One of the Top Teams

Congratulations to Raphael Avigdor and James Peyton. Douglas Elliman Real Estate just announced that they are one of the top 5 teams in the Hamptons. Hamptons Real Estate Showcase sat down with Raphael Avigdor and James Peyton to find out more about what makes The Avigdor / Peyton Team a top producer.

HRES: Interest rates are heading up. How do you think it will affect the real estate market here in the Hamptons?
JP: While rates are still historically low but rising we’ve seen our customer base move quickly to lock in the property that fits best for their family. The market remains strong and Wall Street bonuses improved in 2017 leading the way for a busy 1st quarter and expectations of a successful year out East.

RA: Typically, when rates begin to rise it serves as a wake up call to buyers, to realize that it’s time to lock in the still favorable rates.

HRES: What are the advantages to working with a team, as opposed to an individual broker?
JP: The Avigdor / Peyton Team dedicates an entire team to each customer and development project. With 7 licensed agents, in total, we can deliver a level of service and sophistication that no other individual agent can. With acute market knowledge and a team dedicated to daily market intelligence we can fully support each real estate transaction to fruition.

RA: Working with a team has numerous advantages. We have the ability to cover more ground with more people. There is a tremendous benefit we get from not only bouncing our ideas off each other, but more importantly, that we can have seven sets of eyeballs on the watch for any one specific customer – increasing our band width by seven.

HRES: Raphael, we know this isn’t about real estate – but if you search your name on Google, you come up on IMDB.com as a movie producer. Tell us how this all happened, and a little about your award wining movie “The Man Who Saved The World”.
RA: Before real estate, I ran an export buying office supply department stores in South America with all divisions of product from kitchen appliances to socks. As a result an old high school buddy of mine; Mark Romeo, asked me to participate as a Co-Producer in a film about the history of denim called “Blue Gold” and I jumped at the opportunity.

After the success of “Blue Gold”, our director: Christian Bruun introduced us to Danish director, Peter Anthony who was looking for some finishing funds for his film; “The Man Who Saved The World”. This film won an academy award in Denmark and is still making its way through a circuit of film festivals here in the States.

Since then I have gotten involved in a total of 7 films, all documentaries.

HRES: We hear that more and more buyers want new construction, is that true?
JP: Very much a correct statement, this season, our Team is presenting 10 new construction offerings from seven East End developers ranging from $2M-$6M.

RA: A recent article I read in the Wall Street Journal stated that demand for new construction far outweighs the general marketplace’s appetite for older homes. We have always excelled at finding the right land opportunities for our developer customers and thus reap the benefit of representing them on the finished product.

HRES: What price range is really moving right now?
JP: Our niche north of the highway is benchmarked at $3M for the entry level luxury Hampton’s residence. Now the bar is being set at $6M for a 2-acre estate with tennis overlooking reserve. Developers have also recognized a niche to be filled below the $2M mark and aiming to deliver smaller homes with all the attention to detail and fine finishes of their larger brethren.

RA: The $3M-$5M range is where we do most of our business and where we feel there is most business. We will push the ceiling this year to $6 and $7 million with some exciting new product, but still feel that the volume is done in the $3M-$5M range.

Douglas Elliman Real Estate

Raphael Avigdor, Licensed Associate RE Broker 917.991.1077 / [email protected]

James Peyton, Licensed Associate RE Salesperson 917.882.5589 / [email protected]