Andrew Doud 0:07

All right everyone, it's Thursday. I'm Andrew Doud. Time for a 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 NewYorkTitle.com. We have Steve Glick, Dave Rattiner, and today return guests, Patty Oakley and Brian Leicht. How are you guys? Good to have you back on.

Patty Oakley 0:27

We are great. Thanks. Good morning. Good morning, everybody.

Andrew Doud 0:30

So what we got a couple things to get to. I know you guys are busy, which is amazing to start the year. That's we we'd love to hear that. You got a couple things listed, a couple things going in the contract, a couple things coming on. So where should we start?

Patty Oakley 0:43

Let's start with the busy market because we, you know, we ended the year really strong. At least for us, we had a very strong end of 2025 and we didn't know what 2026 was going to bring to us, but almost immediately after the new year. You know, I don't know if people came back from traveling or are they thinking summer, but because it got so cold and dreary and cloudy and snowy and and we're thinking, okay, warm weather. Yeah, um, you know, let's think Hampton. So, you know, rentals started to pick up almost immediately. A lot of rental inquiries, you know, we're all updating our rentals that we have as far as listings go, and buyers have come back to the market. There really there's quite a a bit of people looking to just find summer getaways, a lot of investment buyers looking to find a house that they could potentially put on the rental market, which is interesting to see. Um we ourselves have a handful of buyers that have signed buyer broker agreements with us, so we know they're committed to us, and we're actively looking. And and that brings us to looking, because looking, there's not much to look at. The inventory is quite low in the Hamptons, and about 22% of the market is now in contract. So we are looking to list properties, and it's a great advantage for sellers to you know get their houses ready and and put them on over the next few months, maybe you know, wait till March, April when things start to bloom. And we're here to you know discuss you know our marketing plan with anybody who's interested to potentially you know list their house for sale coming into the spring.

Andrew Doud 2:22

I would say that's okay to to build on that. So who's who's who is this more advantageous for? A buyer or a seller? If you have a lower inventory, who's like if you're a buyer, you're saying, well, the lower inventory is the seller, right? Well, you would think it'd be the seller, right? But if something's been sitting on the market because it's just not what somebody's looking for, is there an opportunity to be a buyer, somebody that wants that investment? They say, Hey, listen, if I can get this for this price, maybe there's some m you know meat on the bone for a rental.

Brian Leicht 2:54

Yeah, you know, I think that the inventory is a big you know topic to discuss when you're working with buyers and also with sellers. So I think that's gonna be our new norm. We're still in the tailwinds of COVID and we never we we just can't seem to catch up with our inventory. It seems like you know, 27, 37, whatever properties go into contract one week and it's the same amount that come on the on the market. So everybody I think agents are, you know, when something does come on the market and it is priced right, it's gonna move pretty quickly.

Andrew Doud 3:27

Yeah, yeah. Um you speaking of, I mean, uh, you know, something that's available, you have this amazing new construction at 125 Laurel Valley Drive in Sag Harbor, which is um, I I think just an amazing opportunity for somebody looking for a great home in a great location. So tell us a little bit about this place.

Brian Leicht 3:47

Yeah, so this is a really fabulous contemporary style home. It's brand new. Um, it's being sold fully furnished. Um, it also has a tennis court. Uh it's it's in a great location in Sarg Harbor because you're minutes from Sarg Harbor Village, which is a real hot spot right now. So this is a a little off the grid, if you will, but close enough to get into Sarg Harbor quickly. Southampton is you know minutes away and Bridgehampton location is really great. It's a and a really, really well done house.

Dave Rattiner 4:22

Yeah, you can't get a house this nice in Sag Harbor, man. Well, that's that's the thing.

Andrew Doud 4:27

If you want village, you can't get these amenities. No way. No way.

Dave Rattiner 4:31

Yeah, but listen, $5,495,000.

Patty Oakley 4:33

It's a great price for a five-bedroom house. There's tons of space. And I think for the buyer who is looking to be private and have a tennis court, but still so close to our amazing villages.

