Andrew Doud 0:07

All right, everyone, it's Thursday afternoon. I'm Andrew Dowd with Saunders and Associates, and it is time for our Happening in the Hamptons podcast, breaking down the Hamptons Market, new listings and events on the East End. Today, Steve Glick is out, Dave Ratiner is in, and also joining us is Rod Cummings, based out of our West Hampton Beach office. Rod, how are you today? Hey, good morning. Pleasure to be here, guys. Uh well, listen, first of all, thanks for joining us. It's a gorgeous summer day out in the Hamptons. This is this is the time to be here. This is the time to live here, the time to visit. Um, and you live here year-round. So tell us a little bit about where you live and how you got into the real estate game.

SPEAKER_02 0:45

Sure. I uh currently live in the hamlet of Quag Sand, which between West Hampton Beach and Quag Village. I'm a longtime uh East Hampton resident, moved uh a little westerly in 2014 as I was commuting from the city back and forth. Um started in real estate out here uh 2018. Previous to that, I was in the field of psychology and uh fashion and design. That's one of the things I find so interesting.

SPEAKER_00 1:15

Every agent you talk to have a whole life story, yeah. I mean and the successful ones are too. Right, right, right.

Andrew Doud 1:22

So in psychology, that's that's really interesting. So, what drew you to real estate? Used to be a surgeon and then astronaut, yeah.

SPEAKER_02 1:33

Well, I will say from the get-go, the field of uh psychology definitely has its merits in working with people in properties, working with people who are coming in um either as experienced buyers and sellers or first-time buyers and sellers, and being able to kind of pick up on some of the nonverbal communication in terms of understanding what people's basic wants and needs are, and when it comes to properties and uh securing a home, uh home base, uh, people have a lot of um emotional uh attachments and reactions. So it's really good to cut through that.

Andrew Doud 2:10

I I think uh so many times uh agents will tell you that it is this is not just a buy and sell real estate business. I mean, you almost become a coach, a life coach in some respects because this is such a big decision.

SPEAKER_00 2:24

Financial coach, yeah.

Andrew Doud 2:25

Yeah. You know, you're dealing with people's whole lives because a house is such an important asset for them, um, whether it's buying or selling, finding the right place, finding the right price, um, that's a lot to take on. And I'm sure that there's a lot of concerns that are wrapped up in that.

SPEAKER_02 2:39

Um, there certainly are, and you know, a master's degree in working with uh human behavior really does come in handy. Um having studied then and worked directly with um individuals and couples who are making big decisions in their lives, and all that comes with that really comes into play. And you know, I could see it in the reaction of my clients and customers, whereby wow, they look at me like you really understand what we're going through without them having to communicate as much as they would maybe somebody else, where I could kind of get between the weeds there and kind of see what uh what's really happening and decipher like okay, who who's in charge here and who's getting to make the decisions here, but if it's a couple, let's say, um, and who is more cautious, who is more aggressive, and um it helps really facilitate the process both for them and for me. That's interesting.

SPEAKER_00 3:31

I want to talk about so you have this property in how do you say it? Queog? Quayog. 36 Hampton Street. Yeah, and I just want to talk about this property for a second because you ran this open house that just completely blew me away. Oh. So Rod is it, you're a specialist with staging.

SPEAKER_02 3:53

Yeah, you know, um, I and my team who uh could come into any kind of property and determine what it is that it's what's missing and what it needs and how it's going to appeal to various buyers given what the unique selling proposition is of that house as I see it. And a lot of times I walk into a property that's either vacant or it's distressed, or that it's been lived in, and it's not kind of set up for optimum living, as far as what the current uh culture is for Hampton's buyers, and it is my eye that is able to determine what it basically needs or be or what what it what is additive here that will be of value in terms of getting a what I believe is when somebody's coming to look at a property, we have minutes for them to form a real visceral emotional response to that property, and we can help define what that's going to be by setting it up in the right way and playing up to all the senses, not only visually, but what they're hearing and smelling and even tasting.

SPEAKER_00 5:04

You know, it it's really you're being very modest because I went to this open house at 36 Hampton Street and I looked at pictures prior to what I I did this after I went to the open house, but I looked at pictures prior to what the house looked like before you staged it. And you what you did was you s you in invited an artist that you know to set up his artwork throughout the house, and then you ran the open house almost like it was like an art gallery opening. And throughout the house there's like all of this beautiful art that just really popped throughout the house. You were playing um like soft, sort of like lounge music throughout the house, you were serving um you know, little drinks throughout through uh and and little um bites throughout the house, and it I really felt like I was just in this luxurious place, like this really luxurious place. And you know, this this particular house is is a uh is wasn't did not have that feel before you took over the listing. And I was just shocked by the whole by the whole thing.

