Press
Southampton inn goes on market for $24.75 million
12/15/2009 – Newsday
The historic Village Latch Inn in Southampton just went on the market for $24.75 million.
The White family has owned the five-acre property for at least 30 years. Members led the restoration and the annexing of several outbuildings in the mid-1970s. The outbuildings – including the Terry House, the Potting Shed, Homestead East and Homestead West, to name a few – were originally a part of the adjacent Merrill Lynch estate.
Today the complex features a grand lobby, a Victorian greenhouse, private villas, a pool, tennis courts and more. The property is very close to downtown Southampton.
“The property is unique in Southampton village because it has pre-existing zoning conditions that allow for all kinds of possibilities like condos, town houses or a spa and on a year-round basis if desired,” says listing agent Tim Davis of The Corcoran Group.
Currently the Inn is open from mid-April to mid-November.
The list of celebrities who have stayed at the Inn is long; it includes Carly Simon, Michael J. Fox and Isabella Rossellini. Matt and Annette Lauer had their wedding on the property. It’s also been the site of photo shoots and corporate retreats.
Southampton’s Westerly cottage on market for $6.75 million
11/25/2009 – Newsday
If you couldn’t afford the $45 million asking price earlier this year for the Westerly estate in Southampton, perhaps the 1,900-square-foot carriage house that was once part of the property is more in your price range.
The two-story home dates from 1929, and has three bedrooms, two baths and a fireplace on 1.8 acres. It is listed for $6.75 million with Tim Davis of the Corcoran Group.
The abode comes with its original brick fa‡ade and slate roof, tennis court and three-car garage.
The Westerly estate in its entirety was previously owned by the late attorney Howard Gittis. In September, the estate’s 25 room brick Georgian Revival mansion went into contract for a reported $40 million. Designer Tory Burch is said to be involved in the deal to purchase the main house.
Tory story
10/1/2009 – New York Post
We hear that designer Tory Burch has bought the Howard Gittis home at 500 Ox Pasture Lane in Southampton. Sources say the mansion and an adjacent parcel of land was sold separately to Burch and another buyer for around $40 million.
While the residence had been on the market for years, Corcoran Group broker Tim Davis split up the estate into different parcels to attract buyers. Burch bought the house, and a neighbor bought an adjacent parcel because he didn’t want to see anything developed on the land. Perhaps Burch will now sell the Meadow Lane oceanfront home she won in her divorce settlement from Chris Burch last year.
17 Corcoran Teams and Agents Among Year’s Top Producers
8/1/2009 – Mann Report Residential
An unprecedented 17 Corcoran agents and teams were recognized among the ‘The Real Estate Top 400’, a national ranking of 2008’s top-producing agents and teams generated by The Wall Street Journal, Lore Magazine, and REAL Trends.
Power-broker Carrie Chiang and her team earned the top-ranking team spot in the country in terms of sales volume, having sold more than $500 million in properties in 2008. In May, Chiang was also named the top Manhattan agent by The Real Deal.
In addition to The Carrie Chiang Team’s first-place national standing, seven other Corcoran teams placed in the top 100 producing teams by sales volume. These teams include: Sharon Baum’s team; Kenny and Meris Blumstein; The Robby Browne Team; The Cliff Partnership headed by Patricia Cliff; Deborah Grubman and Carol Cohen; The Deanna Kory Team; and The Sherry Matays Team-all based in Manhattan.
Nine Corcoran agents were also named among America’s top-selling individuals by sales volume, including: Susan Breitenbach, Timothy Davis, Gary DePersia, and Sheri Winter Clarry from the East End; Leighton Candler, Maria Pashby, and Lauren Muss from Manhattan; and Paulette Koch and Jim McCann from Palm Beach.
On olden pond
7/16/2009 – New York Post
A spectacular estate on Hook Pond in East Hampton — near the almost exclusively WASP-members-only Maidstone Club — just hit the market yesterday for $22.5 million.
