Andrew Doud 0:08

All right, it's Thursday everyone. 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. Today, joining us as always, Steve Glick, Dave Rattiner, and today Lori Lambert and Steven Zellman. How are you guys?

Lori Lambert 0:29

We're great. We're great.

Andrew Doud 0:30

We've had you on before, yes? Yes, return guests. This is like this is like old news for you guys. So so here we are. It's January. It's cold. Actually, it's not too bad today. We have like 10 inches of snow coming this weekend. But the market is hot. But let's talk about summer rentals because now's the time to do it. It's cold outside, but the market's hot. There you go.

Lori Lambert 0:51

There you go.

Andrew Doud 0:52

You should be a copywriter. I am. You should be the head of marketing. Rentals guy. But rentals are hot too, right?

Steve Glick 0:58

It's rental-wise.

Dave Rattiner 0:59

What makes or why are people looking at to do rentals now, or why are you advising?

Lori Lambert 1:03

The good stuff, you know, depend depending on what year it is. People say it's a good year, it's a bad year for rentals. And what we have found consistently, even when we were renters, um, is that the good stuff goes early. You know, the right time to come is to come out or or FaceTime with your agent is now because you wait too long. A lot of people think they're gonna wait a long time and they're gonna get a deal. And yes, you know, that does happen, but you're not necessarily gonna check all the boxes, you know, in your requirement list if you if you wait. And yeah, we used to like to get it out of the way, so we knew we had we had a rental secured for the summer and we could relax the rest of the winter. Exactly. And and and like I said, you know, if you have a certain area you want to be in, or you have certain things that you want aesthetically in a home, um, you have the best choices now.

Andrew Doud 1:52

The good homes go fast.

Lori Lambert 1:52

Yeah, the good ones go.

Andrew Doud 1:54

If you want to get a deal, I guess. So you can you can wait till the end, but you're gonna be limited on what you get.

Lori Lambert 1:59

Absolutely. People do that, you know, because the press is always trying to say, oh my god, it's a bad market, and the hamps are on sale. Every year they do that. Every year they do this. And then we get a lot of what we call we get a lot of bottom feeders out here thinking, well, you know, I want to cut the price in half. And not only does that, you know, limit your choices, but it actually kind of denigrates the relationship that you're creating in the beginning with your potential homeowner. If you're gonna go in and say, I want the house for half price, they're not even gonna really want you in their home because they know that's a red flag.

Andrew Doud 2:30

Yeah. Just remember, Dave, good news doesn't get clicks.

Dave Rattiner 2:33

That's true. You know? So Yeah, the whole point of the news is to tell you bad news.

Steve Glick 2:38

But look, it's it's planning ahead, and that's like with anything. Like even when like you're planning like a vacation, like I'm looking to plan a vacation for next year, similar to like when people rent out here in the Hamptons, it's it's a vacation for them. And when I'm online looking at the hotels, you want the best the best rooms are available now. If you want the ocean front room or the bigger suite, exactly. All of a sudden these last-minute deals come up, and you click on it when you see it online, and what's left is like the small room somewhere in the world. Yeah. So like if you want the best, plan early. So and the same goes with these rentals here in the Hamptons. They want to plan their they know they're coming here in the Hamptons for the summer season. So why not just do it now, get it out of the way, right? Lock in the rental with all the amenities that you're looking for. Right. And then I mean we've we've already done numerous rentals this year so far.

Lori Lambert 3:25

Yeah.

Steve Glick 3:25

So what do people look for in a good rental, you say? Like what are the most what like you guys do a lot of rentals? What are the calls are? What do what are the must-haves?

Lori Lambert 3:33

Almost everybody says we want something that's clean and modern and without a lot of, you know, chotchkas around.

Dave Rattiner 3:42

Modern, really. Modern.

Lori Lambert 3:44

Modern, clean. I mean, that's what people really want. They want pretty much a blank slate. Um, I would advise anyone who's looking to rent their home when we go over there to take pictures of your house to put all your stuff away because people really want to have, you know, we're really, I'm I'm really nuts about when I do photo shoots, especially for rentals. It's just keeping it.

Dave Rattiner 4:05

Who you about photo shoots? No, you're not. No photo. You're so easy to work with with. I'm she is easy to work with.

Lori Lambert 4:12

I'm specific because I know what works.

Dave Rattiner 4:14

You know, it's like I have your particulars about what it goes.

Steve Glick 4:19

But it works. Like it shows, like these photos don't just live in one spot. Like everyone's seen. That's how a lot of these houses are being rented.

