Episode 91 - Vincent Horcasitas

Discussing What It Takes To Sell Hamptons Real Estate

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Transcript

Andrew Doud 0:21

Yeah, he is. Is is that's I I mean that's T slogan, right? The man is always, always hustling. Vincent Horcasitas, thanks for joining us today. How are you, sir?

SPEAKER_01 0:30

I'm doing great. Happy to be here. Beautiful day in the Hamptons for November with this. We're blessed with this uh great um weather.

Dave Rattiner 0:37

Indian summer yeah, Indian summer.

Andrew Doud 0:39

Yeah, this is good. I mean, this is uh good weather. Uh and and look, for you it doesn't stop. So what's what's going on? And what are you seeing in the market? What are you seeing uh with your listings? You're you're busy.

SPEAKER_01 0:49

Well, you know, it's been a it's been a great year. Um, you know, I'm very thankful to have done probably uh over 50 rentals this year, and I've I've got about 40 properties that are sold and closed um for this year already, um, you know, ranging in price point from anywhere from under 700,000 up to uh 20 million. So it's um it's been a good year, and um, you know, I see um I see a bright future.

Steve Glick 1:15

50 rentals. 50 you you were that so are these rentals, let's start on that first. You said you're you're gonna put in 50 tenants into the houses. Is that for a just the summer season or is that year-round off-season?

SPEAKER_01 1:28

What what periods of is that so what the that was those were year-round rentals, those were summer rentals. Um now what's happening, and what I'm really seeing is a lot of people are uh taking their rentals. There it's it's very active. I've done just recently in the last couple weeks, probably 10 different rentals, ranging from you know a year-round rental for sixty thousand dollars to uh July through Labor Day for you know two hundred and fifty thousand dollars.

Steve Glick 1:51

Are people already renting for next summer? Have you seen that yet?

SPEAKER_01 1:54

Yeah, yeah, I'm doing quite a few of those. Yeah. A lot of people are getting that out of the way. People, you know, they the early money in in rentals, in my opinion, come early. People like to get it out of the way. And you know, the better rentals get rented at that period of time. Of course, other rentals come on at different periods of time, but for the most part, people really like um you know, getting that out of the way. They don't want to be struggling and smaller.

Steve Glick 2:18

Yeah, they want to they know they're gonna be out here this summer, so they say, hey, I want to lock up a rental.

Dave Rattiner 2:22

Now some people would say you're like a such an echel top echelon uh real estate broker. But you do rental. Yeah, well you are. You know some people, you it's a fact. But you know, I would say I feel like it's it doesn't surprise me because I know you, but I feel like it would surprise other people to know that you're doing rentals and you're doing you know low-level. A large amount of them, too. Yeah, you don't care. A$60,000 rental is it's not a big it's not a big commission day for you. No, I find it. But you do it.

SPEAKER_01 2:52

I find it interesting because the the general public they'll they'll call you and they'll say something like, You don't do rentals, do you? And I'm like, Of course I do rentals. Yeah, real estate agent. Of course I do rentals.

Steve Glick 3:02

You do it all. That's why you're you're you were like like Andrew said, introducing you the hardest working um broker in the Hamptons. Now you said you've done 40 sales. 40 sales. And these sales range all different price points, right? I know you represent a lot of properties that are priced in the high end over 10, over 20 million, but you're also selling, you just sold a home under a million dollars, right?

SPEAKER_01 3:22

Yeah. Well, I just put a house into contract for a million two seventy-five in in uh in the springs, and I'm closing on a pr on a piece of land fully permitted uh for six hundred and seventy-five thousand uh tomorrow. So it's it does range in, you know, in different price points. Uh um but you know that you know it's always misconstrued with the Hamptons. Everybody thinks that you do, you know, if you're a if you're a top broker, you know, the meat of your pie is done with um uh you know your tens and twenty million dollars. Those aren't those aren't make it up, you know, they don't make it up. I think we're gonna talk a little bit about that today. It's like, you know, you really have to be active in this under$2 million price point to be a good broker out here. That's where the the 80% of your deals are gonna happen. Absolutely.

