Andrew Doud 0:08

It's Thursday everyone. I'm Andrew Doud. 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 NewYork Title.com. We have Steve Glick, Dave Rattiner, and today, Mr. Rod Cummings. How are you?

Rod Cummings 0:26

Good morning. I'm great. Thanks for having me.

Andrew Doud 0:28

Thanks for joining us on this unseasonably unusually cold. It just feels like bizarrely cold. Bizarrely cold. Uh February. But as cold as it is out, you are you got a lot going on. I don't want to use the cliche. It's cold outside, but business is heating up. But it kind of is, right? So let's talk about rentals, and then you have a couple exclusives we want to get to. You were saying that the rental market right now is is quite busy for you.

Rod Cummings 0:57

Yes, it is. Surprisingly, despite the 12 inches of snow and sub-zero temperatures, we have buyers really at the ready to secure their July and August or seasonal rentals. I can't believe the number of calls and inquiries I have from direct clients and other brokers that want to show properties. I've been doing a ton of showings. In fact, I have a bidding war over on two different properties of mine where I've had to do some showings and explain there actually is a swimming pool, there actually is a deck, there actually is a hot tub of grass. Once the foot stuff melts, it's really nice. And as as I described, I am like Marge Gunderson in Fargo with my you know my boots and hat and scarf and gloves and kind of shovel and showing them their the here's the where the pool is.

Andrew Doud 1:45

And then like Canadian Midwest accent exactly.

Rod Cummings 1:48

Um try to fake it right now because I'll make a fool of myself, however. But that's basically the way it's going. And so there are a lot of people that want to be here in the summer this summer based on I think a lot of different factors. Um they want to buy, they want to test it out, see what it's like. They see the inventory which is scarce in our rental market and in our for sale market. So they want to be on the ground to buy and they want to get out of the city. Um, most of the clients are from the city, the rental clients, um, or from the general northeast. And you know, they don't want to miss out as maybe they have in years past. Um, and if a rental property is priced correctly, it's going to go and have multiple interests, as I see.

Steve Glick 2:39

Yeah, they're smart to like jump on it early and secure your summer plans. You know, it's like you know you're gonna be here in the Hamptons this summer, so just get it out of the way, find the best one. And the best ones are in earlier in the season, like in January, you can get a great rental.

Rod Cummings 2:52

True, as is the case. And I think a phenomenon that lends itself to our activity right now, given that it's so freezing, is that people are inside their homes in bed drinking coffee or wine and perusing the listings because they can't go outside and they're like, This is we can't take this. Let's fantasize about summer. Wow and they're seeing these beautiful images of what the Hamptons lifestyle is in the summer, and they don't want to miss out, and they think they're going to perhaps get a deal or at least secure what they want. Because again, if you take a look at the inventory and I get calls regarding rental inventory and regarding sales inventory every day, where are the properties coming on the market? And I've been talking to people for years, and I said, just like I said last year, the year before that, and the year before that, when there's a property that comes on the market that you like that's within your budget, you need to come out and see it. Gone are the days like in two 2018 or 2019, right? Where we would line up a week in advance and I'd show them eight or nine properties to come and shop around. It's when one thing comes on the market, you're gonna be like, let's go. Well, particularly segueing into I've just launching a new listing this week at 13 Beach Lane in Quag Village South, which is a gorgeous turnkey estate in prime Quag Village South, very coveted corner. There is zero inventory available, it's six point five million dollars, six thousand square foot house, immaculate, impeccable, totally chic, um, designer decorated, and it is the one and only property in that immediate area. We just had our first brokers yesterday. We had about 30 people visit. Wow. And we are lining up showings for the rest of the week and having open houses on the weekend, and despite it being Super Bowl Sunday, I already have appointments lined up. Um, so strategically not gonna be a good Super Bowl, I don't think. No, Eagles aren't in.

Andrew Doud 4:49

Of course it's not gonna be a good Super Bowl.

Steve Glick 4:51

Tell us about this area, Rod, because this is a really unique area in Quag. Am I gonna pronounce it wrong or right? It's Quag, right?