Lori Lambert 4:27

You know, on the flip side of this, if you're looking to rent your house, you know, a couple things that we always recommend is be realistic with your pricing. Um, we as agents are responsible to do our best to find you the best tenants, the most responsible tenants. Um, we try to vet as much as we possibly can, you know. Um but it is renting your house is you know somewhat of a risk. You sort of never know. So I mean, I Steven and I, when when we have exclusive rentals here, we are your partner in finding you the best possible tenant. And that starts in the beginning. It starts from getting the photos done properly, pricing the home properly for rent, getting you to, you know, understand what's required. Um, and and Steve, you could talk more about this, but what's required in from each individual town as far as the laws out here and what you're doing, yeah.

Steve Glick 5:22

There is a lot, you know, there's a lot of requirements to make sure these rentals are compliant and up to code, you know, from the smoke detectors, carbon monoxide detectors, pool alarms, railings, you know, driveways, because it's all about it's tenant safety. Yeah, you know what I mean. Security and safety. And what happens is like sometimes the towns require make sure the CO is updated. They even come and do a quick inspection to make sure that it's compliant, and then you get a rental registry number, and that number, you need that number in order to rent your house legally. And that's what we we do.

Lori Lambert 5:55

We at Saunders will not take a rental without it having a rental registration in place. And you know, the the the the towns are much more strict about this since that horrible experience a couple of years ago.

Steve Glick 6:06

And I think it's great, and I think it's it's it's what it's what need is needed to be done because there's so many rentals out there that are not legal, and people are renting them on other you know websites and not through the brokerage firms.

Dave Rattiner 6:17

But there's fraud, but there's fraud out there. And there's also fraud.

Steve Glick 6:20

Let me ask you this, Lori. Yeah, go ahead.

Lori Lambert 6:22

Why a lease is much more you have much more protection with the lease. So they're going to be able to do that. Somewhere, yeah, right. I know protection there. Yeah, but a lot of homeowners have had to learn that the hard way. Exactly.

Andrew Doud 6:33

It sounds a little daunting and overwhelming, but that's why working with an agent is good. You know what I mean? And starting now. It's like I don't I want to rent my house for the summer. Okay. What do I need? Well, you need the rental paperwork, you need this, you need that. And it's like, oh wow, that sounds like a lot of work. Okay, but let's get it going now. Right. And you're not coming to me in May and saying, like, hey, you think we can rent in general?

Lori Lambert 6:52

And we get a lot of people doing that, which is it's so surprising to me that people think that they can do that.

Andrew Doud 6:57

But that's why we do the podcast.

Lori Lambert 6:58

Yeah.

Andrew Doud 6:58

So that they know now in January to call you now.

Steve Glick 7:02

Let me ask you some fun stuff though. Like, what all right, so you guys rent a lot of homes. What are some requests? Like, some what's the craziest request you received? Have you received anything outlandish from a special tenant? Like indoor tennis. Yeah. I need this, you know. I don't know. Was there anything wild or not? Numerous pets.

Lori Lambert 7:22

Oh, yes, good. That's right. People I have four dogs and three cats. Can I find a house? Woof.

Steve Glick 7:26

Well, that's a tough one.

Lori Lambert 7:28

I actually have I actually have a repeat client who I adore, um, who does have three dogs and a cat. And finding her a house every year. I I mean I adore this family. We do every year though. We find it where you find it. Somehow or another, because I've I personally vouch for them and you know, we get references on the pets, truly.

Andrew Doud 7:46

You know, if I was if somebody said, What's you know, I'm I want to rent a house, what would be your key? I would say, try to leave the pets somewhere else or don't have them. Because that's such a drawback. Yeah, right. And this is coming from somebody that has too many animals. Well, people are in love with their pets.

Dave Rattiner 8:01

People are in love with their pets.

Lori Lambert 8:02

Yeah, but you know what? I think so many people have dogs, and I think that homeowners, unfortunately, you just take an extra security deposit for the pet, you know? Yeah. That's what we do. We insist on an extra security deposit. Usually, you know, that works out okay.

Dave Rattiner 8:14

Talk about the real value of exclusive rentals just a little deeper, because you know, when you hear the word, oh, sign up with an exclusive rental with me, it can sound self-serving. But I feel like people really need to fully understand there is such tremendous value to the exclusive rental.

Lori Lambert 8:37

Which is the opposite. It's the absolute opposite.

Dave Rattiner 8:39

Yeah.

