IF YOU WANT TO RENT YOUR HOUSE IN THE HAMPTONS….. A FEW THINGS YOU SHOULD KNOW FIRST!

One of the great things about owning a home in the Hamptons is your ability to rent it out.    Yes, for some it’s a cash cow and can help off set most of your yearly expenses in just 3 short months.    But you better know what you’re doing.   If you rent to the wrong tenant or your house isn’t ready, you could end up making less than money than a romantic comedy with Katherine Heigl and Nicholas Cage.

So what do you need to know and how do you get the most money possible for your rental?  Well luckily Hamptons Chatter is here to tell you.

Price it Right – This is my rule of thumb…  if you just bought your house and it’s decorated and well maintained, you can expect about 4-5% the cost of the property for the Memorial Day to Labor Day period.   50% of that should be counted for the August rental.   For example, your Restoration Hardware decorated home you just bought for $1,000,000 should rent MD-LD for $50k or $25K for August.   This is not a hard and fast rule.  If your house is a few years old, ask an agent what they think would be a good rental price. It’s also not a science so adjusting the price as you get close to the season may be needed.

List your property properly –  First off, keep it as an open listing.  Unless you’re renting your home for $250k or more, most companies won’t even take an exclusive rental and that’s not a bad thing.   Agents are no different than anyone else and they’re looking to earn a living.   So if it’s between a $100k rental that’s an exclusive rental where the agent will have to give a chunk to the listing agent or an open listing where they get the lions share, which one do you think they’re going to show?   Most rental listings in the Hamptons are open listings, so keep yourself competitive.   But also know, unless you tell your agent to share the listing you’ll need to make sure every company has your home and at the right (same) price!

Busy, busy, busy!!  www.uglyhousephotos.com

Get the house ready to go – If agents are starting to show your house,  it should look like your tenants are moving in tomorrow.     Reduce the clutter around the house, make sure all of your photos and personal Nick-knacks are stored away and please, please, please keep it neat and clean.    Also, less is more…. if the house is overloaded with furniture that’s not a plus for most tenants, it will only make the property feel crowded and full.
your house if there are dirty dishes are in the sink and pet hair on all of the sofas (nobody wants to live in someone else’s dirt).   “Clean” is also a key word when it comes to decor.   Busy patterns or tons of floral bed spreads, pillow cushions or curtains will overwhelm some potential tenants.   While you’re taste may be good, it might not be for everyone.   That’s why   Do not show Baskin and Robbins has 31 flavors but you don’t need that many colors!

Make it and easy show – While I don’t suggest leaving a key under the mat (that’s a really bad idea for a number of reasons).   You have to make sure agents have easy access to your property.   Customers run late… HELLO, IF THINK YOU’RE IN THE HAMPTONS AND YOU DIDNT HIT TRAFFIC YOU’RE ONLY IN SHIRLEY…. and sometimes agents run late too so if it becomes to difficult to coordinate they’ll move on.  The best way to control access and make sure you get shown is to drop a key off with your local broker.  They’ll keep the key locked up and log who borrows and uses the key.   You could also buy a lock box or better yet buy a digital remote system where you can grant access to your home via your cell phone.  My personal favorite is the KEVO system, which you can buy easily enough on Amazon.

Get professional photos – If you want a good laugh, go through one of those “home for rent -by owner” sites.  Would you rent some of these homes?   I didn’t think so.  Bad photos are a home owners biggest enemy.   My advice is hire a professional photographer (call any agency they’ll recommend who to call) and then share these photos to all the agencies.   You have to spend money to make money and this particular expense is a no brainer to me.

Finally a few last points about “Hamptons Summer Renting” – if you use an agent to rent your house you’ll need to pay the commission and in most cases it’s 10% of the term of the lease.     It might seem like a lot but most agents screen their customers or get them via referral.  You’ll be less likely to get a bad egg tenant.     Also, most leases require that tenants will maintain the property while in residency, so make sure they use the folks who know the house… your housekeeper, your lawn guy, your pool person, etc.

Also, if you live in Southampton Town make sure to get a rental permit.  It’s not easy to do but it will protect you in the long run if you have problems with the tenant.

Now remember, I couldn’t cover everything in this brief posting but I hope its a helpful start.   I also know not everyone will agree with my advice so feel free to post what you think.

WARNING… BEACH PASSES ARE GOING FAST…. REAL ESTATE ACTIVITY AND A BRIEF RESTAURANT UPDATE!

So my Monday Morning Market Report is on Wednesday Friday this week.   Get over it.

You have to be kidding Bill?

