They're Out There

By Lona Rubenstein | 7 Comments

Southampton - On awards from Tom MacNiven, Manager, Prudential Douglas Elliman, East Hampton: "At Prudential's National Convention in Las Vegas, our Robin Kaplan and Josiane Fleming were honored as two of the top 100 producing agents/teams in the Prudential network - out of 62,000 agents in the United States.

"Prudential Douglas Elliman (Montauk to Manhattan) was named the number one producing company, of 640 in the Prudential Network of Real Estate affiliates.

Property courtesy of Corcoran Group.

Prudential was ranked "Highest in Satisfaction" for home sellers among national full service real estate firms in J.D. Power and Associates' 2008 Home Buyer/Seller Study.

And... Action!
We asked about what had been described as a sluggish rental market because weekends were looking busy with a lot of people out east recently. We had read as well, that people were staying closer to home for their 2009 summer holiday options.

See how things quickly turn around! Owners, buyers, landlords, renters - from reports below the East End rental market is working in overdrive on both the North and South Forks.

Sheri Winter Clarry, Senior Vice President and Associate Broker with The Corcoran Group, on the North Fork: "Busy on the North Fork, rentals and sales. Things that are priced well are going to contract quickly. Some great deals to be had! Tons of activity, I am putting things into contract that are priced right. Bad news is, that if something is priced well and buyers snooze, they will lose."

Prudential's Lori Barbaria, Bridgehampton Office: "Rental market has picked up. Did a lot more high end this year than ever before. Over $1 million in total rent on three rentals. No recession there. Go figure - $75,000 and under is also busy. Looks like there will be a lot of summer traffic in the Hamptons"

A rental listed by Town and Country.

A good point contributed by Rick Hoffman, Regional Senior Vice President, East End with The Corcoran Group: "The lookers are out there and active for both sales and rentals. The good weather has been helping. Once the first wave hits and the inventory starts to disappear, the second larger wave will follow."

John Healey, from the Town & Country Bridgehampton Office: "Very busy last weekend. Many multiple offers. At one property I was the 10th showing of the day. Many will use their own homes this summer, renter will do shorter terms, rent and not travel."

F. Patricia Garrity, SVP President's Council with The Corcoran Group's Southampton Office: "A thought from a 20-year veteran: Good analysis and correct pricing on new sale listings is key in this sluggish market. I listed a property in Southampton for $1.8 million after analysis of comparables and competitive properties. We went into contract within two weeks close to the asking price. There are buyers and they are focused on responsible spending and good value. Sellers need to be responsive to the market if they're serious."

Town & Country's CEO Desiderio: "Summer will likely follow suit to this past ski season. Local mountains were booked solid! Skiers enjoyed VT, NH, ME and Sugarbush in lieu of traveling out west or to Europe, thus we expect summer to be as busy as ever! The past few weeks T&C has written leases in every office. One office did 11 leases in 10 days: range from $30,000 to $500,000."

Mala Sanders, with The Corcoran Group's Sag Harbor office: "A lot of people out last weekend! The Sag Harbor office did 14 rentals, many near asking prices, weather helped. When warm in the city, the beach is where people want to be!"

And George Simpson's Suffolk Research Report on the First Quarter 2009 gives the supporting data for what the industry has been experiencing the past few years - a decline in sales volume compared with previous years and a lowering of the median price for homes on the East End. Note that, despite everything, the median remains higher than the 2003 number.

As always folks the operative principle is supply and demand. And as the inventory diminishes, the curve goes up once more. So buyers out there, you have been noticed that the time is right for you to make your move on both deals and values.

And, yes, well, as to an invigorated rental market, we all know renters are potential buyers, and with the market so buyer-ready, so many opportunities are right out there. We might see action this summer because East End real estate is a strange roller coaster business.

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.

Comments

pants on fire from sag harbor says:
They're out there all right- the agents are out there sending out press releases hyping Lona, who prints what ever she gets without backing up anything with facts and figures- this market is way off no matter how you write it. We all want positive news- but get real and get realistic.

kpjc from EQ says:
Hurry all you renters before all the inventory is gone!!!

North Sea Citizen from North Sea says:
The NYC comment is ignorant to the fact thatmany peopel out ohere are wealthy and dont have to sell as well as those who bought there homes before five years ago, have a lot of equity. Of course there is an adjustment going on but no where near the over built states. We parallel NYC and they are down by much.

Joe from Hampton says:
Game over My a**. We will be hear when your ready! Until then enjoy paying the rent!

mariko from east quogue says:
I am a realtor with Prudential! Thank you for such a postive article. Its about time.....

digglesworth from nyc says:
People will only be able to stay in denial for one more season so enjoy it. By this fall, there will be more than 1000 homes for sale in the Hamptons. Already, excluding Westhampton there is around 2 billion dollars worth of inventory to move (700 homes). You could discount every listing by 50% and still not clear the inventory. People can only hang on for so long. GAME OVER!

don't llike dull from southampton says:
This stuff about the same real estate people, week after week. Can't you tackle some of the important things happening in real estate on the East End?