FUN THINGS TO DO IN SOUTHAMPTON, NEW YORK, THE FUN PART OF THE HAMPTONS... Sure there are other villages and hamlets to enjoy and each one has it's own personality and attractions; but there is something about Southampton, New York that makes you want to come back again and again and again!!! What to do the first week here in the Hamptons??? Whether you are a summer resident or a summer tenant--there is always the question of what to do with the kids?--now that you are all settled in?  HAPPENINGS IN SOUTHAMPTON VILLAGE:      Agawam Park and Playground was just recently updated to include all kinds of new equipment. Located at the West end of Jobs Lane, this park has been in existence for decades. The park was established as a memorial to the Veterans of the world wars. The World War II ... 06/02/2013

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 feel like getting this out there again since it did not get seen by many members (or the public for that matter!) in the first go around.   Please read this and comment so that we all get a feeling of what is happening nation-wide. It is more important than ever to make sure we get the jump on these trends that may alter our profession forever!   Since September 2008 all real estate agents have been struggling with the worst fiscal crisis in history and the longest housing recession as well... I began to see a change beginning in the middle of last year--June 2012 was a record month in home sales in the Hamptons and we watched (a... 05/22/2013

BEST HOUSES FOR SALE, BEST PLACES TO GO IN SOUTHAMPTON VILLAGE, NEW YORK.....Your Place In The Sun!!! Never has the sun shown so brightly; never so intensely! It is almost summer in Southampton Village and we all know what that means....we will see the crowds of summer revelers arrive in another few weeks and the world will never be the same! Why is that, you say? Because for all the years of world travelers coming here to these beaches and Villages here in the Hamptons, no one has ever had a miserable time! In fact the best times are had right here in this treasured resort. Now world travelers come here to live, more and more for a year round lifestyle---away from the city and the rest of this mad, mad world! The sea is at it's deepest hue in the summer and all the life around Southamp... 05/13/2013

  WHAT DOES IT TAKE???...Business Relationships Are Tough To put together!!! BUSINESS RELATIONSHIPS NEED TO BE ASSEMBLED. Until all the pieces are in place, All you have is a pile of pieces, meaning nothing! As Real estate professionals, it is essential to build trust, comfort, believability, and credibility with your clients and customers. The ingredients with which to create this relationship are not unique to real estate--any successful sales professional knows that you must be as on target with how you handle people as a good psycho-analyst!     TRY STARTING WITH A WILLING PARTICIPANT!... When the time is right to start a real business relationship I have discovered that you need to have a willing partner. This may seem to be quite obvious, but I have found that there are more agent... 04/12/2013

CREDIBILITY...Where Is Your Credibility Factor? Credibility is an interesting word. It comes from the word "credible"; it means "believable"and in other words if you are not believable you have no credibility! It's as simple as that-- Or is it? If you have a credible presence in your business dealings you will have a balanced approach to the way you deal with people. Balanced and straight-forward, leaving nothing to be explained after a listing is signed up as your exclusive in a binding agreement or after a contract is signed and a deal is done. You act on any and all contacts you get and you make sure all i's are dotted and t's are crossed in a purchase memo...Simple as that! well, not so fast!   Don't take this the wrong way; building credibility is NOT easy. It can be the single mos... 04/10/2013

THE GOOD THAT WILL COME FROM BLOGGING..... The Internet has created a buffer so to speak between the agent and the buyer with their desires and their needs. It is this very safe place that I am going to talk about here; most agents have no idea how important the internet is to this particular buyer. It is a very different world out there once an agent starts blogging about the real estate business; the actual results of which can be surprisingly rewarding. You may find a whole new type of buyer; a buyer who has just begun to look and who may not have had the negative experiences that many have had by the time they get to us. Here is a person who may want information about an area before they look for houses there--they don't want to waste an agents time before they are ready or they sim... 03/20/2013

THE "NETHERWORLD" OF THE INTERNET: Good, Bad, Indifferent...It's all there for your benefit, if you know how to make it work FOR you! THE GOOD... It is a very different world out there once an agent starts blogging about the real estate business; the actual results of which can be surprisingly rewarding. You find a whole new type of buyer; a buyer who has just begun to look and who may not have had the negative experiences that many have had by the time they get to us. The Internet has created a buffer so to speak between the agent and the buyer with their desires and their needs. It is this very safe place that I am going to talk about here; most agents have no idea how important the internet is to this particular buyer. Here is a person who may want information about an area before th... 03/18/2013

