New York's Columbia County Bargains

What a difference a few months make! In December, I wrote that there were still nice second homes that were "affordable" -- in the $300,000 category -- in New York's popular Columbia County, within a 3-hr drive of New York City. A quick visit this weekend shows many homes now available in the $200,000-$290,000 range from Hillsdale to Hudson, Copake to Kinderhook. For listings, see Web sites for Weichert Realtors and Beach and Bartolo, among others.(Beach and Bartolo has the listing of the Chatham house, pictured.) MLS includes houses that with "motivated sellers" and half-finished properties.