Rod Cummings 4:59

Quag, not to be confused with Quag, its neighbor. But yes, we're in Quag Village right here at Teen Beach Lane. God, it's so beautiful. It's a beautiful and it is a legacy neighborhood that has been for years a little bit insulated, you know, centered around the Quag Field Club and multi-generational Quag families living there. And in recent years, it's been, I think, more opened up to people seeing the beauty and people, a lot of buyers who were maybe looking alternative or priced out of Southampton Village. When you drive around, it looks very similar. And it's immediate to the beach, it's ocean beach, and it's you know, immediate to the sweet little village with Schmidt's Market from Southampton last year, a year before that, moved to Quag Village, and it's kind of the mainstay gathering place of the community. It's a real old-fashioned old school Hamptons vibe there with beautiful turn of the century houses, 1920s houses, and of course some new construction. Um, but it is beautiful, bucolic, beautiful tree-lined streets. You know, during the summer there are kids riding around in tennis whites on bikes, and it is the kind of old school Kennedy-esque vibe, if you will. I love it. And we have, you know, to its neighbor to the west, West Hampton Beach, we have buyers who are very discerning and very particular in their location, and it's really between those two. Find me something in West Hampton Beach Village or Quag Village.

Steve Glick 6:33

I love it. I love driving around the street. Sometimes I just take, you know, post lane and go over the bridge there just to go the long way back to West Hampton, just because I enjoy driving through that area. It's really, really special, and you drive so slow and you see the big, beautiful houses, the wide streets, tree-lined, you know, it's the ultimate combination.

Dave Rattiner 6:52

You have the beautiful area, but then this the this construction, this build is so incredible.

Rod Cummings 6:57

This happens to be a very distinct build. It was built in the 70s, which you can't tell. Really?

Andrew Doud 7:01

Um but never guess at.

Rod Cummings 7:02

Correct. It's been through the decades, it's been renovated a few times, most recently in 2021. The original build was by a Scandinavian architect whose name escapes me right now, but it was built kind of a lodge-like with these soaring ceilings on different levels. The fireplace. Yeah, created so there are multiple gathering spaces and also multiple large private spaces to retreat to. And it's a real convertible house because it's set up as a six-bedroom, it lives as a four or five-bedroom with extra den spaces and it integrates the inside and outside beautifully. Um, and it's got, as I said, soaring ceilings, exposed beams, it's all beautiful whites and creams, um, and designer decorated. In fact, it's so turnkey, it is available as is with full contents if somebody wanted to have an experience where they could buy it, close on it, and move right in and enjoy living there pretty much immediately with everything that you see.

Steve Glick 7:59

It's a great home, and good luck. I I know you're gonna be very busy this weekend, so if you are out here and you know, even before the Super Bowl, you can come see it. Um Rod, you were talking about the snow and showing the rentals and getting the listings up. What so what happens if you you are trying to list your home right now and there's tons of snow out there, right? What tools are you seeing that the marketing department's been using to help take a snowy house and put it online and still make it look fabulous?

Rod Cummings 8:30

The best tool would be a snowblower and a shovel, which I have in the back of my car, of course. Um, as I said, I will I have all of those tools in the back of my car. But in terms of marketing tools, it's amazing what we can do with AI and how that is an asset to individual agents, brokers, and our obviously marketing team here that can take a you know house that were where the sellers were not necessarily considering selling in the height of the season, which we always encourage people to do. If you're thinking of listing, let's take pictures in September when it's gorgeous, but more than not, that doesn't happen. And so people were not expecting what we have on the ground right now, which looks a lot like Fargo, North Dakota, um, but we are in the beautiful Hampton. So with the magic of AI and the expertise of our marketing team, we're able to take a winterized house and make it look like it is July and August.

Steve Glick 9:27

I know it's pretty amazing. That's why it's like the snow doesn't look like it's really going anywhere. And if your plans are like, hey, I want to rent my house, I want to put it up because the market, you know, is so active with the rentals or the sale market's low inventory, I want to put it on now and capitalize on it. Don't wait, sit around and just wait for the snow to melt. You know, we could definitely take the photos in the snow, run it using some of the AI tools, use our marketing department and make it look like summer.

Rod Cummings 9:52

We have very active buyers. Um, as I said, the buyers are calling me asking when the inventory is going to be hitting. And I said, Well, one just came on this week and there may be another one next week, but you're not gonna see dozens of properties come in the market week to week. People are here to stay, they enjoy being here, people are not wanting to leave or sell. Um, they're clearly holding on to their properties if they're gonna go to Italy, whatever, for the summer, they're gonna rent and get a premium from their property because we have a scarcity in the rental market as well. Yeah, this is a great holding. We see how wacky and turbulent the financial markets are in the world. People are not quite sure. Are you buying a house? Are you buying gold, or what are we doing? Um, and I would equate Hampton's property to the gold market.

