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The Seventh Annual Hamptons Restaurant WeekSM will launch from Sunday, March 29 through Sunday, April 5, 2009. For one week, Sunday to Sunday, all participating restaurants offer a three course prix fixe for $24.95 all night except Saturday when it will only be offered until 7 p.m. Each restaurant offers their own unique menu selections and selected restaurants will offer a special discounted bottle of Long Island Wine.
SEE THE LIST HERE
I was interviewed for this article on Buyers Brokerage by Marcelle Fischler.
It was also in August that Michael Daly gave up being a traditional broker, and working both sides of the fence, to run the North Haven-based True North Realty Associates, a brokerage exclusively for buyers. He said he found the switch had eliminated the “smoke and mirrors” and “dual-agency conflict that has caused so much mistrust among consumers and real estate agents.”
See complete article here
it's a new day...
Inman News, the real estate industry news organization that truly sets the tone for innovation within the real estate industry, printed a piece on buyer agency today that, hopefully is just the beginning of their coverage of the issue.
Dual agency is the secret that real estate brokers and agents have been hiding for years. The ugliness that I have seen in this business in my 11 years has been, at times shameful. It’s no wonder that a majority of the public doesn’t trust real estate agents. We can do better. We must do better.
Times have changed before our eyes. It’s time to open the curtain, turn on the lights and come out. Transparency is now a requirement in the business.
check out the Inman article below
The buy-side of real estate compensation
Flaws persist in pay system, say some buyer’s agents
By Gilbert Mohtes-Chan, Tuesday, February 24, 2009.
US Homesales
In a “good” market, homes in the Hamptons sell for 98-102% of asking. That is, the homes that DO sell…not everything sells, as even in good times, there are those sellers that attach a value to their properties that only a mother could love. They are the highest bidder on their own properties, as my friend and colleague, Jeanine Edington says. Many of these homes have been on the market for years, but that’s another post.
This post is about a different strategy; bidding a house DOWN. Recently, I was representing a buyer who put an offer in on a house that was about 15% below asking. The owner came back with a 3.5 % reduction counter offer. The buyer came back at 12.5% below original ask and, there it sat… The seller stood their ground, still a 9% gap between them. Keep in mind,m this buyer is pre-approved for her financing and can close in 30 days…she is a strong buyer.
The next move? The buyer agreed to come up to their highest and best price, which is 90% of the sellers asking price – with a caveat; the seller has 5 days to accept it, or the offer goes DOWN 1% on the sixth day and the offer continues to go down 1% a week. Interesting, eh?
So, in rough numbers, here’s what it looks like:
Offering price $1,500,000
Buyer first offer $1,250,000
Seller counter $1,450,000
Buyer second offer $1,300,000
Seller second counter stays at $1,450,000 (They state that they believe St. Obama will make everything better soon)
After two weeks:
Buyer makes Final Offer of $1,350,000 good for 5 days, after which time, offer goes to $1,335,000 and one week later, offer goes to $1,320,000, then $1,305,000 one week later…
it’s a new day, folks…
I’m doing reserach for the Hamptons spread…where properties are selling now vs the peak in the end of ’06/early ’07. Challenge is, since there is no market-wide listing system that tracks sales (the brokers in the Hamptons still have refused to embrace an MLS which is used universally across the US) most information is anecdotal and at least 3 months behind actual transactions. Since the latest financial crisis took place in late September ’08 (just over 3 months ago) transactions happening since that time are just starting to be reported now, so there is little imperical evidence of the Hamptons market impact.
Even the year end 2008 results, while showing a drop in transactions, median price and total dollar volume for 2008 vs 2007, doesn’t show the true impact of the latest episode.
What I can report at this time is that there is a gap of between 10-15% between what buyers are willing to pay and what sellers are willing to accept at this point. Many sellers are still in denial about what their homes are worth and the buyers I’m working with are not willing to budge. md
Check out what Noah Rosenblatt is seeing in Manhattan below:
There will be plenty more of these same unit deals selling for between 15%-25% less as time goes on, but most of the comparisons defining this downturn will be of different units in the same building. I don’t have time to go researching for how many others there are out there like this, so I’ll leave it for you guys to post in the comment section.
see complete post here
All cash deals: Green is the new black
By Candace Taylor, The Real Deal New York
As market fears kick in, all-cash deals soar
And Michael Daly, the principal broker at True North Realty Associates in the Hamptons, said some 75 percent of his deals are all cash right now. He recently represented the all-cash buyers of a $2 million Shelter Island home and a house in Westhampton Beach that sold for $7.5 million in cash.
