"HAMPTON'S HIDEAWAYS"...Where To Go When You Don't Want To Be "Seen". The Hamptons is located on the Eastern End of Long Island and includes the towns of Southampton and East Hampton, New York. Most people do not think of the Hamptons when they want to just go away to relax and not be "seen" by a lot of other vacationers. We are all in search of total privacy at times and it can be very hard to find it---especially in the most popular vacation spot in America! Short of having a home here where you can literally vegetate for a long weekend, the Hamptons is not known for being a very relaxing place where you can "disappear" for a while to be alone or to be with the one you love. There are places here, however that could fit the bill if you know about them--I, myself, have "gone away" for... 05/04/2018

When You Are Selling Your Home...LITTLE THINGS MEAN A LOT!Selling your home? Can't figure out what to do first?...Next? It is very hard to be someone who is trying to sell their home and trying to be objective as well. After all, the years you have spent there may add up to a lot of memories that you are not quite ready to get rid of or paint over!Start with a list and I will give you the top 10 things to do so that you will have a clear picture of where to start and how to finish the preparation. I will give you only the most obvious, common pointers so if you have a glaring situation in your home  that you KNOW on some level that it will not please a new buyer--get rid of that first! That is your priorityIT'S THE LITTLE THINGS THAT ADD UP TO GET MORE  MONEY FOR THE SALE OF YOUR HOME C... 04/06/2018

THE HAMPTONS: THE BEST PLACE TO LIVEI know, this is a rather subjective topic. It really does depend on where you want to buy, how much you can afford and where your friends live out here in the Hamptons.But this post has come into being because many people who have NEVER spent time here and who want a home in the Hamptons, have no clue where to even look!So here, I will try  to expound on the way I view the Hamptons since I have been here for almost 30 years. I will do an analysis of  how the Hamptons has changed and how it has stayed the same; how it attracts the public and how it reflects the lifestyles enjoyed here.This may just be the information you have been looking for!Read this before you check it all out when you are here!NORTH VS SOUTH OF THE HIGHWAYThere was a time when buye... 03/23/2018

A "GO TO" GUIDE TO THE HAMPTONS--*PART I:Ever wondered what it would be like to come to the Hamptons and spend a summer or part of a summer in this beautiful and historical summer resort? I would like to supply some information that will solidify your plans to do just that! This is PART I of a series of posts about this wonderful historical area. I will give you the best of the best of places and things to do here. Please read on.....FARM COUNTRY AND OCEAN BEACHESSo many people believe that the Hamptons is simply a place for the rich to park their wealth in huge mansions and ocean front properties. well, that is true to some extent, however there is another way to view the Hamptons and that is a weekend and summer escape from the madness of the city or everyday stress wherever you are f... 03/18/2018

NEW AGENT? 5 MORE THINGS YOU MUST DO--PART IIAfter I published Part I of this series of posts, written for the new agent who is looking for help, I heard from several agents who saw it on Linked-In and Google +. It seems that this kind of post may not get many comments but it sure is making it's way around the Blogesphere! I got well over 110 views within a few hours of publishing it.In case you missed the first one: NEW AGENT? TOP 5 THINGS TO DO NOW--PART IIn this PART II post, I will refine some of the things I recommend in the first post. I want to make sure you work toward an easy approach that is appealing to the people you will be working with.RESEARCHSHOP 'TIL YOU DROP!!If you are a shopper you will fully understand the concept of research in real estate. If you hate shopping I s... 03/17/2018

NEW AGENT? TOP 5 THINGS TO DO NOW--PART 1If you have just begun this wonderful journey into real estate and you have no idea where to begin or what to do as you start this new career, you are not alone!It may seem you are very much alone! There is nothing worse than to study like crazy, pass your exam--get your license and even interview for a desk with a leading brokerage firm and then find out you are on your own---totally on your own. There is no one to help you, except for the rare available agent who will tell you where things are and what you need to do to get answers. And unless you are with a firm like the one that sponsors me, there will not be a class to help you to assimilate to the everyday things that you must do just to stay in business. Until you have clients and customer... 03/16/2018

THE INTERNET "NETHERWORLD"--Good, Bad & Indifferent... The Internet is the All-Seeing eye into our private world and our psyche. It can look into what you want and need and it can see what there is out there to bring "it" to you. It truly is magical and yet can be diabolical as well!This is a re-write of a post I wrote in May of 2013; That was the beginning of my mad craze to get the better of the big websites that we all know so well right now. This was a time for me of having a real command of my own real estate destiny--I was pulling in new leads all the time from my blog posts--usually the ones loaded with good local information. I got listings and no one in my office could figure out how I got them.In the case of the original version of this post, I still get hits on it!  It has re... 03/07/2018

