Andrew Doud 0:08

Alright, good Thursday afternoon, everyone. I'm Andrew Doud, with Saunders & Associates. It is time for Happening in the Hamptons Podcast, our weekly breakdown of the Hamptons Market, new listings and events on the East End. The Happening in the Hamptons podcast is sponsored by Newer Title Abstract, the Hamptons leading title insurance firm. Visit NewerTitle.com or TitleInsurance.com. Today we are joined by Dave Rattiner and Darius Narrizano. Gentlemen, how are you guys? Good morning. Good Thursday, everybody. Everybody's doing good. It's beautiful fall weather. Good time to be out in the Hamptons. Gorgeous here in the Hamptons. And for the apple picking, pumpkin picking, fall festivities, and I guess it's it's a good time to buy. It's also well, it's a good time to sell.

Dave Rattiner 0:50

It's a good time to sell.

Andrew Doud 0:51

But if you're a buyer, Darius, do you have buyers? What are you seeing? What are they saying to you?

Darius Narizzano 0:56

Hey, look, as I tell everyone who asks, I can't tell the future, but I can tell you about now, Andrew. And now our markets have certainly slowed down, but they're still very strong. And well, Steve told us last week when analyzing the in-contracts over the last six weeks of 2001 against 2020, we're down approximately 53%. But the last six and a half weeks of 2021 against 2019, we're up approximately 58%. So we're doing very well, but we're very low on inventory. Sellers, though, have become more realistic as buyers' urgency has become psychologically less than a life and death need to purchase. There are still deals to be had. And I know this because as a broker in the know, I've just fallen in love within the last two months and closed on a new home in East Hampton for myself. Congratulations, it's awesome. And I couldn't be happier with what I got. So, you know, interest rates are still super low. It's like the banks are still giving money away, but it's starting to go up, we can see. And if you find the home that you really want to buy, even if you were to overpay today, a few years from now, it will have been a great buy. I mean, historically, this has always been the case, right? I mean, even if if you look if you bought in the last five, ten, twenty years, you have made a great purchase. There's no one who hasn't.

Dave Rattiner 2:34

Um not only that, but if you did that in the five, ten, twenty years, you know, it's gonna be paid off eventually, and then you can have a place to live, or you and you have a place for your family to, you know, enjoy. It's it's a win-win. It's a usable asset. Yeah, it's a usable asset. It's not so so many people focus on the investment side, it's a Hamptons real estate. And that always kind of bothers me because the whole point of being in the Hamptons is to have a good time and enjoy life and live this like beautiful kind of fantasy situation that doesn't exist really anywhere else in the world. And the focus is always on investments, so it's such a great investment, but it's also such a great lifestyle.

Darius Narizzano 3:18

Well, it you want to choose the house if unless it is purely an investment, you want to choose a house that you see yourself living in. And and that changes through people's lives all the time, right? I mean, I think statistically they say people sell homes every seven years. I mean, obviously it's not. Some people hold it for 20 years or 30 years, and some people only hold it for three or four years. Right. But you know, the dynamics change in your lifestyle. Sure. Your kids go off to college and you want to downsize, or you got grandchildren and you want to, you know, or or anticipating grandchildren and bring it up. So um, you know, again, going back to what I was saying, you know, historically, if um, you know, ask anyone, and I'm sure among the three of us here now, we have a hundred stories of a house that we had an opportunity to buy that we wish we did buy. Yeah. Right? And I believe the only time everyone out here has a story.

Dave Rattiner 4:16

I have a house I wish I had. There's not a single person that's out here that doesn't have the story like that, if you think about it.

Darius Narizzano 4:21

Yeah. And even if it's a house to live in, it's still an investment. Yeah. It's still a place that, you know, your money is growing. Right. It's just even better when it's something that you're enjoying yourself also. Um, because it's taking care of that purpose and also growing at the same time, and eventually it can be something that changes your life. And you know, I I think the only time that you lose in Hampton's real estate or real estate in general is if you overextend yourself and you have to sell that's a great point, you know, in a distressed situation, you know, that's where you lose. You know, as long as you can hold on, you'll always end up on top.

Dave Rattiner 4:58

That's a great point. That's a really great point, is when people overextend themselves because they're thinking so much about the investment side. They're thinking, oh well, you know, I can't lose. It's such a good investment, and then they push it too hard, and then their circumstances change, the market shifts a little bit, and they can't afford the payment or whatever, and then next thing you know. But people do that with cars, you know, people do that with all kinds of things, and it's just so unfortunate when you see that happening with a piece of real estate.

