Saturday, November 21, 2009

Area Realtors Report The Long Wait Is Over

By Lona Rubenstein | 6 Comments

East Hampton - Okay. So we're driving down Buckskill Road from Stephen Hands Path and see, where the Racquet Club of East Hampton used to be, major construction going on across the whole seven acres or so. We knew it had changed ownership? We wrote about the $5-plus million dollar deal when those kinds of transfers weren't showing up that often.

Property courtesy of Town & Country Real Estate.

So, we called Jay Jacobs, of summer camp renown, the principle buyer of the property. He put us in touch with East Hampton Camp person Eric Meyer, director of Mr. Jacob's Hampton Country Day Camp. Boy, are they expanding that facility. Wrote Eric: "We have begun construction on the future home of Hampton Country Day Camp. When completed, the camp will have three pools, including one built specifically for our three and four year-olds, two basketball courts, baseball field, soccer field, a playground area and more. Right now, we are renovating the former pro shop [at the Racquet Club] to turn it into our camp office. We will be building our dining hall in the adjacent lot that is now part of the larger lot. Assuming there are no long delays, we plan on opening for the summer of 2010."

Yes, well, that's quite an undertaking. And it sounds like quite a facility and a complete summer offering for children out East in 2010. All things being equal, I would bet there would be a waiting list for to join the programs that will be offered on that piece of real estate.

Announcing another desk switch with professional broker Mariane Sawicki who is joining Southold's Town & Country Real Estate, bringing 15 years of experience under her belt to that firm. A former top producer at Alan Schneider and Associates, a/k/a The Corcoran Group, Sawicki won awards for selling the most exclusive listings on the North Fork.

Image courtesy of Hamptons Beach Properties, Prudential Douglas Elliman Real Estate.

We hear local businesses thrived last weekend. Our excellent restaurants were busy. Shops on the main drags were selling. Auspicious. Marred only by tragic accidents on the road at the start of the season. So how did business look at the end of May?

Broker Lori Barbaria of Prudential Douglas Elliman Bridgehampton tells us the market has picked up. "I have listings in contract and most of the properties that have been listed at pre-boom prices are getting non-stop activity. Major investors have told me this is it! We are going to have a strong summer sale season and it has begun. Why not when the prices are so reasonable, the mortgage rate is so low. For the people who qualify and are in the green there are amazing deals to be had," she reports.

Jackie Dunphy of The Corcoran Group East Hampton has some insights on last minute rentals: "It seems there are a lot of renters coming out, but expecting owners to be really negotiable. That's not the case usually. A lot of owners would rather use the house themselves for the summer rather than take 50 cents on the dollar. Renters complain about the high prices, expecting a fire sale. Rent prices are what the market will bear and they seem to be holding steady or about 20 percent below asking."

Broker Jude Lyons of West Hampton Beach reports she is tired from the activity. "My renters are in and I think happy. I sit on my deck and think of everyone in their house enjoying themselves. However, renters are still calling and coming out. I have a full weekend of bookings coming up. Buyers are beginning to spring back up, getting hits all along - saying we have graduations, communions, weddings - but we will be out. The weather counts. When it's good - it's great, when it's bad - the opposite. How about waterfronts under a million for a great column for 4th of July? I've got a few. I'm sure others do too."

Do you?

And from Corcoran's Regional East End Vice President , Rick Hoffman: "Busiest May in two years! I guess it was really a game of "wait and see" for this season! After a slow spring everyone popped out of the woodwork. Some people got the deal they were looking for, but most just got their rental a little later. Should be a fairly busy summer in the Hamptons after all."

Sounds like things are picking up in East End real estate's very strange business.

Comments

laurie mindnich from Riverhead says:
Wow. This is certainly a different report than that which recently showed up in Vanity Fair re. Hamptons real estate, which is probably viewable online. Interestingly, there are comments in that publication that are attributed to local agents in the same offices (or locales), but they're much more dire. Maybe a month made a huge difference. Nothing is going to save the Hamptons until pricing is in line with what buyers are able to pay- and it's turned into "able" (unlike "pulse only"). I can't relate to a rental- oriented article in the same way that I can cold, hard sales data- we don't do rentals. Really, the Hamptons HAS to get MLS'd, so that comments offered are easily substantiated by figures,and accessible to buyers/sellers/landlords. Isn't rental activity recorded with daily updates of rented property on the MLSLI? How much more simple just to go there. Just do it so that everyone in the real estate community (buyer, seller, real estate agents,appraiser) is clear on daily activity recorded. With a click. Then, report/comment on the data. It's that kind of market right now. Fracturing MLSLI by witholding data is creating a misleading venue for sellers and buyers.

BigAl from Southampton says:
I still can't rent out my house after 16 straight years of successful rentals, so I don't know what she's talking about...also, there's a preponderance of large group rentals in SH Village... more people are being shoe- horned into these houses to bring down the cost..the Village is going to have to deal with this come July...

kpjc from east says:
Rental signs line the landscape from Eastport to Montauk like never before. Rentals always intensify at the last minute especially in good years. Activity may have picked up, but from 0 to 60 in six months is not high performance.

North Sea Citizen from North Sea says:
As an active broker, the rental market really took off. What is different this year over others is that the tenants are renteing for odd periods of time or just weeks and months, splitting the homes up. This has effectively reduced inventory. While sales are still creeping along, when reviewing the updates slowly but surely, the value properties in their respective markets are being picked off. The last two months data sets while not a trend are showing that the inventory has leveled off with the increase in sales. Its not gangbusters but even during the recession of 92, people still buy in the Hamptons. It will be along recovery but the smart buyers now know with wall street stabilizing it may not get any cheaper out here. SUre it could continue to drop a few points, but the floor is in sight. After two quarters it will become a trend. So all the nay sayers sit down and wait for the historical data to come out. If there ever was a time to buy in the last 5-7 years now is the time with inventory and low interest rates.

Yeah Right Also from Southampton says:
What a bunch of BS -- hype by a writer who listens to her friends. The market is still in the tank. Don't listen to this stuff.

Yeah Right from Truth Hampton says:
Lona - How much are these folks paying you to run their propaganda machine? I have spoken with one broker friend after another and they can't even pay their own mortgage because of this whole mess. Nothing is selling and rentals couldn't be any further off from last year. It's that simple and you sound ridiculous to even suggest otherwise. We can all look on HREO and get a good idea of what's moving...and it isn't much sister. Are you really ready to put your credibility on the line for your broker friends knowing that the REAL numbers will be published at the end of the season?