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“Of the Northeast’s most expensive summer destinations, the village of Water Mill, N.Y., in (Southampton Township), appreciated fastest. The median home price there is $1.38 million; it increased in value at an average of 21% a year over the last five years.” Coming in at #3 on the list was Napeague/Amagansett in East Hampton Township with a median price of $862,129 and an average appreciation rate since 2002 of 20%.
See the Forbes List of Best Places To Buy A Vacation Home
It’s becoming a point of contention more and more often between landowners and home owners, here on the glorious East End of Long Island.
What is “Open Space” and what is and is not allowed on an Agricultural Reserve?
The Peconic Land Trust has an informative Glossary of Terms on land conservation, but doesn’t really clear up the differences.
I find that many new homeowners are paying a premium for property “adjacent to reserve” because they believe that the “reserve” will just become an extension of their backyard…until the tractors show up or the farmer decides to build a barn on the property or the owner leases the property to a polo club for the season.
A recent search of online listings on HREO, using the keyword “reserve”, turned up 401 listings, from a $29,500,000 listing in North Haven down to a $319,000 listing “adjacent to reserve” in Riverhead.
Check out this article, by Valerie in the NYT:
I like Lou Barnes and find his perspective and advice, usually on the money.
“This episode is nothing — nothing — compared to October ’79, when over one long weekend Paul Volcker announced that the cost of money would float free with demand. Many mortgage bankers never answered their phones again. Mortgage rates went from 10% to 11.5% over that weekend, and to 13% by Christmas. The technical top was 18.1% in 1981, but that was statistical artifact: lights-on-but-dead S&Ls priced money just beyond demand. There wasn’t any mortgage money, except the first of the new-fangled adjustables, start rate a-hell-of-a-deal 16%. ”
Check out his: Mortgage Credit News – August 6, 2007
[tags]Beach properties, Hamptons, mortgage money 2007, sub-prime, AHM, Wall street mortgage, bear sterns[/tags]
With all the hullabaloo going on with sub-prime and American Home Mortgage closing down this week, it was nice to see someone ‘step up to the plate’ in the heat of it all. AND, it was no suprise, that that someone was Christine Curiale, Branch Manager from Wells Fargo Private Mortgage banking in Southampton, NY.
Christine is a real pro and has never-ever let me down with a client. Try to say that about a lot of people!
Anyway, with bullets flying and indexes dropping, here is the “jist” email that I, and many other loyal CC colleagues received:
Subject: FW: East End Mortgage/Realestate Market
(With) the changes in our recent real estate/mortgage market and the challenges that lie ahead. Many home mortgages are in a state of flux. Clients are confused and nervous. This instability has resulted in some banks and clients walking away from the closing table. Many are even afraid to begin the process. What do you do? How do we protect your East End clients and our East End business?
The answer is simple. Education. Knowledge is power — and in this market, knowledge means business.
Be proactive! They will send one of their experienced private mortgage bankers to your office. They will conference with your agents and provide the means to keep your clients informed and comfortable from ACCEPTANCE OF OFFER through CLOSING TABLE AND FUNDING. If you wish, this can be an ongoing process. Continued flow of information; up to the minute mortgage programs; continued customer service. Your clients need to know that you can deliver. You are the essence of the East End Real Estate business. Wells Fargo has been there since 1852.
They have weathered a few storms along the way. They remain the only AAA rated bank in the United States. I believe we can generate a mutually beneficial relationship that will not only ride out the storm, but provide a solid position for future markets. Time is of the essence.
Call Christine at your earliest convenience. Christine E. Curiale
Branch Manager
Wells Fargo Private Mortgage Banking
M6586-011
AU# 38690
42 Hill Street
Southampton, New York 11968
631.283.2120 x110 Tel
631.255.5888 Cell
631.287.6072 Fax
631.204.6920 Direct Fax
Christine.curiale@wellsfargo.com [tags]Beachamptons, Hamptons, hamptons mortgage broker, mortgages, subprime, hamptons real estate[/tags]
As we have said before, due to the lack of comprehensive tracking tools and the reliance on the county recording office, tracking sales here is like using an abacus. Good luck! It can take as long as 6 months before all transfers are recorded…by the time the horse ‘n buggy gets there and back with figures, we’re in another market already.
One way to track closings is revenue reported by the Peconic Bay Community Preservation Fund, which collects a 2% tax for each transaction at the closing table.
According to State Assemblyman Fred Thiele, the five East End towns (Riverhead, Southold, Shelter Island, East Hampton and Southampton) together collected over $53 million for the first 6 months of 2007. That’s compared to $48 million in 2005 and $45 million in 2005.
The CPF also reports the number of transactions as follows:
First 6 months 2007: 4129
First 6 months 2006: 4526
First 6 months 2005: 5133
So, while revenues are up 11% from ’06 and 17% from ’05,
the number of transactions are down 9% from ’06 and nearly 20% from ’05.
Bigger fish, less of them…md
[tags]Beachamptons, Beach, Michael Daly, Hamptons, hamptons sales figures 2007, Community preservation fund, conservation[/tags]
…that brokerages, here in the Hamptons and the North Fork move into the 21st century.
These tech introductions are still years behind the rest of the country as far as giving true exposure to sellers listings, but that’s been the parochial nature of the East End.
Check out the latest article on the subject by Lauren Elkies
August 2007
Hamptons listings: From Stone Age to E-Age
By Lauren Elkies
Just as you come over the Sag Harbor bridge in North Haven is Christie Brinkley’s newest house, sitting beautifully on the harbor. see MODEL HOME by Braden Keil, New York Post.
“There’s a joke in the industry that real estate is no one’s first career,” writes Alison Rogers in her new memoir, “Diary of a Real Estate Rookie: My Year of Flipping, Selling, and Rebuilding — and What I Learned (The Hard Way!).” “It’s always something people come to by default, seeking money.” see more from Salon.com here
Order Alison’s book from Amazon.com here
Also, check her interview out on Inman TV here
md
As Valerie Costalas , New York Times writer, points out:
“DEVELOPERS have bought three well-known properties in the last year: the Montauk Yacht Club, the Panoramic View Hotel and the Shepherd’s Neck Inn. Renovations are under way, as are plans to market co-ops and hotel rooms to wealthy second-home buyers and year-round weekenders. And not far from the Sail Inn, on West Lake Drive, Gosman’s Dock, which grew from a chowder stand 60 years ago into an 11-acre waterfront complex that includes restaurants, shops and a fish market, is for sale for $55 million.”
Where this might have inpact in the Hamptons is with the “stretched” investor. The stretched investor is the one who is borrowing 110% on properties in hopes of flipping and dipping into equity in a short period of time. Real estate investing is a cottage industry for many folks out here. It’s how many people make their living. Tighter lender restsrictions and slower appreciation are having an effect on certain segments.
See the WSJ article below:
Regulators Tighten Rules
For Subprime-Lending By Damian Paletta
Hamptons Real Estate Blog 