The house sits on 3.1 acres at the address 42 Highway Behind the Pond. It comes with 300 feet of waterfront with a dock and is part of the Mary de Liagre estate. At 3,500 square feet, the five-bedroom home, built in 1903, is grand in a charming, old-money, non-showy kind of way. But it comes with the option of building out to 14,000 square feet. There’s also a boathouse and cottage, which need work.
Actor Robert Montgomery bought it in 1959, and his then-20-year-old daughter Elizabeth, the future star of “Bewitched,” enjoyed it as well. The de Liagre family has owned it since the early 1970s.
Sotheby’s listing broker Ed Petrie had no comment. An unofficial open house yesterday is already the buzz of the East End.
“I have several clients anxious to see the property,” says Corcoran Group broker Tim Davis.
Broker Breakdown
7/10/2009 – Hamptons Magazine
TIMOTHY DAVIS The Corcoran Group Years in real estate: Nearly 30 Lives in: Southampton East End elite: Top-selling and top-listing broker in the Hamptons exclusively
The 2008 Real Estate Top 400
6/4/2009 – The Wall Street Journal
Top 100 Agents by Sales Volume
The New Trickle Down: House Sales To Ailing Mortgage Revenues
5/27/2009 – Hamptons.com
East Hampton – Well those brokers that predicted heavy traffic this summer may be right. This past weekend, right before Memorial Day, was indeed heavy. Last minute renters coming out? Realizing that summer is about here? And they are about there? Who knows? But busy, yes. We hope businesses did well. And realtors, too.
Old restaurants opened for the season, most with new names, some with new cuisines, and at least one causing real estate /neighbor problems. More on this and that in the future.
As to the local economy – all East End towns are having budget problems; huge deficits. The industry can help out by selling more as mortgage tax is way down compared with past years. Perhaps, and finally, brokers will be recognized as the heroes they can be – helping buyers, sellers, landlords, renters and town governments.
We do have to commend them and ask why East Hampton Village taxes were not hit by all of this? Did they simply plan better?
East Hampton Town may be selling some real estate they own to deal with budget problems. Investors should keep any eye on this. They are talking about seven acres off of Daniel’s Hole Road and two building lots adjacent to Duck Creek Farm on Three Mile Harbor Road. They are also considering selling the town-owned office suites on Pantigo Road.
Southold’s Cathleen Dolson has joined Town and Country Real Estate, bringing 15 years of residential experience and investor transactions. We are told that Dolson has sold properties in all ranges and that her hallmark is professional service to both clients and customers.
Are your high-end buyers disappearing? Or are high-end homes going on the market at a faster rate? In an article called “Soak the Rich, Lose the Rich” by Arthur Laffer and Stephen Moore, the writers explain that “Americans know how to use the moving van to escape high taxes,” calling Governor Paterson’s plan a soak-the-rich policy that makes people move to low, or no-tax states, like Texas or Tennessee. “Here’s the problem for states that want to pry more money out of the wallets of rich people. It never works because people, investment capital and businesses are mobile. They can leave tax-unfriendly states and move to tax-friendly states.”
The authors cite research from Richard Vedder of Ohio University that found that from “1998 to 2007, more than 1,100 people every day, including Sundays and holidays, moved from the nine highest income-tax states, such as California, New Jersey, New York and Ohio, and relocated mostly to the nine tax-haven states with no income tax, including Florida, Nevada, New Hampshire and Texas. We also found that over these same years, the no-income tax states created 89 percent more jobs and had 32 percent faster personal income growth than their high-tax counterparts.”
Laffer is president of Laffer Associates. Moore is senior economics writer for The Wall Street Journal. They are co-authors of “Rich States, Poor States” (American Legislative Exchange Council, 2009).
Yes well, any more good news? Here’s some! This is a statement from Daren Blomquist of RealtyTrac exclusive to Realty Takes! “We’re not seeing much[foreclosure] activity on the eastern end of Suffolk. There were no properties with foreclosure filings in the town of Southold in April 2009, as well as in March 2009 and April 2008. The same was true for East Hampton. Southampton saw six new default notices in April 2009, up from zero the previous month and two in April 2008.”
