tag:weblogs.newsday.com,2009:/realestate/blog//136 2009-07-27T19:59:28Z Buying and Selling Real Estate in the Communities of Long Island Movable Type 3.36 tag:weblogs.newsday.com,2009:/realestate/blog//136.206157 2009-07-27T20:00:00Z 2009-07-27T19:59:28Z

Real LI has moved, so make sure to bookmark the new site....

Valerie Kellogg the new site.]]> tag:weblogs.newsday.com,2009:/realestate/blog//136.205639 2009-07-21T16:25:17Z 2009-07-21T22:17:24Z

Attorney Bruce A. Blakeman has gone a little bit country. The former presiding officer of the Nassau County Legislature (1996-1999) has purchased a six-bedroom, four-bath home in Water Mill near the 2009 Hampton Designer Showhouse. “It’s a casual farmhouse...

Valerie Kellogg Attorney Bruce A. Blakeman has gone a little bit country. The former presiding officer of the Nassau County Legislature (1996-1999) has purchased a six-bedroom, four-bath home in Water Mill near the 2009 Hampton Designer Showhouse. “It’s a casual farmhouse ... nothing fancy,” Blakeman says. Public records show that he paid $2 million for the 1.01-acre property. “I fell in love with the area,” Blakeman says. “Water Mill is a beautiful area, close to the beach and with a very rural and agricultural feel.” The house is next to an agricultural preserve, and he says he plans to spend long weekends there this summer. Blakeman is a Manhattan resident and partner in the Lake Success law firm Abrams, Fensterman, Fensterman, Eisman, Greenberg, Formato & Einiger, LLP. He previously owned a home in East Hampton with ex-wife Nancy Shevell, who is currently dating Amagansett resident Sir Paul McCartney. - LAURA MANN Newsday photo / Valerie Kellogg]]> tag:weblogs.newsday.com,2009:/realestate/blog//136.205494 2009-07-20T21:00:35Z 2009-07-20T21:08:31Z

Manhasset native Stephen Fanuka, who calls himself “contractor to the stars,” was featured on a “do-good” segment of NBC-TV’S “Open House To The Rescue” on Sunday. The half-hour episode, hosted by George Oliphant, focused on an upstate New York...

Valerie Kellogg Manhasset native Stephen Fanuka, who calls himself “contractor to the stars,” was featured on a “do-good” segment of NBC-TV’S “Open House To The Rescue” on Sunday. The half-hour episode, hosted by George Oliphant, focused on an upstate New York family in need of a new kitchen. - BETH WHITEHOUSE Stephen Fanuka and George Oliphant Permission by Stephen Fanuka]]> tag:weblogs.newsday.com,2009:/realestate/blog//136.205424 2009-07-20T16:21:22Z 2009-07-20T16:23:09Z

Marshall Watson's room at the Hampton Designer Showhouse may be on the first floor, but the Manhattan-based designer spent a lot of time the last few days in the basement of the Water Mill home. Watson was flipping channels...

Valerie Kellogg Marshall Watson's room at the Hampton Designer Showhouse may be on the first floor, but the Manhattan-based designer spent a lot of time the last few days in the basement of the Water Mill home. Watson was flipping channels on the TV for news about his brother, golfer Tom Watson. At 59, Tom Watson was the oldest player to lead the British Open or any major golf championship. On Sunday, he lost. "Am I disappointed?" Marshall Watson asks Monday. "Of course. But, he adds, "Tom certainly ensured his legacy as a great golfer." Watson says he doesn't play golf (and that his brother doesn't decorate). But he knows good golf when he sees it. "He gave golf an entertaining week," says Watson. - VALERIE KELLOGG Permission by Craig de Groot]]> tag:weblogs.newsday.com,2009:/realestate/blog//136.200878 2009-07-19T10:08:00Z 2009-07-19T10:13:24Z

This house in East Meadow is for sale. Retake this photo, please ......

Valerie Kellogg East Meadow is for sale. Retake this photo, please ...]]> tag:weblogs.newsday.com,2009:/realestate/blog//136.200877 2009-07-18T10:10:00Z 2009-07-18T10:11:15Z

This house in Center Moriches is for sale. Retake this photo, please ......

Valerie Kellogg Center Moriches is for sale. Retake this photo, please ...]]> tag:weblogs.newsday.com,2009:/realestate/blog//136.204998 2009-07-17T13:23:05Z 2009-07-17T20:36:14Z

Long Island native Amy Sklar is one of 10 designers on the fourth season of HDTV’s "Design Star," which premieres at 10 p.m. Sunday on the cable TV network. Sklar lived in Lawrence as a child and is a...

