Andrew Doud 0:08

All right, it's Thursday everyone. I'm Major Dow. Time for Happening in the Hamptons Podcast, our weekly breakdown of the Hamptons market, new listings and events on the East End. We are sponsored today by New York Title Abstract, the Hamptons leading title insurance firm. Visit NewYorkTitle.com. Joining us today are Steve Glick, Dave Retiner, and today a return guest, Mr. John Healy, second time on the show. Longtime listener, second time participant, we'll call it. Thank you very much. Good afternoon. So this is uh so last time we had you on, we had you, you were, you had just joined Saunders. So this is what, four or five months ago or so? Correct. We were just coming in the spring, getting excited for summer. Here we are, right in the thick of it. So, what's it been like for you? You you're you're in in a couple months, we're in the middle of summer, get a couple of the really nice listings. How's everything going? How's business?

SPEAKER_03 0:58

I will say from from two perspectives. One would be from customers and clients. Um, very, very happy I moved. Okay, now with Saunders. Great. They've all mentioned that, and um they they a lot of positive response about Saunders itself that they've had experience with, whether it's with me or other agents. That's glad that's right to you. So a lot of them have said, look, you know, we've always loved Saunders, or you know, it's always been great. They've got great marketing, good job. Andrew's done a great job with his company, so on and so forth. So so from that perspective, uh, without even my uh experience, um, I got good experience from clients and customers. Uh no one has said, you know, oh, why'd you leave the other? Why'd you do you know? Um so very good there. And then what I've noticed, interestingly enough, obviously, besides the attention that I've gotten and my my customers and clients have gotten from the marketing team and from everybody in Saunders, whether it's the admin or or or Andrew himself or Colleen or you guys, um what's interesting is seeing the amount of um signage and the speed at which I've seen uh properties go into contract, number of days on the market. Um I I really didn't I I followed that at some of the other locations I was at uh company-wise. But it seems like um, and maybe it's part of the market itself, but the the the amount of time on the market, Saunders Saunders property seems to be shorter uh than what I've experienced elsewhere. And also the the signage is obviously very clear, and because I'm a part of Saunders, I see it, you know, you know, the corner of your eye or whatever. But I I will say it just seems like there's a lot more going on at Saunders.

Dave Rattiner 2:45

Well, there is.

SPEAKER_03 2:46

And our and well, hence why I'm here.

Andrew Doud 2:48

Yeah, it's funny you say that because when I first uh moved here and and started working at Saunders, I thought it's the exact same thing. I was like, man, there's a lot of Saunders signs around.

SPEAKER_03 2:57

Well, there's a lot of Saunders signs, and and at this, but at the same time, you know, I've I've had I've been in a lot of office meetings with with Corcoran, with Sotheby's and so on. And our office meeting um is to the point. It it's it's it's analytical, but it's also very informative. And what's interesting is the the amount of transactions that go into contract, it seems just just a little bit more robust.

Steve Glick 3:25

Yeah, there's no there's no fluff here, you know. We're all about business, you know, and it's it's a vibe here at Saunders, you know.

SPEAKER_03 3:31

Is tonight about business?

Steve Glick 3:32

It is a vibe. Well, tonight is the uh is where we all celebrate the Saunders uh Company summer party, which is something we look forward to every year. And John, you're gonna experience the first your first one, so you'll get to experience the whole vibe over there at the Saunders party. But you know, you know, it's we're all in here, you know, we're all in on the Hamptons, we're all local on the Hamptons, and we're just focus on we just focus on the business and getting the deals done and working with the clients and doing right by them, you know, from launching the property the right way, from getting the sign of job, from photographing it, from doing the videos to doing the marketing and making sure these properties stand out. And then when we do have our office meetings, it's let's talk about the business. Where is it going? What advice we can give our agents, and highlighting the properties that recently came out to the market, ones that were reduced, uh open houses and events. I mean, if you look around, you you look around, you see all the signage, but if you also look around and see all the events and things that we've done for the community this summer, it was incredible. I think last week we had nine events going on in a matter of you know, five days, you know, and that covers everywhere from West Hampton all the way out to even Montauk. So there's always something going on here, and the summer's our season to really shine. And you came into it at the right at the right time to experience you know, the first hand, the summer season. So your experience is um just as everyone else's experience is, you know, working with Saunders, working at Saunders.