Steve Glick 4:06

You nailed it on the head because at the firm, you know, Saunders and Associates last year we've done about$2.6 billion in sales. And when you break down the numbers and really look at where were those price points, about 50% of the the activity that we're doing at Saunders is priced under um like three million dollars, you know. So under two to three million dollars is the bulk of the listings we're selling here. And there's a large amount of them, you know. Like like you said, Vince, it's not all about these headlining listings about the 10s and 20s. We do certainly do our fair share of those, but a lot of the business is happening under that three million three million mark. But Vince, let me ask you something.

Dave Rattiner 4:41

You know, like uh do you uh do the other real estate agents that are at that level, what 10 million and up, do a lot of them don't do really the they they don't they kind of specialize in the 10 million and up and then and then they don't really deal with anything below that. You you're do you are you different that way?

SPEAKER_01 4:59

Well I think I'm different in a couple different ways. Uh I think a lot of the top, top brokers, you know, uh kind of ship it in in the sense that they're not always there, you know, doing the showings on the top-notch, you know. They they have they have people that are on their team that are doing a lot of it. What I kind of pride myself in is I'm I'm the guy with the brochure that's there doing the showing. It could be a two million dollar property, it could be a million dollar property, or it could be a a$20 million property. I try to be there and be boots on the ground. Um I don't always do the open houses, but I'm there um you know, I'm there to show it. And I think that's a big differential uh with myself, I I feel, towards the yeah, yeah.

Dave Rattiner 5:39

You're you're uh you're up I mean, every time I walk in the door here, he's already here.

Steve Glick 5:43

It's crazy. Not many agents can can successfully say they sold over 200 million in a single year. And if you have you have done this multiple years, uh reaching that number, and it's uh it's selling everything from rentals to sales under a million, twenty million, you're you're able to uh just you know work with c your clients on all price points and really help them. And uh and you and you show up, you care about the the customers, the clients, you answer your phone. I think that was one of your biggest things is that you you're there to answer the calls, answer emails, and be attentive to to the uh needs of your clients. And I think that shows, and that's how you people say, Well, how do you make how do you sell 200 million? What's the secret? What is the secret, Vince? It it should be simple.

SPEAKER_01 6:30

It's it's pretty simple. It's you know, showing up. You know, a lot of it is just being, you know, it can't be it can't be that simple.

Dave Rattiner 6:36

I mean you say that, but it's like it can't be that simple.

SPEAKER_01 6:38

It's not that simple, but it's you know, it is it'll a lot of it is is showing up and being there and being attentive to your clients, you know. Your clients are you know putting a lot of trust in you on you know on multi, multi-million dollar properties, and you have to take pride in what you do. And I try to I try to really be there and and and take pride in what I do.

Andrew Doud 6:58

Well, in the interest of the World Series, I'll say that the 10, 20, 30 million dollar sales are like the home runs, right? But like the base hits can kind of win the game. And you're doing it's nice, it's nice to yeah, it's nice to hit the home runs every once in a while, but that two million and under, you know, that can that can be very lucrative if you're if you know about enough and the rentals.

Steve Glick 7:20

Where do you see this market going right now? Here we are, you know, it's November, you know, the first November 3rd, and we're we're rounding out the year. Where do you see the year rounding out and where do you see it going as we come into the new year in 2023?

SPEAKER_01 7:33

Well, I see that, you know, listen, we're we're in November, and November and December are always uh the slower two months of the year. You know, I think, you know, uh uh, you know, we're really, you know, the it it'll we'll we'll get a better handle on that the second week of January because that's sort of when people are again ramp up the looking for the rentals, ramp up looking to buy something. Uh, again for the summer. Yeah. And you know, it's I think that you know we're still, you know, it's not like it's dead out here and there's nothing going on. It is, you know, things are happening, people are you know outlooking. It's back to regular real estate. I would that that's the way I would uh segment the uh the the market is that it's we're back to 2018, 2019 of how not not you know we have we have we're sure we're of a shortage of inventory out here, but we still have a lot of buyers that are looking to be out here. And because of that, um there's I think there's a little bit of friction between the seller and the buyer right now. The buyer with the climate of uh of the world is kind of saying, hey, we should we deserve a good deal, and the seller's still kind of stuck on their on their on their price where it was close to COVID numbers. So I think that's gonna, there's gotta be a little bit of a give there. Um but the inventory is making the market still push forward.