Steve Glick 10:35

Absolutely.

Rod Cummings 10:36

Um because we are prices. Yeah, it's an asset, it is a living, breathing asset, as I tell my clients, something that you can enjoy and not just watch on the computer screen, but you could you could live in it, and the return is pretty much immediate. Um and you know, speaking to what you said about listing right now and being able to show the property as a summer property or in its summer splendor on 13 Beach Lane, my client happens to be a landscape designer, so very particular about how we're gonna show the property. So, in terms of how sophisticated AI is, I'm able to talk about the specific varieties of her planting and say boxwoods go here, they are round and not square, there are white, everlasting hydrangeas along the back, um, Kentucky bluegrass in the front with crepe myrtles that are white, and this one is pink, and voila. The client was so discerning but so impressed when she saw my pictures, she just couldn't believe I was able to recreate what actually is going to be blooming in Germany.

Steve Glick 11:39

Yeah, and like normally that would take us, you know, days or maybe a week to choose. We could accomplish that. It takes a longer time. Now, with these enhancements of these tools online, we're able to do it, you know, a matter of like minutes, hours, you know, to perfect it and make it right and right to the specifications of a landscape designer into the using the tools. It's pretty impressive and pretty wild to see like how these tools are helping our business, and it's just only getting better from there.

Rod Cummings 12:04

Right. It's also a credit to our firm because we're able to adapt and react very quickly. I still see listings being launched, both on the rental and the sale market with snow covered properties or beds unmade, or um, I don't want to see anybody's Avena lotion sitting on the on the bathroom counter, among other things.

Steve Glick 12:22

Well, you have a great attention to detail. Yeah, your attention to detail, you pick up on everything. So all your listings, I know you really are very particular, you know, looking at the photos, the copy, the specs, you know, well before you launch the listings, and you get it perfect on the onset. And it shows because, like you said, you launch this property and immediately, yes, it's a rare coveted area, but it's a lot to do with with the presentation you put forward to get 30 people through broker open house day one, you know.

Rod Cummings 12:50

It is a lot of work, but the mission is always to get it, list it, and sell it. Yep. And so you've got to be as perfect as possible. And uh, you know, I'm not only just the listing agent, I'm the ambassador for the property, I've got to stand behind it and know everything. And you're the coach. You're the project. And it's your brand. It's your brand too.

Steve Glick 13:07

You know, it's your brand. It is. Yeah, and it's and it shows. And it's great. So I have a quick quick question, you know. Um, there's the low inventory, you know, on, but there's also homes that are overpriced that are currently out there. So what's your advice to like, you know, if you're a buyer looking to, you know, purchase something and you see a property and it may be a little outside your budget, is there any flexibility on these homes? What do you what's your advice to the buyer? So they just put in an offer or or what?

Rod Cummings 13:36

Of course, if it's something that a buyer sees that they like that may be slightly outside of their price range, they have to come and see it. If it is in the five million and their budget is in the three million, let's wait and let's take a look at see what comes on. But if you're wanting to pay, let's just say, less than two million and you see a property that's you know one nine, or you see a property that's two one or two two, um, my question is why wouldn't you come and take a look at it? You like everything that you see. Yeah, you're gonna like it even more when you see it in person. And what's standing in the way of you making an offer? Yeah.

Steve Glick 14:09

Um there's still some flexibility on the pricing, even though the price is listed at X, you never know you never know. Well, look at that evaluation.

Rod Cummings 14:17

I have a really big property in East Quag over the Quag Wildlife Refuge. Uh the sellers are determined to hold firm on their price. It's at just over $1.9. Um they are motivated sellers. Okay. And it's probably going to trade less than that. They know it, I know it. And it's going to take the savvy smart buyer who likes it to make an offer and get it accepted. As I said earlier, um, when we were talking off the record, I have a couple properties that have gone into contract sold, and there are the buyers who call up the proposed buyers, customer shoppers, who passed on the property because there was work to be done, and they thought it was a little overpriced. They're like, How did it trade for this price? I'm like, they made an offer which was accepted. Why didn't you? It's hard for them to speak to that.

Steve Glick 15:07

It's free to make an offer, right, Dave?

Dave Rattiner 15:09

It is. Nothing I think the interesting thing is that some people are hesitant to do it, and that must be so frustrating. You were saying that earlier. So it's like, you know, what what is it in what is going on in their mind where they say, oh no, you know, it's I'm not gonna make the offer at 1.9, it's listed for 2-2.

