I didn't do my homework on having a 3 way connection.

Now that my electrician is gone, is there a remote-type switch (other than using the remote) that could go in the switch box at the top of the steps?

You can use one of the accessory controls, but they require a multi-conductor low voltage cable, not Romex.

http://www.lutron.com/grafikeye/grx_acc.asp?s=&t=

Yeah, guess I'm just going to have him back...