Valerie Kellogg Long Island native Amy Sklar is one of 10 designers on the fourth season of HDTV’s "Design Star," which premieres at 10 p.m. Sunday on the cable TV network. Sklar lived in Lawrence as a child and is a graduate of Lynbrook High School. She has come back to Long Island for almost every summer vacation since then, to stay with her mom and stepfather in their century-old clapboard house, a house that, her publicist says, “influenced her eclectic style.” In true Long Island fashion, she says on her HDTV profile that her favorite vacation destination is a “quiet beach.” Today Sklar lives in Los Angeles with her husband, comedian Randy Sklar, and two children. - DANIELLE DEBOUVER Permission by HDTV]]> tag:weblogs.newsday.com,2009:/realestate/blog//136.200065 2009-07-17T10:10:00Z 2009-07-17T10:24:58Z

This house in North Babylon is for sale. Retake this photo, please ......

Valerie Kellogg Babylon is for sale. Retake this photo, please ...]]> tag:weblogs.newsday.com,2009:/realestate/blog//136.204928 2009-07-16T21:38:39Z 2009-07-16T21:50:44Z

Real estate agent Roberta Cerasi is looking for buyers who do not have a ton of time to shop around for a new home. So over the last two years, Cerasi, an agent at Glen Key Realty in Glen...

Valerie Kellogg Real estate agent Roberta Cerasi is looking for buyers who do not have a ton of time to shop around for a new home. So over the last two years, Cerasi, an agent at Glen Key Realty in Glen Cove, has hosted roughly 10 “twilight” open houses. It was at one of these open houses that Cerasi says one couple told her: “We always wanted to see this house; we never get a minute.” She says she hopes to attract buyers like that — those who are busy on weekends and during the day, both times when open houses usually are held. “In the summer, all kinds of things come up … On a Friday night, if you’re driving to go somewhere … it’s a really easy way to see a house in a relaxed setting.” Her next twilight event is from 5 to 6:30 p.m. Friday at the three-bedroom, one-bathroom home at 8 Southridge Dr. in Glen Cove. The asking price is $365,000. Cerasi, who is co-listing the house with agent Mishelle Berger Calo, will be serving lemonade and cookies at the home’s tiki bar. — DANIELLE DEBOUVER]]> tag:weblogs.newsday.com,2009:/realestate/blog//136.204655 2009-07-16T18:13:00Z 2009-07-17T17:54:39Z

Earlier this week, Cityfile reported that designer Tory Burch had filed plans with Southampton’s Architectural Review Board to raze her Meadow Lane home and build a new one. Burch’s spokeswoman Garine Zerounian tells REAL LI that Burch is rebuilding,...

Laura Mann Earlier this week, Cityfile reported that designer Tory Burch had filed plans with Southampton’s Architectural Review Board to raze her Meadow Lane home and build a new one. Burch’s spokeswoman Garine Zerounian tells REAL LI that Burch is rebuilding, “due to the extreme water damage the house suffered when pipes burst during the Winter a couple of years ago.” Despite reports that Burch paid her ex-husband $22.5 million for the home, Zerounian says, “Tory did not purchase the home outright from Chris Burch. She received the house as part of their divorce settlement.” The Burches originally had purchased the home as a foreclosure for, “about $1.8 million,” she says, not $14 million as had been reported. — LAURA MANN Los Angeles Times photo by Rick Loomis]]> tag:weblogs.newsday.com,2009:/realestate/blog//136.204820 2009-07-16T16:08:54Z 2009-07-16T16:15:43Z

Someone has rented the Bridgehampton home known as the Sandcastle for $425,000 for two weeks in August, says owner-developer Joe Farrell. Farrell was originally asking $500,000. The estate on Halsey Lane, which was once scoped out by a rep...

Valerie Kellogg Someone has rented the Bridgehampton home known as the Sandcastle for $425,000 for two weeks in August, says owner-developer Joe Farrell. Farrell was originally asking $500,000. The estate on Halsey Lane, which was once scoped out by a rep for the Jonas Brothers, has virtual golf, a DJ booth and recording studio, a movie theater with a planetarium on the ceiling, a heated gunite pool with an underwater stereo, and a two-lane bowling alley. The 30,000-square-foot house is still on the market for $59.5 million. — DANIELLE DEBOUVER]]> tag:weblogs.newsday.com,2009:/realestate/blog//136.204693 2009-07-16T15:28:00Z 2009-07-16T15:29:21Z

The number of home sales contracts may be up from a year ago, as Newsday reports, but the number of home closings are still down compared to last year. There were 2,111 closings in June, down from 2,229 a year...

