Gioia DiPaolo started as a Jersey Girl, then a Harbor girl, and is now a star in our real estate firmament who knows how to get along and who had only nice things to say about where she worked before and whom she works with now. After 11 years with Cook Pony Farm Real Estate in Sag Harbor (now The Corcoran Group), when there was no Corcoran, she has gone back to the Prudential Douglas Elliman Long Island Real Estate, the Sag Harbor and Bridgehampton Offices, where she had started 12 years ago when there was no Elliman.

Property listed with Prudential Douglas Elliman.

"I felt the move was right at this time," DiPaolo, an elegant and at the same time down to earth service oriented woman, explained to me over lunch at Nichols. "I've always stayed close with Prudential's Chief Executive Officer Dottie Herman [and] will enjoy access to her even more since I am expanding my market [and] planning to grow my real estate business. I decided it was time to go back home."

DiPaolo, who sold both Hargreave and Gristina Vineyards to the Borghese and Calluci families respectively, now wants to target the South of the Highway market with her North Haven, Sag Harbor areas.

"I came from the fashion world, was a designer with my own clothing line distributed through Neiman Marcus, Saks, Macy's and other retail outlets. The move to real estate - which I was familiar with in depth through marriage to a Philadelphia developer - was going from one small business to another, from one seven-day week to another, from one having to master everything and do it all yourself to another," she said with a happy smile.

No doubt in our minds, that broker Gioia DiPaolo loves what she's doing and that she is on the cutting edge of how to do it best, as well. (I will not share her wonderfully creative concepts that she devises and puts to use to serve both clients and customers). To my mind there is no stopping this industry dynamo, a combination of soft sell and hard work, in East End real estate. Focused, diligent, a broker who knows how to get along, Gioia DiPaolo is a true professional.

(By the way, if any of you would like to have lunch and tell Realty Takes your story, just contact us. If selling is slow but there are ways, or if it is picking up, or you have any interesting ideas, now's the time to let people know who and where you are. It's the smart thing to do).

We learned that Fountainhead Construction, a local firm, recently received high honors in the industry of architecture. Their work on a residence in North Sea, which was featured in HC&G and Architectural Digest, was recognized by the American Institute of Architects. Co-Owners of Fountainhead Construction are Garry Seff and Michael Purrezzella. Their East End work includes a Bridgehampton residence with architect John Laffey, an oceanfront Southampton residence with architect Preston Phillips, and an East Hampton residence with architect Kitty McCoy. Congratulations guys!

Property listed with Hampton Country Realty.

When I started in the business with Cook Pony Farm back in 1981, interest rates were moving towards 21 percent, money market accounts were a better investment than real estate, and up-Island builders from as far as Nassau County were coming east in droves looking for work among the Hamptons affluent luxury second home market because their own single family residence population had simply dried up. At that time I pushed for sellers to take back paper when they were able, at interest rates good for them to earn money on their money and significantly less than the going bank rates. It worked until things got better. I also had time (lots of time, actually) to do the groundwork and plant the seeds for later growth with clients and customers.

Again, I repeat, it is now time for the bottom fishermen to start gobbling up possibly stagnant land sales that can be bought on the cheap and great values in home offerings that have leveled off and returned to where, perhaps they should have been if there had been no surge and feeding frenzy in the East End market. These are good places for people to put discretionary cash when they are not looking for a quick buck, but a solid investment. And the excellent value homes may be used for themselves or for rentals, which many are using as an interim way to be here without owning for the time being. That's where I would gear my efforts and advertising.

(And I do wish broker Angela Boyer would get in touch. We hear some good things are happening at Hampton Country Realty!).

East End real estate is a strange and tough business, but if you're in wholeheartedly, you can do it, Bub.