Andrew Doud 6:15

I think this is the difference between showing a house and really selling someone on it. You know what I mean?

SPEAKER_00 6:20

I was like you really made it feel I mean, you had the pool set up where I think in the middle of the pool you put like a a chair or something.

SPEAKER_02 6:29

Yeah, the particular pool has a little lounge area, so it created a resort feel. You know, it's all about creating, you know, what we now often say is a vibe. What is the vibe for this particular property? And you know, I walk in with eyes wide open and say, how could I make this the best it could possibly be with the little with the smallest out of pocket, both for myself and my buyer? And my my mantra really always is to my my seller, excuse me, is that hey, a 1% investment of your list price could yield like a 25% return on the sale. So on and or less. And in this case, for a you know, $2.495 million dollar property ask, um, you know, if we put in 20 grand and we put in way less here in terms of staging, um, it it would make the difference between listing it, you know, 25-30% price because um we really created an event and it's the way in which I launched the property. Thank you for your compliments. I appreciate it. And it's the way in which I continue to show it. So every showing I have, I'm known for never arriving with a prospective buyer. I'm always there beforehand, even if it's 15 minutes, to set up, to light my candles, to get my lighting the right way, to check on my fresh flowers, to make sure all of the doors are open, the air conditioning is set right, because I know I have people maybe for a few minutes only. Right. And and first impressions are everything, right? Everything.

SPEAKER_00 8:01

Let me ask you this, Rod. So what are some of your go-to tricks in in terms of staging? Like what's one of the first things that run through runs through your head when you walk into a house?

SPEAKER_02 8:10

Well, it's got to be a clean, well-lit space. And when I say staging, I mean from the the color of the paint. Correct. Matters? From well, from the exterior, we're having, you know, we have a lot of drive-bys, we have a lot of people that hear about new listings. Consumers are, you know, I always say agents in training because they have access to so much immediately because of the internet. And before maybe they may contact me directly or their agent of choice, they are previewing on their own. And um, for this particular property, it's a corner lot, so it's really exposed. So before I could get them in there, they're going to be cruising by on their own. So curb appeal is everything. Um, curb appeal on the exterior is a lot is a more of an expensive proposition because you're talking about um plantings and painting and any kind of facade work and things like that in this particular property. I oversaw with a budget from the cellar, um, the painting and the plantings and the installation of all the aesthetics on the outside. And then when you walk in, it really is what does this house have to offer at its best? This is a really great corner lot with really wonderful both southern uh and uh western exposure. So the sunsets are great. I did not want any uh any window coverings on, I wanted the sun to shine in. And it is a converted classic cape. And to make it appear as bright and as large as possible, I immediately felt a gallery type space would really enhance what I was trying to sell here and lend itself to being kind of extra special and some value added to what anybody else was seeing in terms of competition at the price point. And so I decided to create a gallery and invite some local businesses to collaborate with me. I have Hampton's Jolly, who has the fiats at that retrofitted 75 grand mini fiats that parked themselves in front and that were coming each day. Um, Scott Vandervoort's art is hanging in each wall, and I wanted him to tag it as if it's a gallery, all of which, all the pieces are for purchase. And I had a local wine shop and a local cheese shop come and um bring some of their um treats and um offer that up. And it was a real um fun event. And as I said, um, you know, that continues, but it really is um to answer your question, you gotta be able to walk in and almost feel like a hotel-like quality to these properties rather than luxury hotel. Luxury hotel, of course, um, that you're not buying into somebody else's living. And so people can define it and see it for themselves. So the first thing I always do is just strip all the beds and strip all of the bathrooms, whether it's a new renovation or an existing house. And what do you normally see when you go into a luxury hotel is really all white linens. It's got to be fresh, right, crisp. And you know, what a lot of people don't realize is there's a lot to be able to do to enhance on a limited budget. You could do a lot of things if you are quick and creative.

Andrew Doud 11:24

Well, it's like they'll tell you at the bare minimum, take if if you're selling your home, at the at the minimum, take all the family photos off the correct off the shelves because you want to paint the picture for the person coming in of what their life can be in that house. They want to own it yourself. Right. And then this is like that initial idea, you know, a hundred times bigger.

