Aspen. Palm Springs. Woodstock. Southampton. Palm Beach.
These are historic names that resonate with status — prestigious playgrounds for the select few, nestled in spectacular settings.
Then there is Basalt. And Cathedral City, Saugerties, Hampton Bays and Stuart.
Never heard of them?
That’s because they are notable only because of the fame of their neighbors. But they are comparative bargains for second-home buyers seeking access to chic enclaves without living in them. These towns offer easy access to ski slopes, beaches and trendy restaurants and clubs without necessarily demanding a six-figure down payment.
They bestow on their residents the joys of reverse snobbism. Border town residents are confident enough not to have to carry around their pedigrees or their Louis Vuitton luggage.
The downside? Telling people you spent hundreds of thousands of dollars for a beautiful vacation home in . . . Basalt. Then having to give the required addendum to mystified friends: It’s next to Aspen.
Basalt, Colo.
A classic Western river town, Basalt is 18 miles northwest of Aspen, the cosmopolitan ski resort. Aspen Mountain is 20 to 45 minutes away, and for summer fly-fishing and rafting on the Grand Fork and Frying Pan Rivers, which converge in Basalt, it’s more centrally located than Aspen. Like Aspen, it is a 19th Century town that has some houses dating from the 1880s.
“It’s very reminiscent of Aspen 30 years ago,” said B.J. Adams, who owns BJ Adams & Co., a real estate brokerage company in Aspen. “A lot of 100-year-old homes are being bought and renovated and beautifully landscaped.”
Still, Basalt, which has about 2,800 year-round residents, is mainly a bedroom community for people who work in the area, which means there’s less of the tourist trade that has begun to erode some of Aspen’s charm.
Basalt seems poised to take off. Architects, interior designers, real estate brokers and contractors have built offices.
“Well-educated, professional people are now in Basalt,” said John Cottle, a 22-year resident and a principal in Cottle Gray Beal & Yaw, a local architecture firm. “Even if someone has the economic means to live in Aspen, Basalt’s a viable choice.”
What it will cost: In Basalt, a 2,500- to 3,500-square-foot house will cost around $700,000. Smaller houses — less than 2,500 square feet — go for $450,000. At the low end is a $289,000 three-bedroom tract house in a subdivision. At the high end is a nearly $5.6 million working cattle ranch on 136 acres, with an 1889 farmhouse.
In Aspen, the average house price is $3.4 million, and prices of $1.5 million for a small one- to three-bedroom house — what locals call a scrapper — are not uncommon.
Contender: Carbondale. A little more agricultural in character, perhaps a little less quaint and a little farther down Highway 82 from Aspen. The cost of a three-bedroom, two-bath house is $300,000 to $1 million, said Adams, the Aspen real estate broker.
Cathedral City, Calif.
Palm Springs, the grande dame of desert resorts, has already undergone a face-lift. Want to buy a mid-century modern glass house on a green fairway? Too late. And the Spanish-style villa you fantasized about isn’t available at a discount.
Fifteen minutes away is Cathedral City, in the foothills of the Santa Rosa and San Jacinto Mountains. The Cove, an old section of town, has a few houses with flat roofs and lots of glass that were built in the late 1950s or early ’60s.
“The Cove is interesting and funky,” said Trish Wortman, a broker at Marilyn Perlin Realtors Inc. of Palm Springs. “You can have an inexpensive, cabinish home next to a 3,000-square-foot modern house.”
Cathedral City, known affectionately as Cat City, lacks the nouveau hipness of Palm Springs. This town of 47,000, which started as a blue-collar bedroom community for hotel workers in Palm Springs, is now attracting people during the winter season, about 15,000 a year. Frank Sinatra never lived here, but second-home owners can still golf at the 108 courses in the Coachella Valley.
What it will cost: In the newer areas like Rio Vista or Panorama, prices range from $140,000 for a starter home to $300,000 at the high end. Condos close to golf courses are $70,000 to the low $100,000s. Currently listed at $379,000: a four-bedroom contemporary with a flat roof and a guest house.
In Palm Springs, a three-bedroom, 1,500- to 1,800-square-foot house ranges from $200,000 to $600,000; condos range from about $60,000 for a 600-square-foot one-bedroom to $240,000 for a two-bedroom, 1,200-square-foot unit within walking distance of the city center.
Contender: La Quinta, about 10 miles southeast of Cathedral City, is surrounded by scenic golf courses and three mountains. Single-family homes here cost $150,000 to $700,000.
Hampton Bays, N.Y.
The physical beauty of the Hamptons knows no borders. Hampton Bays has the glistening waters of Shinnecock Bay to the south and the Great Peconic Bay to the north. And Hampton Bays has something Southampton does not: marina space.
