Hamptons Real Estate News Round-Up 2/6/10

Southampton Town Is Squaring Off With Suffolk County Over East Hampton Jetties
Hamptons.com
… “The decision by the Second Circuit will impact the public beaches, the real estate industry, as well as public policy for future generations. …

…………

Smith & Wollensky in Steak-for-Stock Deal
AdAge.com
… the local economy could be catastrophic, leaving large tracts of land in the Hamptons and Martha’s Vineyard undeveloped, legions of real estate brokers, …

………..

Billionaire businessman buys Sagaponack estate for $14 million (Not just ANY Billionaire, but Real Estate Maven Henry Silverman)
Newsday (subscription) (press release)
Real estate sources say that Silverman rented designer Joanne Corzine’s Sagaponack house last summer for a record-breaking $900000 and that Corcoran’s …

…………..

Picking Over the Bubble Decade
East Hampton Star
By Kate Maier (02/04/2010) Real estate agencies that operate on the East End have begun to release long-term market reports that put the recession-induced …

………….

‘;Now Is the Time’
East Hampton Star
What should have amounted to a straightforward, win-win real estate transaction for all parties involved unfortunately has been met with repeated delays. …

………….

Hamptons New York Home Sales Climb 59% as Deal Seekers Buy

Bloomberg - Oshrat Carmiel, Prashant Gopal -

Two other real estate brokers issued Hamptons sales reports this month. The Corcoran Group, based in Manhattan, said annual home sales tumbled 22 percent in …

2010 Wall Street Bonus Season May Make This the Bottom for Hamptons Real Estate

The buyer’s bonus was to be paid in stock, and he had to see how much he could borrow on it before he could raise his offer.

The Bonus Bounce
New York Times
By HILARY STOUT

IF the mix of optimism and uncertainty that pervades the New York residential real estate market right now can be symbolized by one property …

Thanks for the money, see ya’ next summer!

The MTA says there are not enough riders for the East End to upgrade service. The riders say the service stinks, who would want to ride it? Ever try to get to NY or back out East when you really wanted to? It’s challenging, even in summer!

The rail service put in place during the CR 39 construction was deemed “successful” by many. Ridership was up and the number of trains, with proper bus connections were impressive.

Another initiative, the East End Area Shuttle got the green light in 2007 . Where is it hiding?

So, now the MTA is ending non-summer service east of Ronkonkoma on the Greenport line and who knows what’s next?

History leads us to believe it won’t make us smile.

M.T.A. Cuts Prompt New Talk of East End Agency

Hamptons and Manhattan – Birds of a Feather or Duck-Duck-Goose?

Looks like The Hamptons’ Formal Big Brother goes back and forth in setting the pace for its  Beach Bum Little Sib.

just 2 hrs away by Jitney or 30 minutes by helicopter

So, when anyone asks the question, ” is the sales in Manhattan tied to the sales in the Hamptons?”, the answer is ‘Sometimes”.

Check out Jonathan Millers Three Cents Worth post here

Increased Hamptons Sales from Summer ‘09 Reported

These reports are a lagging indicator since it takes 2-3 months for a deal to close and usually up to another month before it gets reported by Suffolk County.

Even so, Jonathan Miller is the best real estate statistician in the business and takes a lot of data, puts it together into an intelligent format.

That’s life in the Fabulous Hamptons!

…….

Hamptons New York Home Sales Climb 59% as Deal Seekers Buy
Bloomberg
28 (Bloomberg) — Home sales in the Hamptons, the New York vacation getaway for dealmaker Stephen Schwarzman and movie star Sarah Jessica Parker, …

Hamptons Real Estate News Round-Up 1/25/10

Well, it’s been awhile since there has been enough news to make a Round-Up.  Here’s the buzz:

Ready to Spend, but Not to Boast
New York Times
In the Hamptons, where real estate agents court bankers looking for summer homes, the sales are also expected to be a boon for contractors, …

….

Richard Demato
The Sag Harbor Express
The real estate market is getting busy again, the inventory of houses is declining. After a tenuous financial hold in 2008, it appears The Retreat will be …

…

Foreclose threat hits Hamptons big shots
New York Post
The priciest of the bunch is 80 Further Lane in East Hampton, a tony beachfront home with an $8.5 million mortgage, said PropertyShark.com CEO Bill …

…

01/22/10  Opinion,

By MARK HELPRIN, WSJ

A Non-Delirious New York

Recovery should not mean a return to the excess that betrayed so many.

…

Hampton Bays condo plan moves forward
27east.com
By Will James Within the next six weeks, a developer will finally go through with the demolition of the abandoned Allen’s Acres Motel in Hampton Bays, …

…

What Home Sellers Don’t Tell Buyers  WSJ

As buyers ease back into the battered real-estate market, they’re often hitting a stumbling block: fibbing by home sellers. Here’s how to protect yourself.

…

Million Dollar Money Pit
Hamptons.com
By The Independent |- Most people preparing to move into a new home feel joyful anticipation, perhaps peppered with a little concern …

…

› BMW dealership an empty lot waiting for a buyer

27east.com

Business Week – Most Expensive U.S. Small Town: Sagaponack, N.Y.

Don’t know why they used Zillow for any info on Sagaponack? Zillow is still waaaaay off in The Hamptons and their info is very unreliable here.

Sagaponack, NY

That being said, this is not the first time that Sagaponack has been named America’s Most Expensive Zip Code and it may not be the last.  Sagaponack has been on fire since mid 2009, much of the wood for that fire provided by two new subdivisions in the tiny toni Hamlet. The median, average, mean…every type of statistical price defy national, regional and other local trends…it’s a so-called panacea of real estate.