SPEAKER_02 11:45

Just to give another example, um, last year I had a really nice waterfront property um in the area where the seller had lived in there as a bachelor. Subsequently he became married and had three little children, and he never thought he was going to expect any more than two million. And I said, Oh, I'm gonna list this for two seven. He thought I was out of my mind. He went away for a while, and I said, Let me transform the house, which at that point looked like a preschool with three children under five.

Andrew Doud 12:12

I got two under five. I know I know what it what two kids under five do to your house. So that is the wrong vibe for setting up a sexy romantic.

SPEAKER_02 12:23

That's the wrong one to set up a sexy romantic uh waterfront cottage, which is the way in which I wanted to market it. So I stripped the house of all of its contents. Fortunately for me, these this young family had an alternate place to live and they were moving on. So I removed it. And, you know, you want to take the work away from the seller, and that is where I feel my proposition comes in because I'm not necessarily having to outsource and hire a team. I do it myself with my small team at little or no cost to the seller. And I basically transform that place into a really nice luxury little cottage that um, you know, people it sold very quickly.

Andrew Doud 13:05

That's a big value add for somebody when you're when you're pitching them on a listing.

SPEAKER_02 13:08

You know, you do this every with every listing that you that you most listings really need it to some extent, either you know, a little bit, um, you know, and some new bed sheets and some fresh plants and flowers go a long way. I have a small, modest warehouse of things um that I bring to locations with me to change them out. And I could remove stuff, store it, and bring my stuff in, and um really enhance either what's already there, um, sort through some clutter, remove or hide some things, and then and and embellish as need be, either just a few little things here and there or a complete install.

Andrew Doud 13:49

Uh, how does given where the market is right now, how does this kind of luxury treatment for these listings uh help with selling the house in in a timely manner? Because obviously when somebody lists, they say, you know, I'm sure they want it sold as quickly as possible. So um, you know, given where what you're seeing with the market right now, how does this um help with moving a listing along?

SPEAKER_02 14:15

Sure. Um it absolutely is uh the utmost importance. We're at a new day to be defined. We're all trying to define really the time that we're in right now. Um, and it just so happens to be that for the first time in a couple years, we actually have a little bit of inventory at a similar price point, and buyers for the first time could come out and look at a handful of things in one day at a certain price point. So it is my work that helps to distinguish a property of mine from another property where, again, somebody's gonna walk in and there is some magic that they're feeling viscerally that they can't necessarily put their hands on or wrap their head around, but they're drawn to it and they want to come back for repeat visits versus what's going on at some of the other houses that are remaining stagnant where they um don't have any kind of special touch added to them.

Andrew Doud 15:14

So just since we're talking about the market, I just want to move to the numbers, which is typically what Steve does. So I will do my best to do what Steve does best, and that is give you a breakdown of the Hamptons data. And we'll start with the past week. There were 23 listings that went in a contract from West Hampton to Montauk. Compare this same week last year, 2021, there were 41 listings that went in the contract, which is a year-over-year decrease of 44%. The same week in 2020, there were 70 listings that went in the contract compared to this week in 2022, it's a decrease of 67%. The breakdown of those 23 transactions are one between 10 and 20 million, seven between two and four million, and fifteen under two million dollars, which is always the hot spot in the market. Over the past week, the dollar volume was fifty million, two hundred and twelve thousand compared to the same week last year, twenty twenty-one, the dollar volume was 168,901,000, which is a year-over-year decrease of 70%. This same week in 2020, the dollar volume was 203,571,000 compared to this past week in 2022. It is a decrease of 75%. So this past week there were 34 new listings coming onto the market, which I think is that up from last week? An increase? With 23 listings going into going into contract, this increases our inventory by 11 listings. The breakdown of these 34 new listings are one over 20 million, three between 10 and 20 million, one between eight and ten, one between six and eight, four between four and six, uh, four between two and four million dollars, and twenty under two million dollars. So, Rod, when you hear those numbers, particularly that under two million dollar market. Um, is that you know it where's the price point that you see um having having the most action in your area?

SPEAKER_02 17:11

Well, we have a lot of buyers that really want to be um, you know, under $3 million. And we even have more that want to be under $2.5 million. And so when we have those properties that become available that are around the two million dollar mark, we have a lot of activity. I mean, people have been poised ready um and waiting, you know, for a couple of years. People are so fatigued, buyers are so fatigued from um losing out on deals. And um, we are trying to urge them that the market remains robust and the opportunity is now. Um, and we are at a place right now where um sellers will, you know, entertain um offers. Offers that that are reasonable, and um we're we're at a good place.