Rod Cummings 15:26

What is the difference between not make making a what is the difference between making a price under ask or waiting for it to come down? There's some justification that they feel like, oh, I'm gonna wait for it to come down. And my answer is always no, you're gonna wait for me to call you and let you know it's in contract. Right.

Dave Rattiner 15:41

Somebody else made the offer that you should make. You know, it's funny.

Rod Cummings 15:44

And to your point earlier, it's like, oh, do they will they find it insulting to the seller? The seller doesn't know who you are. I do all that heavy lifting. It's just like if it's a no, it's a no. But I may come back to you and say, okay, here's their counter or here's where you can make a deal.

Dave Rattiner 15:57

It's like rejection, like you know, fear of rejection. I don't know. It's it's it's it's a psychological game all around. It's definitely a mental game.

Rod Cummings 16:05

I would like to lie a few of my buyer clients down on the couch and use my old repertoire and kind of analyze what is going on with them and what's blocking them from going forward. But it's it's it's they need to take advisement from their seasoned realtors who know exactly what's you know what's going on. Well, well said.

Dave Rattiner 16:23

You have so much experience, you've seen it so many times, you know, it's so helpful.

Rod Cummings 16:27

Well, yeah, you know, and I tell my client I just lost a deal whereby my clients have an accepted offer on a property that we've been shopping for two years. They're very conservative buyers. Um, this was a property listed above two million. We had an accepted offer under two million. I told them this is an incredible deal. They want to do a bunch of work to it and invest just under a million. They're still gonna have value there. And they got the contract, and they're pausing on the contract and they're holding on to the contract, and they're like, let's let's regroup after the weekend. I go, that's not a good idea. And I refuse to, you know, sound like a used car salesman, but I give them all of my best advice and you know, I like to strong arm them. But I said, Here is what I'm thinking is going to be happening this weekend. Oh, the weather's cold. I go, I have a full lineup of appointments, and I know all of my colleagues too. Sure enough, they lost the property, they're really upset. And I, you know, I told you what to do, and you had an incredible deal on this property, and a cash offer came in, um, a couple hundred thousand dollars more than they were prepared to pay, and they had the deal of a lifetime that they lost, and it's gonna be hard to replicate that. So listened to if you have a broker, you want an intelligent, savvy broker. If you have that, just as you have, you know, you listen to your medical professionals on what's going on with your body in terms of the land, listen to your broker. And if you don't feel like you could listen to your broker, then you're not with the right broker.

Andrew Doud 17:54

Oh, that's fair. Dang, that's good. Yeah, I love it. Let's do it. Let me use that as a transition point, Steve. Let's go big picture with the numbers. What do you got?

Steve Glick 18:02

Yeah, it's hard to follow that up. But hey, uh, this week, rounding out the last week of January, uh, 25 listings went into contract compared to last year, 23 increase of 9%. 25 is great to see in this winter interperiod that we're at we're at. Uh two years ago it was 28 listings, a decrease of 11%. The breakdown of the 25 transactions, there was one over $25 million, two between five and 10 million, seven between three and five, eight between two and three, six between one and two and one hundred million, dollar volume $113 million in one week. Last year it was $74 million, increase of $53%. Two years ago, the dollar volume was $94 million, so an increase of 20%. There were only 16 new listings that came onto the market, so that's a deficit of nine listings to the overall inventory. The breakdown of the 16 new listings, one between 10 and 15 million, four between five and ten million, three between three and five million, six between two and three million, and two between one and two million, and zero under a million dollars. Inventory, fifteen hundred and forty-eight total listings, twelve hundred and eight active, and three hundred and forty in contract. So this is great to see twenty-five listings going into contract, um, you know, only sixteen new coming on the market. So I guess the snow is is deterring people to put their house on the market, but you shouldn't because we were saying that last week.

Andrew Doud 19:24

Don't yeah, because we have because we have AI, don't worry about it.

Steve Glick 19:27

We got it. But you know, um, it's been pretty active January. Um, so it has been pretty active January. Yeah, we've seen some big numbers going into contract, big things selling. So that it's gonna be a great outlook 2026, starting off with a bang.

Andrew Doud 19:43

Let's now. Um Dave, what are you doing inside this weekend? Well, no, this is gonna be like 10 degrees. All right. Because we got the harbor frost. It's a great weekend to be freezing.

Steve Glick 19:55

Yeah, it's a great Sunday Super Bowl, man. Where are we where are we watching the Super Bowl?