Dave Rattiner 4:45

Yeah, and be in Sag Harbor, that's unbelievable.

Patty Oakley 4:47

It's this is a good one.

Brian Leicht 4:49

It's a little rare to have a tennis court.

Dave Rattiner 4:51

You're right in Sag Harbor. This is Sag Harbor.

Patty Oakley 4:54

You sit back off the road on a private drive and it's just beautifully done. A lot of light. I will be there Saturday for an open house from 11 to 12:30. If anybody wants to stop by and say hello and meet me and see the house, that would be great.

Steve Glick 5:06

It's great. This one checks all the boxes, like you said, house pool and your own tennis court. And new construction, too. So it's like, you know, looking at it, you know, that that appeals to a lot of people. So I would definitely put this on the list to check it out if you're house shopping.

Dave Rattiner 5:19

Well, I think it's a winter. You know, I think what happened with this one when we first visited it, the the road up to the house was all beat up. You know, that was trucks coming out. That was like a major turnoff, but yeah, they just paved the road, right? They just it's it's totally paved, brand new, beautiful. You ride up to this brand new house, it's like unbelievable.

Andrew Doud 5:38

Big private driveway basically.

Patty Oakley 5:40

You really are living among nature there. So if it's somebody who wants to be, you know, kind of hear the birds and be private, but again, close enough to you know things that are important to them for their daily lives, this kind of offers it all here.

Andrew Doud 5:52

So this is a little bit of one of those kind of best of all worlds. You have a modern design, so you have like a lot of light and windows, but it's got a warm feel because there's the wooden exterior on how it's built. You have multiple levels, the tennis courts below the pool. The pool sits up on the first floor.

Steve Glick 6:08

You can sit on the deck and watch people play tennis. And it's fully furnished too. So move in right now. That's the other thing I was gonna mention.

Brian Leicht 6:15

You're ready to go. It is being sold fully furnished. So, you know, the timing coming into the season right now, it's it the timing lines up for somebody to get in and start enjoying this Memorial Day or even sooner. And it would be a great rental, too. Yeah, put their personal touch on it, and this one is ready to go. Value packed here.

Andrew Doud 6:35

Awesome. And if you want to see, hey, what does it look like in season with the pool open? You can go on our website and check out the video we put together with the pool open. Yeah, and get an idea of what you'd be getting in the summer. Go check it out now, even though it's January now. Is it time to buy and get in and get ready?

Patty Oakley 6:51

Listen, if you love it during the winter, you're gonna really love it during the summer.

Andrew Doud 6:54

I like that. That's a good selling point. All right, let's just talk big picture. See, what do you got as far as the numbers since we're obviously a little low on the inventory?

Steve Glick 7:01

Yeah, so this is coming out the week of January 6th, so it's like basically the second week of January. 13 listings went into contract, so we're certainly up from last week. Uh 26 last year, so a decrease there of 50%. But two years ago, there were only seven listings, so we're increased there of 86%. The breakdown of the 13 transactions, there was one over 20 million already this year. Uh three between five and ten million, one between three and five million, three between two and three million, four between one and two million, and just one under a million. The dollar volume was sixty-six million dollars. Uh last year was a hundred million, so it's a decrease of thirty-four percent. Uh two years ago, the dollar volume was only twenty-three million, so increase of 187%, but there were sixteen new listings that came on the market. So we're keep seeing new listings coming on, which is good to see. That increases the inventory by three listings, and the breakdown of those 16 new listings, there is one between 15 and 20 million, two between 10 and 15 million, two between five and ten, three between three and five, three between two and three, three between one and two, and two properties under a million dollars came on the market. Inventory is at fifteen hundred and forty-eight total listings with only one thousand one hundred and ninety-three active. So that's you know, still below twelve hundred active listings out there on the market. And I guess that's what you guys are saying, right?