Andrew Doud 5:29

Which is the nice thing is that in Hamptons it's usually an appreciating asset. I mean, historically, that's what we've seen. Even with the ebbs and flows in the market, it's usually trending up and to your point. Um, so alright, so you're so you're telling buyers like, look, I know the inventory is low, I know that it is a seller's market right now, but and and you are proof, you can still find the house you want if if if you know if you're looking if you're looking hard enough. And I want to bring up a listing that you have, it's on the market right now, but it's under construction, right? Uh 1168 Brick Hiln Road. And this is this is gonna be beautiful. Tell us a little bit about this place.

Darius Narizzano 6:11

You you've seen it, Andrew.

Andrew Doud 6:12

Yeah, and I'm sure it's further along than even when we were there taking some drone shots, but this is this is gonna be a really special place.

Darius Narizzano 6:20

Well it's huge. It's 1168 Brick Hiln Road, it's on five acres. It's a new construction by Robert Pasavilla of Coastal Real Estate and Development, and it's a modern barn on five acres, very close to Sag Harbor Village and Long Beach, and the the road to Bridgehampton. You know, it's it's really centrally located. I mean, you could literally walk to the village, um, bike to Long Beach.

Dave Rattiner 6:47

I love Brick Hiln. Brick Hiln is like one of my favorite streets. Well, and then you you you also got the vineyard right there. You can get to uh what's the what's the name of the vineyard? Not Wolfer, but the the other one. Are you talking about the Chandler Dor? Channing Dorothy. Yeah, the Channing Dorse. Yeah, that's a great vineyard. That's like one of those hidden things.

Andrew Doud 7:04

What's nice about this too is like you you can't there's not five acres in in in Sag Harbor, but you're very close. You know what I mean? So you get all the space and the amenities that come with a house's size and acreage like that. This is amazing. Right, exactly.

Darius Narizzano 7:18

But you're still very close to where you're in Sag Harbor, everybody's on a postage stand. If you can get a pool, you're super lucky if you're in the village. But here, I mean you've got five acres, you've got a large gunite saltwater pool with spa built into it, you know, big, cool all the time in the sun patio, mahogany decks. I mean the house is huge. Is he gonna have a gym? Uh there's space for a gym, screening room, you know, multiple living room areas. If you want a wine cellar sauna, there's room for it all. And now you can if you come in now because it's supposed to be ready, um, you know, and we're on track for spring spring coming. So, but if somebody were to come in now, they could change a lot of the finishes, they could really make it their own. Although we're doing it all custom, it's not like a spec house.

Dave Rattiner 8:08

I love the design. It's like such the rendering here is so unique. It's like I love the modern barn.

Darius Narizzano 8:14

Now that's actually done. So I'm gonna take real pictures of the outside very soon to put up, but it's the outside is all you know mahogany as well as cedar shake.

Andrew Doud 8:25

It's a nice mix, it's a very unique look. Um love the front porch. That looks like a two-bar garage.

Darius Narizzano 8:33

Everything's oversized. The it's soaring. When you walk in, you walk right into a living room that goes up to the ceiling with a sky bridge going across to the bedrooms. You know, one side of the house is the master, the other side are the guest bedrooms, um, double-sided fireplace that goes up through the roof.

Dave Rattiner 8:50

Oh, those are so cool. I love those things.

Darius Narizzano 8:52

It's all open living, seven bedrooms, six and a half baths, pool house. I mean, it's gonna be gorgeous. Come and see it. Come see it, buy it and make it your own. I'll buy it. Eight million. Yes, yeah. Well, we can negotiate.

Andrew Doud 9:09

No, this is a beautiful house. And uh, and I'd like to get back over there because, like I said, I mean, when we were there, they were still you know putting things in, but I'm sure it's further along a month later as you get closer to completion. So great, great new construction, and and new construction is where it's at right now. Everybody wants that turnkey moved in, ready to go. Um spring can't come soon enough for many reasons, including this house already. I'm sure this won't won't take long to sell. Um so listen, let's just give a quick rundown of the numbers this week, the Hampton data for this week, 10-6. So over the past week, there were 48 listings that went in the contract from West Hampton and Montauk compared to the same week last year, 2020, there were 66 listings that went in the contract, which is a year-over-year decrease of 27%. Now, that same week back in 2019, there were 40 listings that went in the contract compared to this week in 2021. It's an increase of 20%. So here is a breakdown of these transactions. There were 48. One between 8 and 10 million, two between 6 and 8 million, 7 between 4 and 6 million, 12 between 2 and 4, and 26 under 2 million dollars. And it wasn't that long ago that like under a million dollars was like the hot thing. Now I don't even know where you're gonna find.

