Notwithstanding the gloomy market outlooks by those pundits who write not sell, there are deals being made on the eastern end of Long Island. People in the industry can relax, stop reading bad news and get back to working hard which is what professional brokers always did. It ain't easy in this business. Never was. The payoff may be great; stress even greater. It's an up and down ride, where you work as hard up or down. (One office, they say, had lithium in the coffeepot.)

We have now - as opposed to a manic or a depressed one - what I call a competitve market. Realtors are working hard to make the deal.

Making the deal, however, is only the beginning. Then agents graduate from sales people to closers; from charmers to pit bulls; from show-ers to doers; from 6 per-centers to social workers -- dealing with extended famlies who walk around kicking the sheetrock; dealing with lawyers who think brokers are way overpaid anyway and flex their college degrees by raising issues that one didn't know were there; then with home inspectors who stand in the tiny living room and say before the prospective buyers, "ok the house is fine, now where's the living room?" to building departments who tell you with a smile that there is no certificate of occupancy for the patio; with other brokers, in or out of your office, who somehow heard about the deal you made and are calling the sellers, magically producing better offers -- yeah, the tough part for the good agent is keeping it all together, protecting it and moving it along.

Are real estate agencies helping these professionals? They spend money, but are their high-powered advertising firms doing right for both brokerages and their realtors?

We raised a cautious question recently. We asked why, in a market where big time media like The New York Times are writing sad songs about the East End's glutted homes for sale market, would east end real estate firms fill pages of full page ads saturated with all the houses for sale they could fit in the space?

Self defeating to my mind – implying that an inventory overflow may indeed be true! In the mid market range - $1 to $4 million - it may be true. Yet all that signifies is there is more choice for buyers. When there are over-supplies, they usually occur in that range - not in the bottom for the bargains, nor in the top for the primo properties, but in the lovely 6,000 sq ft homes on one or two wooded acres, drive to anywhere. Buyers note: there are some wonderful homes out there, in that range, waiting to be picked off.

Perhaps listing landscapes works on the Internet, where people do scan for price points and areas. For print outlets, however, feature a listing, one might do one in each area to show value, but this way make east end properties exclusive – exclusive as in hard to get that is, not as in only ours. Who cares right now, other than the company, whether brokers have exclusives? Buyers want to know they are getting into a special place. Aside for its natural beauty, over the last few decades it's the Hamptons cache that has brought the buyers in, tripping over each other to belong here.. So why not give that clubby insider feeling by having selective print ads reflect it! I do not believe we are in a listing driven market as in past years where the other strategy might have been effective.

What's more those free brokerage books found everywhere and anywhere are getting thicker and thicker! Listing almost every house their office has, often thrown together on one sheet, they can make people not only wonder why everything is for sale out here, but also suggest a feeling that our living space may be as crowded as the page. Also wrong, to my mind! Soon these freebies will look like a Manhattan telephone book. Anybody can get in. So why come to the Hamptons at all? Advertising monies can be better spent and do more good for firms and sales agents.

But then, what do I know?

So where are the deals being made? Are sellers wisely taking properties off the market now? Are brokers flooded with price reductions that may have been bloated in the first place? Is this an infinite regress where buyers can sit back until - Bingo! - they are finally getting value? We asked both the corporate and independent brokerage firms these very questions.
What did they say? Yes, well, we'll let you know next week.

One thing we'll tell you now is that east end real estate is a very strange business. (But if you are thinking of moving to a better place, try Norway, voted # 1 in the world by the United Nations something or other. Bring earmuffs!)