New York Real Estate News

Check out the latest trends in decorating. Videojournalists: Thomas A. Ferrara, Valerie Kellogg.

Check out this week's look at Long Island homes with a notable feature. If you want to sell or rent a unique, historic or famous home, or one with a special feature, call Lisa Doll Bruno phone: (631) 843-2793, fax: (631) 843-5459, e-mail: lisa.doll-bruno@newsday.com.

The latest homes-sales data for Long Island shows the region might be one step closer to what many might consider nirvana nowadays: normalcy.

The 10,800-square-foot, seven-bedroom, 8-1/2-bath Sag Harbor postmodern where the 2010 Hampton Designer Showhouse will be held is being listed for $5.25 million.

Who puts a nightclub in his house? Peter Petrakis for one. And last night, the 38-year-old commercial developer opened the Old Brookville home to show it off to anyone in the market to buy a house who has $2.999 million to spare and wants to party all the time. (See video here.)

It's not brain surgery: If you dream of raising a brain surgeon - or, like any parent, you just want the best for your kids - you'll want to live in the best school district you can afford. But a home in a sought-after district is a smart buy even for non-parents or those whose kids are grown because the schools' good name can only help the resale value later.

Foreclosure-related filings, from the initial lawsuits to notices of bank repossessions, were sent one out of every 119 households.

Certain elements of house-hunting are so standard that online search forms include check boxes for them - you can check off a box for the number of bedrooms and another for the number of baths.

If you want to buy a brand-new house on Long Island, you will find some selection out there. But not what it used to be, when just a few years ago the fast and furious pace of home building consumed both counties.

The Home Buyers Assistance Act of 2010 would push the deadline to midnight Sept. 30 on contracts that were signed by the midnight April 30 deadline.

Residential developments on Long Island have been in sleeper mode because of the weak economy. But pumped up advertising and marketing, a reduction in asking prices and a perkier housing market have transformed some communities from barely lukewarm to smokin'.

How would you like to pull up to your house and hit a button to turn on the outside lights? You can at this Syosset split, where the lights are on a remote control system. On the market for $699,000, the Flo Drive house also features new pavers in the driveway.

The home can be a refuge from the pressures of life, a place to savor the simple beauty of the world. Here are several homes for sale that embody the serenity that summer can offer - and make putting your feet up with a cool drink in hand seem irresistible.

This cottage is in the 60-year-old Baiting Hollow vacation community of Woodcliff Park, which is only open to residents from April 15 to Oct. 15. “It’s a seasonal home,” says Michele Sanchez of Century 21 Castle (631-588-4663), who is co-listing the property with Renie Vloutely.

Lady Gaga's "little monsters" on Long Island will be happy to hear that the avant-garde songstress may be moving to the Hamptons.

From Madonna's 26-acre Bridgehampton horse farm to more modest parcels scattered from Muttontown to Manorville, Long Island is, indeed, horse country.

Some saw it coming and now it’s here.

Boating season can feel perilously short on Long Island if you're limited to weekend outings - it almost feels like, if you get stuck in the summer beach traffic for too long, you just might miss it entirely.

The empty nester owners of this Hempstead home often entertain their 21 grandchildren here, says listing agent Linda Ruckh of Coach Realtors Fennessy Associates (516-746-5511). “It’s a wonderful home for a large family,” she says. The finished basement is a popular spot for the grandchildren, who range in age from 2 to 21. The 1950 traditional brick Colonial on Saint Pauls Place is in the West Hempstead school district, in the Cathedral Gardens section of Hempstead. It is listed for $659,000. There are four bedrooms, three bathrooms and one half-bath. The 165-foot-by-105-foot property “looks like a park,” says Ruckh.

In the Hamptons, the homes that grab the real estate headlines sell for millions of dollars and come with amenities such as bowling alleys, tennis courts, spas and servants' quarters, like the Sandcastle estate in Bridgehampton, currently on the market for almost $50 million.