Lori Lambert 8:39

If you don't have an exclusive, your home is sitting out there in a pool of a zillion homes that are just not being promoted. When you sign an exclusive, at least with us, I mean, we are really we we concentrate on lasts. I mean, you know, Dave, I'm always like bugging you. I need to know. No, it's great. I mean, you're gonna get a video shot with Andrew that's gonna be beautiful. You're gonna get, you know, us really promoting your home in the most effective way.

Dave Rattiner 9:07

It's gonna look the same on all of the major websites. And it's gonna be you that answers the phone. Yeah. So they don't have to answer the phone. It's not gonna be some agent you don't know.

Lori Lambert 9:17

It's not gonna be we're the only one who is gonna be walking through your house with the tenants, as opposed to you know, just leaving it out there for anybody. You know, I think people don't realize the value of that because anything can happen. That's what they do.

Dave Rattiner 9:28

More and more people are doing exclusives, but whenever whenever I hear this little pushback, I'm like, when you explain it just from an online marketing perspective, you know, if you have the if you have the open rental, that means multiple agents from multiple agencies have the rental. So what does that mean? Well, they're taking their own pictures, it could look a little different. Uh, you know, it could look like a totally different house depending on how the photographic.

Steve Glick 9:49

Well, at least in the main point, the main point is the security, the security, right? You're the only you know who's coming in and out of that house for every single showing.

Dave Rattiner 9:56

Yeah, that's true.

Steve Glick 9:57

You're the agent that has the key in your office, in your in your pocket, right? It's you have the trusted advisor. Yeah, you're you're the only advocate for that person. Now, if it was not exclusive and if it was open, that means a lot of other brokerage firms have access to who's coming in and out, right?

Lori Lambert 10:14

And you have to answer the phone and set up all those appointments, which is a total piece of love. But we are your partner. We are your partner in getting your home rented from the start to the finish. We will meet the people at the house when they come. We will s we'll check them out when they leave. We will deal with any problems that happen throughout the God forbid, but if there are any issues, you know, we are we're we're in it with you.

Dave Rattiner 10:34

So or even the small little annoying things, you know.

Lori Lambert 10:38

Well, the small small little annoying things for some time. I hope you have a house manager that's gonna screw in a light bulb, although we have done that. I have been over houses helping people screw in a light bulb, literally. Remember last year. Yes, I do. Right. And we we basically rent almost 100% of our exclusives. Yeah, good for you.

Dave Rattiner 10:54

Right. Good for you.

Andrew Doud 10:56

Do you let's talk about two you have two really nice rental exclusives.

Lori Lambert 11:01

Yes, we have well, we have several areas. We have several, but I want to focus on these two just today.

Andrew Doud 11:06

Go for it.

Lori Lambert 11:07

So 2983 Montauk Highway is an incredible, incredible house. Um it's a barn style home, which was originally built in the 1700s. And when you walk in there, it's got character like nothing else I've ever seen. There's a great room with a big soaring ceilings, fireplace, the kitchen has a 1930s magic chef oven that's been completely restored. It's beautiful. Um everybody should look at the pictures online of the phone. This is awesome. Look at this thing. It's on four acres, it's got a pond, it has a guest house. Well, it's a guest house with a loft, uh, which is really nice.

Dave Rattiner 11:45

And they have this fireplace insert. I want this thing in my house so bad. It's the whole thing. Oh, it's so nice. It's just gorgeous.

Lori Lambert 11:53

It's three bedrooms inside and then guest house. And it's just the character is unlike anything that I've seen out here. If you're looking for something that's not cookie cutter, that really sort of crosses every boundary from contemporary design. I mean, it's been in tons of architectural magazines, and I mean we're really excited to represent this home. And the homeowners are great, and and we we it it rents every year. Um so it's available now.

Andrew Doud 12:22

Uh that stove will outlive the house, too.

Lori Lambert 12:24

It's just gorgeous.

Andrew Doud 12:25

I have I have an old like a 1948 stove in my kitchen.

Lori Lambert 12:29

Do you?

Andrew Doud 12:29

It's amazing, it works great. Super simple.

Dave Rattiner 12:31

Yeah. Even the driveway on this is cool, a long driveway.

Lori Lambert 12:35

The whole thing is just I mean, people here on Montauk Highway, they think there's a lot of noise, but it isn't. It's all the way set back, and um, the property is large enough that you'd never hear any of that. So it's in a super great location, just south of the highway in Sagaponic. Um, and we'd love we'd love to show it to you. Um the other one is Four Whalers Lane, which is a home that we have rented year after year after year. It's in the dunes in Amaganset. Um, it is a nice, clean, wonderful, mod, not modern. It's not it's pretty traditional, but it's super clean. The furnishings are all brand new. Um, and it's just a really great house, big deck in the back, and it's unusual to have a pool in the dunes. This one has a big pool in the dunes. Oh, yeah.

