Don’t miss out.. you’ll be kicking your self and talking about the house (or property) you should’ve, could’ve, would’ve bought "back in 2010!"

The stats are in, the number of home sale buyers who agree to purchase a previously occupied home rose sharply in February according to the National Association of Realtors– far greater than predictions– The seasonally adjusted index of "O&A’s" (offer & acceptance) rose 8.2% from January to a February reading of 97.6. January’s reading was 90.2.

Here on Long Island we saw 1,555 contracts in February which was a 28.5% increase from January’s 1,210 according to MLS. These MLSLI (Multiple Listing Service of Long Island) are comparable to the NAR (National Association of Realtors) report on O&A’s accross the country.

the spring selling season is off to the races… don’t get left in the dust!

With the spring break behind us, the summer rental market is sizzling this year, quite a change from last year when many homeowners remained without viewings…or tenants, as the summer months came and went. There are many wonderful opportunities for your summer vacation rental and I’m finding them for customers for my next weekends customers.   

I’m here to report with great enthusiasm that things have changed dramatically for this coming summer season.  Properties are renting and homeowners and renters are delighted.  The surge of rental transactions despite previous weeks of snowstorms and hurricane like winds and rains has not dampened the spirits of those eager to see spring and summer ushered in.  Plans to enjoy the most wonderful beaches in America has created a "wave" of summer renters who are also seriously contemplating purchasing a home, as the interest rates remain steady, if only for a short time more.

As I do my research to look up listings and preview those I am about to show to rental customers, I am both pleased and a bit frustrated to find so many have already rented.  As a result, fewer homeowners are ringing my iPhone and asking me about the current rental market. Still there remain many fantastic summer rental properties that you will fall in love with…and may even decide you want to own!  

Come on out and select from our many hundreds of beautiful homes for rent…from a small summer cottage to a luxurious estate…we have them all!  I’m here to show you your dream retreat!   Remember, last year is just that…last year…we’re a happy Hamptons again!

Susan McGraw Keber  Associate Broker SVP  Town & Country Real Estate  Southampton Office

Some 1.5 hours outside of New York City, some 20 minutes from most of the Hamptons,  by car, by Hampton Jitney or by Long Island Railroad, you will find the North Fork…. a tiny peninsula accross the Peconic Bay from its famous South Fork, the Hamptons. (click for a Map of the North Fork) 

Many New Yorkers call the North Fork their best kept secret: a place to live while working in the City, or a place for a second home and enjoy the good things of life. The North Fork is surrounded by water, the Long Island Sound on the North, with spectacular homes overlooking the dunes and high bluffs towards Connecticut. To the South the North Fork encounters the Peconic Bay The Bay’s topography is characterized by many creeks and inlets allowing for many waterfront homes with their own (deep water) docks, with access to what many consider the world’s nicest fishing grounds for Sea Bass, Fluke and Bluefish; clams and lobsters are plentiful and the burgeoning oyster industry is famous on menues at the best restaurants not just locally, or in the City, but recently even worldwide. And through Shennecock you can reach the Atlantic’s best fishing grounds (The Canyon)  for sportsfishing and some of the most delicous Tuna – in itself a reason to come visit the North Fork if you like eating fish. To the South, the Bay between the Hamptons and the North Fork is called Peconic Bay, home to many charming and old whaling ports (Orient, Greenport)  with its charming whaling villages (Orient and Greenport), and the Tip of the North Fork point into the Atlantic Ocean. 

The Long Island Wine Council can provide you with information on all vineyards: lots off family fun atMartha Clara Vineyards, but certainly do not leave the Island without tasting some of the local Champagnes. 

I will be atSparkling Point this New Year’s eve… a great new vineyard at Hortons Lane and the North Road in Southold, and great members of the Community.And for a serious Beautiful local Merlot: try the Macari Bergen Road Merlot…

The North Fork has succeeded in maintaining its rural, agricultural character, with a life style many modern cisitzens of the World aspire to: eat and drink local foods and wine, and be connected to the soil! We have come far from the days of endless potato farms – the potatoes left are now the finest only! But Satur Farms and Sang Lee Farms show how specialty farming can succeed: they now are purveyors of the finest and most delicious and healthy produce served in top restaurants.

