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Health & Fitness

Christmas Trees on the North Fork

Christmas Trees on the North Fork, It’s the Holiday Season

I was out looking at property this weekend and found myself driving down the road surrounded by cars with large fresh cut Christmas trees tied to their roofs.

While I was out and about I happened upon Dart’s Christmas Tree Farm in Southold. The place was packed. Santa Claus was shaking hands and posing for pictures. I stopped camera in hand on the prowl for some photographs that I hoped would capture the spirit of Christmas on the North Fork

Clearly the second home owners, the city people, and the suburbanites were enjoying Christmas in the country. You can cut your own tree or have someone help you. If you are a little less rustic you can buy a fresh cut tree at a local farm stands or at a Christmas tree farm.

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 The parade of cars adorned with Christmas trees tied to their roofs began the day after Thanksgiving and has not let up. They’re everywhere. It’s the holiday season and people are decking their halls, with boughs of holly some of which grows right in their own backyards.

Fresh wreaths giving off the scent of pine needles are beckoning us to enter homes, stores and office buildings.

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Some of my friends have their trees up already. Others like me wait until the last minute. By the last minute I mean December 23, sometimes December 24, but that is pushing it. A few years ago I got a free Christmas tree at Bay View Farms on the Main Road in Jamesport.

I could not believe my good luck. I had gone out last minute shopping for a tree and ended up getting it for free. That’s right. I drove up the outsized farm stand/market and saw a sign that said Free Christmas Trees.

An architect who I had recently sold a house to was there as well. He was loading up a tree for himself and was kind enough to help me. He knew how to put the tree into the green mesh casing that makes it easier to transport. I did not come equipped with heavy duty rope to tie the tree to the hood of my four door sedan, so I ended up putting into the backseat of my car. These architects are all so clever! We slid the tree in on the diagonal and opened the front window on the passenger side a bit.

Happy as a clam and definitely in a holiday mood I headed home.

My sister arrived from Connecticut about a half an hour later and helped me take our beautiful free Christmas tree into the house.

It was the hit of the holidays. We sat around the tree in the evening basking in the glow of our Christmas tree lights with a glass of wine in hand. It’s a wonderful life!

The next year, I headed out again on December 23, but this time the trees were not free. So it shouldn’t be a total loss, I guess the proprietors at Bay View Farms marked all the Christmas trees any size  down to $20  which was still  a screaming good deal. I bought the largest tree I could handle and tossed it into the backseat of my car once again and headed home. When my sister arrived she was happy too. What a bargain!

John Lennon comes to mind. So this is Christmas. Another year is over and another has just begun. We should carry the spirit of thanks giving over to Christmas and remember to be thankful for all that we have, especially free or drastically marked down beautiful Christmas trees as well as our good health and our true friends and of course Peconic Bay Scallops!

Real estate agents are eternally optimistic. The next deal is around the corner with the next great listing and the next big adventure as we head out with customers in search of a property they will want to buy. Sometimes that is a dream house other times it is an investment.

A lot of real estate agents are gamblers at heart, as evidenced by the number of office pools that spring up when the lottery, mega ball and power ball sweepstakes hit triple digits. In real estate as in life, I have come to appreciate the simple expression, it goes like this, “you never know”. You don’t you really don’t. There are no guarantees in life or in real estate.

We see a lot of disappointed homeowners who are selling their homes for less than they paid and what they put into their properties. On the other hand if you sell under these circumstances and walk away with less than you expected a few years ago, remember the next house you buy is costing you a lot less than it would have four or five years ago. As they say, “who knew”?  We are all genius in hindsight

We have weathered a downturn in the real estate market.

People have not lost hope. The market is moving. There is no better time than now to put your property on the market if you want to or need to sell. Get going and get on with the rest of your life. There is also no better time to buy. There is a lot of great inventory out there and sellers have never been more motivated and realistic, especially if they have been on the market for a few years and now realize that the market has spoken.

Christmas decorations are springing up all over the place. A lot of homeowners have decked their halls whether their houses are on the market or not. There really is no place like home for the holidays.

The North Fork lends itself to Christmas trees, sea shell ornaments, fresh cut pine wreaths and local cider, apples, chocolates and baked goods. The bounty of the land is still around at this time of year. Peconic Bay scallops are on sale at all the local fish markets. A real treat!!

We are here working. Santa elves are out shopping and planning holiday parties. Call or email us if you would like an appraisal or a market analysis of your property. Buy, sell, rent, there is no time like the present.

I am definitely drinking some fine local wines thanks to my friends and customers who sent me a great gift from the Wine Makers Studio on Peconic Lane.

Cheers!!

Andrea Aurichio/ Broker/www.aurichiosmith.com

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