Steve Glick 13:17

I just realized that.

Lori Lambert 13:18

You walk down the streets of the private beach entry.

Steve Glick 13:21

You can't go wrong right there in the dunes. That's great.

Lori Lambert 13:23

Another really good one. Yeah, we love that house too.

Andrew Doud 13:25

We have a ton of rentals to choose from.

Lori Lambert 13:27

Like a ton.

Andrew Doud 13:28

Yeah, this is amazing. So we have a lot, which is good. So even if those aren't the ones for you, no, come to us, we'll get you.

Lori Lambert 13:36

We'll get you exactly what you want. And if you haven't rented your house or have had trouble renting it, give us a call. Yeah.

Andrew Doud 13:41

Yeah. That's good advice.

Lori Lambert 13:43

Um one other thing I just want to mention if you're thinking about renting versus buying, oh, yeah. I think this is an important decision for a lot of people. If you're really not ready and you don't really understand the Hamptons, people talk about the Hamptons. What's the difference between Bridge Hampton, Abakansett? You know, what why where would I go? What do I need? Rent out here for a year, and then we can take you out and look at all the properties that are for sale while you're out here and and hopefully, you know, you'll get a lot of money. Yeah, while you're renting feeling. That's good advice. You'll get a better feel for where you want to be. We want you to be happy when you do buy something. And and the best we rented out here, Steven and I for many years, and you know, we settled on East Hampton because that's where we felt the most comfortable. Um, but it was after renting for a couple of years that we really knew that. It's every town has its own personality, and you know, I think that's a good fight or spot.

Andrew Doud 14:32

That's right. You'll you'll you'll feel the comfort. You'll feel where you fit in in that in each hamlet, and each one's different. So all right, big picture. Let's talk numbers. Steve, what do you got?

Steve Glick 14:43

All right, here we are. Past week, 14 listings went into contract from West Hampton to Montauk. Last year, 17, so a small decrease of 18%. Two years ago, there were 15 listings that went into contract. So another small decrease there of 7%. Breakdown of the 14 transactions, one over 20 million, one between five and ten million, four between three and five million, two between two and three million, three between one and two million, and three under a million. The dollar volume was $121 million. So last year it was $42 million, so that's an increase in dollar volume of $188%. Two years ago, the dollar volume was $48 million, so an increase of $152%. But the big takeaway this week of the is the new listings that came onto the market. 36 new listings came on. So $14 went into contract with $36 coming on. That increases inventory by 22 listings. And the breakdown of the 36 new listings, there were two over $20 million, 8 between 5 and 10, 7 between 3 and 5, 5 between 2 and 3, 8 between 1 and 2, and 6 new listings under a million dollars. Inventory is at 1,565 total listings, 1,221 active. So we just went over 1,200 now, um, 344 in contract. So the inventory is still low, but we're seeing a lot of those things coming on yet. Yeah, with the weather, you know, changing. Well, not this week, snowstorm in Speaker. Today is warm. The sun's out today, but snow is coming.

Dave Rattiner 16:10

Yeah, today's a magical yeah, exactly.

Steve Glick 16:13

But people are getting the getting the message. I mean, look, it's been really active here in the market. I know the numbers don't really reflect that, but there's been a lot of negotiations. Um, and I'm I'm expected to see a lot of listings going into contract over the upcoming weeks. So I feel that for the number 14, you'll start seeing in the 20s sooner or later. Nice.

Andrew Doud 16:33

Nice. Uh Dave, I would ask what there is to do this weekend, but it feels like go to the grocery store, get the bread, milk, and eggs, and then like build a fish.

Steve Glick 16:39

Gotta get the bread.

Andrew Doud 16:40

The bread and milk and the eggs. I never understood that. It's like you could live on bread, milk, and eggs.

Lori Lambert 16:45

Like French toast with those three ingredients. Yeah, that's fine.

Steve Glick 16:48

You do a lot with bread, milk, and eggs.

Lori Lambert 16:50

All right.

Steve Glick 16:50

So potatoes, too.

Andrew Doud 16:52

But you need eggs. But you need eggs. Yes.

Steve Glick 16:54

Yeah. So what do we got besides chocolate?

Dave Rattiner 17:01

Well, there's Long Island Restaurant Week this week.

