Real LI

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This house in Oyster Bay Cove is for sale.

Don't you love the kitchen horse?

Turn off the TV and the video games and come out onto the front porch for some quality family time while you learn to knit at Southampton Historical Museums and Research Center's Family Program "Family Knitting on the Front Porch" 2 to 4 p.m. every Wednesday through October at the Rogers Mansion, 17 Meeting House Lane in Southampton. Fee is $5 per day and free for members and children 17 years old and under. Reservations are recommended. For more information, call 631-283-2494.

M. BOZENA SYSKA

The Elle writer who interviewed Jennifer Lopez at her Brookville home for the magazine's September cover story writes that “'house' is an understatement on par with calling Stephen Hawking 'bright.' It’s less house than estate — compound, even — hidden behind a gate at the end of an all-but-unlabeled street that I completely overshot while driving here. It’s less 'MTV’s Cribs' than it is Robb Report." Lopez gives the interview in her office, which the writer describes as "less workspace than trophy room. As it should be, really; with Lopez and her husband, Marc Anthony, having sold nearly 50 million albums worldwide between them, that’s a lot of platinum and gold plaques to display on the dark-honey wood walls. Add in the various Grammys, AMAs, and other awards, and I half expect to see a PhD diploma in astrophysics tucked in among the hardware. But there’s a desk, so it’s an office — and behind the desk sits Jennifer Lopez." Read more about Lopez's house -- and see photos -- here.

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This house in West Islip is for sale.

An Elvis fan definitely lives here.

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This house in Glen Cove is for sale.

This barbecue needs to be free.

Hollywood comes to Centre Island on Saturday night when a contingent of stars descends upon Twinight, the sprawling Centre Island home of Richard Baron Cohen, businessman and renowned porcelain collector.

Actors scheduled to appear include some from your favorite '70s and '80s television shows, including Ed Asner, Adam West, Lou Ferrigno, Joyce DeWitt, Morgan Fairchild, Tippi Hedron, Larry Hagman, Erik Estrada, Stephanie Powers, David Faustino, Cindy Williams and Priscilla Barnes.

Cohen, a benefactor of the Cold Spring Harbor Fish Hatchery & Aquarium, has lent his home for a benefit and celebration of the organization’s 125th anniversary.

The mansion sits on nearly six acres on Long Island Sound, with 16,000 square feet of living space. The home is said to be based up the Petit Trianon Palace in Versailles. An exhibition of some of Cohen’s porcelain, said to be one of the largest private collections in the world, will open at the Metropolitan Museum of Art later this month.

For more information on Saturday's gala, call the Hatchery at 516-692-6768

Photo credit: Jonathan Jacobsen

A "barbecue blowout" at Billy Joel's new house in Sagaponack included a game of beer pong between Howard Stern and Ivanka Trump, reports the Daily News. Joel's wife, Katie Lee, apparently showed Trump "how to guzzle through a funnel." Bridgehampton resident Christie Brinkley, Joel's ex-wife, also was there with their daughter, Alexa Ray Joel, Lorne Michaels, Rachael Ray, Chevy Chase, Alex Baldwin, Ron Perelman, Roger Walters and Penny Marshall, according to the newspaper. Read more about Joel's house -- and see photos of other properties he owns on Long Island -- here.

On Labor Day, many provisions in the state’s new subprime lending reform law kicked in, but some protections apply to homeowners in general.

In lenders' letters notifying nonsubprime borrowers that foreclosure proceedings will be started, lenders must advise homeowners to consult an attorney or legal aid. The notice must also say that nonprofits and government agencies are available to discuss options and negotiate with lenders. It must say that information is available from the New York State Banking Department. In addition, the letter must warn against foreclosure prevention scams.

In comparison, subprime borrowers must get preforeclosure notices at least 90 days before the lenders begin to take action. The letters must tell them to consider going to housing counseling and list at least five nonprofit counselors in the borrowers’ region; those counselors must be the list of nonprofits approved by the federal Department of Housing and Urban Development or the New York State Division of Housing and Community Renewal.

The law also attempts to deter foreclosure prevention scams. Distressed property consultants must have written contracts before performing any services for the homeowners and cannot charge or accept fees before services are completed. Also, such consultants cannot accept power of attorney from homeowners, except in limited circumstances. Homeowners have the right to cancel the consulting contracts within five business of both parties agreeing to the contract.

