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BrookHampton Realty’s new office!
BrookHampton Realty has relocated to 400 Main Street, Center Moriches.
Offered at $299,000
Classic Four Square Colonial home. Features include an eat-in kitchen, formal dining room, living room and den. The full, partially finished basement has both outside and inside entrances. In-ground Pool.
Listed by Steven Monzeglio, you can find out more information and view additional photographs by clicking here: 16 Edwards Street
Offered at $329,000
Great location and low taxes for this Cape style home. Great starter or downsizing home. Walking distance to Main Street and Moriches Bay. New kitchen, freshly painted and new carpeting. New deck overlooks wooded backyard.
Listed by Steven Monzeglio, you can find out more information and view additional photographs by clicking here: 6 Terry Place
Offered at $169,000
Great piece of property in a residential area. Over half an acre of property on an established street. Street survey available. Ornamental plantings currently on the lot are excluded. Education is provided through the Center Moriches School District. Visit the district website, with the link provided above, for more information.
Listed by Cindy Hassan, you can view additional photographs here: Reeves Road
Offered at $335,000 ~ SALE PENDING
Great location for this well built 1964 Ranch home. Located on a quiet cul-de-sac, features include a full, partially finished basement, living room with fireplace, one car attached garage and roof that was redone last year.
Listed by Steven Monzeglio, you can find out more information and view additional photographs by clicking here: 14 Canal View Drive, Center Moriches
Gordon M. Grant for The New York Times
‘A DREAM’ Donna Santoro’s Center Moriches home, which she bought in a short sale.
MARCELLE S. FISCHLER Published: June 5, 2009
TWO years ago, when Donna Santoro first noticed the listing for the two-bedroom carriage house in Center Moriches on a canal with a view of Moriches Bay, the price was above $600,000.
“That was a dream,” said Ms. Santoro, a Teamster official. She couldn’t afford it, and eventually the house was taken off the market.
But last October, she noticed that it was back. At $429,900, it was extremely tempting.
It was now a short sale — which ended up meaning the deal took a very long time, a fact that Ms. Santoro described as “the epitome of an oxymoron.” Yet that is the tendency, when houses are worth less than what their owners owe the bank.
She was able to put more than 20 percent down, was prequalified for a mortgage and had a good credit score. But she still had to wait for the seller’s two mortgage holders to approve the offer and let her close, a process that took until April.
“I hung in there,” she said, drawn by an “absolute great buy” and daunted by the idea that if the deal didn’t go through, the home could be boarded up and go into foreclosure.
“It’s a great opportunity to afford something that you otherwise may not have ventured into” was her summation. Beyond getting a house she loved, she was “taking it off the seller’s hands and giving them the opportunity to repair their credit more quickly and giving something to the bank other than zero.”
Across the Island, short sales are up. Brokers say that banks are increasingly amenable to approving them, though expediting the paperwork is not always a cinch.
From January to April, there were 2,520 lis pendens — or notifications of foreclosure — in Suffolk County and 1,888 in Nassau, according to propertyshark.com. Some carry mortgages as high as $2.8 million, in Southampton, and $1.94 million, in Old Westbury.
Nationwide last month, 45 percent of transactions were distress sales — whether short sales or foreclosures, according to the National Association of Realtors.
Michael Morris, owner of Coldwell Banker M&D Goodlife, whose Moriches-based firm handled Ms. Santoro’s purchase, says short sales represent 11 percent of its transactions. Among its 343 listings, 36 are short sales. Of 120 transactions in contract, 17 are short sales.
Phil Tesoriero, owner of Dynamic Real Estate Services in Garden City, primarily deals with distress sales on properties ranging from $180,000 to $750,000; he sees tremendous growth in the short-sale market.
“A lot of people are over their head and underwater,” Mr. Tesoriero said.
It used to be that short sales became possible only after a mortgage payment had been missed and after the bank had filed a lis pendens. Lately, however, the bar has lowered: homeowners need only prove hardship, or a looming deficit, to proceed with a short sale, Mr. Tesoriero said.
Mr. Morris said hardships include divorce, job loss and family illness. In such situations, he said, owners “have to sell it and they are talking to the bank to try to work it out.” He added: “Nobody wants to foreclose. Foreclosure hits your credit score pretty hard.”
