Neighbourhoods in New York that play hard to get

New York

RICHMOND Hill, in southwestern Queens, can be an eye-opener for the uninitiated homebuyer. Neck rolls may even be in order. They'll help with the double take: Victorian houses with verandas and grassy lawns a few blocks from the subway; locals gallivanting on horseback in Forest Park; street parking on a Saturday.

Perhaps the most unusual sight in this tree-lined neighbourhood: a for-sale sign.

"I really lucked out," said Ernest Gutierrez, 39, who, with his wife, Jennifer Deeb, 41, bought a seven-bedroom Victorian house in the area for US$780,000 last year - in an off-market deal.

Mr Gutierrez, a finance director for a media company who owned a house two blocks away, got wind of the listing about a month before it was to hit the market for US$800,000. He and Ms Deeb met the sellers, whose family had lived in the house since 1961, and made the first and only offer entertained, promising to keep the house's historical character intact, and to some day pass it on to their three children. The sellers accepted the next day, despite the prospect of ge…