Others have been amassing cash in recent months in anticipation of real estate bargains, Daly said.
“A lot of people have gone heavy into cash over the course of the last year,” he said. “They’re waiting for the bottom — in all types of investments. For those who feel that the bottom is here, it’s time to make a move.”
Q & A with Gary DePersia
Gary DePersia
It’s been a tough year for Hamptons real estate. Average sales prices for homes in the Hamptons and the North Fork plummeted 26.8 percent in the third quarter from the same period last year, according to a market report by Prudential Douglas Elliman.Yet, since August, East Hampton-based Gary DePersia, an associate broker and senior vice president at the Corcoran Group, said he has seen nearly $30 million worth of exclusive listings go into contract.With $202 million in sales volume this year, DePersia was recently named the nation’s fourth top broker in the “The Real Estate Top 200,” a national ranking and awards event sponsored by the Wall Street Journal, Real Trends and Lore Magazine. A 13-year real estate veteran, DePersia moved to East Hampton from New York City in 1995.
The Real Deal spoke with DePersia to find out how he’s beating the odds.
see complete Q&A here
These days, you might want to check on the financial status of your builder when buying a new house. If the builder files for bankruptcy, the builders warranty may not hold, although the manufacturers warranties on fixtures, windows, roofs (if installed properly) would remain in effect.
Keep in mind, some builders put each home they build in a separate corporation, so have your attorney check it out before signing contracts.
see the Q&A from Inman News’ Ilyce Glink below:
Home warranties not guaranteed
Here’s a post that makes some good points about the Hamptons Market
| The Hamptons – A Buyers Market Cliffeton Green and Drew Green |
“Obviously, the current world financial atmosphere has everyone very concerned about their financial well-being. We now know that it is the sub-prime mortgage crisis that was a primary cause for the current economic uncertainty. Subsequently, Wall Street has seen a meltdown with the loss of some of the industries oldest and most respected names. In turn, Main Street has been affected. It sounds like the sky is falling – yes? Not necessarily, the answer is that for “some” these are indeed hard times, but for others the current economic atmosphere presents opportunity!
As of Friday, Oct. 10 the Dow Industrial dropped below 8,000 (roughly 40 percent lower than its all time high, which was slightly above 14,000 a year ago). Of course, unlike Wall Street, a minute by minute measuring of the real estate market is not possible. However, we do know that on average prices are down roughly 20 percent in the Hamptons from their all time highs of a year or two ago.
Many experts are suggesting that we are at or near the bottom of the market on Wall Street and that there are now good buys to be made. The same can be said for real estate. Frankly speaking, Wall Street influences the Hamptons real estate market more than any other outside influence, and if Wall Street is indeed at its bottom, the Hamptons real estate market cannot be far behind. Simply put, we are now in a “buyers market” and the time is now for those of you who have been looking for the opportunity to get “a deal” (how many of you have uttered those words to us over the past 15 years). If there was a home that intrigued you recently, “make an offer” even if it might be perceived as being a low offer. This is even more relevant today. Some owners are more anxious than their asking price would suggest.
If you are a seller in this market, you need to seriously evaluate your reasons for wanting to sell. The current atmosphere is obviously not conducive to garnering the same return it might have a year or two ago and you must be prepared to accept that. Experts suggest that home sellers need to assess the prices of similar properties on the market and then price their home 10 percent to 15 percent below the competition (if you “really want to sell”).
If you are a buyer and in need of financing, completing a savvy real estate purchase is difficult, but not impossible. In speaking with many mortgage brokers over the past few weeks, each has suggested mortgage applicants need three things currently – an “excellent” credit rating, proof of income over the past several years, and, probably most important, the ability to make a large down payment on the purchase (25 percent to 30 percent). If you are in this position and have been considering a Hamptons real estate purchase, “NOW” is the time you have been waiting for! Currently, “cash is king” and if you have it, you are in the driver’s seat.
