Long Island homes that sold for less than $550,000

A price point of under $550,000 for a house on Long Island? "The best word to describe it is rare," said Andrew Spina, a real estate agent with HomeSmart Premier Living Realty, based in Hauppauge.

Houses priced at $550,000 and below are still out there — but with such high competition, they’re going fast, brokers said. Long Island home prices shot up in December, with the median price in Suffolk County reaching $680,000 for single-family home sales. The median price in Nassau was $800,000.

Here are four Suffolk homes that flew off the market for $550,000 or less in January.

A two-bed, one-bath ranch in Smithtown located on Meadow Road sold for $440,000, It was co-listed by Pamela and Joshua Zaid, of Howard Hanna Coach Realtors.

Taxes were listed as $6,680. The property is within the Smithtown Central School District. It was built in 1935, and also features a detached garage.

The original list price was $449,000, and it had a few price reductions over the course of its 98 days on the market, said Pamela Zaid. Besides the price point, potential buyers were drawn in by the half-acre lot and location, she added.

"It’s in between Kings Park and Smithtown, which was a big draw," she said. "It also had quite a bit of privacy."

A newly renovated ranch in Selden sold for $520,000. Located on Highview Drive, it contains three bedrooms and one bathroom.

"The selling process was quite quick," said listing agent Steven Rivera, of Keller Williams Points North. "We had significant interest right off the bat."

From its listing to the fully executed contract, the process took less than 30 days, Rivera said. He credits that in part to the redone kitchen and bathroom, and the recently added deck in the backyard.

Taxes were listed as $9,962. The lot size is just under a quarter-acre, Rivera said. Its original list price was $524,999.

The listing had both "charm and convenience," with proximity to major roads, he added. The property is in the Middle Country Central School District.

On Livingston Street, a two-bed, one-bath ranch closed for $549,999. Taxes were listed as $6,921. The property is in the South Huntington Union Free School District.

"I remember it being a stampede in the beginning, just because the inventory on Long Island is so scarce," said Spina. He co-listed the property with Rachel Morreale.

"A lot of people that were interested in the house were either first-time homebuyers, or people who were downsizing," Morreale said.

The house was originally listed for $599,000, and then had two price drops, Morreale added. Its interior totals 1,200 square feet. Its roof, siding and flooring were all updated in 2024, and there is a full, finished basement.

"The big ticket items were already done, and [the buyers] could make it their own once they were in," Morreale said.

Following a crowded open house and about a dozen offers, this house sold for $525,000 in January. It features four bedrooms and one bathroom.

The house sits on 1 acre, on Crescent Bow in Ridge. The lot size was appealing to prospective buyers, said listing agent Matteo Sweet, of Coldwell Banker.

"As you get closer to Nassau, you don’t get that much property, so people come out here," said Sweet.

The property, which is in the Longwood Central School District, was first listed for $499,000. It sold in about 30 days, Sweet said. Taxes were listed as $9,527. The house totals 1,600 square feet, excluding the basement.

"Anything under $500,000 is going to have a line out the door," said Sweet.

By Rachel Weiss

rachel.weiss@newsday.com@RachMWeiss

Rachel Weiss joined Newsday in 2016. As a real estate/living multimedia reporter, Rachel writes feature stories and contributes to and appears in on-camera video packages. She was the lead reporter on Newsday’s LI Acts of Kindness series.