Several restrictions have also been placed on subprime loans. Lenders will no longer be able to charge prepayment penalties and offer teaser rates of less than six months. “Loan flipping” will be illegal – that’s when loans are refinanced without any tangible benefit to the borrower. Also, lenders will have to put taxes and insurance in escrow.

State banking superintendent Richard Neiman recently sent a letter to mortgage bankers and brokers, mortgage-related industry groups and loan servicers across the state.

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This house in Selden is for sale.

Where's the valet?

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This house in Copiague is for sale.

Some buyers must not be scared off by dirty dishes.

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This home in Middle Island is for sale.

You've heard of the black hole. What about the brown hole? It's in this bathroom.

Learn which flowers and bushes can brighten up and bring curb appeal to your late summer garden at Old Westbury Gardens' "Talk & Tour: Late Summer in the Garden" from 2 to 3 p.m. tomorrow. Master gardener and docent Barbara Frank will point out the highlights in the Cottage Garden. Free with park admission, which is $10, $8 seniors, $5 children 7-12. For more information, call 516-333-0048 or visit oldwestburygardens.org.

-M. BOZENA SYSKA

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This home in Bethpage is for sale.

Thinking of buying? Talk to these animals first.

Just how gorgeous is it?

Meet the gardeners who cultivate marble- to basketball-size dahlias at the Long Island Dahlia Society's "Dahlia Show" from 1 p.m. to 5 p.m tomorrow and 10 a.m. and 4 p.m. Sunday in the Carriage House at Bayard Cutting Arboretum on Montauk Highway in East Islip. Free. All dahlias on exhibit will be sold at 5 p.m. Sunday. For more information, call 631-754-1002 after 8 p.m or 516-832-3652 during the day, or visit LongIslandDahlia.com

- M. BOZENA SYSKA

A Web site called rottenneighbor.com is being "billed as a real estate tool that allows people to rate neighbors so house hunters can make buying decision," reports Newsday. "There's 'Steve' who leaves threatening notes in a village in Nassau, a Suffolk kid who eats 'boneless riblits on his porch with his shirt off wearing a bib,' and 'creepy' red eyes that stare out of a window in Amityville (a horror!)." Read all about it here.

See for yourself in this slideshow of homes across Long Island that are now on the market. And to read more about where the market is headed, click here.

40 HOUSES FOR $400,000

“Eat Feed Autumn Winter: 30 Ways to Celebrate When the Mercury Drops” (Stewart Tabori & Chang, $35) by Anne Bramley: It’s still summer but it’s already time to start thinking about winterizing your house, including stocking the food pantry. Author Anne Bramley offers dozens of ideas about what foods and household gadgets we should have at hand for when bad weather arrives so we can avoid the last-minute mad dash to the store. She provides plenty of recipes that will have you longing for a snowstorm while explaining what gadgets are essential and giving us a history of many foods, the tools needed to prepare them and how to throw a party for a variety of cold-weather themes.

- PAM ROBINSON

The Victoria's Secret Angel, as Karolina Kurkova is known, always rents a house in Wainscott, Hamptons magazine reports. This summer, she lives on a horse farm. She loves the Hamptons, she says, because "it's so close to the city, and you can have a beautiful house and hang out with friends or walk on the beach. I love riding my bike to buy fresh foods from the farmstands." And her favorite beaches? "I always go to Georgica Pond beach and Montauk beach, and I love the beach in Amagansett."

Getty Images photo

"Oheka Castle: Monument to Survival" (Oheka Castle Hotel & Estate, $100) by Ellen Schaffer and Joan Cergol: This oversized book reveals the many lives of the larger-than-life Oheka Castle, built in 1919, nearly torn down 20 years later, once a recreation site, then a neglected eyesore and now a thriving hotel and retreat. The Huntington estate appeared in scenes from "What Happens in Vegas" staring Ashton Kutcher and Cameron Diaz.

Financier Otto Hermann Kahn, who used parts of his name for the castle, built the opulent estate as a summer and weekend home for his family. It was hardly a summer cottage: the 443-acre site featured a mansion with 127 rooms and 39 fireplaces. The grounds included servants’ quarters, barns, a creamery, an amphitheater, gardens and reflecting pools.

After Kahn died in 1934, his widow began divesting properties for financial reasons. By 1939, the Welfare Fund of the New York City Sanitation Department had acquired it as a recreation center for its employees but that plan removed it from the tax rolls; “Sanita” operated barely a month before shutting down because of building code violations.

In 1943, it became a school for Merchant Marine radio operators. By 1948, the mansion and surrounding 23 acres had become the Eastern Military Academy, which closed in 1979.