SPEAKER_03 4:59

I have something else to touch on that, because David, you were talking about micro and macro. And I'm I'm definitely a very I'm both, but very macro. Um and what's interesting is that where I've been before, just to finish up sort of on on coming here in the last four and a half months and experience, uh, where I've always come from in the past, um, there was this real drive for global exposure. Okay. Global exposure. Southern beasts, global exposure. We have we have we have offices all over the country, all over the world, so on and so forth, Corcoran, all over the country. And what I realize here is um I sell real estate in the Hamptons. Yep. And I always have. And I know that maybe there's that reach, but I don't I don't see that reach being a disadvantage for Saunders because Saunders chose Saunders chose to focus only on the backyard. And you know what? Everyone, as you can tell right now, in the middle of the summer, everyone's here.

SPEAKER_00 6:01

Correct.

SPEAKER_03 6:01

Like, you know, you can't get around at all. So we know that everyone's here. And so if you focus on your backyard, you're you everyone from around the world is here right now because that's where they want to be. So you don't necessarily have to have that global exposure because they're coming.

Steve Glick 6:18

Well, our website wanna see the place with the powerful uh the internet's very powerful, obviously. And then you have a website with you know sauners.com or HamptonsRealestate.com. This stuff is trending on on top of these Google searches across the country. And if anyone's looking for a home in the Hamptons, they're gonna find our website, they're gonna see these pop-ups. Yeah, I would agree with that. They're gonna call their agent. And um, you know, look, you live in the Hamptons, you raise your family here in the Hamptons. We all work and live in the Hamptons as well, and we're we just all solely focused here on improving the Hamptons, giving back to the community with all these events. And I can't stress that enough.

Dave Rattiner 6:54

Because we have to.

Steve Glick 6:55

We're a low, we're a local firm.

Dave Rattiner 6:56

It's all about local. And we're all like as at your point, we're all in out here, and we can't we we stand by we can't hide behind you know other uh you know entities outside of the Hamptons that are bigger and whatever. Like we are all in here and and it shows in our success. Yeah, we have to push it as hard as possible.

Steve Glick 7:19

But John, here we are. We're in the middle of the summer, right? Now, this is we just hit August 1st, um three days, a couple days ago, right? Three days ago. So this is this is the best month, in my opinion, to be in the Hamptons. Everyone is they sometimes they're right in July, they're right in June, but August, you're hitting the best weather. You know, it hasn't rained yet, knock on wood for August. And this is go time in the Hamptons. So, what are you experiencing? What are you seeing out there as you navigate around just the towns and villages and also navigate through your show through your real estate properties and your showings?

SPEAKER_03 7:50

Well, there's no navigation around town. Put it that way. There is none. Yeah, there is not a shortcut left. This is the busiest.

Steve Glick 7:59

I I was just saying earlier, I think this is the busiest I've ever seen, the Hamptons.

SPEAKER_03 8:04

I would agree. And I've been here for a long time.

Steve Glick 8:05

So why is that?

SPEAKER_03 8:06

So what what's your why I I well, first of all, August especially, you know, that we've we've had the transition only last weekend from July renters, if they were only here for the month of July, to August renters. Okay. And it seems like we we always have a lot more August renters that are if they're gonna do one month, it's August. And obviously, for some reasons, you know, Europe is closed. A lot of Europe is closed in August. They go on vacation in August, whether they go to the med, they go somewhere else, or they come here.

Steve Glick 8:31

They're on the holiday, right?

SPEAKER_03 8:33

And so the the point is that this is the this makes it even more crowded because we're their vacation spot as well. Interesting. In July, a lot of my clients traveled to Europe, went to Italy, went to Rome and went to England. In July, they took that time to go and travel again since COVID was you know complete and stuff. But they're always here for August, and it's usually because their kids, if they have kids in school, uh say college, they usually leave the third week in August to go back to college. They want to spend that first three weeks at home.