Steve Glick 8:48

So inventory, you you represent a lot of listings, a lot of great listings, and um I wanted to talk about too today some really cool new construction moderns that are kind of like never seen before out here in the Hamptons, the way they're built, and that's um 200 Rose Hill and 88 Roseway, both built by the same builder. What what's unique about these two homes?

SPEAKER_01 9:09

Well, first of all, uh a payolino development is uh building homes out here, or no one else is really building a home like him. It's uh you know uh 88 Roseway, let's start off with. There's uh it's 12,000 square feet on an acre and a half. Um it's built out of uh concrete, steel, glass, wow, and marble. I love this house. I really love this house. It's unbelievable.

Dave Rattiner 9:30

We've been through it a couple times.

SPEAKER_01 9:31

You know, it has all the bells and whistles, uh, you know, three levels. You can you're close to the beach. You could you couldn't reproduce the property for the price that he's selling it for. If you went out and tried to buy an acre and a half property that accommodates tennis south of the highway, and then you know, you're looking at somewhere between six and eight million dollars, and then you at the level of construction with the you know, this has a chef's kitchen, this has uh, you know, uh 10 bedrooms, 13 baths, it's just just a you know uh colossal of the city.

Dave Rattiner 10:01

You can get lost in it.

SPEAKER_01 10:02

The only wood that's in the house is the um is the staircase. Other than that, it's uh you know, uh it's just uh glass and steel.

Steve Glick 10:09

It's a modern marvel masterpiece.

Dave Rattiner 10:12

I love walking in. It's so powerful walking into the huge door. So it's like you pull on the door and it's just the two of you walk and you're like, holy crap, look at this.

Steve Glick 10:21

If you love modern, you want something unique, 88 Rose Way is it. It's it's a piece of art. And when you look at it, you just you marvel in the beauty of of how how unique and how cool this home is.

Dave Rattiner 10:33

And that everything's marble, everything feels so solid. You walk like you, you know, I guess.

Steve Glick 10:37

It's a fresh, you feel good, you feel good walking through it. Yeah. So now you have 200 Rose Hill. This one's under construction, but uh we drive past it, you know, pretty much every once a week, and it's construction's moving so fast. You already got some of the landscape again. What's going on over there at 200 Rose Hill?

SPEAKER_01 10:53

Well, that is uh 2.4 acres, and it it sits on a 68-acre reserve facing west. Um sunken tennis court, accessory structure. Um again, the modern design, but he keeps upping the ante. This is even, you know, the windows from floor to ceiling. The ceiling heights are 12 feet on the on the first floor and 11 on the second. All the door heights in there are 10 feet, I believe. And just, you know, the master on the second floor overlooking the uh the reserve facing west. It's just you know, 12 foot ceilings in the basement. It's just it's just it's amazing this house. I I was over there yesterday and and it's just uh phenomenal.

Steve Glick 11:33

That that house is built like a tank. There's like hurricane windows. I mean that that could withstand any climate, any type of weather, any anything that comes out that house, that thing's not moving at all. And that again is built with your concrete, your steel, the marble, and again, no wood, right?

SPEAKER_01 11:49

No wood. Yeah, it really is that's wild. No wood, man.

Dave Rattiner 11:52

Yeah. It's cool seeing the rebar.

SPEAKER_01 11:53

Like they're the difference on this one is it's just, you know, it's 2.4 acres of cleared property sitting on a reserve facing west. I was over there yesterday and the sun was coming down. Just amazing over there. It's like uh uh very quiet, and then you can actually see Meacocks Bay on the other side of the um uh go from uh looking forward from there.

Dave Rattiner 12:13

You mentioned sunken. This is a dumb question, but what is the sunken tennis court? Is this lower? It's not a dumb question. That's a good question.