Vandals ruled the abandoned mansion from 1979 to 1983. Railings, statuary and fireplace mantels were stolen; water from efforts to fight arson damaged rooms and ceilings; trash and debris piled up everywhere.

In 1984, developer Gary Melius bought the site, planning condominiums. After considerable restoration, he sold it in 1989 to a Tokyo company, which leased it back to him in 1993. He bought it back in 2003. From there, Melius and the surrounding community, struggled, sometimes together, sometimes at odds, to produce the hotel it is today.

Oheka was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 2004.

- PAM ROBINSON

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This house in Central Islip is for sale.

Wires take over Central Islip kitchen, how marketable.

That's what Jennifer Lopez tells ABC's "Good Morning America," as you'll see from this clip. Max and Emme are indeed sleeping at the same time, too. Which is good for Lopez, who is now training for a triathlon this fall.

In the meantime, Star reports that Lopez and husband, Marc Anthony, spend "thousands of dollars a week on baby clothes" and that the twins "rarely wear the same thing twice." In fact, much of what they wear is "designer."

And more news from Brookville's most famous resident: New York magazine reports that Lopez will "executive-produce an adaptation of her 2002 chick flick, 'Maid in Manhattan,' creating a series about a 'young Latina from the Bronx working at a Manhattan hotel who tries to make it in the world.' "

For the Lopez archives, read here.

Sometimes, sellers and their real estate agents argue about commission, right to down the closing, when everybody’s supposed to get paid.

Most agents felt they had little recourse but to take whatever they could get when sellers, for various reasons, tried to cut compensation, said broker Mohsen Zandieh, head of the Long Island Board of Realtors. He compared it to a time long past, when consumers could go into a store, pick out groceries and leave by just saying "put it on my bill."

But now, the Commission Escrow Act, signed by Gov. David Paterson this month, requires sellers to put commissions into an escrow account at the county clerk’s office if the dispute is unresolved at closing. This applies only when the contract between seller and agent mentions the law in bold face type and when agents file affidavits with the county about the dispute. It’s not considered a lien, and it won’t invalidate the house sale.

"Today, we’re telling them ‘No, you’re leaving the store. You’d better pay, and if you have a problem with this, let’s get into a court in the state of New York,’ " Zandieh said. "People are going to recognize that they’re doing business and they’re going to adhere . . . to the terms of the contract that they’ve entered into."

It's taken more than 10 years to get such a bill passed. According to a survey commissioned more than a year ago by the New York State Association of Realtors, 28 percent of real estate agents lost an earned commission after making a sale.

“Creating the French Look: Inspirational Ideas and 25 Step-by-Step Projects” by Annie Sloan (Cico Books, $24.95) Pick your favorite French look: a chateau, a simple farmhouse or the more colorful Provencal style or an urban decor, and then learn how to transform your space into the look you want. The author shows readers a variety of tasks: how to paint an old gilded mirror frame, make a ruffled slip-over pillow cover, add glasses with a frosted monogram or a crystal chandelier or stencil doors on an armoire to create a pleasing, stylish look to suit any favored French décor. The book is well photographed, with lots of closeups of the accessories or decorations that contribute to the style.

- PAM ROBINSON

The $1,000 down payment program at Continental Home Loans lives on borrowed time, but the Melville company’s chief, Mike McHugh, knew his idea might have a short life.

He started the program about eight months ago, but now, the crux of the idea - seller-funded down payment funneled through nonprofits – will no longer be legal on loans backed by the Federal Housing Administration, which requires up to a 3 percent minimum down payment for buyers, depending on the FHA program. The Housing and Economic Recovery Act, signed into law last month, bars such seller-funded down payments on new FHA-backed loans starting Oct. 1.

So far, the $1,000-down program has led to about 100 or so home sales as well as closings under other loan programs, McHugh said. “The product itself got them interested and maybe gave them the impetus to go look at a house and say ‘Yeah, I can do this,’ “ he said.

But using housing nonprofits to funnel help from sellers has been controversial. Lenders around the country have been getting around the minimum down payment rule when sellers agree to help on down payment to lure buyers. Sellers to “donate” money to the nonprofit, which would then “grant” the money to the buyer and also get a donation that it keeps from the seller.

FHA said this practice led to inflated prices and higher default rates. It tried to shut down that practice but was sued by the nonprofits last year.

McHugh, who said his $1,000 program sought qualified buyers, believes there should be seller-funded help on down payments but also thinks there should be restrictions, including higher credit scores for such buyers as a way of limiting risks.

