Vacation homes, get ‘em while they’re cheap

You might be able to afford a week in the Hamptons after all.
According to the National Association of Realtors, sales of vacation homes plummeted 31 percent last year in the United States. Sales of investment properties also fell 18 percent in the year.
That trend caused prices of vacation homes in East Hampton to fall 10 [...]

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Get used to the LIRR, just as it is

More bad news, thanks to the puttering economy.
The Long Island Rail Road has decided to take its service improvement plans off the tracks. The Metropolitan Transit Authority, which runs the LIRR, said it did not collect enough real estate taxes due to the slowdown in the market. Those taxes are usually used to fund improvement [...]

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Nassau, it’s not that bad

The credit crunch is hurting the entire country, as home prices slip and sales slow down in places from Caribou, Maine to San Bernardino, Calif. — and everything in-between.
But Nassau County doesn’t have it that bad, according to a feature in USA Today.
Sales are down 0.9 percent last month in Nassau, compared to 21.6 percent [...]

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We’ll see the sheriff now, Jeeves

They’re stacking the furniture outside the privet hedges on Further Lane in East Hampton.
Well, maybe not literally, but Financial Week is running a “how-the-mighty-have-fallen” story today about the foreclosure tsunami blowing through the summer playgrounds of Manhattan and Hollywood. One foreclosure was on a $15 million Further Lane pallazzo, and as many [...]

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The latest bizcast is live

Long Island Business News’ weekly podcast is back with our reporters’ notes on this week’s feature stories.
In this edition of LI Bizcast, real estate ace David Winzelberg details a growing segment of the real estate industry: brokers who cater to Hispanic buyers.
Then, co-host Ambrose Clancy files a report on local golf courses that are trying [...]

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The last podcast of 2007

Our latest weekly podcast episode is live, with a quick look at this week’s features.
In this edition of LI Bizcast, real estate reporter David Winzelberg explains how Melville, which has seen American Home Mortgage make a major exit this year, is still a hot destination point for metropolitan firms looking for a Long Island home.
And, [...]

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Newest LI Bizcast: Polimeni’s other plan

It’s … a … live, our weekly podcast with behind-the-story chats about this week’s feature stories.
In this edition of LI Bizcast, real estate ace David Winzelberg reports on a development plan floated by Polimeni International, and it’s not the developer’s idea to build a tunnel under the Long Island Sound. In this case, Polimeni is [...]

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The podcast is back (at the right time)

It’s Friday, the usual day we deliver our weekly podcast, and this show, our 40th, is just wonderful.
In this edition of LI Bizcast, real estate ace David Winzelberg looks at the Garden City Hotel, the landmark inn that is on the block, and being eyed by top firms.
Separately, Winzelberg explains why the Federal Reserve thinks [...]

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Feldman posts two losses

Great Neck-based Feldman Mall Properties, which owns shopping malls across the country, posted a second quarter loss of $4.9 million versus a profit of $24.4 million in the same period last year. A revenue slide hurt the company.
For Feldman, according to a story in The Business Review in Albany, that doesn’t mean a sale or [...]

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Brooklyn heights

While home prices fall throughout the United States, including around here, prices in NYC’s Brooklyn continue to soar.
Crain’s reports that home prices in Kings County soared 12 percent to $704,888 during the three months ended Sept. 30.
A few graphs from our friends to the west:
Brooklyn single family home prices rose 20.1% to $723,000 from a [...]

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It’s not so bad

The real estate market is in a midst of a collapse that will leave Long Islanders holding the bag on debt that easily outweighs the worth of their home. Isn’t that right?
Not so fast my friend.
Forbes on Monday released a list of best places for real estate deals - and wouldn’t you know it - [...]

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KPMG grabs L.I.’s Keen Consulting

The investment banking subsidiary of U.K.-based KPMG has snatched up a Long Island-based real estate services firm.
According to a brief published at Private Equity HUB, KPMG Corporate Finance purchased the assets of Keen Consultants of Great Neck. Financial terms of the deal were not disclosed.
Here’s the brief:
KPMG Corporate Finance has acquired substantially all of [...]

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Last week in residential real estate

Here’s a snap preview of the current residential real estate climate, courtesy of Long Island Profiles.
First up, Nassau.
For the week beginning Sept. 17, 311 properties were sold in the county, compared to 366 in the same week last year. The median price was $505,000 last week versus $495,000 year over year. And the total dollar [...]

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Newest LI Bizcast: The projects

The newest edition of LI Bizcast, an official podcast on Long Island Business News, is live with a conversational look at this week’s feature stories.
In this episode, real estate expert David Winzelberg reports on the multitudinous development projects moving forward, or backward, on Long Island. Indoor skiing anyone?
Next, co-host Ambrose Clancy reports on a new [...]

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Sluggish quarter for LI real estate

Real estate appraiser Miller Samuel’s latest report on the Long Island/Queens market suggests that these are indeed shaky times for local real estate.
The report, which excludes the Hamptons and North Fork markets, concludes the number of sales fell to 8,694 in the second quarter, down 5.6 percent from 9,210 units in the same period last [...]