Andrew Doud 17:04

Snow's not coming until Sunday, right? So you can still go out.

Dave Rattiner 17:08

Yeah, yeah.

Andrew Doud 17:09

Saturday night.

Dave Rattiner 17:10

So there you go. What's interesting is Long Island Restaurant Week is offering three-course meals for $39 or $46, depending on the restaurant. $46 is the three-course menu that most Hamptons restaurants are doing that are participating in it.

Lori Lambert 17:30

Yeah, that's not bad.

Dave Rattiner 17:38

There's one little outlier I'm noticing in Watermill. I'm very proud of them, so I want to give them a big shout out. We haven't been there in a while. We had dinner there once, a long time ago. No, Calliss' and Watermill. You can go to Callissa's for $39 and get three courses, which is amazing. You can go also go to Almond. Uh you can go to the Bridgehampton Inn. Oh, really? Those are $46.

Lori Lambert 18:01

But in those places, this again, a steak is probably $70,600.

Dave Rattiner 18:05

Yeah. So three courses.

Steve Glick 18:07

So Dave, what do you get? Appetite dishes.

Dave Rattiner 18:10

But it's all part of this thing. So it might not be what you want. Well, you could choose from like a couple things. Yeah, yeah. It's this very specific menu. So there's this website, Long Island Restaurant Week.com, and there's this fabulous little interactive map that shows you all, you know, it's all of Long Island, it's not just the Hamptons. So you could, you know, boogie out, you know, further, you know, further west if you want. Like you go all the way out to Hampton Base where Andrew Dowd lives. Welcome. Stop by.

Andrew Doud 18:42

Drop in.

Dave Rattiner 18:43

So anyway, so then all the way out. Another idea is you have Wolfra Estates game night. This is January 26th. Kind of sounds kind of fun. It says Mondays are for locals. Join us every Monday for local night plus game night at the tasting room. A relaxed way to start the week with great one, good company, and a little friendly competition. This sounds like a great time. I like whenever they say the word local, it lets you know like, you know, it's gonna be like not as expensive as it should be, which is good. So that's from that's not for you though. That's bring your favorite board game or cards, they'll have some on standby. I can't even remember the last time I played a board game.

Lori Lambert 19:26

Me either. Although trivia. Actually, you know what I did? What?

Dave Rattiner 19:30

No. I played this game called a it was a card game called Kamut or something like that. Never heard of it. It was like oh no, Cabo, I think it was called. No one's ever heard of it. It was a fun game. You should Google it. It's a fun game. Anyway, and then my third idea is the ice skating at Buckskill Winter Club. Have you ever done that?

Lori Lambert 19:51

Stephen has.

Dave Rattiner 19:52

It's a lot of fun. You know, it's a good has. He fell on his good date day. Good date day spot. So the Buckskill Tennis Club turns into the Buckskill Winter Club in East Hampton, and you can embrace the cold and grab some ice skates. And I think the real secret to this place is they have this hot chocolate machine.

Lori Lambert 20:12

Yes.

Dave Rattiner 20:13

And it's incredible. I know you like like things like that, like pizza and stuff like that. So I feel like you and I are on the same page. When we spot something like that, we know. Old school. We know we gotta go there. So anyway, that's I think that's pretty good.

Steve Glick 20:29

And then there's football on Sunday.

Dave Rattiner 20:30

We're all snowing in.

Steve Glick 20:31

We're gonna watch football. It doesn't matter anymore.

Dave Rattiner 20:34

Football all day.

Andrew Doud 20:34

Yeah. It doesn't matter anymore. Two games on Sunday. Everybody wanted to see the Bills win the Super Bowl.

Lori Lambert 20:40

This is terrible call.

Dave Rattiner 20:43

Yeah, bad call. That was a catch. The Jets stood for just end the season, right? This year. It was brutal. As always. SOJ. Come on. There's always a little hope with the Jets. There's a little bit. Every now and then. This year there's just no hope whatsoever. Anyway, that's what's going on in the Hamptons.

Andrew Doud 21:02

Nice. Anything else before we let you guys go?

Lori Lambert 21:05

No. Good luck to everybody that's doing dry January like me. Ten more days to go. That's it.

Andrew Doud 21:12

And then you start the going to hell again. Then we get into February. The longest, shortest month of the year. Alright, guys. Well, thanks for joining us. We'll call that a podcast today. Everyone, have a great weekend. Stay safe with the snow and enjoy the weekend, the weather. I'm Andrew Dow. That's what's happening in Namptons.