Ellen Yan http://weblogs.newsday.com/realestate/blog/2007/09/all_about_ellen.html Newsday reports, but the number of home closings are still down compared to last year. There were 2,111 closings in June, down from 2,229 a year ago, according to the Multiple Listing Service of Long Island, which also covers Queens. Officials at the Long Island Board of Realtors say they hope that the growing number of contracts, fueled by first-time home buyers, means real estate market is recovering. Housing activity usually speeds up during the spring and summer months. — ELLEN YAN]]> tag:weblogs.newsday.com,2009:/realestate/blog//136.200064 2009-07-16T10:13:00Z 2009-07-16T12:06:04Z

This house in Huntington is for sale. Retake this photo, please ......

Valerie Kellogg Huntington is for sale. Retake this photo, please ...]]> tag:weblogs.newsday.com,2009:/realestate/blog//136.204698 2009-07-15T23:58:31Z 2009-07-16T02:24:32Z

The family of a Ziegfeld Follies actress has put her East Hampton house, Swan Cove, on the market for $22.5 million. Mary Howard de Liagre died June 8 at the age of 94. Her family owned the six-bedroom, 5.5-bath...

Valerie Kellogg The family of a Ziegfeld Follies actress has put her East Hampton house, Swan Cove, on the market for $22.5 million. Mary Howard de Liagre died June 8 at the age of 94. Her family owned the six-bedroom, 5.5-bath house on Hook Pond for 35 years, says son, Nick, who works in the venture capital business. The farmhouse, built in the early 1900s, is a converted dairy, he says. The 3.08-acre property is near the Maidstone Club, where de Liagre was a member. "It's not a big house," says Nick de Liagre, but adds, "It's a lovely property." According to her obituary in the East Hampton Star, De Liagre was under contract with MGM, where she made more than 30 films under the name Mary Howard. She was married to Alfred de Liagre, a Broadway producer and director who died in 1987. The house is listed with Ed Petrie of Sotheby's International Realty, who declined to comment. - VALERIE KELLOGG Photo courtesy of the East Hampton Star]]> tag:weblogs.newsday.com,2009:/realestate/blog//136.204582 2009-07-15T18:24:00Z 2009-07-15T18:25:01Z

Real estate appraiser Jonathan Miller wants to set the record straight – there was no “housing boom.” Miller sees a more accurate term for what happened all those years that people bought homes left and right, thinking real estate...

Ellen Yan http://weblogs.newsday.com/realestate/blog/2007/09/all_about_ellen.html Real estate appraiser Jonathan Miller wants to set the record straight – there was no “housing boom.” Miller sees a more accurate term for what happened all those years that people bought homes left and right, thinking real estate prices could defy the laws of gravity. “There was a credit boom with a housing boom symptom,” said Miller, who has tracked home sales on Long Island and New York City for years. “Or mortgage boom. Borrowing boom. Or clueless-to-risk boom.” In talking about dried-up lending for high-end home sales in today’s Newsday, Miller notes that the housing market is usually a “lagging” indicator of the nation’s economic health but became a “leading” indicator during the years of easy credit. “That was a period where housing was driving the economy,” said the cofounder and chief executive of the Manhattan-based Miller Samuel appraisal firm. “I read somewhere that more than 60 percent of new jobs created over the last decade were housing related, and that was driven by credit. Housing was in front of the economy. It was the leading indicator. “But generally it’s always a lagging indicator, because it trails unemployment and it trails credit conditions. People need to have a job and they need to afford to borrow in order to buy a house. During the credit boom, if you had a pulse, that’s pretty much all you needed. You didn’t have to prove your income. You didn’t have to show much of your debt. It was just detached from reality. That’s all over.” Now, housing is back to being a lagging indicator, behind unemployment. With unemployment at a 26-year high of 9.5 percent and no sunny forecast soon, Miller said he thinks it’ll be at least a year or maybe two before Long Island’s real estate market, especially the luxury home sector, settles on a stable foundation. While he does see price drops slowing down, Miller pooh-poohs those saying Long Island’s housing market is in recovery due to activity in spring and summer, which are prime housing hunting seasons when sales and closing prices usually see an uptick anyway. “So how can you call a bottom?” he said. “It’s a little premature, isn’t it? You can look at the ‘green shoots of spring,’ but in reality, what drives home purchases? It’s having a job and qualifying for a mortgage.” — ELLEN YAN]]>