Andrew Doud 0:08

All right, it's Thursday everyone. I'm Andrew 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 by New York Title Abstract, the Hamptons leading title insurance firm. Visit NewYorcTitle.com. We have Steve Gluck, Dave Retiner, and today a return guest, Mr. John Healy. How are you? Thanks for coming in. It's like a kind of a miserable, sort of snowy, very February kind of day. It's a stay-in-bed day. It's a stay in bed day, but he got out of bed to come into the office and hang out with us. But it's not bad. I mean, look, you're busy, right? And we were just talking about this before we got started. But like you, once weather isn't what it is, you're seeing the spring as maybe like a turnaround or uh an improvement even from where we're at. Things ramping up a little bit.

SPEAKER_02 0:54

I think that obviously with factors, and we can talk about that in a minute, of like what happened in uh the devastation in in California. Um we have seen people ringing here, reaching out here, uh, either to relocate for the summer or relocate for a year, whether it's rent or sale, um, some people, you know, they're reconfiguring uh their lifestyle and their life because it's uh so much of it was was changed for them in California. But um we are seeing a little bump of that that you know we wouldn't normally see, um especially rentals. This is our rental season time. It's really gonna ramp up, probably. You know, historically, President's Day weekend was like rental weekend. That was when everyone came out and started thinking about summer and a rental. Um that kind of waned a little bit over the last few years because of COVID and things like that. But I think we're getting back into that seasonality for everything in real estate, whether it's sales or rentals. So I I anticipate a pretty busy spring uh for sales and rentals both. And and and I know that um when we hear the numbers later, you know, the the the inventory is increasing, and we we have been waiting for that. Having more options gets people excited uh in terms of looking for real estate.

Andrew Doud 2:10

So one of the things we were just talking about, I mean, this isn't something I really typically brought up on the podcast, but when you're when you're looking to buy, right, there's one thing you have to consider, there's a lot you have to consider, but one of the most important things is insurance, which is you were saying, getting a little bit more difficult to come by. Some companies are just not as eager to insure by the water, which we of course are surrounded by.

SPEAKER_02 2:39

You shouldn't be qualified as a you know near water too much. But they they even look at mileage, they look at, oh, you're a quarter mile from the water. So that gives us a little bit of risk. Not risk that I would understand, because that would be a pretty devastating tidal event or or hurricane that gets a quarter mile in. But but that being said, yeah, this is the time of year that most people's policies re-up and um people have been dropped. Uh there my insurance company states that basically because of California's uh issues and and wildfires and loss, as well as uh Florida's from the hurricanes, um, that's affecting obviously nationwide uh homeowners' policies. But it's not just homeowners, too, it's it's it's auto and so on. Right. Uh I don't know if it I don't think it affects liability, but I did learn, of course, that mine uh increased um and it made me think and talk to some other people. And people have been dropped by smaller firms or or or for whatever reason even a larger firm. And it seems like they just don't have the interest in wanting to insure people out here.

Steve Glick 3:48

It's something, yeah, it's crazy. Like when you buy a house, you don't think you know, let me check if I can get homeowners insurance and and A, or or B, what would that price would be? You know, you know, you have of course your closing costs, what's the operational expenses for to own the property, to maintain the property. And then, of course, you know, homeowners insurance is always a line item, but you just say, Yeah, well, of course, we'll get homeowners insurance. But that could change. I mean, they could be like, oh, well, there's only a limited amount of um companies that will provide that policy, and what that policy cost is, and it may be a lot, it may not be a lot. It's something to really consider. And I like what John's saying is like look at your policy that you currently have, check the rates and shop around. There's you know, there's other options out there, and you're not locked into one, even though you've been with one for so many years, just look around and see. And that's like a good you know, uh message out there to all the homeowners is just check your policy because it's a new year, it's a new world, and just see where you're at.

