If You're Thinking of Buying a Home in Wawarsing…

  |  August 23, 2011

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A reader wrote in with the following tale of woe: “Something that is well known to locals but not to many ‘outsiders’ that I find very interesting is the giant leak under Wawarsing causing major flooding in people’s homes in that area as a result of the aqueducts that supply NYC with drinking water having gigantic holes which have not been patched. ”

It’s true, folks. The aqueduct is a-leaking and has wreaked havoc on homes in the area. The town of Wawarsing is home to many hamlets we’ve covered or plan to cover — Spring Glen (many bungalow colonies there!), Kerhonkson, Ellenville, Cragsmoor, to name a few — and we’re very grateful to our reader for letting us know that potential buyers should be mighty skeptical of deals nearby that look too good to be true. Our reader points out that leaks now could lead to sinkholes later.

We’d love to hear from some folks who’ve bought or rented in the area. Is it affecting you? Do you have insurance, or another game plan to deal with it? Any tips on how to make sure a house on the market isn’t a candidate for aqueduct leaks?

There’s some good news. The DEP has acknowledged the problem, and Gov. Cuomo’s office is allocating $4.5 million to buy out qualifying homeowners (making their homes worth just over $100,000 on average–hm). Meanwhile, they’ve set aside $1.2 billion to build a bypass tunnel.

Read On, Reader...