Steve Glick 9:05

Even camps, even kids with camps, you know, the camps end in August. They they can't be leave being another country, the kids are coming back home.

SPEAKER_03 9:12

This is the most crowded, it has been of every summer I've seen, I will say. Um, you know, we all thought that the summer of of you know what 2021 COVID was was was packed. This is packed because you even on like last night on a Wednesday, you go by any restaurant and they're full.

Steve Glick 9:30

Well, you say 2021. There may be there was a lot of people out here in 2021, but a lot of them weren't leaving their home, right? They weren't going out.

SPEAKER_03 9:37

But they still go out and go to the store, they have to go get growth, although a lot of good, but you don't you don't see in in terms of tra uh car travel. Yeah. It it now it doesn't matter. You like you used to think that at two o'clock you could head west.

Steve Glick 9:51

Right.

SPEAKER_03 9:51

You two o'clock now you're in line. You know, it doesn't matter. It's wild, it just really doesn't matter at all. And of course, you know, everyone, you know, we all remember what it's like and we'll we'll know what it's like, you know, come September 6th and 7th, where suddenly you you travel west at three o'clock and you don't see another car for a while. You're like, wow, that was those days are changing now.

Steve Glick 10:13

The tumbleweeds are you know, they were hard to see last year, and we'll see if that trend continues.

Andrew Doud 10:18

Sometimes it's like February.

Steve Glick 10:19

Yeah, the tumbleweeds come back in February.

SPEAKER_03 10:22

Well, it definitely does because this you know that February is not friendly here.

Steve Glick 10:25

Yeah, September.

SPEAKER_03 10:27

But the best month.

Andrew Doud 10:27

The fall is cool.

SPEAKER_03 10:28

I love September actually. September, October is the best, it is. But anyway, going on to like uh uh real estate. Real estate, yeah. In the summer, um more consistent uh requests for showings for sure.

Steve Glick 10:40

Okay.

SPEAKER_03 10:41

In the last couple of, I think, you know, near the end of July. I would say that in the beginning of July, there was there was about a week or so of very quiet where nothing was going on.

Steve Glick 10:49

So in the past week and a half, you've seen that.

SPEAKER_03 10:50

So the past week and a half, and I think when you had people that were here only for July, you know, they get here, they want to chill, they want to, you know, get to the beach, get everything organized, and for the first couple weeks, they don't go anywhere and do their own thing. And then at the end, they're kind of like, hey, you know, we should maybe look if we either want to look to own a property or something before we leave, because we're out here, we might as well go look. So the last my last 10 days was very busy. Um, and then I think you'll see the same thing, but it's more sprinkled throughout August because kids go away for school, they leave. So a lot of people are kind of like, Well, we're not gonna be able to just wait till the end of August to go look at houses because we want our kids to be involved, and so so I think we're gonna really be busy because I'm already loading up my schedule going forward in the next 10 days.

Steve Glick 11:33

Now, what about them putting in offers? Is there a rush, the sense of urgency? Are you experiencing that?

SPEAKER_03 11:39

I don't think there's ever a sense of urgency in the summer, even in the past.

Steve Glick 11:42

Okay.

SPEAKER_03 11:43

Um, obviously, my my attitude is always you find something that you fall in love with by it. It doesn't matter what month, what day, what week, it doesn't matter. Buy it. Yeah, because you're it just might not come around again and you don't get too many opportunities. I love that. That's great advice. So jump on it if you fall in love with it. If you're if you're still not sure of you know what location you want, what what town, uh, what what size house, or do you want new construction, or a couple-year-old house, doesn't matter. The fact is, is that it's you're not gonna, you know, you put the numbers together, you're not gonna close until the fall anyway. You're either already in a rental if you're out here or you're at a friend's house, or you own a house and you're getting ready to sell it and you're move upgrading, so you're looking for the upgrade, but you're not gonna call the movers August 3rd and say, Hey, let's let's pack up. You're not gonna do that. And and the owners aren't gonna pack up, they're gonna say, Whoa, we're gonna enjoy the rest of the summer, and then you can move in in the fall. So, what what happens, it seems like, is inventory starts to swell a little bit because this is sort of our season to put properties on the market because people are here. That's when the and that's when the property looks its best, you know, and they look the best. Yeah, and then what you get is and we've always had is the serious people come back around September, October, the kids are settled in school, this and that, and they say, you know, let's see if those houses, those four that we really liked, if what if they're still available, let's go back because I really think this one is the best or whatever. Um, but I think you really don't get your contract signed until probably September, October, not so much middle of summer, because uh they're just that's not the mindset. It's not gonna you're not gonna get an advantage unless you fall in love with something and don't want it to be gone by September.