Some lawmakers agree and have already introduced bills to allow seller-funded assistance on FHA loans.

Continental’s chief said he’s got about 30 to 40 loans in the pipeline to be approved. He’s sent interested buyers, sellers, agents and others in the program emails and letters about the Oct. 1 deadline; the loans have to be approved by then but the closings can take place later.

McHugh’s doesn’t think Congress will pass any change before the new law’s provision kicks in, but he’s optimistic his $1,000 down program will come back to life one day.

“Do I think it’s the end?” he said. “No, I don’t think it’s the end. There’ll be something to take its place somewhere down the road. Our point is if it’s done well, it can be a viable program.”

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This house in West Hempstead is for sale.

Was it that windy that no one could pick up the garbage can?

J.Crew chief executive Millard Drexler is in contract to buy a house in Wainscott for $17 million, a source tells RealLI. The house at 120 Beach Lane is listed for $19 million. The six-bedroom, four-bathroom shingle-style house is between the Atlantic Ocean and Wainscott Pond on a three-acre lot.

Ronald Lauder owns property next door.

Drexler also owns houses in Montauk and Bridgehampton. The agent involved in all three properties was Paul Brennan of Prudential Douglas Elliman Real Estate in Bridgehampton. He co-brokered Montauk with Linda Stein, who was murdered last year at her Manhattan apartment.

The East Hills-based Jewish Community Center businessman Sid Jacobson helped found more than 30 years ago has come a long way since, now running health, educational and cultural programs at several Long Island facilities.

But the late Jacobson, the founder also in 1941 of the small Sid Tool Co. in Brooklyn that is now known as MSC Direct Co. in Melville — a tool distributor that is Long Island’s 10th-largest company — might have been surprised by the latest move by the JCC that bears his name.

The Sid Jacobson JCC said it plans to acquire and operate the Robin Hood Country Day School in Brookville, both organizations announced earlier this week.

The purchase price was not disclosed.

In a news release, Sid Jacobson JCC said that Robin Hood owners/directors Laurie Roberts Karol and Kathie Roberts Lieberman, will remain at the school, which has been owned and operated by the Roberts family for the past 51 years. The school property is on 15 wooded acres in Brookville.

Susan Bender, Sid Jacobson’s executive director, said in a statement that “The philosophy of Robin Hood Country Day School is very similar to that” of the JCC. “We both believe in providing quality and recognized methods in the programs we provide to the children, families and individuals we serve. We look forward to working with them and their team as we move forward.”

--James Bernstein

“Classic Kitchen Style: The Essential Handbook for a Timeless Design” by Mervyn Kaufman (Filipacchi Publishing, $16.99): Before-and-after photos show ways to change ordinary kitchens into stylish centers of design, in four main categories: traditional elegance, country charmers, farmhouse fancies and a blend of styles. The book includes advice on choosing custom or stock cabinets, as well as colors, floor plans and appliances and accessories.

- PAM ROBINSON

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This house in Syosset is for sale.

The look is all about the cardboard.

Quarterback Chad Pennington, who was cut from the New York Jets earlier this month to make room for Brett Favre, has gone into contract on his Muttontown home.

Pennington first put the six-bedroom, 7½-bath, brick center-hall Colonial mansion on the market in July for $4.095 million, later lowering it to $3.995 million. The 2-plus acre estate went into contract "within 30 days and for close to the asking price," says Shawn Elliott of Shawn Elliott Luxury Homes & Estates, whose company both listed the property and brought the buyers. The listing agents are Barbara Tomko and Sharon Hyman.

Elliott says that the closing is expected by early October, and that the new owners are a Manhattan couple in the financial industry.

Pennington’s 7,000-square-foot home has a state-of-the-art fitness center, a billiards room, Gunite pool and a four-car garage. Records show the home was purchased in 2005 for $3.595 million.

Pennington, now a quarterback for the Miami Dolphins, "is one of the nicest clients I have ever met," Elliott says.

“Country French Kitchens” by Carolina Fernandez, (Gibbs, Smith, $29.95): Warmth and comfort radiate from the pages of this book as readers take a tour of well-lit, colorful and practical kitchens in homes in Connecticut and New York State. The author explains the choices of textures, fixtures and floor plan to ensure authenticity in style and function. Bright, colorful photos, many revealing a fondness for light yellow, orange and brown, provide examples of the wide variety of styles and personal choices involved in creating a country French kitchen.

- PAM ROBINSON