It appears that the real estate market in the Hudson Valley has taken a turn for the better.

Pelham realtor J. Philip Faranda, the 2014 president of the Hudson Gateway Multiple Listing Service, says more than 14,000 homes were sold in Westchester, Putnam, Rockland and Orange counties in 2014. That number is the most since the 2008 recession.

"We are now in a different part of a market cycle where the five-year long gain, the prognosis is actually optimistic for the first time since the crash took us," he says.

During the last four years, sales overall are up. Putnam saw a 6.3 percent increase. Rockland is up 3.4 percent and Westchester is up just under 1 percent. Orange lost a little ground at -0.8 percent.