Real LI

Say goodbye to moving vans. All a buyer needs to bring to one Plainview condo is a suitcase.

Dix Hills-based designer Carolyn Miller has furnished a move-in-ready unit at The Seasons 55+ community, down to picking utensils, table linens and dish towels. Miller bought the condo two years ago.

She says she envisioned a place ideal for someone who doesn’t want to go through the exhausting process of decorating a second home, or a couple over 55 years old who are looking to move from a house to something smaller and lower-maintenance. She says she has seen such condos in ski areas and retirement communities in Florida, but never on Long Island.

Miller designed for mass appeal, treading the line between traditional and modern, feminine and masculine. The 2600-square-foot, two-plus-bedroom, two-bath condo is for sale, furnished (in the higher end of $600,000) or unfurnished (on the lower end of $600,000).

- STEPHANIE KOITHAN

There’s a Westbury co-op for sale for $69,000. That’s right, five figures! No typos on the number.

The 320-square-foot studio in the Post House complex, just south of the Northern State Parkway on Post Road, is actually a little pricier than a similar co-op that sold this past week for $65,000, says agent Marshall Myers at Century 21 Laffey Associates in Westbury.

Myers says the unit is a good buy for singles who expect to rent for the next few years.

To buy, means bringing 20 percent to the table, plus about $4,000 in closing costs, he says. Monthly fees are about $565. As Myers explains it, part of the fees are tax deductible. Over time, it costs about the same as renting, he says, and when you sell you recoup on your investment.

The average Long Island house was $65,000 to $70,000 a good 30 years ago. Of course, it was also probably about three times the size.

Newsday reports today that "the owners and board of a Rockville Centre no-pet co-op building violated a disabled senior's rights when they tried to evict the dog she keeps for emotional support, the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development said in filing discrimination charges." The 90-year-old disabled woman says her toy poodle "gives her a reason to get up from bed" and barks "when she knows her owner needs something." Read more here.

Newsday Photo / Thomas A. Ferrara

Looking to the future -- oh, say, about three years from now -- buyers seeking to purchase a condo built after 2010 in New York may face a taxing situation. Literally.

A bill, now in state legislature, has been proposed by Sen. Betty Little (R-Glens Falls) to put the breaks on the condo tax discount, which is about 40 percent less than a comparable house. The proposed bill would allow local governments to tax new condominiums built after 2010 just like any other home.

This is a hot topic, especially in Suffolk County where about 9 percent of the housing stock are condos. Find out who supports the bill and who is against it in Elizabeth Moore’s Newsday story.

When actor-comedian, Billy Crystal performed his one-man show, “700 Sundays,” on Broadway, a three-dimensional replica of the Long Beach house that he grew up in was used as the backdrop.

Well, it's been more than 28 Sundays since Newsday first reported that Crystal’s childhood home was on the market. Imagine that — even with a famous name attached to it, this two-family house — now priced at $625,000 — sits.

But it's not alone. Apparently, the city by the sea isn’t immune to market woes. “Houses are having a difficult time,” says Joyce Coletti of Prudential Douglas Elliman, who is marketing Crystal’s former home. What’s happening in Long Beach, Coletti adds, is that appropriately priced condos and co-ops are selling in about three months, while houses take a lot longer. We're talking as long as one year. And that’s no joke.

No word on whether Crystal's been back to visit the old neighborhood, but he was spotted in Douglaston, Queens last week at the bat mitzvah of a relative.

If you haven’t heard, Montauk's oceanfront getaway — the Panoramic View Hotel & Residence — is in its final season. The resort is in the process of being converted into luxury villas by Distinctive Ventures of Great Neck.

The new complex -- Panoramic Luxury Villas -- will have about 60 or so waterview villas ranging in size from 2,200 square feet to 4,300 square feet, with prices starting at $2.825 million. Amenities include 24/7 concierge service, an on-site caretaker, a fitness center, a beach attendant, an inground pool and more. These "smart" units will notify the staff if something is amiss -- say, for instance, heat isn't working properly.

And if an owner requires a helicopter or needs to have his or her bills paid while away, that can be arranged too, says Valerie Stone of Prudential Douglas Elliman Real Estate in Brookville, who is handling sales with Barbara Brundige.

Currently the villas are being treated as "condops," meaning they are structured like a cooperative but have the rules and regulations of a condominium. However, in October they will begin the process to convert to condominiums. Rentals will also be available.

Interested in a seasonal rental this summer? A two-bedroom unit can be fetched for $100,000, while larger units are going for $145,000 and $165,000, Stone said.

Laffey Associates in Greenvale recently celebrated the unofficial opening of its sales office for The Villa at Glen Cove, a planned 4-acre, 226-unit luxury condominium community surrounding Craft and Young avenues. Laffey is the exclusive listing agent for the Villa project. The sales office is located at 50 Glen St. in Glen Cove. Livingston Development Corp. will begin construction this fall on the $100 million project, which will adhere to “smart growth” principles. Prices will range from about $300,000 for a one-bedroom, one-bath condo to $800,000 for the three-bedroom, 2 ½-bath duplex with a private rooftop terrace.

Porn in a time of slow sales. Copyranter has been on a roll on this for months, but the most recent object of his wrath is the “sluttiness” of a fig-leafed couple promoting the assets of a Washington, D.C., condo development. Painted on the flower-power female figure is “full-bodied amenities” and on the male, “large units.” So what is being sold here? Sylph-like bodies trump cold cash and cellulite? And what is a full-bodied amenity, anyway? Appliances too big for a galley kitchen? Copyranter’s has a couple of other examples in Long Island City and Williamsburg, and the comments on them are good for a giggle.

That's what Daniel and Marilyn Bahr did when they bought this 2,400-square-foot, two-bedroom condo this month at the Vineyards at Moriches, after living in a 2,000-square-foot, three-bedroom house in Bellport for 15 years. They paid $461,000 for the residence. Local builders are heeding the call of the Bahrs and others, according to a report in Newsday. "Give them bigger units with more extras." Read on here.

Newsday photo / Jim Peppler

One reader at Country Pointe at Smithtown in Nesconset is pretty annoyed about this little item in his condo newsletter: Apparently his homeowners' association has asked its private security firm to play cop and start giving out tickets to drivers who go through stop signs. The members have "too much time" on their hands, says the resident.

Do you live in a condo? If so, what do you think?

Emmett Laffey, principal and chief executive officer of Century 21 Laffey, announced in a recent video e-mail tha