Patty Oakley 8:21

Yeah, we're seeing that. Yeah, we're seeing that. We're seeing it, it's been a little hard in certain price points, even just to find something. So I think you know, buyers need to be patient and and also just hire agents that are on top of the market. Yep.

Steve Glick 8:35

Yeah, you really gotta know the inventory's coming on and off so quickly. So you guys have a pulse and you're like tune into the market. So any time there's any new listings coming on or off, you guys know about it. But we are starting to see a lot of new listings come on, and now that we're in, you know, you know, the new year, people are preparing their homes, and we have a lot of the new listings poised to come on the market here at Saunders. So I'm excited to see those come on as we come into February in a couple weeks.

Andrew Doud 8:58

How about rentals? Do you guys have a lot of folks looking for the summer?

Brian Leicht 9:01

Or is that Yeah, we started out we actually did a couple repeat customers that rented, you know, the house they rented last summer. Um but we're we're also working with a number of people that are out now looking.

Patty Oakley 9:16

Yeah, we're getting inquiries this week almost every day, it seems like we're getting one or two inquiries. Really? And then we are putting on a couple of new exclusive rentals, so it's nice. Yeah.

Brian Leicht 9:26

Yeah, we're we're busy. We finished, like Patty said earlier, we finished the fourth quarter pretty strong. And you know, you always wonder, you get that lull in between the holidays where things kind of slow up and you know, focuses in other places. And some it's almost like somebody flipped the light switch, and all of a sudden, you know, all right, back to work. We're negotiating. Yeah, we're negotiating. Yeah, it feels like Christmas and the holidays was months ago now. And uh, you know, we're we're fortunate, we're negotiating on two substantial properties right now. We have rental customers that are out, we have buyers that are coming out, we have listings coming on, and we have listings coming on. So it we're very optimistic. I think it's gonna be a great you know, 2026. Nice.

Dave Rattiner 10:07

I'm always surprised that people start looking for rentals now. Oh now's the time.

Patty Oakley 10:11

Well, they want to get the better ones first, you know. That's how it kind of goes, you know. Yeah.

Andrew Doud 10:17

Uh Dave, what do you got going on this weekend?

Dave Rattiner 10:19

What?

Andrew Doud 10:20

It's January. There's like nothing not to do in the Hampton. Tell me.

Dave Rattiner 10:24

There's a couple of, I mean, you know, it's alright. I mean, there's this kid thing. Um there's do have you I I gotta I gotta say, I have to talk about this because my daughter is obsessed with this movie. Have you seen this movie? The K-pop movie? Oh yes, Demon Hunters. Oh yes.

Brian Leicht 10:42

Oh my gosh. Not only have I seen it, it's crazy. It's crazy. Obsessed! My grandkids are absolutely obsessed with this.

Dave Rattiner 10:50

My my car ride with my kids is constantly this music. So, anyway, uh, so look there's a little K-pop workshop on Saturday from 1 to 2 p.m. and it's a $35 drop-in at the studio on Maine in East Hampton. And if you're jamming a soda pop every day, this is the place to go. They you could learn new dance skills. Uh, they have a little workshop where you put together a routine, and it's for you gotta go to that.

Andrew Doud 11:21

I don't know. You joke, but like my my girls are in ballet, and they're one of their songs, their songs for the show in like two weeks is SodaPop. I don't know. So I am very familiar with all of this.

Dave Rattiner 11:34

So, you know, whatever. So, you know, I guess it's good, you know. They listen to music. Listen, I'm telling you, it's not kind of a good message of the movie, right? It's like, you know, girl power, they're fighting, you know, it's the superpowers. It's great.

Brian Leicht 11:46

So I think the other popular one now is Utopia 2. Yes. That was the other one.

Dave Rattiner 11:52

I saw that in theater with my kids. I'm not gonna lie. It was kind of intense at the end. Did you watch it? Yeah.

Patty Oakley 12:01

Tell them what happened.