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The Fresh Market eyes LI

Southern grocery store chain The Fresh Market is apparently looking for a good plot on Long Island to build one of its markets on.
According to Kamcity.com (the one-stop shop for Key Account Management), the Greensboro, N.C.-based market is looking for about 20,000 square feet in an upscale neighborhood in New Jersey, areas north of Manhattan [...]

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The podcast keeps coming

The newest edition of LI Bizcast, the official podcast of Long Island Business News, is live with our reporters’ extra look on this week’s features.
First David Reich-Hale reports on how economist Pearl Kamer disagrees with a recent housing outlook.
Then David Winzelberg shares the details of a scuffle over a Hempstead office building, Ross Daly reports [...]

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A podcast with a kick

This week’s episode of LI Bizcast, the official podcast of Long Island Business News, is live with feature stories, straight from the reporters’ mouths.
First, Ambrose Clancy looks at a new sparkling vodka on the specialty beverage front. That’s right, sparkling vodka.
Also, Claude Solnik reports on a new hedge fund, Laura Theis updates us on new [...]

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Never a stranger

Billy Joel, Long Island’s coveted troubadour, just won’t leave the Island.
While his former Centre Island estate is still up for sale, the musician agreed to buy a mansion in Sagaponak from Roy Scheider, the famous actor from the movie “Jaws.”
From the Associated Press story:

Scheider, who starred in “Jaws,” said he was selling the five-bedroom house [...]

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Allure’s 6th Extreme Makeover

East Meadow-based home improvement company Allure will be featured on ABCs Extreme Makeover: Home Edition for the sixth time this Sunday, May 20 from 7 p.m. to 9 p.m..
The episode surrounds a single mother in New York’s Putnam County, Debbie Oatman, and her four sons. Unfortunatly, three of her boys are HIV positive. For the [...]

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Real estate, the universal language

In any language, it comes down to “buy” and “sell” in real estate. But to navigate the labyrinth of homes on the market, a guide in your native tongue would be helpful.
That’s the Multiple Listing Service of Long Island’s hope. The organization, which culls Long Island home listings into one navigable online resource, said it [...]

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Hey, we’re talking here

The newest edition of LI Bizcast, the official podcast of Long Island Business News, is live with an inside look at this week’s top business stories.
First, reporter Dawn Wotapka Hardesty makes her last appearance on LI Bizcast with a report on how downtown Bay Shore is cleaning up, and growing.
And, yes, she’s leaving, but we’ll [...]

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Raising the roof is old hat here

Los Angeles is suffering from low vacancy rates in commercial space, but one California company has an uplifting idea to address the problem.
Marty Schiff, chief executive of Miami-based Rooflifters Inc. will tell members of the Los Angeles Economic Development Council that his business can raise the roofs of these buildings in order to add [...]

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Ronkonkoma firm to renovate in Albany

True North Development Group of Ronkonkoma is set to transform a former nursing home located in our state’s capital into something that offers beds to people of all ages.
The company paid $2.4 million for the Eden Park Nursing Home in Albany, and it said it will soon begin turning the former elder-care facility into an [...]

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Hamptons prices inflate … a bit

Last week, a survey said Long Island’s luxury home prices fell in the first quarter, but those figures excluded the high society Hamptons.
A survey released today says prices out east rose in the quarter, but they did so at the slowest pace in four years.
According to Suffolk Research Service Inc., the median price of a [...]

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The most wonderful time of the week

The podcast is back, and it’s spectacular.
This week’s LI Bizcast, the official podcast of Long Island Business News, features a report about security on Long Island’s college campuses.
The show also features a report on Charles Wang, the former owner of CA Inc. who was just accused of fraud.
And a New York firm spent $30 million [...]

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LI’s luxury homes selling for less

And the souring of Long Island’s housing market continues.
A report issued by Prudential Douglas Elliman Real Estate and appraiser Miller Samuel says the prices for luxury homes on Long Island and Queens fell 5.3 percent in the first quarter to a new median price of $900,000.
Also, it took 25 percent longer to sell these homes [...]

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It’s just a transition

Two more Long Island wine producers have put themselves up for sale and, at first glance, the move might have oenophiles worried their local appellations will sell to developers who favor McMansions over Chateau-worthy blends.
But fret not, says wine writer Lenn Thompson, even though newly for sale Lieb Cellars and Sherwood Cellars join Castello di [...]

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Sondock’s cents

Here’s what Cliff Sondock of the Land Use Institute, had to say about Levy’s and Suozzi’s high hopes for their county’s projects, The Hub and Yaphank.
It would be naive to think that 2 projects, both orchestrated by county government will alleviate Long Island’s economic problems. At some point business and government leaders need [...]

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Renting on LI, the stuff of dreams

If you’ve had trouble figuring out the affordable housing debate, consider it from a rental property perspective.
On a national basis, about 40 percent of the country’s housing stock is available as rental property. That number drops to 34 percent in an exclusive area like Westchester, but it plummets – to just 17 percent – on [...]

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