SPEAKER_02 4:46

Well, to add to that, if you are purchasing real estate with a mortgage with a bank, um you're required to have insurance. The bank is gonna require in case there's a loss, yeah. Um you're required to have it. And and so having people having people it's more being that it's more difficult to get insurance, that's something to really prepare when you're coming out here to look to purchase. You want to have all your ducks in a row. It's one thing to uh do your due diligence on where you want to be and and and all the detail that you can get from the internet in terms of doing your homework as a purchaser. But it's important then also maybe to call your carrier or your representative and say, look, I'm thinking of buying a property in the Hamptons, I am going to get a mortgage. What's the insurance gonna be looking like? And if you end up buying something that's close to the water, you might find out it's difficult. And then you you don't want to go into a contract and find out, wow, we can't get the right insurance, or it's gonna cost us more than we expected. Now we can't afford the house. So the really important, I think, is is the way the insurance business is right now is to make sure ahead of time that you have those those numbers prepared and you know that you're gonna get a lot of money.

Steve Glick 6:03

That's the first we had someone talk about insurance.

Andrew Doud 6:06

Well, it's like you know, you have to you have to have it, like you're saying. So it's it's an important thing, and it's it can be a big number, right? Uh depending on where you buy, how big the house is, all that kind of stuff, and that can, like you were saying, impact what your monthly payments are.

SPEAKER_02 6:21

I got an example yesterday from my carrier uh representative, and he said that you know, there's a lot of people in Florida right now that are going uninsured because it's just so expensive. And I think now is that legal? Is that legal? Well, if it's a if you own it cash, if you own it outright, you don't have to have insurance. What happened?

Dave Rattiner 6:38

What if you think you have a mortgage and then your insurance goes up to the point where you can't afford it?

SPEAKER_02 6:43

Well, then if you can't afford the property because the insurance is part of the property, then you may have to sell your property. Wow. Um, think about it. I mean, if you can't afford the the bank is gonna want that insurance all the time. And even normally they want an overlap if you're gonna switch companies. But if you get dropped, you got to notify your bank right away and say, look, I got dropped, I'm looking for for more, because you're not covered at that moment. But um what I was uh hearing uh yesterday was that a fourth floor apartment in Miami, fourth floor now, you know, you're up there, yeah. Um forty thousand dollars a year for an apartment two-bedroom apartment in Miami on the fourth floor, and there's really no argument about it, and it's not likely that the tide is ever in a hurricane or anything gonna get to that fourth floor apartment, more than likely. But that's what they're they're they're pushing, is basically saying this is a risky place.

Dave Rattiner 7:44

It's not a risky place, it's like guaranteed. It's like it's guaranteed you're gonna get hit with our own.

SPEAKER_02 7:48

But if you're on the fourth floor, the tenth floor, the eighth floor, well, there's no guarantee that you're gonna get damaged. You know, so that to me is just kind of taking advantage. And um, so this is what led the discussion of people are saying I'm gonna go uninsured. They obviously own it outright, and they're taking a risk. Now, the risk on a fourth floor to me, if it's a big building, is very minimal because you know, your apartment, the only thing that's really gonna happen possibly is flooding in your own apartment from the apartment above or something like that. But if you're if you're getting destroyed, the building's getting destroyed, probably. So your risk is that we're all losing or we're all getting we're all okay. Um so that's understandable in a building, but it is something for buyers to look at, and all of you out there that own homes and just love listening to this podcast because it is that good. Um then you should just check your policies because this is the year that I think you're gonna see advances in in uh in cost and maybe even reduction in what they're gonna replace your your dwelling with in terms of pricing. So it's that can just be an email to your salesperson, like absolutely and then you know, and then you know you can have them resend you last year's policy, this year's policy, you can look at it too because they're sending them out now. You know, the turnovers normally in the first quarter of the year that I find. Um, I'm not an insurance salesman, but you know, that's what I find, at least with my policy. It's always goes around like that loop.

Dave Rattiner 9:10

But um And do you shop around? Would you shop would you shop?

SPEAKER_02 9:13

You know, at that point, uh why wouldn't you? I mean, I uh if it's going to be a big jump, you can shop. It's always good.

Dave Rattiner 9:21

Why not? Why not?

SPEAKER_02 9:21

You know, I think you know the the adage is every three years you should check it, and maybe you check some other people.

Dave Rattiner 9:26

Remember when I was buying when I was buying my house, that was the issue. Like the insurance was like six hundred dollars more a year and then it's shopping, and then it went to like Miniola or something.