Dave Rattiner 12:02

Oh man, he stabs them with the alert, stabs him with the with the needle.

Patty Oakley 12:07

Wow.

Dave Rattiner 12:10

This is like real.

Brian Leicht 12:12

Yeah, my my five-year-old grandson, we took the kids to the to see this, and my five-year-old grandson, he was we looked over and he's like covering his eyes. He's like, that's like real.

Dave Rattiner 12:22

So anyway. So yeah, that's true too, though. Um anyway.

Brian Leicht 12:26

And we were listening to the Zootopia movie in the car. Can we listen to the to the to the song?

Dave Rattiner 12:31

Well, that's all you want to do. You know, you you you know, it's good old-fashioned family fun. You can't be able to do that. Of course. There's nothing better, right? So um, second thing you can do is you can go to Shippies, it's Southampton's favorite restaurant that's been fully renovated. They are having a restaurant, they have been having restaurant deals all winter. Um, and they also have open the beer garden, so you gotta go there.

Brian Leicht 12:54

When is restaurant week?

Dave Rattiner 12:56

No, no, not restaurant. Oh, when is it though? Oh, I don't know. I think that's coming up. It's coming up soon, right? Yeah. Yeah, I guess it's coming up. Um and then at SYS, we have a basketball clinic. Uh, this is the Southampton Youth Services, the big gym in Southampton. Um, Steve, I picked this one out for you. Also, because it was really the only thing that was really going on. But Steve's a big basketball player. Um, but they're having a youth clinic. Uh, it's fifty dollars for grades seven through twelve, and you can go to all 13 sessions, and that is like what's going on right now, unless you want to talk about your favorite winter restaurants. That's what we were bringing up at the pod before the podcast.

Brian Leicht 13:40

Um, you know, I like Zen in Sag Harbor. We love to go to Sag Harbor. There are a bunch of great restaurants in SAG, but we actually went there last night again for dinner, and it's just great little space. It's pretty consistent.

Dave Rattiner 13:55

It's so cool in there.

Brian Leicht 13:56

It's dark and like you really feel like great atmosphere. We love going to Sag Harbor, and that's why you should buy that's why you should buy 125 Laurel Valley Drive.

Dave Rattiner 14:07

That's right. But it actually really is. You cannot beat Sag Harbor, especially for that kind of stuff. There's great restaurants there.

Patty Oakley 14:15

You know, one of our one of our favorites is if we go and and take advantage of this. Um Bay Street does have some great things going on, Bay Street Theater over the winter, and we've done some of their shows, and then Paige Nancy Alice is playing the thing this weekend. Is open late, or at least they will be able to accommodate you with like a late bar maybe, which is awesome if you get a great burger. Or but Paige has great food. Yeah.

Dave Rattiner 14:40

And but the list goes on, it's like Lulu around the city.

Patty Oakley 14:43

It's great that you can just walk from Bay Street Theater over to Page and get a great yeah.

Brian Leicht 14:48

One of the things you just be mindful of is some of the restaurants close, you know, a certain time this time of the year. Like we were so disappointed we were gonna we had a grandma pizza all in mind for La Parmajan, but they're closed. They're closed actually until March. I didn't know that they're closed. Yeah, so we were like, What are we gonna get? Let's get the grandma pie from Plum Pom.

Dave Rattiner 15:08

Where are you gonna go for pizza? I like American pie in Bridgehampton. That's one of my favorite spots. But we don't want to sit down there. Yeah, the pizza's good. Yeah. Anyway, that's what's going on.

Andrew Doud 15:18

Nice. All right. Um, anything else before we let you guys go?

Patty Oakley 15:23

We're good. We're excited for 2026. Yeah, we're looking forward to it. And we hope sellers and buyers are as well.

Andrew Doud 15:28

There you go. We'll end on that note. Everybody, thanks for listening. We'll be back next week. Until then, thank you guys for joining us. I am Andrew Dowd, and that is what's happening in the Handbox.