And the Corcoran Group reports that Westerly, one of the largest and most prominent estates on eastern Long Island, is now being marketed exclusively by Tim Davis, senior managing director of The Corcoran Group. Westerly is an extraordinary brick Georgian country house located in the heart of Southampton’s prized estate section. Built in 1929, this 25-room mansion was designed by the renowned architectural firm Hiss & Weeks. This beautiful home with expansive brick terraces boasts a separate carriage house, pool pavilion, pool and tennis court, all sited on 15.4 park-like acres. The vast meadows, formal gardens, and specimen trees are all set behind privacy gates and tall hedges. “This is a wonderful opportunity to own this gracious historic estate with subdivision potential,” stated Davis.
The question is, are they moving to Tennessee? Because East End real estate is a very strange business.
Southampton’s Westerly reduced to $45 million
5/21/2009 – Newsday
Southampton’s Westerly has a new agent — and a new asking price. Now listed with Tim Davis of The Corcoran Group, the 14.5-acre estate is on the market for $45 million.
The property has been listed with Prudential Douglas Elliman Real Estate for $59 million.
The 25-room brick Georgian Revival country was built in 1929. There is a separate carriage house, a pool pavilion, a pool and a tennis court.
“This is a wonderful opportunity to own this gracious historic estate with subdivision potential,” says Davis, senior managing partner.
The late attorney Howard Gittis was the most recent owner. Gittis hosted many fundraisers and benefits at the house, including a $1,150-per-person party for Sen. John McCain in 2007.
In 1955, the estate hosted a “Night in Baghdad” event, complete with camels, and in 1966 there was an Indian-themed party with a baby elephant.
Multimillion-Dollar Home Price Cuts
5/16/2009 – Forbes
Across the country, luxury homesellers are slashing prices. Here are some of the biggest drops.
When the 20,000 square foot, six-bedroom St. Regis penthouse in San Francisco was listed in late August 2008, for $70 million, it was the highest price ever sought for a Bay Area property.
Even though it was before the meltdowns at AIG and Lehman Brothers, which would later virtually freeze transactions of multimillion-dollar homes, the listing generated skepticism among San Franciscans. It wasn’t in Sea Cliff overlooking the bay, nor nestled among the stately spreads in Pacific Heights, and nowhere near the Geary Boulevard mansions made famous in Hitchcock’s films.
Rather the St. Regis is on Third Street, next to the Museum of Modern Art, a fine neighborhood to be sure, but on the edge of the grittier Mission district. It’s far from the city’s best restaurants, the ocean and boutiques. Instead, the St. Regis residents greet throngs of tourists and homeless encampments when they step out the door.
Those reasons no doubt kept would-be buyers away. Another drawback? The near eight-figure price tag.
So in February, seller Victor MacFarlane capitulated, lopping $21 million off the price, the single largest price reduction of homes currently on the market.
It’s joined by the 115-acre Two Trees Farm, in Bridgehampton N.Y., a property noted for its 2,500 square-foot main house, summer polo matches, equestrian facilities and a 2,750 square-foot, four-bedroom Gin Lane Hamptons home–both of which have reduced their asking price by $20 million, to $75 million and $20 million respectively.
Our data comes from Trulia.com, a San Francisco-based real estate listing company that tracks publicly listed homes currently on the market through multiple listing services. We found the 10 homes with the largest asking price reductions after considering any home which was re-listed from its original price to a lower one, or that was removed from the market entirely and then re-offered at a reduced price. All the homes on our list are multimillion-dollar reductions.
The price cut Donald Trump used to entice buyers in March 2008 was perhaps a sign of things to come. His $125 million, gold- and onyx-soaked Maison de l’Amitie, on 475 feet of Palm Beach, Fla., oceanfront stayed on the market for almost three years before he cut the price to $100 million, and was able to sell it to Russian magnate Dmitry Rybolovlev in June of 2008.
