Breitenbach Real Estate

The snow has finally melted from the Hamptons! The cold is still here, but at least there is not much snow left.

As I look out the window in my office in Bridgehampton, I am wondering what will happen to the Hamptons real estate market in 2010? The Christmas bonanza has finally ended. The year is at a close and it is now a time to reflect. My mother and I did over $120 millon in sale transactions in 2009. Considering the economic climate, I think that speaks directly to the true uniqueness of the Hamptons market. There were great signs there that the Hamptons real estate market was begining to balance and that 2010 would continue those feelings. The New York Times thought a little different (http://www.nytimes.com/2009/12/30/business/economy/30econ.html?ref=business). When I read these articles though, I don’t believe every word because the Hamptons is such a different market. The Hamptons is it’s own beast. These articles that broadly span the real estate markets across the whole country should not directly correlate what is going on in the Hamptons.

The Hamptons market is it’s own geographic climate all together. It moves different. It reacts different. It most certainly grows different then 98% of the real estate markets in the country.

As I sit here and reflect about 2010, I feel that if the economic calamity of 2009 could not sink the Hamptons real estate market I don’t know if anything can. I am not saying the Hamptons are as vibrant as ever, but I am saying there is something about the Hamptons that makes it special, unique, and a place that will always hold value even while the world is burning around it. That “something” about the Hamptons is tough to pinpoint exactly. It is tough to define. The Hamptons beauty is special. The connection to New York city is special. The embilical cord to Wall Street is special. The celebrities. The beaches. The clubs. All special.

I don’t know exactly where I am going with all this, but I do know I do enjoy working and living in this special place. As I gaze out the window into the cold and crisp December air, a smile is able to creep on my face because I know 2010 cannot possibly be as disheartening and scary as 2009. Maybe it can. I am optimist though and I know once 2010 comes upon us, and the grass eventually turns green again, and the beaches open as winter turns to spring to summer. I have faith the Hamptons will once again show us how special she truly is.

What am I doing…

I am up early this morning, editing and uploading listings to one of the many websites we advertise on www.luxuryrealestate.com and writing this wonderful blog.

What’s on my mind…

The epic snowstorm of 2009. The many roads of the Hamptons are still a mess. They are a interesting collage of rutted sludge and ice. The mammoth mounds of plowed snow on the either side of the road has turned simple country roads into traffic jams. The snow is rather imposing and the size and mass of the snow mounds has reduced the size of the roads by at least 1/3. This makes for interesting turns as you usually end up facing on coming traffic, before skidding sideways and praying not to end up bumper first into a snow bank. So much for the “quattro track” Audi.

Before this once and a lifetime snowstorm, the Hamptons real estate market was seeing it’s best action in years. November and December are usually quite. This year every broker, including myself was busy. I made more money in the last few months then I did my entire real estate career. My career spans 5 years, but still, I started in a red hot market and still made more money then ever during the last few months of 2009. The Holiday season which usually balloons retail sales actually made it’s way into the Hamptons real estate market for once. This was much different from last year. I was a lot more weary shopping for Christmas gifts. I didn’t know if I’d ever make a good sum of money in real estate again.

My problem with the epic snowstorm of 2009 is…

Ever since the epic snowstorm of 2009 made it’s way up the coast. Ever since that big green and white blob showed up on weather screens up and down the east coast, the Hamptons market has once again returned to it’s traditional form. It is all quiet on the western front. The storm in a way scared people away. They didn’t make their weekend trips to the Hamptons. The storm has even delayed closings. I have a showing on Saturday at one of my listings in Water Mill. The owner, a Miami based developer, refuses to plow his driveway. His exact quote, “has all the snow gone yet?” No, it hasn’t. Not even close. He has no clue. I drove by his road yesterday. The only access into the subdivision is a one way plowed path big enough to fit about one car. I don’t even want to imagine what his driveway looks like or what it would be like to bring a customer over to view the house. That is something out of a real estate nightmare.

“Isn’t this a beautiful house?”

“Now please exit the vehicle and work your way through these 5ft. snow drifts.”

I think I speak for all real estate people when I say, let this snow leave as quickly as it came and lets get back to business.

Life in the eyes of a Hamptons Broker.

-Matt Breitenbach