I’m’ not running the train or the Jitney here.   Well, not that being on time matters for the Hampton Jitney.   The reason is we finally had a decent weekend where we didn’t have 3 feet of snow or freezing rain.   I was busy. Once again I’ve spoken to my cadre of experienced brokers (about 10 in all from various companies and office) and they’ve given this weekend a “B-” rating.    While it still hasn’t reached “the kind of traffic we should have this time of year”, things are definitely picking up.  Rental inventory continues to remain good but there is a pent up demand according to many – potential tenants have been making inquiries but haven’t taken the trek out here to seal the deal.   Look for that to change in the next few weeks.   A few attorneys have also remarked to me, that they are now feeling the effects of the arctic blast from a few weeks ago and things are quiet.   Meanwhile, Bill Evans on channel 7 WABC says we are in for another blast of winter this weekend, so pull that parka back out of the closet…  you’re going to need it this weekend. Agents and brokers, get ready for all of the cancellations!

Please keep the chicken pot pie on the menu and bring back the guacamole!

Meanwhile, the clock is ticking for Beach Passes thanks to people buying them online.  Make sure you do so soon.  Sources told me they’re selling like hot cakes and they’re already 2/3 of the way to being sold out!   It might not seem like it’s beach time yet but believe me it will be here before that next wrinkle on my your forehead!  Click here if you want to get yours now!

Finally, some quick restaurant updates!  There is a new tenant getting set to move into the former Georgica Restaurant in Wainscott.   Rumor around town is it’s going to be Italian and it’s a restaurant already here in the Hamptons….. Hmmmmmm.   Anyone know? There’s been a ton of cars in the parking lot lately and seems there may be some renovations taking place.

Also, Highway Diner is doing some major renovations and will be reopening sometime in the next 3 weeks.   I’m not sure if the menu will be changing but the interior is undergoing a few changes to make it a little more “homey.”

WEEKEND MARKET REPORT…. APOCALYPSE HAMPTONS AND HOW TO HANG WITH ALEC!

Winter siting of Hamtpons house hunters!

So this week’s weekend roundup is a day late.  What can I say, I was busy chipping ice from my walks and salting my driveway.     While we finally got out of single digits this past weekend and we qualified as a B-.     “We’re still not seeing the kind of activity we should at this time of the year but it’s still better than what we’ve seen the past few weeks,”  said one experienced agent.
now have everyone on the verge of getting spring fever.   This in turn helped traffic this past weekend for Hamptons rental and sales.   While most of the activity was rental focused, there was definitely more interest in sales this past weekend than we’ve seen over the past polar vortex infused months.   Considering the lingering icy conditions and the snow this past weekend of agents and brokers I spoke to the first weekend

“They love the smell of low wafting bacon in the morning”

If you’ve ever flown across country you know how pilots love to point out landmarks like the Grand Canyon or St. Louis Arch, well when it comes the Hamptons it seems like the pilots enjoy getting as close a look as possible!  “Folks, look to your right and you can see Martha Stewart picking flowers.” Well this Thursday evening, could it be a last call for boarding at East Hampton Airport?  Most definitely not but it does appear that things are going to be changing in some ways at HTO (FAA letters).  It will all begin at 4:30pm when The East Hampton Town Board will be listening to comments from all interested parties. Proposed are regulations to set late night, early morning and weekend restrictions on noisy aircraft coming and going.

Currently there are no restrictions on when you can land or takeoff. If you want to wake up the entire East End with your giant Sikorsky helicopter (Hi Ira!) at four in the morning….you can.  Residents from all east end towns who are tired of rattling martini glasses and interrupted poolside conversations may finally get some relief after years of increased traffic to and from HTO.  And now
that crowd-sorcerers like Blade are offering bargain basement rates you can
expect the racket to increase even more unless the Town Board sets some limits.
What do you think? The East Hampton Town Board would like to know. You can email them and become part of the public comment at HTOcomments@EHamptonNy.gov

 

Your new BFF!?

You can also watch the
proceeding live on LTV but if you do you’d better have plenty of popcorn.  Helicopter
pilots plan to show up en-masse to plead their case and residents from all East
End towns are coming loaded for bear.  Local government in action!

Meanwhile, do you want to hang with a Hamptons “A-lister?”   Well here’s your chance. Charitybuzz.com is taking bids to see a performance of Arthur Miller’s “All My Sons” and then have a meet and greet with it’s star Alec Baldwin after the performance at Guild Hall in East Hampton.    You can get the details by clicking here because as you know with all these things there is always the fine print.   I have to say, I’ve always been a fan of Arthur Miller’s “All My Sons” but will it be the same without Fred Mac Murray?   I also never understood what happened to the brother Mike from the first couple seasons.