Dave Rattiner 19:58

That's right, that's right. But well, so Saturday's the Harbor Frost that starts at one, goes on until six. The big highlight is the fireworks. They have the the what is it? I almost said Gucci, but it's Grucci, right? Yeah, Grucci Fireworks at 5 30. Um and that's just such a fun time. It's great for all ages. Uh it's a family event, but there's lots of all the restaurants are open, uh, and you can cruise around, you look at all the ice sculptures, and the whole village of Sag Harbor just comes completely alive. They have you know fire people that do the the fire spinning, it's a lot of fun. I pretty much go every year. Um, so you don't want to miss that. Um if you want to do a little bit of dancing.

Steve Glick 20:42

Yeah.

Dave Rattiner 20:43

Steve, I do in the mood for some dancing? Yep. So there's a disco happy hour at Callissa's on Fridays and Watermill. So that sounds fun, right? Um and it's pretty good, looks like a good deal. Ten dollar cocktails and ten dollar appetizers from 5 30 to 7. And there's a DJ spinning disco inspired beats. Cool. So you keep make it, keep it like an early night, you know. Um, and then also in in Sag Harbor, you have Radio Alanis playing at Bay Street Theater on February 7th from 8 p.m. to 10 p.m. If you're interested in checking out some live music of Alanis Morissette. Remember Alanis Morisset in the 90s? She's gonna be performing? She's well, no, it's it's the you know, it's like a Remember her music? Not her. Somebody just like her, though. A tribute band. Jagged little pill. She's a tribute.

Steve Glick 21:34

Uh all right, a tribute band. All right. Fair enough.

Dave Rattiner 21:36

So that's kind of ironic.

Steve Glick 21:39

Oh man.

Dave Rattiner 21:41

And then what do we want to we want to give a shout out to Shippies, man? What a great report.

Steve Glick 21:45

Well, that's a great place to watch the Super Bowl. Yeah, that's you know, I'm torn between who I'm rooting for. You know. You know, I I guess my son wants to see Drake May do it. Yeah. Cinderella season, great season, so second. Year quarterback. Yeah, that's cool. Let's go. Let's go, Patriots. You don't like the Patriots? Really? No one really likes the Patriots. I like just the quarterback, though. But you know, what are you going to do? I think it's going to be a good game. Because both teams are playing their hearts out this season, and we'll see how it goes. I'm excited to see the halftime show of Bad Bunny. That's gonna be good.

Dave Rattiner 22:23

Oh yeah, that's gonna be great. It's gonna be good. It's gonna be a good weekend. Good weekend.

Andrew Doud 22:27

There you go. How about you, Rod? You got well, you're busy. You're not he's not he's not allowed to have any fun. He's got work to do. Yeah.

Rod Cummings 22:35

Now what's playing? That's right. Who's on first?

Andrew Doud 22:38

Who's on first?

Rod Cummings 22:39

Bad bunny, eight o'clock, be there.

Dave Rattiner 22:41

You excited for Bad Bunny? Yeah, come on. There you go. Hey, I mean, I'm a bad bunny. That one song where that where it drops and everyone gets real excited. I forget the name of the song, but it's I think he's gonna do great.

Steve Glick 22:51

You know, I think it's very energetic. I I think it's gonna be a great show all around.

Andrew Doud 22:56

So you can't look, you can't ever please everybody with the halftime show. It doesn't matter who it is, you get online, everybody's like, I loved it, I hate it, I whatever.

Rod Cummings 23:03

It's like it's a little controversial, too controversial, but let him roar, you know.

Steve Glick 23:08

Well, he just won the great album, he won the album of the year, so he's on he's on pace to do it, you know.

Dave Rattiner 23:15

So they're all memorable. My favorite I remember when Eminem did did the halftime show with Dr. Dre and 50 Cent, and that's like my high school years, you know. I was like, Oh my god, I couldn't believe it, you know.

Steve Glick 23:28

So they're all but they're all memorable. Of course, it's a great show, great time.

Andrew Doud 23:32

All right, in the meantime, we'll call that a podcast, and we'll be back next week to discuss the winner of the Super Bowl and some real estate. Uh until then, Rod, thank you so much for joining us. Good luck with this great new listing you got, um, which is live on Hamptons.com too. So while you're checking out what to do this weekend, that is a featured listing. Uh until next week, I'm Andrew Dowd. That is what's happening in the Hamptons.