Steve Glick 13:25

Now, what do you see about pricing? Like I know you represent a handful of properties, you're out there showing. Are you seeing the pricing come down in August to capture that last month of buyers? Or are you still seeing it holding holding strong and people are gonna reconsider after the summer to lower the home?

SPEAKER_03 13:41

I think people will try and hold strong while people are here. If your house or your property is getting showings, it's not the time to drop the price. Okay. If you're getting no showings, no showings, yeah. You you you know, uh we all know this that you know you have a meeting with your client and uh you discuss that, and if it comes up, you know, we we the you don't there's no question about So the barometer is the showings, like let's do it. There's no question about the marketing. And you know, marketing is being done by Saunders and agents, so that's already good. Yeah, but obviously, if someone says to me, hey John, the house wasn't shown in the last seven to ten days, it's summer, it's busy, what's going on? More than likely, if it happens any longer than that, it's probably a price adjustment.

Steve Glick 14:24

There's two ways to look at it. Like you have August with like, hey, look, the most eyeballs are out here, keep the price high. We'll see if we catch a buyer. But someone else will look at it and say, it we haven't had an offer yet. It's the busiest month, let's let's double down, lower the price, and just try to get as much attention to the property as possible for that last month of the state.

SPEAKER_03 14:44

I think really if you're serious about selling, you adjust the price till it sells in the summer. Why wait until September when everyone's left?

SPEAKER_00 14:53

Right.

SPEAKER_03 14:54

And then you go, oh, hey, let's drop the price. Well, now your agents have to sort of reinvigorate and say, call those clients back and go, Oh, remember that house that was on the market a little high, now it's down in price in September. People might say, Well, we've already moved, you know, we're back in California, we're back in Florida. So if you're gonna, if you want to sell your house, the next 30 days is the time to say, price it aggressively to sell if you want to sell it. There are people that are still kind of just you know, toe in the water. But your expertise.

Dave Rattiner 15:23

Your expertise is important to gauge whether or not it is the price, right? Like sometimes the issue is just like some stupid thing that the house, like the collar.

SPEAKER_03 15:32

You know, if staging wise, I mean, listen, we all know that if if it's completely full of clutter, if they have guests there all the time, so whenever you show it, every bedroom has clothing everywhere. And yeah, it that doesn't help, of course. But the serious people can look past that because you know, the day after the closing, there's gonna be no clothing, there's gonna be nothing there. Right. It's gonna be their home. But it does have to be priced correctly for that, but maybe even a little more aggressively if you do have if you're planning on using it all summer and it's not really in showcase form, then you kind of got to be a little bit more aggressive because no one, you know, people feel like they're in intruding sometimes. If I've I've had a showing where people were, well, we're just gonna be at the pool. And next thing you know, I'm like walking out to the pool, and they're out there by the pool, and I'm kind of like, you really shouldn't see your home.

SPEAKER_00 16:22

This isn't helping you at all.

Andrew Doud 16:24

Well, it's like when we when we had sold our houses in like uh in Florida, North Carolina, whatever, anytime we had a showing, it was like the pictures went away, the dog bowl got in the car, like the everything, and it's exhausting to do that every single showing, and it's like you try to line them up one after another if you can, but um you know, just name it.

SPEAKER_03 16:42

If you're gonna look at someone's used car, right, and all of their clothing and their shopping bags and stuff are in the back, that's not really gonna be a little bit more than a lot of things. Sand from the beach is on the car, man. If you clean your car and it's it's it's it's you know cleaned, washed, and vacuumed, it looks better. It doesn't look because you're junk in it.

