A Discussion of Value

Since this is a blog about the Adirondacks and Adirondack Real Estate, it is essential to address how property here in the Adirondack region of upstate New York is valued. Pretty simply, just like property elsewhere; value is based on the law of supply and demand. From there it gets slightly more complicated since most of the property I work with is located within the six-million acre Adirondack Park.
“The Adirondack Park was created in 1882 by the New York State Legislature, which enacted measures that guarantee public lands will remain forever wild. The Park itself is the size of the state of Vermont, with a structure unlike any other state or national park in the nation: it is a patchwork of public and private lands. There are expansive blocks of undeveloped backcountry interspersed with private homes, villages and tracts of corporate forest lands under active management. In the Adirondacks, it is possible to hike to an isolated waterfall in the afternoon, then spend the evening strolling Main Street.” Adirondack Regional Tourism Council
It is like living in a National Park, but owning your land and conducting private industry. And that is exactly what it is; private land surrounded by government-owned land that will never be developed. Therefore, there is limited developable, private land available. This, of course, makes it dear, or valuable.
There are many, many miles/kilometers of publicly accessible trails for hiking, biking, skiing, hunting and general enjoying. That is one reason why Lake Placid was recently chosen America’s Best Outdoor Town. For my international readers, this means you can actually go for a hike on such great expanses of land that you might never see a sign of civilization, for free. You can hunt on public lands with no cost other than your hunting license. Here is a link for a great overview of life in the Adirondack Park, or “within the blue line.”