HOW DO  YOU BUILD SUCCESSFUL BUSINESS RELATIONSHIPS?... What does it take to make sure those business relationships are successful and how do you build or assemble them???....business relationships are not easy to put together!!! Well directed businesses are like great symphonies!   Think of a symphony; how the horns and the stringed instruments work in harmony. Think of how the piano defines the outline of the piece and how the timpani, the drums, the symbols and the wind instruments refine the work. They all work together, and they are all an essential part of a good outcome... Yet they must be directed or they create a din--a dissonance and a real clashing of sounds that can offend, even insult the senses.     THE SAME CAN BE SAID ABOUT BUILDING YOUR BUSINESS RELATIONSHIPS!    As in ... 03/03/2013

HOW DO YOU EAT AN ELEPHANT?....Bite by Bite!!! In one of my last posts  HOW DO YOU MARKET YOURSELF???...Keep Up Or Lose Out!, I had a few comments that made me stop and think about the approach I brought up in that post: You need to begin to catch up or you will lose out.....The less I DO and the longer I wait to begin using the new technology available in the marketplace...the more behind I fall! I had several comments on that post that opened the door to the idea that "being out front" in the race to get the leading edge is the way to approach the new ways of marketing yourself today. If one thinks that way, consider this: If we are all out front....there will be no "front"!!! ...NO! We are not in a race to get there. This is a very serious and careful decision one must make to get in... 02/11/2013

A HIGH "SATISFACTION QUOTIENT"...DO YOUR BUYERS AND SELLERS HAVE IT? IT'S A KEY ELEMENT TO A SUCCESSFUL SALE IN TODAY'S REAL ESTATE MARKET...It's Not the same thing as a "Comfort Level" since that can be reached with relatively little input from the agent and has less to do with the process of actually buying a home. A high "Satisfaction Quotient" deals with the seller or buyer's feelings about how they are being treated in general, how the critical information they need is disseminated for them, and how they feel about the buying or selling process as the agent has explained it to them. In my featured post,  A COMPREHENSIVE MARKET ANALYSIS CAN BE VERY PERSONAL.... from today I offered up my own way of doing a CMA. It is my standard now, to prepare a personal "report" to the homeowner a... 02/10/2013

EVER DREAM OF LIVING IN SOUTHAMPTON VILLAGE, NY?...Many People Do!!! The Head line reads: "A Walkers Guide to Home Buying" --and then the rest of the Wall Street Journal article goes on to describe the "amenities" or "places" they were referring to: Restaurants, movie theaters, drugstores, Grocery stores etc.... Small wonder then, that Southampton Village, New York is THE destination for home buyers! Buyers, looking to buy here in the Hamptons are looking for "proximity" more than anything else right now.   The article ran in the Wall Street Journal in their Real Estate Section in late 2011. It offers many good reasons why home buyers are being pulled to locations which have a "Village" feeling or at least a strip mall with all the needed stores and amenities within walking distance to ... 02/09/2013

HOW DO YOU MARKET YOURSELF???...Keep up Or Lose Out!!! ...it's that simple.Ever hear these complaints from fellow agents?:"I can't seem to get my business going"-- "I'm not doing enough business!"; "I just lost another buyer to another agent!"; or "I lost another listing to another agent!"---The truth is they lost these clients to those who are doing the right things! I try to help them out by telling them what I have done with great success.Houses are selling again--buyers are looking at all kinds of internet sources for their next home purchase.Whomever pops up in their face on the internet is getting the business!There is no loyalty anymore!I am NOt an expert; just someone who has learned the ropes---through ACTIVERAIN and years of experience, and keeping an open mind to marketing id... 02/06/2013

NEW CONSTRUCTION IN SOUTHAMPTON VILLAGE, FROM A PROVEN SOURCE.... In the past 2 years I have had the pleasure of working with and for a man who is a very careful developer. He does one house at a time; making certain he has it sold before he begins his next project. His goal is to leave a lasting mark in Southampton Village that will become a part of it's history. There is teamwork that functions at the most important juncture during the process, from the search for a perfect lot to the finished product: Locating the prime spot, near all the shops, schools, playgrounds, restaurants, grocers and beaches. Locating the best architect with the right ideas for the best design, in keeping with Southampton Village history Finding the leading edge treatments and materials for the new home Incor... 01/26/2013