Rick Simon, a spokesman for Bank of America Home Loans, said that even though the bank’s first priority was to help owners keep their homes through loan modifications, short sales had soared in the last year and a half. The bank is now looking to speed up the approval process, which can take up to 90 days, he added.
One pilot program, to be rolled out nationwide in a few months, would preapprove a short-sale price at the start of the process rather than at the time an offer is made. This would knock 30 days off the wait.
The bank assesses whether “the loss to the investor is mitigated by doing the short sale more than it would be mitigated” by foreclosure.
Then the home must be appraised, as a basis for ascertaining that any offers reflect market value. “Low-ball offers are not being accepted,” Mr. Simon said.
Short sales face competition in a market glutted with regular sales and foreclosed homes owned by banks, Mr. Morris said. Yet they tend to find takers more quickly, because their sellers “are more apt to price it at market value and not be in denial.” The difficulty comes later — with the heightened risk that the bank may not approve the sale and the buyer will have lost time.
Wendy Funk, a Merrick-based real estate lawyer, says banks “are so inundated with foreclosures they are agreeing to settle for less money” to avoid the full foreclosure process, which in New York can take years.
But, she said, “the bank may not make a deal if a homeowner was totally irresponsible.”
In March, after a year spent looking at homes upstate, in New Jersey and in Levittown, Sandy Acosta, a bank comptroller, found a short sale in East Meadow, a three-bedroom for $488,000, through Janie Davis, an associate broker with Re/Max Hearthstone in Bellmore.
“I was looking for the house that I liked, not a short sale,” Mr. Acosta said. Still, he figured that the home’s status would ensure a good price, and decided it was worth the three months’ wait for bank approval to close. Besides, his wife, Clara Canio, loved the house.
“If this is the style of the house that you want,” Mr. Acosta said, “you can wait.”
Offered at $299,000
Hi-Ranch style home in Holiday Beach with deeded beach and boating rights. This home is located on a private street within walking distance to the water. Features include an eat-in kitchen, beautiful wood floors in the living room, and a full walk-out basement with sliders. The fourth bedroom would make a great office! 4 bedrooms and 2 full baths. Large, fenced backyard with deck and enclosed hot tub.
Listed by Kevin Loiacono, for more information and to view additional photographs, click here: 7 Carriage Lane
offered at $389,900 ~ SALE PENDING
This spacious Cape home is located in a prime location! Deeded Beach and Boating Rights in Holiday Beach. Upgraded kitchen and baths. Open floor plan with cathedral ceilings. 3 bedrooms and 2 full baths. Beautiful property with 16 x 34 in-ground pool.
Listed by Steven Monzeglio, for more information and to view additional photographs, click here: One Oleander Lane, Center Moriches
Offered at $339,000
Spacious 3 bedroom, 2 full bath Splanch home located in the Beach and Boating Community of Newport Beach. Features include a full basement and a living room with fireplace. Backyard with L-Shaped 20 x 40 in-ground pool.
Listed by Steven Monzeglo, you can find out more information and view additional photographs by clicking here: 5 Oaktree Drive
Offered at $699,000
Breathtaking water views and luxury living make this completely renovated 3,700 square foot home shine! Anderson windows and sliding glass doors make it easy to enjoy the spectacular bay views from inside the home. The custom kitchen offers maple cabinets, granite countertops, a tumbled marble backsplash, Viking stove and stainless steel appliances. Maple flooring enhances the beauty. A marble floor in the sun room has radiant heat. The family room features a gas stone wall fireplace. Retire to the 1,500 square foot Master Suite, and you can relax in the Aquatic Whirlpool tub that is surrounded by granite. The multi-head shower room is a spacious 6 x 10. Cherry cabinets and granite countertops add to the elegance. The bedroom itself offers a sitting area in glass turret overlooking the bay. The 7 x 28 walk-in closet steps down to a 12 x 15 private dressing room. On warm summer nights you can watch the sun set as you sit out on the Mahogany deck which is off the bedroom.
To fnd out more information and to view additional photographs, click here: 140 Ocean Avenue