SPEAKER_02 9:37

I had my insurance is like from the I do think even shopping around out here, yeah. The the big carriers, you know, you want a carrier that's not going to disappear too when you have a problem. So you want a reputable carrier, exactly and I thought they're in the same boat basically. And and you know, you go to a no-namer, and yeah, you might get a policy, it might be cheaper, but then when you have a problem, they might say, you know, we have we've moved. We're not here anymore. Who? What? Yeah.

Andrew Doud 10:03

We don't have any records of you. Um all right, so let's talk. So going back to the market and your anticipations for spring, let's just get a look at the numbers this week because we have more inventory.

Steve Glick 10:14

Yes, we have some more inventory, so this is a positive this week. Um, but over the past week there were 23 listings that went into contract, so we're constantly seeing in the 20s every week. Last year there were 28 the same time, so it's a small decrease of 18%. Two years ago there were 20 listings exactly, so that's an increase there of 15%. The 23 transactions this week there was four between five and ten, six between three and five, five between two and three, five between one and two, and three under a million. Dollar volume this past week was 74 million. Last year was 94 million. That's a decrease of 21%. Two years ago, the dollar volume was 60 million, increase there of 23%. New listings. This is what we've been talking about earlier. 34 new listings came onto the market. So that increases the inventory by 11 listings, and the breakdown of those 34 new listings, there was five between five and ten, four between three and five, six between two and three, fourteen between one and two, five hundred million. Inventory stands at 1,729 total listings, 1,316 active, and 413 in contract. So it's good to see if there's still activity happening with 20 plus listings going into contract this past week. And then it's great to see this new inventory coming on the market in all different price categories.

Andrew Doud 11:32

What do you think? What do you think that's why do you think that is? Do you think people are just like getting ready to like they know the selling season's coming up and things are going to be brightening up?

SPEAKER_02 11:40

They're like, let's get our house on the market, or it's just you know, I would say that in some respects, as much as the economy is is doing well, if you if you follow it, you know, it in general it's doing very well. Um but the one the one thing that I notice in in reviewing our economic situation at this time is the increase in credit card debt. If you if you read about finances, the in the the increase of credit card debt in the last couple years has been huge. And for some that may mean, hey, you know, maybe we sell our house. You know, it depends on the size of the house and the situation. If you if you own two homes out here or you own a home out here, but you know, you don't spend that much time, and unless you rent it and do go through the process of which, you know, you're gonna get a permit and so on and so forth, and that can be difficult for some houses depending on the condition. Um but I do think that um you know there's a certain certain parts of the market where there's they're struggling a little bit just with debt. And so maybe that clears debt. Maybe they can buy a smaller house out here and clear some debt by selling their other house. I don't, you know, usually when inventory increases quickly, there's there is a factor for it. It's not a seasonal thing and so on. I mean, it is the season now because obviously you can move in for the summer if you list your house now, sell it in the next few months, you know, time for someone to paint or do a little bit of move furniture and so on, and they can then enjoy it for the summer or even rent it if that's what they choose out here because it's such a good investment. But um I do think that that you can't uh avoid that. And looking at that data too, that there is a lot more debt, and they they talk about it often now daily on on the uh financial uh uh applications and and news and stuff. But I think in general it is our season. We're coming back to more seasonality from COVID, which our season was you know 12 months a year. Yeah, and so we're slowly getting back to where we were in you know mid-2000s, where it was like, you know, you knew you could go on vacation in January, February. As an agent, I usually did because it wasn't bustling, it was slow, and it helps because you know, listen, our weather today it's snow, rain, cold, you know, it's a good thing. You don't want to go. So I do think a lot of it's seasonality. Um I'm anxious and happy to have more inventory because it gives the clientele options more to look at. Yeah, I mean, you know, there's people that say, Oh, I've already seen that, I've seen that online a lot, you know, we're waiting for something else. So now to have things sort of blossom a little bit, um, people will be excited to come out and look at you know, a choice of eight to ten homes rather than a choice of three to five or something. So that's that's a really good positive for the market. That's good, great.

Andrew Doud 14:31

Um David, what's happening?