A NEW BLOG SITE IS LIKE A NEW PAIR OF SHOES!...A Bit Painful To Start; But give it some time and it WILL pay off! DO YOU REALLY WANT TO START A BLOG??? I wanted to write this post for those who think they want to start blogging but can't find the courage or the incentive to do so---those who just keep putting off begining it, putting it on the back burner as so many other agents get involved and seem to master the art of blogging quickly. It is all a fantasy, this idea that you can begin blogging and it catches on and you develop a following all in a short while. That rarely if ever happens with blogging. You need to prime yourself to get the juices flowing and even then it takes a while to get a deep understanding of what you need to write about that works for you as you develop your o... 01/21/2013

ACTIVERAIN is a real treasure to me and I have had enormous success writing hyper-local posts and getting read by the public....but this one blows my mind: I wrote the post below in November of 2011 and it was written mainly because there was so much false information out there about the source of the name and of just how the very short historical street got the name, Post Lane. I made sure to do the right amount of research and without being an Historian, I had to talk to many people and read everything I could get my hands on regarding the earliest years of Southampton Village. It took many weeks before I had enough valid (or what I thought was valid) information to write this post. Yesterday I received an email from one Richard Post of the UK. He gave his background and told me he is... 01/08/2013

THINK YOU KNOW ALL THERE IS TO KNOW ABOUT REAL ESTATE?...Think Again! I hope you have your wits about you at this reading, because the details of this story may be a little "mind bending" for you. I really would like you to take a few minutes and read it though because I need your professional take on what you think about this situation I find myself in. If you have any input of value for me, PLEASE leave it in a comment below. In all my 18 years of Real Estate experiences, I have never witnessed nor have I been a party to a situation like this one: I am in contract to sell my home here in Southampton Village; the buyer is a builder and wanted to break ground before the snow flies. I wanted to close before the January 1, 2013 because of the new capital gains taxes that are going to affe... 01/01/2013

The Southampton Annual Cookie Exchange is being held once agaiin this year at The Southampton Historical Museum.Date: Wednesday December 13 from 4-5 p.m.The annual Cookie Exchange is a chance to build your own platter of treats baked by others.Wine, cheese, crackers and cider will be served to bakers as they swap their goodies.To participate, bring no more than 6 dozen Homemade cookies. You must use flour as main ingredient. Bring your recipe so you can share with all.Rogers Mansion17 Meeting House LaneSouthampton, NYFor more information call 631-283-2494  12/11/2012

The Tenderest of Holidays!...A Thanksgiving Story From Today ( I wrote this post right during the Thanksgiving weekend and took it down because a member told me she thought it had too much information in it--meanwhile, I see a story like the football player and his actions and it brings everything up all over again, including this experience of mine.  So, I wanted to share it again with all of you since I have had several requests for it..Thanks for reading it.) As I was driving back home this morning to Southampton from Sagponack after working with a young woman and her 3 children, I was overwhelmed by tears that would not stop---they slipped out of my eyes without me even realizing it until my face was drenched--then I could hardly see to drive! Peeling onions had the same effect on m... 12/06/2012

GETTING BOGGED DOWN...And Getting Un-blogged! I wanted to write this post to get it out there quickly for all of those bloggers who are stuck in a rut and can't seem to get out of it! I have been a member here since 2007 and have blogged quite a bit--gotten good Google Juice for doing it too! I have been in a spot at times where I really wondered why I do this blogging thing--especially when nothing comes to mind to write about, aside from my love for my community and AR. I am startled by the impact in just a few short years that blogging has had on me and my business--I include "me" because deep down inside I have never had more fun nor have I been more richly rewarded for doing anything like I have with my blogging. Blogging has such value that I just want everybody to have the same s... 11/29/2012

"BUSINESS TRENDS" for 2013: How Do You See It??? Below are some examples of the way I see the real estate business trending for both buyers and sellers; This is my point of view from a "Bigger Picture" aspect and I know that markets vary from community to community. I am using the ideas that come from actual facts, i.e. Prudential is no longer a real estate company--they remain a financial firm. (My company has dropped the "Prudential" name and rock logo and is now Douglas Elliman Real Estate as it was since 1911). I believe these trends may affect the real estate business to such a degree that it will determine whether or not we, as agents, will be in this business next year or not. I welcome your input, as you see it, in your comments here. It will be the agents responsibility to give... 11/26/2012