Steve Glick 16:58

So, John, where do you see the future going now after the summer? This is you know, the everyone wants to know, look into the crystal ball, where is the market going?

SPEAKER_03 17:08

Well, of course, if I had the crystal ball, then you know everyone would be calling me. But um, you know, I think that economically we're we're in a little bit of a flux here. We have high interest rates. I don't think the interest rates are gonna go down anytime soon. Yeah, that's what it looks like. I think we're a couple years into that and that's what's gonna happen. Um if it affects the the you know the the uh credit card, you know, that's that's a big telltale in my opinion when credit card debt raises. And uh of course you get those new numbers every month anyway from all the credit card companies. And um, if you start to get a default or you get people that don't pay off the whole credit card at one time if they can, or they used to, and now they're paying off part of it, or they're not paying, or they're just doing the minimum, that's a telltale that they're they're spending over their means. And that doesn't help in general uh car sales, boat sales, real estate, anything across the country. We live in this bubble in the Hamptons that we all know about, and it's it's just happens to be a phenomenal investment location. Um on the flip side, since the rates are high, um you know, investment-wise, sometimes people don't see the return they might get unless it's obviously on a bank return or something. But sometimes people move some of their assets out of some equities and they'll slide their asset into into you know something that they know they can get a return on, which in general in the Hamptons is is land or property or where some people might put their home off for s and uh use that money to pay off some other debt.

Steve Glick 18:39

Absolutely. So you might see inventory go up because of this, right?

SPEAKER_03 18:43

Right. Well, there's an example too. You know, we we we talked about in the office meeting. There's circumstances that happen. We know that there's a house that that was recently traded and was recently put back on the market from the office meeting. We've discussed it. And it bec it was because of certain circumstances that came up. Right. Because the question was, you know, gee, that that just sold. Why is it back on the market already? Circumstances. In circumstances. You never know. The only time you ever see the circumstance in in a broader scope is economic. That's it. But I don't think we're at that point because if you think about it, so many people bought houses at such low interest rates. Where are they gonna go? If they sell their house, they're not buying another house because now they're gonna pay seven, eight percent.

Dave Rattiner 19:24

Yeah. Well, that's what I'm asking you. What's your advice to those people? Because perhaps there's one of those people in this room right now that would like to know.

SPEAKER_03 19:32

Here's one of my thoughts. One of my thoughts on that, and we touched on it earlier. Um I had a meeting with uh one of the representatives of a building supply company.

Dave Rattiner 19:43

Okay.

SPEAKER_03 19:44

They're they've slowed down.

Dave Rattiner 19:46

A big building supply. About here?

SPEAKER_03 19:48

One of the major ones out here, yeah. Okay. The fact is that if they've slowed down in delivery and order, order and delivery of lumber and material, then maybe that helps bring pricing of material, lumber, downstone, all that tile, down. So my advice, and what normally it seems like happens during this time when we have high interest rates, because I've seen it before, is people tend to renovate or expand their house that they have. And it could be a really good time to do it because if the if the material costs come down, you can afford to do that. It's you know, we got to a point where a two by four was, you know, eight dollars for me. It was crazy. So I think that that will be you'll see the transition into a renovation expansion because the interest rates are so high. Because if you sell your house and you need to, you know, upgrade or or you know, have a house that has an extra bank.

Dave Rattiner 20:41

Like those people that are in that three percent zone, they're either, as you're suggesting, are going to improve their house, or when they sell, they're just it's just more out of the hands of the thing.

Steve Glick 20:52

Well, they could well eat it. Or they keep it forever and rent it and buy something else. They could do all the equity out.

SPEAKER_03 20:58

They could do that, but you know, that's what I would do.

Steve Glick 21:00

I mean, if you have something that's only costing you three percent, hold on to it, rent it out, at least cover your mortgage, make a little income, take the equity out of the house, buy another property.

