Real Estate Attorneys Report Recent Uptick In Contracts

By Lona Rubenstein | 3 Comments

East Hampton - First, some advice for home buyers. Get thee to an agent! An agent can walk you through everything from the loan pre-approval to the home inspection. Look for an agent who will represent your interests.

To do this you must think long-term. Buying a home requires long-term planning, not just with finances, but with your career and your personal life in consideration. Think in terms of a five to seven year span of time. Don't settle for something with more wrongs than rights. Prioritize your needs and look around; you will have a better shot at doing the right thing.

Property courtesy of The Corcoran Group.

Bargains
Reports say fewer than one percent of all housing units on the market are in foreclosure as of the first quarter of 2009. With prices falling, many of the best deals are getting multiple offers, which results in the market taking a turn upwards. Costs to consider: Sure there's a purchase price but there are closing costs, maintenance and utilities to consider too. Then there is the cost of furniture and gardening tools, and if a resale, areas that may need to be fixed and maintained. Figure these costs in before you buy.

We asked attorneys to give us their view of the current state of the East End real estate market, as so many readers questioned what they referred to as the "spin" of the industry, saying there had been a turnaround, so we figured real estate attorneys, after all, do the closings and draw the contracts - so they would know, right?

The news is, industry folk have been redeemed! From Judge Ed Burke, Sr., Burke & Sullivan law firm out of Southampton, "The market is more than healed. Right now we have 20 South Fork closings" - [that is just east of the canal!] - "but you can't just sit behind your desk and wait for things to fall in your lap," says the Judge, a knowledgeable and long-time market watcher. "The problem with no-hands on daily newspaper articles is they rely on outdated data in a constantly fluctuating and seasonal market. They are usually anywhere from at least six weeks to three months behind."

Our market report from George R. Simpson, Suffolk Research Inc. honcho bears this out as well. Writes Simpson, "The East End of Long Island Real Estate Market shows strong signs of a turnaround." According to Simpson, the market turnaround happened in the second quarter of 2009. "All three of the market indicators: Median Price, Unit Sales, and Dollar Sales showed an uptick. An indication of a probable recovering market is the fact that the end of June three month running average of the Median price of single family homes on the East End (all five towns) went up from $558,000 at the end of May. 2009 to $587,000 for the period ending June 2009." (Supporting data may be viewed on the Suffolk Research website).

Property courtesy of Sotheby's International Realty.

Another first-hand attorney report on the East Hampton market from Theresa Quigley, of Farrell Fritz PC. "There seems to be a floor from which we are moving. We are doing transactions; large deals and small deals, all cash and financed," Quigley reports. "The banks are taking longer; they are stricter than they were, but are loaning, and people are getting financing. The market is still slow, flowing the way a spigot does when the well point is in need of replacement, steady but with no pressure. There are multiple parties interested in homes, people who backed away, are coming back and buying. In the end, East Hampton is East Hampton, the ocean is the ocean, and the community is the community. We all still want to be here."

Mid-Year Reports
Town & Country and The Corcoran Group sent in mid-year market data, with Town & Country agreeing with the notion of hitting bottom and current business reflecting the upturn. The Corcoran Group shows detailed figures for every hamlet, again a reflection of the first half of 2009, taken on whole, and suggesting that this is clearly the time to buy.

I contacted other attorneys and firms for their reads but no response. I will not name them because I am afraid they will sue!

Talk about a market lifts, however! On Saturday a radio station reported - possibly a spoof - that not only is Governor Palin renting in Hampton Bays, but that the Governor bought three homes on Bay Street for her and her extended family. There was a political suggestion as well that like Senator Clinton in the past, Governor Palin may take up residence in order to run for the U.S. Senate from New York. That has yet to be vetted.

Clearly, true or not, charisma flows from Quigley's spigot simile above, calling even more attention to East End real estate which is truly a very strange 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

North Sea Citizen from North Sea says:
While the news shows market improvement, one quarter does not a market make and most sectors are negative. Units sold is the most important at the moment as there is a tremendous amount of inventory to move. It will be interesting to see the 3rd q numbers but one thing is for sure, the market is close to the bottom which is always a historical number. The days of sitting on the fence are over, that is if buyers want good value. We have a small market and a strong quarter in sales can change list prices. Hold on its going to be an interesting fall...

george simpson from Suffolk Research Service says:
Tom D Yes, I think a 1 Qtr improvement like 2nd Qtr '09 shows a turnaround -- we'll see what next quarter brings. See: http://www.suffolkresearch.com/2qtr09.pdf

Tom D from Westhampton Beach says:
Not real clear how we can say there in any significant up turn. I decided to look at Suffolk Research and here is what I see for median prices: 2Q09 587K 1Q09 577K 4Q08 665K 2Q08 735K So does a 10K jump really show a bottom was reached in 1Q and now with a 10K jump the market has turned around? Only time will tell but in my opinion, it's a little early to call a bottom and a turn around.

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