A trend that we are now seeing more of is “owner financing.” This is advantageous for both buyers and sellers alike. It is advantageous for the buyer who is having difficulty getting a mortgage through the traditional sources. The current advantages for a seller are numerous:
If you are in a strong financial position and are interested in buying Hamptons real estate, don’t wait for someone or something to tell you the bottom has been reached. If you are waiting for that moment, you will miss it. The fact remains that in the long run, real estate always proves to be an excellent long-term investment, especially in the Hamptons. When compared to other investment opportunities, real estate makes sense in uncertain times for the following reasons:
FOR BUYERS LOOKING FOR BUYER REPRESENTATION CLINK THE LINK BELOW
Looking for a Hamptons rental? Try winter.
As economy slides, East End owners pump their homes for off-season cash
A renovated farmhouse at Georgica Beach in East Hampton was rented for the winter.
By Christopher Faherty
Thought the Hamptons rental season was over? Think again. Brokers on the East End are seeing a curious new phenomenon this year. With the economy spiraling downward and Wall Street teetering on the edge, more Hamptons homeowners are looking to supplement their finances by renting out their houses during the winter months.
“There are a great deal more winter and year-round rentals on the market this year,” said Michael Daly, the principal broker at True North Realty Associates. “Home sales and the economy have slowed, and owners are looking for ways to get income out of their properties.”
Daly said there is no real data on winter rentals. But based on newspaper advertisements, he estimated that there has been a tripling of year-round rentals starting this September, and that rental prices have decreased 25 to 33 percent.
The nontraditional rental matrix seems to be paying off for some East End owners.
As the inventory of winter rentals has increased, so has the market for them, some brokers said.
The disproportionate prices between summer (which is high season) and winter can often be a difference between $2,000 and $20,000 a month for the same house.
Off-season rentals are luring renters for varied reasons. In some cases, the winter rentals are taking the place of more expensive vacations or allowing tentative buyers to get a taste of the Hamptons for a cheaper rate. In other cases, it allows those who are doing well in the down economy to escape the city.
“I’ve rented a summer house for the last five years. This year, I felt with the market being the way it is, I’d see what’s out there,” said Mary Miras, 33, a bankruptcy attorney who lives on the Upper East Side and is renting a home this winter in East Hampton for $1,500 a month. “I’m doing this with a girlfriend and another couple; when you split that, it’s like a gym membership, basically.”
Miras, who lives in a one-bedroom apartment in the city, said her business is busy at the moment. She said she’ll use the winter rental to entertain friends and family.
Miras noted that she rents a similar-sized house in East Hampton during the summer with the same friends she is renting with this winter, and they split a rent of $45,000 for the season.
Mary Slattery, an associate broker with Corcoran who has noticed an uptick in winter rentals, said those who are looking for houses in the post-Labor Day market are less interested in the Hamptons social scene than summer renters.
“They don’t come here so they can stand in line for an hour for a cup of coffee at the Golden Pear. They’re more of an outside person,” Slattery said.
Among Slattery’s winter rentals this year was a renovated farmhouse at Georgica Beach that she rented to a 30-something hedge-fund manager who grabs his dog and flees the city on weekends, attracted by the South Fork’s great off-season surfing.
The half-acre property, described by Slattery as “not fancy but really cool,” rents for about $2,500 per month in the winter — and roughly $65,000 for the full summer.
Brokers were in general agreement that year-round rentals, in which renters pay a small charge above the summer rate to keep the property for the entire year, are also on the rise.
George Fontanals, a broker with Brown Harris Stevens in East Hampton, said that many young people in the market to buy are renting year-round and waiting for the market to soften further before pulling the trigger on a purchase.
“It’s hard to say if it’s the right thing to do, because it’s a good time to purchase,” he said.
Karen Benvenuto, a broker with Hamptons Realty Group, said while the number of people searching for winter or year-round rentals may be growing, so is the inventory, because more sellers are renting, waiting for the market to rebound.
It appears that builders of spec houses are also turning to year-round rentals with the softening market. Laraine Hayes, a landlord who rents out six separate homes in East Hampton, said she met a Hamptons spec builder at P.C. Richards as he was buying 13 plasma screen televisions, as part of furnishing a $12 million spec house to rent.
Hayes, who has been renting homes in the Hamptons for 25 years and recently switched with the majority of her tenants to year-round rentals, has one of her properties on the market for $1.499 million but said it may make more sense to rent it rather than sell in the current buyer’s market.
“I’m not very negotiable,” she said. “I need to get this amount, or I make more money renting.”
Hamptons Real Estate Blog 