SPEAKER_03 21:11

That's the positive spin on it, which I agree with. That's what's what you do, Dave Slow. Dave, keep your head. If you're looking for advice, that's not looking for advice. But Dave, what you just hypothetical. It's a hypothetical. Dave, you just said that when some people what they do is they they sell and then they leave, they have they move. Right. If the rates are high here, the rates are there too. Right. That are high. So they're still gonna have to buy a house in Carolina. Yeah, it might be a lower price point, but they're still gonna have to pay a high interest rate on that. I mean, that's the fact because it's nationwide. So I don't, you know, if you if you want to give up the Hamptons, which I don't think, you know, if you look outside today and you look at the traffic, I don't think anyone wants to give up on the Hamptons.

Dave Rattiner 21:48

No, that's the thing. I mean, when you when when when you take a a map of the Hamptons, right, and then you just just draw your eye out and look at the rest of the world. It's just crazy how safe and beautiful and luxurious the Hamptons is and how large it is compared to just like any other place. And anytime I go on a road trip or a vacation, I think I've said this before on the podcast, or I've definitely said this in conversation. I always come back home and notice how beautiful it is here. Well, it's like you get used to it living here, but when you leave and go off to wherever, call it even Manhattan or call it wherever you go, and you're like, oh yeah, this place is nice. Uh I'm having a good time on this this trip here, whatever. I'm in upstate New York, whatever. But then you come back and then you just hit um you know the county road 39, you enter Southampton, and you just get that sense of relaxation.

Steve Glick 22:48

You can just well, it's the miles, Dave, from Southampton to Montauk is how many miles from Southampton to Montauk?

SPEAKER_03 22:54

119 or something like that. Really?

Steve Glick 22:56

That many miles from Southampton to Montauk.

SPEAKER_03 22:58

Yeah.

Steve Glick 22:59

So that's so if you go anywhere else in the country. Well, Dave, if you go anywhere else in the country and go 100 miles, there's every in that hundred miles, you don't go to me excited.

Dave Rattiner 23:08

Let me let me give me a story. Let me let me give you a story. So you can go to a different state in a hundred miles. So I go, I go, I went on a on a weekend trip with a friend of mine a few years ago, I think it was, to Delray Beach. Remember, I took the time off and went to Delray Beach? Okay. Everybody's like, Delray Beach. Oh, it's so beautiful. Oh my god, it's incredible. Blah, blah, blah. I'm like, yeah, all right, let's go. Let's check it out. I get there, beautiful hotel, beautiful beach, and then there's a beautiful street in Delray Beach. I believe it's called Atlantic. What's the name of the street in Delray Beach? I think it's called Atlantic. A1A? Oh, uh, oh, Atlantic, yeah. It's just called Atlantic. Yeah, Atlantic. Atlantic, yeah. It's maybe half a mile long, a mile long, and it's nice. I'm not gonna say it's not nice, but you don't want to stroll anywhere off of that road. Two blocks away. Two blocks off. You do not want to stroll or drive anywhere off of that road. Well, that's what I'm saying.

Steve Glick 24:06

Like the mile of the radius of the Hamptons from Southern Montauk, if you can go north, south, east, west, you're still safe. But you go anywhere else in the country. That is unique. Two blocks that way, no.

SPEAKER_03 24:17

I thought you said New York to Montauk. Southampton to Montauk.

Steve Glick 24:20

That's not a hundred times. That's what I'm saying. I'm like, what's going on? So how many miles is from Southampton to Montauk?

Andrew Doud 24:25

20 something?

Steve Glick 24:26

It's a 20-mile radius. There you go.

Andrew Doud 24:27

Okay. I think yeah, I think it's 90 miles.

Dave Rattiner 24:30

You can drive for an hour in any direction. You can drive New York east to us, and you can feel lock your door. You know, you can feel completely safe. Very good. Hamptons is an amazing place.

SPEAKER_03 24:41

So, Dave, you're saying you don't lock your doors at your house?

Dave Rattiner 24:44

No, I I don't.

Andrew Doud 24:46

I don't. Keys are in his truck. Uh Steve, what do you got for the numbers for us?