Andrew Doud 18:03

It's interesting. Um all right, let's talk a little bit about the weekend. Uh Dave, what do you have going on in the area?

SPEAKER_00 18:09

Very cool weekend. So uh at the West Hampton Beach Performing Arts Center on Friday, July 1st at 8 p.m. Whitney Cummings, the comedian, no relation are you related to her? Uh I will be after this weekend. So she's hilarious. Um, she's gonna be performing at the like I said, at the West Ham Beach Performing Arts Center. Um, it's called the Touch Me Tour. Uh, and I don't know if you've ever seen her on Netflix, but she is so unbelievably funny. She is so funny. She's a real celebrity. It's uh it's always cool uh when you see you know like these superstars coming into West Ham Beach to perform it's really fun. So that should be fun. Um then at uh let's see, then the July 4th holiday fireworks schedule is posted to Hamptons.com. And every year there's always confusion concerning where one can observe fireworks during the summer 4th of July extended holiday in the Hamptons. Um so this year, if you want to look at all of the fireworks schedule, there is a huge list on Hamptons.com. There's about I would say about nine or ten events that you can do for the fireworks. Um and for actual July 4th traditionalists, you have the Montauk Fireworks by Gruochie actually happening on July 4th. Um, and that's out in Montauk by Kirk Park Beach. Um and then you have on July 9th, you have the Sunset Beach Fireworks on Shelter Island on Saturday, July 19th. You have the Grucci Clam Foundation fireworks at Three Mile Harbor. Um so there's just a huge schedule. So I encourage everyone to look at that schedule at happeninginthehamptons.com because some are starting uh this week. On July 1st, you have the North Sea Fire Department's annual carnival and along with fireworks at 9 p.m. And that's at North Sea, uh off of North Sea Road in Southampton. Um and then also on July 1st, you have the Greenport Fire Department fireworks starting at 10 p.m., which is a North Fork favorite. So fireworks, man. So fireworks a lot of fireworks. There we go. So um then you have the annual firelight paddle tour, which is happening Saturday, July 2nd. Um, and this is where you get to paddle to the western shores of the Shinnecock territory to watch the Southampton Fresh Hair Homes 35th Annual American Picnic Fireworks. So that's this Saturday. Um the rain date's Sunday, and basically you can get you basically get in a canoe or in a kayak and you watch the fireworks from there. So that's cool. That sounds kind of cool.

Andrew Doud 21:04

You used to watch fireworks from your boat, right? Up on Three Mile Harbor.

SPEAKER_00 21:07

Oh, yeah.

Andrew Doud 21:07

That's that's gotta be all the time. Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 21:10

I mean, I've I I've did I did that every year, but I saw I sold my sailboat last year. So I gotta get I gotta jump on a boat with a friend, I guess. They say it's better to know somebody with a boat than it is, it can be.

Andrew Doud 21:23

It can be better.

SPEAKER_00 21:24

Um that's your Friday, Saturday, and Sunday, Andrew Dad.

Andrew Doud 21:28

That's it. Uh Rod, before we wrap things up, anything else you want to add? Anything in particular you got going on this weekend?

SPEAKER_02 21:34

I would uh just urge all uh East Enders to come down to West Hampton Beach, check out our village. We have a lot of customers that are looking to be a little bit closer to the city and looking at inventory a little bit more westerly than they previously had, and are really happy to see what's gone on in West Hampton Beach Village. A ton of shops and rest great restaurants have opened up. An amazing viewing point for the West Hampton Beach uh fireworks that are going to be in the uh local field club with options. Optimum viewing from the uh village uh green. So come on down to West Hampton and check it out.

Andrew Doud 22:05

He should work for the Chamber of Commerce there. That was a great that was a great pitch. That's me.

SPEAKER_02 22:09

He is the man.

Andrew Doud 22:10

Um see my listing. Yes, exactly. Um and the check out uh Rod's listening, all our listings, of course, check out Saunders.com. Uh the Happening in the Hamptons podcast is sponsored by New York Title Abstract, the Hamptons leading title insurance firm. Visit NewYorkTitle.com or titleinsurance.com. I'm Andrew Dowd. Everybody, thanks so much for listening, and that is what's happening in the Hamptons.