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Commit to Localism on The North Fork

June 9th, 2008 category: East End LI Foreclosures, Real Estate News

For local businesses on the North Fork of Long Island, having a “bad season” is surmountable. A combination of elements, however, make it more important than ever to support local business on the North Fork.
Fuel Prices Climb

Gas at over $4.00 a gallon, hasn’t been present. Worse things? Certainly. But this is a “new” thing.

For those business owners and their employees relying on the summer crowd to fill the halls (whether it be a farm stand, local clothing store, hardware store, art gallery, vineyard, liquor store, antique shop, among others) rising expenses threaten to impact the volume of visitors, in turn impacting employees and owners as living and operating costs escalate.

Some local homeowners, once secure, are experiencing the loss of their safety net- reasonable traveling expenses are compromised daily, home equity loss is evident, rising food costs evoke surprise at the checkout

Unlike the heady foreclosures visible in the Hamptons, the choice for most North Fork homeowners isn’t “this” or “that” house (first or second vacation retreat). Threatened is the ability to make a house payment along with escalating daily expenses, absent the availability of equity as a last resort.

For landscapers, painters, remodelers, handymen, and other service jobs, many local homeowners are cutting back, deciding to delay improvements until the market steadies. In all, a hit on the community as a whole- if you haven’t been affected with your home equity position, you’ve been horrified at the pump.

Sinking House In a service/vacation community, as well as an artistic community, every “visitor” counts.

While the situation in numbers doesn’t compare to the real losers of the current economic crisis (California, Nevada, etc) it is surely dire for the individual North Fork homeowner dealing with the loss of a property.

We received our “lis pendens” list this week, as we do every week. According to the Real Estate Report, the total lis pendens for the east end (Hamptons and North Fork) totaled 83 in May.

Those are 83 situations that but for a huge turn of events both in real estate, and the general economy, will ultimately affect us all before it’s over, whether through knowing a friend encountering foreclosure, or having a neighbor lose a home that is now considered a “comp” (at a foreclosure price) for our own. oOF! - May Lis Pendens