Steve Glick 24:50

All right, well, this is a great week. Over the past week, there were 30 listings that went into contract. Last year, there were 26, so we're looking at an increase of 15%. That 30 is, however, trending up, right? The last time we saw 30 was back in May. So June we hit a low. Um, July we hit some, we haven't hit 30. So the last time I saw 30 per week was in May. So this is a good trend to see as we round out July. In 2021, there were 49 transactions. That was COVID year. That was a decrease of 39%. The breakdown of the 30 transactions this week, there was two between 10 and 20 million, one between 8 and 10 million, one between 6 and 8, 3 between 4 and 6, 7 between 2 and 4, 16 under 2 million. The dollar volume was 92 million. Last year it was 68. That's an increase of 35%. 2021, the dollar volume, of course, was high, which of a hundred um 227 million. So that's a decrease of 59%. New listings coming onto the market. There were 30 new listings that came on. So 30 went into contract, 30 came on. Doesn't change the inventory. But 30 is still great to see. I mean, that's still a lot of new listings coming onto the market. Listings came on in all price categories. There was three over 20 million, two between 10 and 20 million, two between eight and 10 million, one between six and eight million, three between four and six million, twelve between two and four million, and seven under two million. Inventory is at 1,749 total listings, 1,307 active, and 442 in contract. So trending up over the past couple of weeks or the past month or so here in the Hamptons. Looking forward to seeing what the data shows next week as we have the first week of August under our belt.

Dave Rattiner 26:35

John, let me ask you, is is there is that demand for the Hamptons still there? Is that desire to be here? That excitement to be here? Or are your buyers saying to you, like, what do you think, John? You think I should wait? You know, like No, no, no.

SPEAKER_03 26:50

I think the crowds prove it.

Dave Rattiner 26:51

Yeah.

SPEAKER_03 26:51

I mean, and remember when we had, you know, we had we had a an odd rental uh uh market this year. It was it was early, and then there was it was then there was no activity, and then and then it was very rushed last minute. I mean, I don't know how many people called me for two weeks in August, uh, you know, the last day of July. Right. And I was like, what are you what are you doing? And I think they were checking their schedules and so on, and I think they were assuming also Airbnb, VRBO they could go to, but there was nothing that they could hit on Airbnb. They told me that. And one of them actually ended up just going to a hotel and biting the bullet and paying a lot of money for a hotel because they were like, maybe we'll just do eight days. And I said, Well, you know, I can't help you unless you're in the village of Southampton for less than 14 days. I can't do anything for you. And I think they I think next year will be different because some of them were pretty upset that there wasn't something that that met their the caliber they wanted.

Dave Rattiner 27:48

Sure.

SPEAKER_03 27:49

Because things did rent and we we ended up having a pretty good rental market. It was just late. Really late. That's it.

Dave Rattiner 27:55

Well, we we did at the office meeting, we went over statistics about the rental market, and it I was actually shocked that we were off by like 10% in terms of dollar volume compared to COVID. And it was an interesting conversation because everyone I know is saying how the rental market's weak and now this and that. But if you look at the dollar volume on what rented, it's it was not weak at all. In fact, it was double compared to to you know 20, you know, the earlier uh rentals before 2020. So it shocked me.

Andrew Doud 28:28

Your wealth of numbers. That's good.

Dave Rattiner 28:30

Yeah, I make them up as I go along.

Andrew Doud 28:32

That's fine. Uh, what are you making up for this weekend?

Dave Rattiner 28:35

Uh making up for, yeah, what's going on this weekend? We have Fridays at five, which is super cool. Um, that is right at the Bridgehampton Library, and that's going to be with Adam Gopnick. He's a best-selling author and a New York New Yorker writer. So you can go to uh Fridays at five right in Bridgehampton. Gates open at 4 30. Uh that's obviously on Friday. Um it's $25 uh per lecture, or it's $125 to get the whole series. So I think there's only like three left.

Steve Glick 29:08

Yeah, you're probably at this point best bet to just do it per.

Dave Rattiner 29:12

A little $25 math wood.

Steve Glick 29:14

Yep.

Dave Rattiner 29:15

Numbers there there again. I got it. Yep. $25. Yep, perfect.

Andrew Doud 29:20

Math works every time.