SPEAKER_01 12:20

Yes, this this tennis court is being designed uh in a little bit different of a way. Most most tennis courts are sunken, are put in uh concrete and they have walls around them and it's a little bit rigid. This has the rolling grass because of the size of the property, the rolling grass goes up. Oh wow I'll have uh teak um uh fence posts with mesh uh behind it. And um, you know, the view of it just because it's you know it's it's opened and expansive like that, it's it's a different look than um than you would see uh you know on any of your most tennis courts have you know black uh fences around them and it's just not a very attractive look compared to what this is the way this is busy. I'm helping with the design on this because I I love tennis and and play it, and I'm kind of helping them uh with some ideas on that.

Dave Rattiner 13:06

That's cool.

Andrew Doud 13:08

Um That's not that's not a dumb question. I actually wouldn't have known that until I like started working real estate out here. Uh but let's uh so we touched on the mark a little bit, um some of your listings, which you have a lot of great ones. But uh let's get a breakdown from Steve of what is happening with the market this week.

Steve Glick 13:23

Yeah, this past week there were 22 listings that went into contract from West Hampton to Montauk. Last year there were 46, so it's a decrease of 52 percent. In 2020, there were 79 listings that went into contract, so that's a decrease from 2020 of 72 percent. The breakdown of those 22 transactions, there was one between eight and ten million, two between six and eight million, two between four and six million, four between two and four million, and thirteen under two million. The dollar volume was fifty-eight million compared to last year of 117 million, that's a decrease of 50 percent. In 2020, the dollar volume was 185 million, so it's a decrease of 69%. So it's certainly uh a little slower a year and a slower week this past week. Um, but new listings coming onto the market. There were 25 new listings, so it increases the inventory by three listings to break down of those twenty-five new listings. There was two over twenty million, one between ten and twenty million, one between six and eight million, five between four and six million, eight between two and four million, eight under two million, and the inventory stands at two thousand twenty-six total listings with um 1441 active and five hundred and eighty-five in contract.

Dave Rattiner 14:36

So what is what is what do you think, Vince? Like I know you mentioned the market, there's like this disconnect, but what do you think is the future for a house in the Hamptons? Is the value gonna be up next year? Is it gonna be down next year?

SPEAKER_01 14:49

Um compared to what year?

Dave Rattiner 14:51

Compared to now. Compared to the nine.

SPEAKER_01 14:53

You know, I think that the again, I just think that our market's going back to regular real estate. You know, we got blindsided with this COVID, you know, uh frenzy that was going on, and now things have changed. Things are gonna be back to, you know, listings don't sell in two weeks and don't sell in three months. And and listing agreements should be really signed up for a year. And, you know, people forget that.

Steve Glick 15:15

They're like, oh, you know, my listing hasn't sold. And I look, I go, okay, let me look. You go, oh, it's been on the market. We just put it on a month ago. You know, we signed listing agreements for, like you said, twelve months. Because it takes, you know, normally it took about six to nine months to get to sell a property.

SPEAKER_01 15:30

So that's why you signed up forget we're a secondary market here. We're not a primary market, even though a lot of us live here and and you know, but we're we're a secondary market, you know.

Steve Glick 15:39

So pricing is always key. Obviously, if you want it sold in two weeks, price it to sell in two weeks. But if if you want it to sell at a at a reasonable number that you're comfortable with and you want to and you're not um and you have some patience to wait a little while, then price it where you think it's at and it will get there, but it might take some time. You know, we're gonna do marketing and get do the open houses and and get the property positioned right in the market. But you know, there's buyers out there, but it's it does still take some time if um if you're looking to achieve a price that's a little bit aspirational.

Andrew Doud 16:11

Um what's that?

Dave Rattiner 16:14

No, I just I'm I'm always interested in that topic. Every week we talk about it and I'm just obsessed with that topic. Like everyone else, I guess, that listens to this.