Dave Rattiner 14:35

Well, there's some events happening this weekend, and all of these events can be found on Hamptons.com, which is the leading lifestyle website in the Hamptons. For all things Hamptons, visit Hamptons.com. That was well done. Thank you. All right. So HarborFrost returns this weekend. Oh, yeah. Uh February 7th, February 8th. So you get some fireworks. There you go. You know, so you bring the kids out there in Sag Harbor. Get ready to kick off Harbor Frost in this in style with a weekend full of exciting events from sparkling ice sculptures to breathtaking fireworks. The fest the festivities begin Friday, February 7th, with the tastes of Sag Harbor at the Sag Harbor Cinema, featuring delicious bites from 15 local restaurants. And then on Saturday, the village comes alive with a wide variety of activities for all ages, from the story walk, trail hike, and ice carving demonstrations to live music, glitter tattoos, and sushi making classes.

Andrew Doud 15:34

That's something truly something for everybody.

Dave Rattiner 15:36

Something to do. Something to do. It is cool to see the fireworks in February because you're out there. You're out there, you know, you know, it's not like you're sitting down in a beach chair, you're standing with you know freezing cold hat on, and you're just all huddled around and you're looking up and the fireworks go off. I've done it pretty much every year, I don't know for how long, but the kids love it. It's a great thing to do. You go to eat. And I go to eat, yeah. Go to send, get some sushi. Um, and then we got Super Bowl this this weekend. Yes, we do. Go guards. About the Chiefs.

Andrew Doud 16:11

I will be watching. Let's go, Chiefs.

Dave Rattiner 16:14

I don't know about the Chiefs. I I like the interview with did you see the online where they interviewed the guy walks up to uh Kelsey and he's like uh he's like, Travis, uh, who has helped which ref has helped you the most this year? And he's just like, next question.

Andrew Doud 16:29

Oh man.

Steve Glick 16:29

I'm looking for greatness. You know, I'm looking for three in a row, Pat. He's probably gonna win. I like the idea of getting a three Pete Dynasty again. That's awesome. It's awesome to watch, it's awesome to watch see the history, um, and it'll be great. It'll be a great game either way.

Dave Rattiner 16:43

Okay.

Andrew Doud 16:44

The last time they met was a great game. Till it wasn't.

Dave Rattiner 16:47

So we're betting on the Chiefs.

Andrew Doud 16:49

Questionable calls.

Dave Rattiner 16:50

But you're a chance to pick up to pick them.

Steve Glick 16:54

It spreads out at like a one. So it's definitely a pick'em.

SPEAKER_02 16:56

Remember something when you are that good, you are going to bring more eyes on you, and the doubters are gonna try and look for places to find your fault. They're turning to the refs every time. How many other games have we seen where there's been with the chief calls? Oh, come on, and yet there were poor calls. It's just a fact of the game. Yeah. And as a ref, you're you're you're you know, you're a mortal person where you know you can make mistakes, and I get it. They try and really focus in on how that's that's just wrong. But I bet if you looked at a lot of games, you look at every game, you'd see a lot of games. You could rip apart in other games too and say, oh, we didn't notice that though, because hey, maybe it wasn't a major game, maybe it wasn't a major player or a major team or or something. But obviously, when you're trying to build up to being the best in the world, um, you're gonna get a lot of people trying to take you down.

Andrew Doud 17:47

I mean, if you're if you're the if look, if you're the Eagles, I I just you take the refs out of it. Don't even put yourself in a position where you're like tied at 35, yeah, and there's like two minutes left to go, and like, oh, there's that holding or passing or something. Don't let it come down to one play.

Steve Glick 18:04

Yeah, you never let it want you never want it to come down to one play. You never play hard over.

Andrew Doud 18:08

The refs are never gonna cost a game.

Dave Rattiner 18:10

I would be shocked if the Chiefs still win. That's all I that's all I have to say.

SPEAKER_02 18:15

I think it's still you got two you got two pretty decent good teams. I don't know if I'd be shocked. It's gonna be a great game.

Andrew Doud 18:20

I can't wait. It's gonna be a good game. So there you go. So that's Sunday.

Dave Rattiner 18:23

Yeah, so the question is is where do you go in the Hamptons for that? So on Sunday, the number one spot to go is Town Line Barbecue in Is that in Wainscot? I guess it's in Wainscott on Town Line Road. Yeah, so there you go. That's the number one spot. I almost said watermel for a second.

SPEAKER_02 18:40

Is that really the number one spot?

Dave Rattiner 18:41

Well, according to Dave Retiner. Ah, okay. What do you think's the number one?