Dave Rattiner 10:28

Oh, there's like one under a million because there's only one.

Andrew Doud 10:30

So you've got one coming from the there we go. So so this past week there were 43 new listings coming onto the market, which with 48 listings going into contracts, so that decreases inventory by five listings, which we've been talking about. That I mean, there is just it comes on the market, it goes, the inventory is low. So if you can, like Darius, find that house and get a good buy, you're you're doing things right. Um a breakdown of those 43 new listings. There was one between 10 and 20 million, one between eight and ten, two between six and eight, four between four and six, thirteen between two and four, and twenty-two under two million dollars. So obviously that's still the sweet spot and where people are can can get in at at that price point.

Dave Rattiner 11:16

Can get in at two million.

Andrew Doud 11:18

Um you can get into this new construction for at one brick kiln for just under $8 million, which called Darius for that.

Dave Rattiner 11:30

What's your outlook, Darius, on the market? Just said it I just want to pick your brain. I love listening to what brokers have to say about it.

Darius Narizzano 11:37

You didn't listen to me before, Dave. I shouldn't have to be able to do that. You can't predict about the future. But I want to I want to know what you think.

Dave Rattiner 11:43

I want to know what you think about the future. Well is that what you do? So is that how you is that really how you just to say to yourself, I accept that I don't know what the future is, but what I do know is that if I buy a house or invest in a house that I can totally afford that this will be a without any doubt in my mind that this will be a good long-term investment, possibly the best investment I ever do for myself and my family. Is that how you think about it? Or do you like to because I think a lot of people like to speculate, you know, oh next year, oh sure, you know, something will happen and you know the economy will this and that, and they'll they'll mint a trillion dollar coin and that will cause things to go up.

Darius Narizzano 12:27

Or I'm not going there, but but to but to the general sense of what you were just asking, I mean in general, looking at a house, yes, I look at it and I think as long as there's not something wrong with it, as long as I like the flow, I like the basic value of the house. Like I said, even if it's inflated beyond my understanding at this point, because the market is moving so quickly and changing so quickly, um, sometimes it's hard to comp things out exactly. But as long as it's very close, if it's something that I really like, I believe, and I know because like I said, if you go back, you cannot find a house, an example where it did not go in that direction as long as you could hold on. But of course, like the house that I bought recently, it there I saw right away walking in, and you know, I am I'm a professional in this and other parts of this business, you know, for a very long time because I'm 58 years old. I looked at it and I saw hidden value, things that I could do to the house to increase the value.

Dave Rattiner 13:36

Right.

Darius Narizzano 13:36

But it's also a house that I really see myself living in. And my wife keeps talking about it's our house that our we'll have our grandchildren in. So you know, I don't know if I'm, you know, on board the I want the grandchildren, but I don't know if this is the house that will be forever. But I love living there now, and I love the idea of the things that I can do to it that will increase the value over time, besides just naturally the boost that it's gonna get from the economy and and time. Right. Um so I mean I think and the same, you just bought a house, Dave, yeah very recently, and and I've been there and it's a terrific house. Thank you. And there are things that you can do to that house over time that are going to increase its value also. Yeah. That's the plan. Another thing that's super important when you buy a house is to really maintain it, to spend that m extra money on on making sure that you keep it up and don't allow it to, you know, uh, yeah, the landscaping overgrow or maintain it before it becomes a problem.

Dave Rattiner 14:35

Is a nightmare.

Darius Narizzano 14:36

You do not want deferred maintenance. Keep the maintenance going as you go.

Andrew Doud 14:41

Which is usually not the fun improvements like new roofs. Yeah. But but necessary.

Dave Rattiner 14:46

Um You know what's funny? I you just made me think of a story when I was like in my mid-20s or something. I I was renting a condo, and the maintenance on the condo was like $400 a month, and I can remember thinking at the time, ugh, I wish I owned a house because then I wouldn't have to pay for maintenance.

Darius Narizzano 15:05

You could just do it all. Yeah.

Dave Rattiner 15:10

I can remember thinking that.

Darius Narizzano 15:11

I also own a condo, and I'm very happy for paying that maintenance and not having a second list as long as my arm of fears to do.

Andrew Doud 15:20

That's exactly it. Um so alright, so we said at the top of the podcast, like, look, it's the fall, this is a great time of year to be out here. So, Dave, what are your picks for the weekend if you are out of the year?