SPEAKER_01 16:22

Well, it's the conversational piece that everybody has. How is the market? Well, the market is it's you know, I think you look at the tri-state area and and what is always been for the 23 years that I've been a a broker out here, is that the tri-state always tries to beat up the market because they're looking that's true, they're always trying to get a deal. They're trying to get a deal out here, and it's always you know, they have fuel to be able to do that now between the war and the interest rates and the stock market. So it's the question is is the but what's still helps what's still helping our market is the inventory. Right. There's still a lot of buyers, there's more buyers than there's ever been out here looking to buy still purchase, but they're looking for that deal.

Dave Rattiner 17:01

Do you think the pandemic like fundamentally changed the Hamptons or like in a fundamental way?

SPEAKER_01 17:06

Uh 100%. It became sort of that my parents live out here, and when COVID hit, it became a hip area for the for the 30 to 45 year olds to come out here and and and buy a home and and and live. And that's the primary change that that took place.

Andrew Doud 17:22

Awesome. Interesting. So so for the people that are out here this weekend, what do you got going on, Dave?

Dave Rattiner 17:28

Yeah. So I'm gonna let you know what's going on this weekend. First up uh is I don't know. Uh have you guys heard about this where you do like a sound bath? Do you know what that is? No. A sound bath? I hear I've heard about this, which is why I picked why I picked it out. It's at the longhouse. It's 25 bucks for members, 30 bucks for non-members. It's Saturday from 9 a.m. to 10 a.m. and it's like a meditation thing. Okay. You sit around, I'm looking at the picture right now. There's a bunch of people on blankets, and then they're like they're holding like these bowls, and then the the practitioner makes this like sound with the bowls, and then you lay there and you just listen to the sound with other people, and it's not weird in any way. That's at the Longhouse Reserve, which is a very beautiful place. So I'd imagine this whole experience would be. So I'd imagine this whole experience would be uh kind of quite spiritual. Uh it's with uh Adriana Barone, who's a sound bath um, you know, self uh self-healing expert. And I don't know, I'm kind of into all that stuff.

Andrew Doud 18:40

So you bathe in the sound.

Dave Rattiner 18:43

I like doing all that stuff.

Andrew Doud 18:44

It's a meditative thing.

Dave Rattiner 18:45

Yeah, meditation, you know, yoga. You know, I'm that's growing on me. Kind of like a dull dog until you try it.

Andrew Doud 18:51

Okay.

Dave Rattiner 18:51

This one sounds pretty easy. You lay down, you just listen to the sound for an hour. So what's the what's bad about that? So you got that. Um then there's this thing, you know, the Ladies Village Improvement Society has their 30th landmarks luncheon. So L V I S, that's where you can go there. Uh and they they have like uh clothes and things like that that are all like secondhand, but it's like all really nice stuff. Um and they're like they're a really good organization. Uh they've been around forever. Um so that's that'd be a nice thing to do if you're interested on Saturday, November 5th at 11 30 a.m. at the Maidstone Club. So the Maidstone Club is the um, you know, that beautiful golf course. So um, if you want tickets to that, you just go to LVIS.org um and you can support a good cause and have a nice lunch at a beautiful golf course. And have you ever played there? Interesting people at Maidstone.

SPEAKER_01 19:48

It's absolutely one of the most beautiful places. I played the member guest uh tennis tournament there. I won it a couple years in a row. Oh, the tennis, the tennis is beautiful, and it's a good idea. The grass courts there are unbelievable. I've only seen it. So such a pretty place.

Andrew Doud 20:02

If you don't know, Vince is uh I don't even know how to describe how good of a tennis player you are. Like top of the nation. Yeah, I mean he's he's he's one of the best. One of the best real estate agents, one of the best tennis players. Well, thank you.

SPEAKER_01 20:15

I wouldn't go best, but I'm pretty good. I've been playing my whole life, and it's it's uh it keeps me sharp, keeps me on my game, keeps me on my real estate game.