There’s lots to do on the North Fork. Check this blog out for current affairs and stuff to do in this great place:

For New Years Eve: The restaurants are providing a great wealth of quality places to be romantic or to see and be seen. The crew of "The Romantics" (Tom Cruise and Katie Holmes, Murphy Brown’s Candice Bergen and Elijah Wood were seen hanging out in Greenport at FOB and the Frisky Oyster – for the celebrity watchers among you). And some local gossip: Dennis Mc Dermott sold his famous and successful restaurant and one of my favorite places to hang out: the Frisky Oyster in Greenport. New Year’s will be his last night, and we wish his chef success after taking over. And the FOB is sold to Noah, the chef of the Seafood Barge.  Change is good!

So come be a part of the North Fork and check things out. Stay a while, and let me and Nicholas at Town and Country help you find a place to stay more permanently if you like! We look forward to meeting you and introducing you to our local friends.

Today’s WSJ reports trader & investment bankers are spending on luxury items on the QT.

The focus was on the parallels between big bonuses and big spending. WSJ used the example of spending from $15,000-a-week-caribbean vacations to $200,000 platinum watches… and of course hi end real estate in NYC and the revered home in the Hamptons.

In the Hamptons the number of home sales in the 3rd Quarter of this year dramatically increased over the 2nd Quarter 2009 as well as increased from the same period (3rd Q 2008).

Bonuses are considerably lower than 2007 figures.

With all the bad PR these bonuses are getting, it seems the receipients are being told to be discrete in their spending.

The good news for the overall economy is they ARE spending it! Undeniably, this fuels the US economy and trickels down to everyone from the home seller to the shop keeper to the tax collector… 

In this internet driven business world, Town & Country Real Estate has once again raised the bar for all others!

We are pleased to announce our latest aquisitions of www.HamptonsRealEstateInfo.com , www.NorthForkRealEstateInfo.com and www.ShelterIslandRealEstateInfo.com .

These 3 very important URLs or web addresses not only increase Town & Country’s exposure on the internet exponentially, which will drive buyers and sellers to our www.1TownandCountry.com , but shall increase business dramatically for our select group of dynamic real estate professionals.

These web sites, just as www.1TownandCountry.com has become, will be portholes for all information regarding real estate in each unique area… THE resource centers for buyers, sellers and agents alike when researching homes, land, commercial and rentals.

We look forward to servicing your real estate needs on the Eastern End of Long Island, NY, USA

Town & Country Real Estate, your local real estate resource!

Remember you learned about this great secret at Town & Country’s blog first: a leg up on all the people searching for fabulous real estate opportunities: one for the record books:

(And don’t forget about us when you become rich and famous…..) this is a bit of a long blog: the secret is at the end of the blog!  Shhhh don’t tell anyone…….

The charming and historic maritime village of Greenport, judged by the number and caliber of new business openings lately, this Town is booming. Without any exaggeration. Much of the news centers around the theme of what everybody loves on the North Fork: Fish(ing), Food (Agritourism) and Wine, and the places to go and stay to take it all in. Greenport is in the center of all that is happening in the North Fork, New York’s Wine Country.

Take for example the Greenport Harbor Brewing company opened this summer…just behind Front Street, next to what looks like a Wild West Jail building where Greenport’s mischievous would have been housed temporarily in the past, the hustle-bustle tourist part of the Town.