Dave Rattiner 15:30

My three picks. Okay, so the 40th annual Montauk Fall Festival is Saturday and Sunday of this weekend from 11 a.m. to 5 p.m. And the main appeal of this festival is the clam chowder contest. Oh yum, I love that. This is the clam chowder contest thing. So what you can do is you get like a mug and you literally go around from like restaurant to restaurant to restaurant, and you just consume New England clam chowder or Manhattan clam chowder, but it's mostly New England clam chowder. And then you vote on your favorite, and you know, it's a very dramatic and very, you know, a lot of the restaurants take it very seriously, and you know, you'll you'll eat New England clam chowder with a with a spice that you've never never had before in your life.

Andrew Doud 16:20

They're all they're all very different between Manhattan and New England.

Dave Rattiner 16:24

The Manhattan's the the red.

Andrew Doud 16:26

Is that okay?

Darius Narizzano 16:27

Yeah, it doesn't have cream in it. Yeah. Cream and butter. Yeah.

Dave Rattiner 16:30

Yeah, it sticks to your ribs. The New England clam chowder sticks to your ribs. Yeah. Well, that's cool.

Darius Narizzano 16:35

So you go to each restaurant. Oh, the like in Sag Harbor, they have a line and all the restaurants come to the long wharf. Right.

Dave Rattiner 16:41

So it's a different thing. Yeah, and well in Montauk, they have like they set up little tables. So you walk over with your cup and then oh, this is the Gurney's table. Oh, you know, oh, this is the harvest table or whatever. That's cool. Um, so that's the big appeal in for me, because I just like to eat food all day. But you know, if you want to do some pumpkin painting, you could do that, Darius. Or there's kids' crafts, there's bouncy rides, you know, it's a it's a great family event for kids. Um, and then there's a Chinese auction and an online silent auction, as well as a food tent. So it's always a really good time. It's very well organized. They do it every they've been doing it forever. So you're not gonna want to miss that. Um my second pick is on Saturday from noon to 4 30 p.m. at Wolfra Estate Vineyard. They're having their 31st annual grape harvest. And so when you go to this thing, it's like kind of like a big celebration of the harvest. Uh, and so you can it's like a big party right out on the lawn, and you can dance to live music, you can enjoy food, of course. Uh there'll be food by pizza lucca and by Palo Santo. Um and of course you sip wool for wine or cider. Um and then they have the grape stomping, which is hilarious and a lot of fun where people you know jump on the grapes, and then they have it's a lot of fun if you haven't done it. I've never done it. But they have and they but they also have pony rides, they have hay rides. It's a total, it's a total party, and it's good, you know, it's outside. Uh it's one of my favorite falls. And they'll have Wayne. Yeah. And Roman should be there. Roman Roth is there and he he wears his like German outfit. It's you know, it's great. Um so I've only I've only gone to it twice. But the two times that I've gone, I've had I had a great time. Yeah. Um, and then I can't believe that this is happening, but the Hamptons Film Festival is beginning today, this week. So October 7th to the to October 10th. Uh uh, I'm sorry, October 13th. There's the 29th Hamptons Film Festival. So you can enjoy all of the cool movies. Um they're gonna basically shut the movie theaters now have not really been used, right? I mean it's been kind of a bummer. So it'll be nice to bring them I I wanna I wanna say that people are gonna definitely get involved with this, but you know, they're probably gonna be hesitant with you know COVID and everything. But the protocols are gonna be that you have to show a vaccine card a vaccine card to get into the theater, and then you're also gonna wear a mask while in the theater. Um, and then you can't have food in the theater. So it's gonna be a little bit more strict, but you know. But it's happening. It's happening.

Darius Narizzano 19:43

And I guess the no food is because so you don't lift your mask down or something, probably. Yeah. All of it sounds right to me, except for the food is a bummer, but yeah, you can't eat popcorn while watching the while watching the movie.

Dave Rattiner 19:56

But you know, it looks like it should be it and again, this is another really well organized event that just happens every year. So you can visit their website. I encourage you to do that, uh, Hamptonsfilmfestival.com. Uh or you could just Google HIF, H I F F and check it out. Um I'll probably I'll probably go to one or two.

Darius Narizzano 20:19

One of your own agents, Ellen Ashenfarb, is part of the organization. That's right.

Dave Rattiner 20:24

That's right, yeah, yeah, yeah. I know. She's true. She's always always would hook it up with a few tickets every once in a while. Nice. That's cool.

Andrew Doud 20:31

All right, so those are different things to check out. Um Darius, thanks for joining us. Hey, thanks for having me. All right, so once again, the Happening Namps podcast is sponsored by Newer Title Abstract, the Hampton's Leading Title Insurance Firm. Visit newertitle.com or titleinsurance.com. Everybody have a great weekend and enjoy the rest of your Thursday. I'm Andrew Dowd, and that is what's happening in the Hampton.