Sagaponack Greens is the subdivision bought for $25M in 2005 by high-flying attorney/Hamptons real estate investor Alan Schnurmann. While the 2008/9 market gave him a scare, it looks like he will easily double (or better) is money on this project.

The Gibson Lane sub-division, on the property directly behind Billy Joel’s two oceanfront homes sold like hot-cakes this past 8 months. Why? It’s one of the most beautiful spots on earth! (and the Billy Joel buzz  did’nt hurt)

In 2009 the median home sale price in Sagaponack was $4,421,458… The median home price in the U.S. last year fell to $174,100, according to the National Association of Realtors.

Sagaponack is not the only rarefied real estate market, no matter how poorly the country’s housing market is doing. Long Island’s two counties, Nassau and Suffolk (where Sagaponack is located) account for more than half of the 50 most expensive small towns in America. Nearby Water Mill (No.6) and Bridgehampton (No. command median sale prices of $2,238,676 and $2,081,717, respectively.

see the story here

Courtney Ross And Her Education Empire

photo from www.maryellenmark.com

…

“The children take music, dance and Chinese, and start the day performing either yoga or t’ai chi. But this isn’t a tony private school on the Upper East Side. It is a charter school in the East Village, a neighborhood mostly populated by artsy hipsters and minorities, and most of its 420 students are black or Hispanic and come from poor families.”

From the Hamptons to the inner city, this philanthropist is a role model for the charter school business.  see Forbes story here

First Week Jan ‘10 vs Jan ‘09 Reported East End Sales and Lis Pendens

The sales reported during this period in  Jan ‘09 were directly impacted by Black September ‘08 when Lehman Bro’s died and the financial markets went into their second tailspin in two years, so apply that rock salt to the sales numbers below.  Also keep in mind that,  here in Suffolk County, it usually takes a month or two for closed sales transactions to make its way through the County recording office and to be publicly reported. so the majority of these reported sales closed in November and most of the deals actually actually came together two to three months earlier than that (August/September).  Simply put, today’s reported sales reflect business activity that took place last summer.  Nothing like “fresh” data, eh?

                                    East End Sales Statistics ‘09 vs ‘10

Week Ending                              01/09/09                                      01/08/10
Number of Sales                           30                                                47
Total Dollar Amount              $51,852,223                                $39,234,870
Median Price                         $     642,500                                $     540,000
Average Price                       $   1,728,407                               $      834,784

- 10 of the 30 sales were for over $1million in 2009  (33%)

- 7 of the 47 sales were for over $1million in 2010  (15%)

It’s clear that the high-end is quieter and the low end is busier, with those who see price/value reductions of around 30% in two years finally jumping in under $1million.

***************************************************************

The lis pendens figures are astounding, compared to last year – over 10 times as many initial filings by lenders on defaulting mortgages. Keep in mind the following:

One- the mortgage companies had a moritorium on new foreclosures last year at this time as they and the government looked for answers on what to do about the crisis and,

Two- “strategic default” was not as fashionable as it is today.

                    East End Lis Pendens Statistics  ‘09 vs ‘10

Week Ending                            01/09/09                                        01/08/10
Number of Filings                        3                                                  32
Total Mortgage Amount           $1,565,700                             $18,270,479
Median Mortgage                    $    500,000                            $     419,100
Average Mortgage                  $    521,900                            $      570,952

That’s the numbers!   What do you think?

**data from https://www.lirealestatereport.com

The News About Hamptons Real Estate – There IS NO NEWS!

Things are quiet, here in The Fabulous Hamptons and the news is that, aside from the ‘advertorials’ being run by local papers and websites, hoping to keep favor with their largest source of advertising spenders (the Real Estate Brokers), there is very little news going on here…

Take a look at this mornings Google Alert on “Hamptons Real Estate”

Google News Alert for: hamptons real estate

TowneBank Continues Expansion Into Insurance CNNMoney.com (press release) It currently employs 36 insurance, employee benefits, and risk management professionals and serves a distinguished client list throughout Hampton Roads and … See all stories on this topic

Kidnapped men freed from scorching shed in St Albans Herald Sun The house where the two hostages were held had recently been sold by a local real estate agent. A board on the fence described it as a three-bedroom home, … See all stories on this topic

Local inn owners embrace homework The Virginian-Pilot admitted Linda, a former real estate banker. The kids stopped needing rides everywhere, and the sounds of nature were unfamiliar. “It was like, ‘Those birds … See all stories on this topic

Pitchfork Media Flying Lotus Annouces New Album Pitchfork Media Real Estate and Woods will hit the road together in March for a tour of the Eastern half of the US Brooklyn/New Jersey lo-fi extravaganza! … See all stories on this topic

Full speed ahead on outlets Manteca Bulletin Commercial real estate agents with expertise in national store leasing have indicated the drawing power of Bass Pro Shops with more than 2 million customers … See all stories on this topic

Two (Out of Ten) Preferred Stocks Yielding Over 10% Seeking Alpha (blog) This preferred of the Supertel real estate investment trust pays 6.7 cents every month, generating a yield of 10.5%. The company operates limited service … See all stories on this topic Aside form a few writers putting “Hamptons” in their article to generate seo hits, b-o-r-i-n-g. …and while Manhattan sales reports are coming out now for Q42009, it will be another month before East End Q42009 sales report arrive due to the lack of a centralized system to report sales…time for a nap? NO! Because prices are continuing to drop here and there will be new inventory coming on now that the holidays are over and there are deals to be had! The news that comes out in July will be about all the great deals that closed in Q22010 that were made during the next 3 months that close in April, May and June. Keep your eyes peeled for price drops on Streeteasy.com