A bit further down Main Street, just past Frank Purita’s  D’Latte (where you will enjoy the best Italian Gelato West of Rome) Nello Balan, culinary celebrity in Manhattan and South Hampton, is re-opening the former "Isle de Beaute" restaurant as "Seaweed".  Construction is underway there, and ground was broken for the large scale renovation at the site just accross the street where Nello will open a Hotel

 One of my favorite restaurateur’s on the North Fork, Dennis McDermott (FOH) and Hank Tomashevski (who scored a 7 year hit with the Frisky Oyster Restaurant ) opened Frisky Oyster Bar on Front Street…. with dining "al fresco" finally on Front Street overlooking the Carroussel and Souhold Bay/Greenport Harbor.

Mayor Kapell oversaw years of redevelopment of the Greenport Waterfront resulting in a quite attractive and family friendly down town in this spectacular yet cozy Maritime Town.

Family style "This little Italian Place" opened this week on Front Street with Southold’s favourite Italian Son, Joe Pagano returning to cooking family style Italian food and again, finally al fresco dining! And all these great places from simple to expensive are all walking distance in a 3 or 4 block area of Greenport’s waterfront Down-town. And don’t forget the welcome additions from previous years: (without getting into the Starbucks love-it or hate-it discussion) : The Loft (& Harborfront Deli), Barbeque Bill’s,and if you didn’t bring something appropriate to wear -whatever that means on the North Fork- ladies: visit Mint Boutique!!!

So now the catch-all secret: Greenport Real Estate, with the most charming fixer uppers on quiet, tree-lined avenues looking for tender love and restoring care, galant Victorians entirely restored, or glorious waterfronts, Greenport real estate has never been more affordable, is basically "ON SALE".

Check out also the special incentives for First Time Home Buyers, which bring these fixer uppers entirely within financial reach – you may be very pleasantly surprised! Call Town and Country’s family of local Real Estate professionals for more information, or email me at jbischoff@1townandcountry.com.

Buy a home now in Greenport. You’ll be glad you did. Before anyone else finds out what’s been happening!

It comes as no surprise that 2 of the Top 10 Beaches in the Nation are right here on Long Island, and for those of us fortunate enough to live here on the East End.. right in our back yard!

Yes, Cooper’s Beach in Southampton ranked #3 and Main Beach, East Hampton #6 in the entire United States according to Dr. Beach… coastal expert Stephen P. Leatherman, Director for Coastal Research at Florida International University.

The #1 most beautiful beach in America goes to Hanalei Bay on the Hawaiian island of Kauai.

According to Dr. Beach, he rates them via factors such as water quality, sand texture, safety, facilities and maintenance of the surrounding environment.

Being an East Hampton resident, I am partial to our local beaches… even after visiting almost all the beaches on Dr, Beach’s list.. which include Siesta Beach, Sarasota, Florida; Coronado Beach, San Diego, California; Hamoa Beach, Maui, Hawaii; Cape Hatteras, Outer Banks,N.C.; Cape Florida State Park, Key Biscayne, Florida; Coast Guard Beach, Cape Cod, Mass; Beachwalker Park, Kiawah Island, S.C. I’d like to invite Dr. Beach to visit some of my personal favorites like the hidden ones in Montauk & Sag Harbor… then let’s go watch the sunset from Southold!

Once again the Village of East Hampton has new signets— seven signets to be exact. After months of sitting on the nest nestled on the south west corner of Town Pond on Main Street in East Hampton, the signets were born just prior to Memorial Weekend – in time to welcome all the summer visitors to the East End. As the little fluff balls took to the water immediately, mother and father swan were quick to keep their eyes on them, as well as keep on-lookers at a safe distance. Like many a celebrity in The Hamptons, all signets and both swans are used to the paparazzi  including the one that really stands out — the little yellow fuzzy duck – oops, we mean signet.

Once you see the lifeguard stands on the beach you can be certain that the Summer in The Hamptons is here, just as certain as you can be that cash registers will be ringing, traffic will be backed up, restaurants will be bustling, Main Street will be full of shoppers, the smell of sun tan lotion will be prevalent, the sun will be shining and you’ll have sand between your toes. But after a very,  long and cold winter, all of the aforementioned are welcomed with open arms.

Here’s to Summer 2009 in The Hamptons.