Dave Rattiner 20:23

Um then we have the um Southampton Kawanis Fall Cocktail Party to support three local food pantries. So um we're big supporters of the local food pantry. If you want to donate directly to a food pantry, Saunders is having a food pantry drive, you can find that on our on our website. Um, but if you want to attend uh this cocktail party uh in uh in uh Southampton, that's November 6th, from 4 30 p.m. to 6 30 p.m. It's a hundred bucks a person, and it's at uh the historic Rogers Family Home, which is on Meeting House Lane. Um it'll be light or d'oeuvres, beer, wine, soda, music, um, and it's casual attire. And all the money is gonna go to local food pantries out here in Bridgehampton, Hampton Bay, and Southampton. It's all you know, it's all really important, especially with the holidays coming up. So I encourage you guys to go to that as well. That is your Friday, Saturday, and Sunday.

Andrew Doud 21:23

To that point, um, if you go to Sauners.com, our website, we have uh thing you can click on. It's our Saunters and Associates ninth annual Thanksgiving donation drive to benefit local food pantries. And I pulled this up. We already have$2,200 raised, which is great. Yep.

Dave Rattiner 21:39

Um in the past we've raised like raised like$50.

Steve Glick 21:42

Yeah, we just launched it yesterday. Um it's gonna go for the whole month of November. And the goal is to raise forty thousand dollars from donations and um Saunders and Associates, Andrew and Colleen Saunders will match the donations. So if we do raise forty thousand, those Be an additional 40,000 going out to local food food pantries to for a total of 80,000. That is our target goal this year. And uh thanks, Andrew, for bringing it up. So where do you go? Saunders.com, correct?

Andrew Doud 22:11

Yep. Saunders.com and it's right there on our homepage, you'll see the annual donation drive. And we we had done like a canned food drive in the past, and we've and you know, COVID sort of changed things and how how that happens. But we've talked to the the the folks that work at these food pantries and they've always stressed that um any kind of monetary monetary donation you can make goes a long way because then they're able to buy what they need specifically.

Steve Glick 22:34

So yeah, people forget like you know, everyone drops off canned foods and pastas and stuff like that, which is great, but they also need um like poultry, like chickens and steaks and and some meat and that's where the cash comes in, right? Yeah, that's where people, you know, they you can't eat beans and rice all the time. They they want to eat real food, so they use the monies to purchase that stuff that has that doesn't have a long shelf life. So the money is definitely important to to contribute.

Andrew Doud 23:01

Forty, eighty thousand dollars would go a long way. So that's great. Um Vince, anything else you want to touch on or bring up or anything you're doing this weekend that's worth checking out?

SPEAKER_01 23:10

You know, I have a series of uh different properties that I just brought on the market. Um I'll start off with 99 Fairfield Pond. Uh this is a beautiful two, you know, a little over two acres on a reserve, uh big square footage, um, amazing property. Uh that's a recent listing that we just brought on the market. Uh two Skim Hampton uh in East Hampton is another uh particular property that will have an open house this weekend on it. Um that's a great house that backs up to a big reserve and beautifully done. Um also uh 71 and 73 Dune Road in East Quag, uh two vacant lots, one ocean front lot, big envelopes, uh like nine nine thousand three hundred square feet uh building envelope on both uh lots. Um and um six Marley was uh uh the one more that we just put on in Amagansett. That's a new construction that's uh gonna be completed um here in the next six months. Um and last but least, 33 Jobes Lane um in Bridgehampton. Uh a contemporary new construction on the market for 13995. Beautifully uh constructed. Connor Development is uh building that out. Another good location. Yeah, another amazing location. Nice. Gotta get up early every day.

Andrew Doud 24:33

It's like where do where do you want to live? He's got a listing uh in any uh one of the hamlets you want to stop uh stop in and check out. So that's perfect. Um well, Vince, we'll let you get back to work. I'm actually shocked that your phone hasn't rang. Maybe you have it on silent. That's usually like anytime you're talking, don't be like, hey, hang on one second, I gotta take this. Um we'll let you get back to work. Dave, Steve, thank you very much. Uh that's your podcast for Thursday. Again, check out all of our listings, all of Vince's listings and Saunders listings on Saunders.com. Be sure to drop in and uh make a good donation. Any amount that you can contribute is appreciated to our donation drive. And that's it. I'm Andrew Dowd. Uh that's what's happening in the Hampens.