide test scores are just too low for me personally to feel comfortable sending my child to school there. I can live with high taxes, this is NY after all, but I need to feel like I’m getting my money’s worth, and that means top performing schools. Until they get that figured out, it’s going to be a tough sell for Schenectady.

  15. Sysonby says:

    I work in Schenectady and have considered moving here because I can get alot of house for less money but the taxes are a huge deterrent. Everytime they go up a few more middle class taxpaying families leave for suburbs or for warer climates with lower taxes. It’s hard to fill those houses without lowering the price and then the people who move in are not middle class and less likely to be able to come up with the taxes.
    The flight of the middle and working classes from the city have left once very nice neighborhoods in the hands of people who just don’t care. The nice houses and shops in the Upper Union area are quickly being encroached upon by boarded buildings. No matter where you go in the city you are only a couple of blocks from a shady area and that is unfortunate. More tax and fee hikes will just invite more desertions by people who want to sell before the values drop any more.

    Sadly most of the businesses downtown are only there because of the Metroplex money or other corporate welfare. Sorry but if tax dollars are subsidizing a business to the tune of $1k a month while they are generating tax revenue of $900, I don’t see that as $900 in the coffers but as $100 lost.

  16. Hungy Howie says:

    “It will get lowered when more people buy up properties and move in and pay taxes spreading out the costs over more taxpayers” This person is insane! How are you going to encourage people to buy properties in Schenectady when taxes are $5,000 a year? Who’s going to buy? Monkeys and Donkeys! Schenectady is a dump and is back on the decline 700 vacant homes are in the city and the city can’t solve that problem. The current administration is anti landlords and anti investor. Once the downtown business tax free pilot expires those businesses will move out of Schenectady and downtown will once be a graveyard that it once was. Sorry City Hall keep your properties no one want them!

  17. WrshpStAdalbert says:

    I have a distinct message to the whiners and other naysayers who want to knock Schenectady and its fine leaders down, instead of giving them positive reinforcement and building the city UP — If you do not like what is happening then you are fully welcomed to leave. It is the naysayers like a recently-elected councilman who wish to focus on the negative who have hurt the city in the eyes of the potential home buyers…….Schenectady is MUCH better today after 8 years of a great team of Democrats who have steadily worked together to improve it…..There are many projects to complete– thankfully the Public Works Garage is the finest state-of-the-art PW garage in North America….. and the Team has worked with many fine organizations to redevelop Erie Blvd. That project alone will change the perception of so many folks that people will be beating the doors down to get a home in the City…..Currently the project to re-build Erie Blvd. has sadly been held up by what I call the Mavens of Morbidity. Erie Blvd. MUST be rebuilt, along with the Police Station, and several Fire Stations that if not repaired soon — will endanger public safety and the lives of First Responders. The Sewer Plant will soon be improved with a new laundry list of changes including ridding the city of outside profiteers and bringing in our own home-grown workforce….Much good is happening but the naysaying must end and the critics must be routed out.. There is work to be done and several projects in the works that will boost up the morale of the workforce and the residents —- so lets get it done and build the City UP.

  18. bonnie says:

    It’s really funny reading the comments of a Democratic leader from the suburbs. City resale prices are crashing because of decades of Democratic fiscal mismanagement. Their answer for everything is another tax and fee. The highest taxes in the region are not enough! Next the horrible “acting” Mayor wants to start an EMS fee for when you need an ambulance upon reading your record tax bill.

    All of the phony renaissance rhetoric has been unmasked for what a load it is. Giving PILOTS to connected millionaires Downtown is not helping the average oppressed property owner. Hot air will not turn around the sober facts of complete resale price collapse due to years of one party Democratic over taxation.

  19. Eric says:

    I was looking at houses in the GE plot, and there was one for sale for $196,000. The estimated taxes were approximately $20,000 a year. I want to know what the city does with that kind of money.

    I live by the GE plot. The sidewalks in that neighborhood are falling apart. When I called the police and reported a stray pitbull in my neighborhood, they said, “Animal control is not working today, there is nothing we can do. Call us back if it attacks someone.” This was a weekday between 9 and 5.

    I came from a capital city in a different state with about 500,000 people in the metropolitan area. In the high tax areas, taxes were about 1/2 of what they are in Schenectady (that GE plot is an extreme case, I am comparing to the standard 4-5% Schenectady taxes). Schools were better there, there were more libraries, animal control worked every day, and there was no soda can tax. Consequently, more people recycled non soda cans there than here. I have been happy with some police (not dog) services from Schenectady police, but they did not get here in time to arrest the people who had a gun fight in front of my house.

    I can’t find on the internet what Schenectady spends their taxes on. I don’t think anyone really knows. All I know is that I had more services, and better services for less than half the cost in a comparable city in a different state.

  20. etc says:

    If there is a running theme in these posts it’s that elected Democrats in Schenectady (or Albany or Troy or Cohoes) are incompetent office clerks who care only for the welfare and criminal classes – their voting base.

    If you’re a working class resident of Schenectady (and Albany and Troy and Cohoes) the elected Democrats just walk all over you!


