Added: February 14, 2008, 10:32 am

Mid-Winter Real Estate

By Lona Rubenstein | 1 Comment

Property listed with Hampton Homes.

I always believed East Hampton's Northwest Woods provided the greatest of all luxuries, namely privacy. Well, the two de Menils sisters have a great story - one sold her Amagansett oceanfront estate then went north and west in East Hampton; and the other was living on a Gardiner's Bay waterfront lot with hundreds of acres of reserve and trail behind her. After one made a somewhere in the neighborhood of a $91 million deal she went on to purchase 9.4 acres on Northwest Harbor. They don't make that kind of opportunity anymore, folks.

In an email reply to a question posed to almost all east end firms, Hampton Homes - a one office boutique agency working from a home office - veteran realtors and principle brokers Jan Robinson and Barbara Weinman replied: "The people we have working with us are Lisa Lulo (Weinman's daughter), Eric Winter, and Charlene Myers. We are very busy, mostly rentals. We have a new agent, Charlene Myers, formally of the Harold Shepherd office. Sales are still slow, but the rental market is strong and the high end seems to be going quickly. We are seeing a trend in Southampton as many people with young kids do not want to make that extra trip to East Hampton. Our office is growing, and we are loving it."

Do you remember when East Hampton was not an extra trip and Southampton was maybe an easy and relaxed 15 minutes away? Nowadays, unless it's part of January and February, hamlet to hamlet within a Town is a trip. Going to the Village is often a trip. Such is life when you have something wonderful, like the town in which you live, word gets around - then everyone wants a part of it. Do you remember, as well, when the State of Oregon had those bumper stickers: "Oregon is the Worst Place to Live?" Yes, well, they tried.

The Corcoran Group tells us that in January 2008 HANFRA (Hamptons and North Fork Realtors Association) in its First Annual Residential Real Estate Member Awards awarded Corcoran's Michael Schultz the Rookie of the Year award. This is presented to a new agent with significant sales figures and contributions to their community and the local real estate industry.

(Only that, right?)

Property listed with the Corcoran Group.

Nope! More! One has to be newly licensed on or after July 1, 2006, a HANFRA member in good standing as of July 1, 2007, and have leadership, teamwork and industry participation. As if that were not enough, the recipient must exhibit sound moral character and high ethical professionalism, and (yes, well!) make a significant monetary contribution to the firm's success in number and gross dollar volume of transactions closed in 2007.

HANFRA gave the award to Michael Schultz, a Wharton School graduate who, in his other life, joined Urban Outfitters, Inc. in 1985 as a Principal and Division President, and helped grow the company alongside the founder for 15 years. Real estate, however, "was always his passion."

Presently working with the Peconic Land Trust on a project in Wainscott involving a large tract of Agricultural Reserve, Schultz said, "I'm grateful to Peter Hallock and Rick Hoffman of Corcoran for giving me this opportunity to find a second career in real estate that I love so much."

In 2007, Schultz had a total of 16 transactions for a gross transaction volume of $28,745,500. He also rented seven properties in 2007 for a total gross rental volume of $340,500. His largest rental being a $200,000 two-week rental at 5 Eel Cove in Wainscott.

Corcoran must return the gratitude. With those kinds of numbers, we guess Michael doesn't really need any more congratulations.

And in reply to that same email we sent, principle broker Judi Desiderio wrote: "Town & Country Real Estate has been busy on both forks. A new occurrence is the amount of international renters for 2008; more than I've seen in 26 years. Very few oceanfront rentals remain, in fact, rentals in all categories are flying off the shelf. I imagine by the end of President's weekend more than half of all rentals will be taken. There will be slim pickings after that."

"Town & Country has been very busy with sales, as well, probably due to our agents many years in the business. We've hired a select group of experienced brokers. Their repeat customer base knows this is one of the best times to buy in over 10 years. Prices in some areas have corrected by 20 percent (plus or minus), interest rates are historically low, there is good inventory, and most sellers are willing to negotiate with qualified buyers - 2008 is just great."

So, after many years where it seemed not to matter, one multi-office agency tells us that once again, experience counts.

East End real estate? A very strange business.

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Lona Rubenstein is an accomplished author residing in East Hampton. Her new book, "Getting Back in the Game: Finding the Fountain of Youth in Cyberspace" can be found at local booksellers and online at www.gettingbackinthegame.com. For more real estate news and views contact Lona at lonafirst@aol.com.