IN THE PAST MONTH, since I signed a contract to buy a cottage in Springs (I’m still awaiting mortgage approval), I haven’t been trolling the Long Island multiple-listing websites as diligently as before. But tonight, out of curiosity, I searched North Fork old-house listings in the under 500K category, and what did I find? A lot of houses I recognized from several months back, still on the market.
Which means they’re probably highly negotiable.
Some of these houses have a lot to recommend them. Some I actually looked at with intent to buy. I photographed this one, a yellow Victorian on half an acre in Peconic, asking 459K, toward the end of a January day (click the link for pictures of the interior and of the house in summer).
There are a couple of chic but low-key shops on the adjoining lot. The Tasting Room, above, which sells local wine and food products, was already closed for the day, but I passed some pleasant time next door, looking around White Flower Farmhouse, left and below, an antiques/home furnishings store with an appropriately beach country aesthetic.
As I got into my car for the two-hour drive back to Brooklyn, I looked forward to getting home, putting my feet up, and opening a bottle of wine. Then I remembered where I was, so I stopped into Pindar Vineyards (it could just as easily have been Osprey’s Diminion, Lenz, Raphael, or Bedell, all within a mile of this house) and bought three.
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March 21, 2009 at 1:14 pm
Melissa
Interesting that these L.I. Victorians look much smaller than the ones I see listed in Upstate NY or New Jersey.
April 5, 2009 at 11:28 pm
Wilfred Joseph
It’s great to read your blog. You are encouraging people to come out here and partake of two of my favorite things, real estate especially old houses and wineries. i own a B&B in east Marion and also sell real estate for Daniel Gale my website is http://www.arborviewhouse.com. I read you blog regularly and would like to comment on all that you write, because you are doing what i love. I restored brownstones in Brooklyn, Jersey City and Newark. The Brownstones were in Brooklyn only the others were just old row houses.
Thank you for what you are doing, bringing attention to the North Fork and the beautiful old houses that exist within 100 miles of NYC.