So far, sellers of properties on our list have had difficulty finding their own Rybolovlev.
“For these uber-luxury homes, most of them have been on the market 180-plus days despite the price cuts,” says Heather Fernandez, vice president of marketing at Trulia.com.
In Southern California, home to three homes in the top 10, Beverly Hills broker Mauricio Umansky of Hilton & Hyland says that those buyers left with cash are waiting for further price reductions.
“At the high end, every buyer thinks that they’re the only one with money,” he says. “They figure that there’s no one else looking and so they’re not in a rush.”
That’s especially bad news for the owners of a $15.9 million Beverly Hills mansion on our list. Even with five bedrooms and 10,500 square feet of living space, landscaped gardens and citrus groves, it’s undergone three price reductions that have lessened the price tag $8.1 million since it was first listed in May of 2008.
Instead of the slow descent, some sellers have opted for quick and dirty reductions to grab attention and trumpet their eagerness to sell. A nine-bedroom, 12-bathroom, Jupiter Island, Fla., home with 428 feet of oceanfront, a tennis court and almost four acres of land was listed in March of 2009 for $39.9 million and has already been reduced by $10 million.
While these hefty price drops are germane to the upper-tier, nationwide, sellers are employing similar methods–on a lesser scale–to unload their properties. According to ZipRealty, an Emeryville, Calif., real estate brokerage, 45% of currently listed homes have gone through at least one price reduction since their original listing.
Whether these strategies pay off remains to be seen, but for buyers in this price range these sobering reductions are good signs that sellers are willing to listen to offers. Great news, if you’ve got cash on hand.
#2 Originally listed: August 2008 for $95 million
Reduced: April 2009 for $75 million
Two Trees Farm in Bridgehampton, N.Y., which hosts the annual Mercedes Benz Polo Challenges in the summer, is now asking much less for its 115 acres of land, equestrian facilities and four-bedroom, three-bathroom, 2,500 square foot main house. At present, the Corcoran Group holds the listing.
Git ‘er done
5/7/2009 – New York Post
The 15.4-acre Southampton estate of the late Howard Gittis is back on the market for $45 million, down from its $59 million asking price in December 2007.
The property can be divided into four separate lots. There is the seven-bedroom, 8«-bath main house, a Georgian mansion built in the 1920s and a carriage house that can be expanded. The buyer will also have the legal right to build two more homes, as well as pools and tennis courts.
Tim Davis of the Corcoran Group, who originally sold most of the property to Gittis for $8 million in 1993, now has the listing again. A few years after the $8 million deal, Gittis bought a second piece of property with a carriage house for around $1 million. That’s now part of the estate.
Gittis, the consigliere to billionaire pal Ronald Perelman, also had homes in Palm Beach and at 760 Park Ave. A balding, portly lawyer who died alone in his Manhattan bed two years ago at age 73, Gittis was a twice-divorced ladies’ man who allegedly had a penchant for short, busty bottle-blonde mistresses.
Slow start to summer rentals
4/14/2009 – 27 East
There’s a mansion for rent on Daniels Lane, right at the heart of what is arguably the most sought after summer vacation real estate in the country. The amenities include six bedrooms, sprawling grounds, pool, tennis court and a short walk to the ocean.
“It’s considered to be a trophy property in a triple `A’ location,” said Scott Strough, a Bridgehampton real estate broker who is listing the mansion for rent for the month of August.
In years past, Mr. Strough said, the house has rented for between $300,000 and $400,000 for one month and its trophy status and prime locale meant it was typically one of the first rentals snatched up-usually by the end of the previous December.
Not this year. In a rental market that several agents have called the worst in memory, the Daniels Lane house, and the vast majority of others up for rent, are still not spoken for.
“This season is the latest start that I’ve experienced in 27 years,” said Judi Desiderio, chief executive officer of Town and Country Real Estate. “There are leases being written by every office, but not as many as there should be for this time of year.”