TELL ME A STORY....Not such a new conceptThis is a re-write of a post that I wrote in March of 2013--It was a unique concept 5 years ago because there were no such ideas for the real estate business at the time. I could see the changes headed our way, especially with Zillow rising in power with the public-- data inaccuracies and all! Now, the idea has come to pass in many large corporations, including the company I work for, Douglas Elliman. This was a post that was written as we tried to differentiate our business from theirs. Now, we are mired in the mix and there really is no other choice but to proceed as we can and as we have in the past--except we know that isn't working. Blogging can be the best thing you can do--making sure to write extensively about your area and the local info... 03/06/2018

DISRUPT THE DISRUPTOR...This is the second post in as many days about the things we NEED to do in real estate, given the state of affairs. Please know that we CAN take back our reputations and our professional status from those who want to destroy us!A Disruptor comes along when complacency sets in--There is an obvious missing link in the eyes of the Disruptor and that is the clue that He watches for in an industry that is ripe for the Disruption that takes place...nothing is the same after that.To understand the impact of the Disruption that has taken place in real estate, one must take a look at marketing...That is where the biggest clue can be found for the past 10 years.Agents blame the weakness of print ads on the downtrend in newspapers. Yet, where did the downturn in news print c... 02/28/2018

SOUTHAMPTON NEW YORK--FOR THE NON-CELEBRITYI have been wanting to write this post for a very long time---The whole celebrity craze out here in the Hamptons has made for another sort of experience for the average person who lives here, and the person who seeks out relaxation and anonymity during the summer here as well.First of all, the reason I say "Out Here" or "Out East" when I speak of the Hamptons is that is exactly what it was always known as: "Are you going out to the Hamptons this weekend?", or "Are you going out East this weekend?" is a common question because it is notoriously a second-home or vacation resort.New York City is where most people come from; they spend time here in the Hamptons in their second homes and/or rentals just to get away for the weekends and summers.Well,... 02/10/2018

"RESIST" BIG HOUSES--IS THIS A TREND??Just recently, I had a conversation with one of my buyers regarding how big a house she wanted to buy...she really didn't know how big, but she wanted "BIG".She says that her friends all had these huge houses and she didn't want to appear like she skimped when she was spending or selecting her Hamptons home.I showed her several new houses that were around 4000 SF but she was resisting those....So I took her to the next available size up in price and square footage: A 5000 SF house with a finished basement of about 1200 SF. She reacted to it in a surprising way---at least I thought it was surprising given that she was so sure she wanted a really big house. It was also located in a less than desirable area ("North of the Highway") for her so it was a ... 01/31/2018

BLOGGING: A WAY TO CAPTURE WHAT YOU THOUGHT YOU HAVE, BUT DON'T!!Unfortunately, we are seeing the result of what Zillow and StreetEasy have done to our profession.  They have taken our valuable content and made a monumental fortune off our hard work and our time and in the process getting the best SEO because they  now have  original content--"Content is King" on the internet!!Listings have been handed over to these giant websites as if they were going to "Help" us make money! On the contrary, these "parasitic" sites are thriving by not only getting our original content but by getting some agents to pay them to do it!! They now "Own" that content and they will never give it back, in fact they will end up charging us to get the use of it!!  In the end they have a gold mine of original c... 01/30/2018

DID YOU SURVIVE THE "BOMB CYCLONE??"With the 16" of snow that we just got and with the temps now hovering around 0 degrees every day here in Southampton, I must say I am very happy I grew up in Michigan!I spoke to a friend today and she told me how she fared during the "Bomb Cyclone". She lives in Water Mill on the ocean so her situation was much, much worse than mine! However, we both had stories to tell that would make ones hair stand on end if you were there.First of all, I want to share a list of things to do BEFORE a storm hits; these are also good things to just to be prepared for any emergency where you may not have power for a time: Make sure you have cash in your pocket in order to pay for any help in the event you need it. I keep $100 at all times in case of emergency---$500 i... 01/08/2018