SPEAKER_02 18:47

It's not the comments. I mean, you need like big TVs. They got TVs all around, though. Isn't that yeah, isn't the TV? I mean, I've been there, it has been a while, but I mean I think it's not the most comfortable spot only because you're sitting at like uh family style tables. What about the clubhouse? You know what you're doing.

Steve Glick 19:03

They got they have something going on?

SPEAKER_02 19:05

Clubhouse would be great because you got couches and chairs and huge, huge TV. Yeah. What about John Hilly? Clubhouse is good at the place.

Dave Rattiner 19:14

But but here's why. The public house is cool. The public house is $8 burgers, half price wings, and six dollar draft beers. There you go. That's my stuff. $5 all canned and bottled beers. I remember when eight dollars for a burger seems like crazy. Uber home. But so I wanted to bring this up at Town Line Barbecue because we've had this before. The bag of nuggets. The bag of nugs. You can get the bag of nuggets. What is the chicken nuggets? You basically smoked tips, yeah, steak tips. Oh, yeah. And they're a wing sauce.

Steve Glick 19:48

Tough, man. That's tough.

Dave Rattiner 19:49

You bite through it and then tough night. That's a tough morning after you.

SPEAKER_02 19:52

So, Dave, where Dave, where are we gonna find you for the Super Bowl? Because that way your audience here can come and relish and get some autographs.

Andrew Doud 20:02

Where would you be?

Dave Rattiner 20:04

I don't know. Where am I going? Town line or kids?

Andrew Doud 20:07

No, probably I don't feel like I should be around people.

Dave Rattiner 20:10

I don't know. 75 Main? Maybe I'll go to 75 Main? Where am I going? Really? 75 Main. I haven't I haven't come up with it yet. Yeah, because they got the TV right at the bar.

Andrew Doud 20:17

Okay. All right.

Steve Glick 20:19

Um, we're lacking good sports bars out here in Hamptons, I could tell you that. Investors? Maybe you. Nice big sports sports sports.

Andrew Doud 20:30

Just put a TV in your new shed. Yeah. The clubhouse seems like a good go-to spot.

Dave Rattiner 20:34

Yeah, but I live in Southampton. I'm not going to the public clubhouse.

Steve Glick 20:36

Public house would be cool. Uh if I were to go out around here, I think public house would be my go-to. That's a good one. Great. So the Super Bowl. What else you got? That's it. That's what's going on. Arbor Frost and Super Bowl. That's it, man. That's the weekend. What else are you doing on Sunday? It's Super Bowl Sunday. It's a holiday. Super Bowl Monday. Should be the everyone should be. Are we off on Monday? No, but I think it's coming.

Dave Rattiner 20:58

It should be a holiday.

Andrew Doud 21:00

Um this is a quick the quick story. So when I was uh what was it, seven years ago, the Eagles were in the Super Bowl with Nick Foles, that whole thing. I drove down to Philly seven years ago. I drove because my daughter was just born. I drove down to Philly and watched it with my buddies, and then woke up at three o'clock in the morning, drove back and into the office, and Steve's like, I really I thought you were calling out today. I can't believe you're here.

Dave Rattiner 21:24

I have a memory of when they won. That was amazing. You texted, I texted you, I was like, Are you psyched and you wrote back? I remember it so well. All caps you wrote. I am so happy.

Steve Glick 21:37

I was down on Broad Street. It was great. You were like, you just like Well, let's see. I mean, you could maybe maybe it's gonna happen this weekend. It'll be great. I'm happy either way.

Andrew Doud 21:46

It'll be a good game. All right, cool. Uh John, anything else before we let you get back to it? Get back to are you gonna come back to bed?

SPEAKER_02 21:52

I'm looking forward to uh to better weather and and uh once we get some spring in the air, uh I'm I I think it's gonna be Very busy. I think it's gonna start getting crowded. I will say it's nice. The traffic is minimal right now. It is. It is. It's nice.

Andrew Doud 22:06

It's nice, but it'll be good to get back in the swing of things for sure. Yeah, absolutely. Cool. Um, all right, we'll call that a podcast. Everybody have a great day, have a great weekend. Go, Eagles. We'll see you next week. I'm Andrew Dowd. That's what's happening in the hands. How about them cheese?