Once upon a time, say, in the 1980s, the summer rental season basically began on Presidents Day weekend. Cabin fever, the February thaw, and a three-day weekend made it the perfect time to spend a few days picking a summer retreat. As the fervor over Hamptons holidays built, that timeline was pushed earlier and earlier until the most desirable properties were the subject of bidding wars well before Christmas. Back then, anyone waiting until late February to ink a deal was facing a substantially reduced selection.
As the spring crocuses bloom this year, however, most East End brokers say the bulk of the rental offerings are still not in contract. Much like the gridlock that has slowed the business of actually selling houses, the rental market seems to be stuck in a sort of pricing standoff between those offering their houses for rent and those interested in renting.
“We’re dealing with a mentality out of New York that’s telling everyone that everything out here is 50 percent off,” said Mary Slattery, a Corcoran Group vice president and associate broker in Southampton Village. “I am very, very busy with rental customers-taking people out every weekend, showing them houses, finding them exactly what they want. And then we get stalled on the offer and acceptance part. We’re getting low offers and then they’re frustrated when it’s not accepted. They say, `What do you mean they don’t want to rent?'”
There are between 10,000 and 11,000 properties up for rent for all or part of any given season on the East End, including the North Fork and Shelter Island, according to the databases of the bigger brokerages.
Many market watchers had feared that the stalemated sales market would mean an influx of rental offerings for the summer season as owners of languishing properties-particularly newly completed spec houses-sought to get some return on their substantial investments. Most brokers estimated that the supply side of the market has grown by between 7 and 15 percent this year, which is less than most had expected.
In a good year, about 80 percent of the properties on the market are rented, most of those well before the start of April. Thus far in 2009, some brokers estimated just 20 to 30 percent of listings have been booked for the summer season.
“There is precious little going on,” said James R. McLauchlen Sr., owner of the eponymous Southampton Village real estate agency. “The rental market is in lockstep with the sales market. Things are sitting that in years past would have been snapped up whenever they were available.”
The slow start in rental business is a break from conventional wisdom that dictates when the sales market is poor, the rental market booms. Uncertainty in financial markets and fears of unemployment have now splashed water on both fires, it would seem.
Be it deflated stock portfolios or simple frugality in murky financial waters, many of those who are on the hunt for a Hamptons summer rental are being a bit more thrifty with their summer spending.
Brokers reported that there has been a spike in the number of customers seeking rentals for just one month or a couple weeks instead of the traditional Memorial Day to Labor Day season. Others are simply scaling back the amount they’re willing to spend on a rental, even if it means taking a smaller house or one in a less desirable location than they’re used to. Some families have even paired up to share summer houses.
There’s a general shifting downwards across the market,” said Stuart Epstein, owner of Devlin McNiff Real Estate in East Hampton. “Our returning customers are either shifting their sights in terms of what they want to see or they’re negotiating for a lower price than they’ve paid in the past.”
Or, they just wait. If the instinct that the closer the season gets, the more owners may be inclined to lower their prices rather than risking being tenantless for the summer is right, it might be worth the wait.
“If someone is thinking about coming out or is worried about the future right now, maybe it would be in their best interest to wait a little longer,” Mr. McLauchlen said. “It’s not like there is a swarm going on so they’re not going to lose out.”
But there may be light on the horizon. Most brokers noted an uptick in activity in the last few weeks.
The late start may, in the end, serve to spur the sort of competitive market real estate brokers are used to seeing in February and March.
“I think we’re going to be inundated for the month of May,” Tim Davis, a senior managing director at the Corcoran Group, added. “We’re going to pack it all into a short period of time. We’ll be fighting for keys, lining up to show houses, and securing rentals with wire transfers.”
Ever optimistic, nearly every broker interviewed was certain that business would pick up as the weather warms and that the summer season would be a good one in the end.
“The pavement is going to heat up in Manhattan,” Ms. Desiderio said. “New Yorkers aren’t going to want to spend the summer in the city. They want to go to the beach.”
As Seen on Plum TV
2/1/2009 – PlumTV.com
Please click the link below to view the video: As Seen on Plum TV