  21. Being Real says:

    The Democrat spokesmouth above just invited us all to leave if we don’t like it. How constructive. And just what was it about this gang that made you all vote them IN again? I guess when you have a captive audience of welfare-takers and confused seniors who think they are voting the FDR ticket and that the “Republicans are for the rich…yadda yadda” there really isn’t any hope.

  22. CAK says:

    Just to expand on the POOR services of the City and the respective departments –

    1) My car was spray painted in front of my house, I called the Schenectady police who said there had been a series of incidents like that in the city and that they wouldn’t bother sending an officer out but would mail me a police report.

    2) My water service broke just inside my basement last winter. My plumber asked if I could have the city come and mark the curb box. I called at 8am. And again at 12pm. And again at 3pm. Finally at 4pm I was told there was snow in my yard and I would have to shovel the front yard completely before they could attempt to find the curb box. (Really, snow in my yard in February in Northern NY??? ) Bear in mind the device they use is also used to discover artifacts through stone and dirt and who knows what else. Can you say lazy?

    3) During the ice storm a few winters ago, the electric service to my home came down across my vehicle. Before I could call the electric company the CIty Inspector was at my house and issuing me a warning for improper electric service. I had 24 hours to get to City Hall and get a permit to fix it (at a not nominal fee). I understand public safety but it seemed a little eager to me – especially given the fact that no other department I have contacted bothered to come to my home during decent weather!

    4) My taxes are escrowed as part of my mortgage. I receive an electronic notification each time a payment is sent to the city or the school district. I received a notice that my taxes were unpaid and immediately contacted the CIty. They denied sending the letter, said my taxes were paid on time and that I should “just relax” – I offered to fax them the letter I had received and was told I could but they would just discard it as the taxes were paid. I was very nervous and worried, but the person on the phone was uncaring, rude and dismissive.

    I realize I am only one person, but I can not be the only one who has had these type of experiences. I repeatedly tried to contact the supervisors of the departments I had less than stellar dealings with and was ignored or dismissed at every turn. I even contacted the Mayor over the “curb box” incident, mostly out of frustration, (by phone, email and snail mail) and did not receive a response to ANY of the inquiries.

    All in all, I am sorry I purchased a house here. I would leave as was suggested in the above comment, BUT it appears I am stuck until I can at least break even on my house or can afford to sell it at a loss.

    Just a sad sad commentary on a sad sad city!

  23. bonnie says:

    The Democrats can’t run on their pathetic record of over taxation and pension padding so they smear the Alliance Party. They specialize in junk mail and disinformation. Roger Hull is a skier? That’s a major concern. Home prices are collapsing Citywide and the Democrats come up with a 7% increase in their taxes and fees. Coming next! A new $100 McCarthy fee when you call for ambulance service. The Democratic spokesmouth left the City decades ago. You keep paying and shut up about it. Call it progress.

  24. J says:

    1) what is the population of the city of Sch’dy?
    2) how many showed up to vote last week?

    @23—bonnie, you make good points. I must wonder how is it that the residents of Sch’dy continue to vote for Democrats for decades?

  25. LouHarv says:

    I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again, we get the leaders we deserve. It doesn’t matter (dems or repubs) the elected officials of both parties are responsible for Schenectady’s long, steady decline. They could have controlled spending and kept taxes low. They could have addressed the poor performance of the schools. But they buried their heads in the sand and kept milking the system until they had a city where middle and upper middle class folks wouldn’t or couldn’t afford to live.

    As the state continues its long overdue efforts to stop propping up these little banana republics like Schenectady, there will be extremely painful days ahead. Layoffs for police and fire, and cutbacks in just about every service. But maybe, just maybe there will be some hope after it’s all done because the corrupt leeches will flee like rats off a sinking ship once the spigot of state money has been cut off. They will go to the suburbs or other places where they can still pad their pensions. I’m hopeful that day will come, but for the immediate future, it doesn’t look good.

  26. Hungy Howie says:

    Schenectady residents that voted for the puppet master McCarthy and his puppeteers Brucker, Perazzo, Mootovrenn and King this election are very stupid people. McCarthy and his crew are not going to be Schenectady’s savior they are all about corruption, greed and raising your taxes with higher fees. They don’t give a dam about the citizens of this City. They just want to fill their own pockets along with their friends who supported them. If you think this is bad it’s going to get worse in this City. Tax payers need to unite and boycott paying the city any taxes so the city will be forced to shut down and declare bankrupt then we will see how much McCarthy and his crew will run their mouths.

  27. bonnie says:

    The population is around 62,000 and 10,000 turned out to vote. J running unopposed helps the Democrats. That all ended this year. The Alliance Party shocked the experts (like #17) as they pulled in over 1,000 votes across the line. With Vince Riggi’s huge win they will be back stronger and more organized.

  28. J says:

    so 52,000 residents must be happy paying sky high taxes….hilarious and sad

  29. bonnie says:

    You must not understand the importance of high taxes. If you boycott taxes McCarthy and his horrible Democrats will seize your property and throw you into the street. But they care alot- about their 4 public paychecks. Mootovren lost big time and King should have lost. McCarthy never saw a tax he didn’t want to hike. Until he is booted nothing will improve. Property owners that were tricked into voting for him really need help. When you going to come out of the coma?

  30. Quarter says:

    These Democrats will scheme and lie to get what they want. Sad day for the people of Schenectady