THE SLEDEarly childhood memories almost always come back to us in our adulthood. Sometimes they nurture us when we need that; sometimes they haunt us until we find a resolution. I saw the way this works, the stark realities of early trauma when I got to know a dear friend who lives here. I had an experience a few years back that made me feel as though I received an answer to a question I have been asking myself: What can I do that will make me feel less anxious, less fearful of life in general? I had been feeling at a loss, without any idea what to do with the concerns I had. I moved out of a rental house in November of that year because it was filled with mold and free-floating asbestos. I have been in the process of healing ever since. I still don't know if I am going to be OK, even a... 01/06/2018

KNOW ANYTHING ABOUT MOLD?? ASBESTOS??--I DO, NOW!!I am sharing this story because as informed as I am in real estate and knowing the issues that environmental problems in older homes can be,  I found myself  living a horror story of monumental proportions without knowing what was happening! We all need to be informed about this problem....And the story is just beginning: I sold my own home in 2013; I gave up home ownership for the moment, to wait for the next opportunity to own an affordable home somewhere nearby.Instead, with prices going up steadily, I decided to rent  and found a house that would suit my needs. It was a cute 1920's renovated home that was vacant and the landlord and his wife lived in the garage apartment behind it in the summer and lived in New York City the rest of ... 12/31/2017

HOW TO PERSONALIZE YOUR PITCH...If You Really Want To Win!! After getting featured on several of my past postings regarding "Pitching A Listing" I decided to share with all of you some of the techniques I used on my more successful pitches. One of my most favored posts is:  "PITCHING" AS IF YOUR LIVELY-HOOD DEPENDS ON IT!..It Really Does, You Know!  This was written years ago but it still fills the bill when I sit down and take the "local" approach.Using a similar idea of taking the "story" about the home and property and applying it to the latest pitch that I am doing works so well that I have had agents ask if they could use the template--I find that to be the highest form of flattery and so I always welcome sharing it with anyone who wants to use it! I decided to post the whole "Pitc... 06/04/2017

OUT-WITTING THE ESTABLISHMENT...Now Its Real Estate In Need of Reform!I understand that there are small groups of agents gathering in smaller companies or partnerships offering the care and expertise that is needed by most buyers, in smaller quarters without the din of the busy bullpens found in large brokerages.These teams have one thing in mind: They do not want the heavy-handed ways that very large brokerages handle their agents' data. They want to be able to serve the public as the "direct route" that they already are in any circumstance in real estate. This time without the fear of losing the data, or the listings of their firm to the gigantic national sites such as Zillow, Trulia, Streeteasy, etc. Agents are usually the first connection to a property, not a company Agents are the ... 06/03/2017

 A MEMORIAL DAY MEMORIAL  In 2014 on July 4th weekend I wrote a post that was featured. It was about things to do on a holiday such as the 4th here in the Hamptons...I had someone comment on that post and it was an unforgettable piece of writing---from the heart and soul of a man who valued his Father and the service he gave to this country...It was his Memorial to his now deceased DadI wrote the post below at the time just so I could share it with all of you here on Activerain---So here it is again in case you never saw it:   SOMETIMES THERE ARE TREASURES IN THE MOST UNEXPECTED PLACES: This morning, when I got the following comment on my 4th of July post from last year, I knew that I had to let you all see it. I couldn't figure out how he wrote this on that old post but it does not ma... 05/26/2017

DO YOU HAVE A STORY TO TELL?...A Story Can Make Your Marketing Sing!  In 2013, as we began our climb out of the great recession, I wrote the post below. It was a challenge because I was assuming that anyone can write! What an assumption! But, what I found out was that anyone CAN write if they get the encouragement and the right guidance. Now the idea that "The Story" about a product, a place, a home and every single thing you want to convince someone about will make the "sale"! People fall in love with a good story!!!: TELL ME A STORY....A Story About Real Estate and Local Information..Note: This is the third in a series of posts about the importance of blogging to real estate agents and brokers--starting it, keeping it going and doing it with continuity. We are in the middle of a major... 05/24/2017

DO WE ALREADY KNOW WHAT IS GOING TO HAPPEN IN REAL ESTATE IN THE FUTURE???I believe we do--on some level. If we open our minds and "free-associate" our thinking so that we narrow down the probabilities and possibilities we will very often find the seeds that bring the new reality into focus.That's what I find happens when I blog--The future will pop out of a post that I wrote years before and it makes me feel like a bit of a fortune teller!!Read on and see what I mean from this post written in May of 2013--I got over 17,500 hits since I wrote it:~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~A MAJOR MARKET SHIFT IS HAPPENING; LOOK AT THE POSSIBILITIES...I actually wrote this post in late March--Since then some major shifts have already begun and I... 05/24/2017