Dave Rattiner 29:21

In that favor. Yep. So Fridays at five. Great. All right. So that's a good one. And then you have uh Winston Ivory, who doesn't like Winston Ivory. He's gonna be performing at the clubhouse on August 6th. We are going to be at the clubhouse tonight for our company. Y'all is gonna be great. But um, so August 6th, Winston Ivory, he's gonna be there from 6 p.m. to 9 p.m. He's like the ultimate local reggae guy out here, and he's been out here forever. So much fun to hang around, so much fun to watch. Um, so recommend that in East Hampton. Then uh moving on to Guild Hall in East Hampton, they're gonna have their summer gala honoring Ken Wisney, white W Y S C. That's at 5 p.m. for the exhibition, and then at 6 p.m. for cocktails at Multifort Farm, and then at 7 p.m. you're gonna have dinner and entertainment, and they go all out. I was looking at pictures of last year's event. They go all out for this party. They have the big tent, they have awesome catering, um, they have a DJ there, and it's for Guild Hall, who doesn't love Guild Hall in East Hampton, so you're gonna want to go to that. You can buy tickets to that by going to Hamptons.com and searching in the events section. Um, that'll bring you to the ticket purchasing page for that. And then I gotta bring this up because I had such a nice time in West Hampton Beach. I'm like a West Hampton Beach guy all of a sudden. So the West Hampton Beach Performing Arts Center, which is basically the theater in West Hampton Beach. What's better than that? You go out and hang out in West Hampton Beach, it's a beautiful, brand new street. You can go out to any of the restaurants right there, have dinner, and then go see a show. Um, and you have Kristen Chenoweth, who is one of the biggest Broadway's say that again? What's her name? Chenoweth. Is that wrong? I don't know. Kahenoweth. I'm gonna go with Chenoweth. She's one of the biggest Broadway. She's one of Broadway's biggest stars by any measure. She's a Tony Award winner and an enemy winner, and she will debut in a one-night only performance at the West Endon Beach Performing Arrow Center, which is a sensational theater. I actually recognize her. She's been in a lot of TV. She's famous, yeah. She's a famous person. She's like a like the southern, like a southern, like a southern gal.

Andrew Doud 31:40

And Dave has discovered West Ended Beach for the first time.

Dave Rattiner 31:42

I had well, yeah, because you know, I I need a passport to get past the Shinaka Canal. So the other day I busted out my passport and went and saw who did we see? Tom Papa. Tom Papa. He was a very good thing. Comedian Tom Papa. Very nice show over there at West Ham Beach. He was hilarious. But I was just overwhelmed by the vibe. I'm all about the vibe. It's a good vibe there. Yeah, it's a good vibe. It's a vibe. That's what you got this weekend? That's your Friday, Saturday, and Sunday in the Hamptons.

Andrew Doud 32:10

Last plug, too. If you're on your way to West Hampton Beach or coming back from the carnival at Hampton Bay's is also going on this weekend.

Steve Glick 32:18

Oh, there they are. Supporting the Hampton Bay's Fire Department, correct?

Andrew Doud 32:22

It's at the yeah, it's at the um fire department on Main Street there. And uh yeah, we have we'll be dishing out some food and drinks. Then that yeah, and then there's the like the carnival side of things with rides and everything, prizes awesome for the kids. Funnel cake. Who doesn't love funnel cake? Cotton candy, terrible idea.

Steve Glick 32:40

Oreos, do they have the uh the fried Oreos? The fried Oreos.

Andrew Doud 32:43

That's a good question, I think.

Steve Glick 32:44

I'm sure they do.

Andrew Doud 32:45

You'll see look for it tonight.

Steve Glick 32:46

Look tomorrow night. Look for the fried Oreos.

Andrew Doud 32:48

Uh so that's going on through Sunday. Uh so anyway, stop by and uh that's good. Good, good little weekend.

Dave Rattiner 32:54

It's a nice little weekend for yourself. It's a nice little weekend. Yeah.

Andrew Doud 32:57

John, thanks for joining us again. Thank you for having me. That was uh all right, that's good. That's dirty. Everybody, enjoy the rest of your weekend. I'm Andrew Dowd, and that is what's happening in the Hamptons.