Often considered the working-class Hampton, Hampton Bays is predominantly a year-round residential community with many first-time homeowners. It is also the most densely populated and economically diverse hamlet in Southhampton Township.
It does not have social cachet, prompting some less secure residents to try to bask in the reflective glory. “People will sometimes say, `I live in Southampton Township,’ ” said Deidre Ciraco Francolini, manager and an associate broker at Coldwell Banker Dunesview Properties in Westhampton Beach.
What it will cost: A two-bedroom, 1,200-square-foot house here will cost about $300,000, while a modest starter home is $200,000. A house on the water will demand a premium: $400,000 on a creek to $1 million on a bay (at least $500,000 less than in Southampton).
In Old Harbor, a four-bedroom colonial with a pool and garage is on the market for $495,000, and on the Rampasture Peninsula, a three-bedroom waterfront ranch is on the market for $850,000.
In the neighboring towns, Francolini said, even the smallest home would start at $400,000, and for larger houses away from the water the range is more typically $650,000 to $2 million.
Contender: East Quogue is a little pricier than Hampton Bays, but even so, it is still less expensive than the “name” Hamptons.
Saugerties, N.Y.
Woodstock is a legendary artists colony with cafes, the Woodstock Playhouse, and bars with live music that rival Bleecker Street’s in Manhattan. Ten miles east, Saugerties has always been in Woodstock’s shadow. Its Main Street is straight out of the 1950s.
“My father always said that Saugerties is the town that never happened,” said Gail Cadden, an illustrator and longtime Woodstock resident.
But Saugerties does have the Hudson River and some stately Victorians, and it has started a farmers’ market (every Saturday from July to October). Many people from New York City buy vacation homes in the mountains near Saugerties because they are less expensive than those in Woodstock.
“I like Saugerties because it’s a little more laid back,” said Stuart Bragg, an advertising executive. He lives in Manhattan and bought a three-bedroom ranch house in Saugerties earlier this year.
“Woodstock is a place where New Yorkers have always gone to get away or drop out of the New York scene,” he said. “Saugerties is more like a regular American town.”
What it will cost: As house prices in Woodstock have climbed, those in Saugerties have, too, but just not quite as much. Prices range from $85,000 for a small house of approximately 1,000 square feet in good condition to slightly more than $1 million for large houses in the mountains or on the river.
A contemporary two-bedroom house on less than an acre would cost about $240,000 in Woodstock, but a similar three-bedroom house in Saugerties is on the market for $189,000. A two-bedroom, one-bath cottage on an acre would be $135,000 in Woodstock, $85,000 in Saugerties.
Contender: Phoenicia, nestled in the Woodland Valley of the Catskills, is a more rural community, a little farther from Woodstock but close to the Belleayre ski resort.
A four-bedroom Victorian farmhouse with a stream in back is available for $179,000, and a two-bedroom house with a separate cottage on 8 acres bordering state parkland is $259,000, said Sheri Safier, a associate broker at Westwood Metes and Bounds Realty in West Hurley, N.Y.
Stuart, Fla.
In Palm Beach, the sumptuous romper room for the rich, the average price of a house on less than an acre with no water in sight is $1.6 million. Oceanfront? $15 million to $18 million. The east coast of South Florida is densely populated and has little waterfront property available, period, forcing people to migrate up the coast.
That is what makes Stuart an attractive alternative, even though it is not exactly a satellite of Palm Beach.
Stuart is on the Atlantic about 40 miles north of Palm Beach, and it also has the Intracoastal Waterway and St. Lucie River. In Stuart, the farthest house from the ocean is still only 7 miles away. Stuart has a historical downtown with cobblestones and fine restaurants, and even in traffic, Stuart is still just 45 minutes from the West Palm Beach International Airport. Among the perks: strict zoning and no industrial areas. The population has risen 15 percent since 1991, to 130,000 from 113,000.
Stuart is developing as second-home community. “Right now, [people] in their late 30s and 40s are coming from New York and Connecticut to buy the waterfront,” said Michele Post at Re/Max of Stuart.
What it will cost: A three- to four-bedroom house, not on the water, will go for about $200,000. The going rate is $2 million for oceanfront, and $400,000 on the canals. Two-bedroom condominiums on nearby Hutchinson Island cost $225,000.
Contender: West Palm Beach is the traditional place for shoppers priced out of Palm Beach. Separated by a causeway from Palm Beach, West Palm has houses that cost $300,000 to $400,000. Town houses and condominiums are $100,000 to $150,000, said Abe Himelstein, the branch manager of Prudential Florida WCI in Boynton Beach.
