Real LI

This house in Shirley is for sale.

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This house in Mastic is for sale.

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Citing a public notice in Merrick Life, TMZ.com reports that Dina Lohan owes more than $11,000 in taxes on the North Merrick house where daughter Lindsay used to live. To read more about the property -- and see other photos -- click here.

An oceanfront home in Sagaponack belonging to the ex-wife of New Jersey Gov. Jon Corzine is on the Hamptons summer rental market for $900,000.

The rental runs from Memorial Day to Labor Day.

The 6,200-square-foot, six-bedroom, 5.5-bath home is on a gated property. The 6.64-acre spread includes a heated gunite pool, a Har-tru tennis court and more than 500 feet of ocean frontage along Gibson Beach.

A representative for Joanne Corzine confirmed that it's her house. It was signed over in 2002 as part of the couple's divorce settlement. An earlier posting here incorrectly said the house belonged to the governor.

This house in Huntington is for sale.

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The owner of the West Village eatery Bar Pitti has purchased a home in Peconic for $1.6 million. Giovanni and Michele Tognozzi closed on the 5,600-square-foot newly constructed house in late December, according to public records. The five-bedroom, 4-1/2-bath house was purchased from K Pillars Construction LLC. The property is 1.26 acres and includes an inground gunite pool.

Why the North Fork? Michele Tognozzi calls the Hamptons "divine and gorgeous, but a little too crowded for our taste."

"We specifically avoided the Hamptons because we deal with crowds and lines and a very busy New York City life all the time," says Tognozzi, who also has family in the area.

Bar Pitti is located on Sixth Avenue near Bleecker Street. According to several newspaper and magazine reports, Giovanni Tognozzi has been in a very public feud with former business partner Silvano Marchetto, the owner of the restaurant next door, Da Silvano.

Correction:
Giovanni Tognozzi of Bar Pitti in Manhattan chased an employee of Da Silvano restaurant out of his restaurant and onto the street last August, according to the New York Post. This posting had previously misidentified the man who was chased.

This house in Baldwin is for sale.

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That's according to year-over-year figures released today by the Multiple Listing Service of Long Island, Inc.

The closed median home price last month on Long Island, including Queens, was $350,000. In January 2008, it was $417,500. For the same time period, Nassau's dropped from $440,000 to $385,000; in Suffolk, the price dropped from $373,500 to $320,000.

There are now 32,107 properties on the market in both counties, a slight drop from last January's inventory of 33,453 last January.

The 1,325 closings in the region in January is at a 10-year low, according to MLSLI.

A seven-bedroom, 10.5-bath farmhouse in Water Mill that public records show belongs to Richard Gere and wife, Carey Lowell, is on the market for $8.8 million.

The house is listed with Linda Haugevik of Saunders & Associates, who declined to comment.

The 5,500-square-foot house is located on 1.20 acres. The property has a heated pool.

Gere and Lowell own the property in the name of "Tushita Trust." They also own property under the same name in North Haven, near Jimmy Buffet's house. New York magazine reports that the couple will "likely relocate" there.

In December, the Kensho Trust -- "Kensho" is another term in Buddhism (Gere is a Buddhist) -- bought a 1.27-acre parcel for $2.725 million next to their property in North Haven. The land includes a 1974 three-bedroom, three-bath home with a Gunite pool.

This house in Massapequa is for sale.

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Compared to 2006, when the real estate market started cooling, the number of existing, single-family homes sold last year dropped 32.1 percent in Suffolk and 21.5 percent in Nassau, according to the New York State Association of Realtors.

The average decrease among the state’s counties was 23 percent, the group found in looking at county-by-county sales of such homes. Suffolk closings fell from 11,405 in 2006 to 7,746 last year, and Nassau closings dropped from 9,435 in 2006 to 7,410 last year, the report said.

The median sales price for Suffolk homes fell from $410,000 in 2006 to $378,688 last year, or a 7.6 percent decline, while Nassau’s went from $490,000 to $455,000, a 7.1 percent decline, according to the data.

On average, median prices across the state last year sank 12.3 percent compared to 2006, going from $245,201 to $215,000, the report said.

Sassafras made the front cover of the latest issue of Life & Style magazine, with the headline: "New home for the kids." The article details all the things we already know about the 48-acre Lloyd Neck estate -- two helipads, a main house with eight bedrooms and 12 bathrooms, a second house for the help, as well as a barber shop, a fallout shelter, a playground, etc. -- but a little more insight into why Angelina Jolie and Brad Pitt decided to rent the place.

"If it were just Brad and Angelina, they'd be fine staying in a posh New York City hotel," a source tells the magazine. "But they feel that's just not fair to their children. Making sure the kids have a place they like while their parents work is of prime importance to them."

Inside, the magazine points out some of the area's highlights, with photos of touristy Cold Spring Harbor and a mention of Caumsett State Park.

According to the article, the family is expected to move to the compound by the end of the month and to stay until the mid-summer.

Read more about the house -- and see photos -- here.

Former Newsday publisher Raymond Jansen is in contract to sell his waterfront estate in Lloyd Neck.

The asking price is $1,990,000. The house had been listed for $2,395 million — down from his original asking price of $2.795 million.

Jansen put the 1794 farmhouse — a former tavern — on the market after retiring in 2004. The house has five bedrooms and two baths.

Margaret Hargraves and Peggy Moriarty of the Cold Spring Harbor office of Daniel Gale Sotheby’s International Reality are co-listing the house.

Moriarity once was the listing agent for the nearby house where Angelina Jolie and Brad Pitt plan to live.

This house in Port Washington is for sale.

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This house in Franklin Square is for sale.

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This house in Roosevelt is for sale.

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The 19-room Lloyd Harbor estate belonging to the former head of the Olsten Corporation is on the market for $14.5 million.

Public records show that the seven-bedroom, 7-bath, four half-bath 13,000-square-foot house belongs to Frank N. Liguori, former chief executive of the temporary employment agency. A source tells RealLI that he uses the residence as a summer home.

The brick house, built almost a decade ago, is on 4.4 acres on Huntington Bay with views of the Lloyd Neck Lighthouse, Eaton's Neck, Northport Bay and Connecticut. The property has 260 feet of concrete and granite seawell, as well as a guest house and a gunite pool.

An adjacent 2-acre lot also is on the market. The asking price is $1.850 million.

The house is listed with Kenneth Coleman of Lloyd Harbor Realty Inc. in Huntington.

This house in Syosset is for sale.

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Here's the latest shelter scuttlebutt on the new season of "The Real Housewives of New York City," which starts Feb. 17 on Bravo: The show will be back in the Hamptons.

Star reports that chef Bethenny Frankel will stay with Jill Zarin at her summer home on the East End. Zarin says her house is in the Sag Harbor-Water Mill area. It’s the same home featured in the first season of the hit show.

Public records show that Ramona Singer and Countess LuAnn de Lesseps also have places on the East End -- Singer in Southampton and de Lesseps in Bridgehampton. Alex McCord and husband, Simon van Kempen, tell Newsday that they rented a house in East Hampton over Memorial Day weekend and another in Southampton for the July 4 weekend. Other weekends, they stayed with friends in Water Mill, they say.

And where does new cast member Kelly Killoren Bensimon likes to hang her tennis racket when she’s out East? In East Hampton, where, she tells Newsday, she owns a house she built.

Sag Harbor resident Libby Langdon has some advice for anyone who lives in a small space: Use color on your walls, go for well-proportioned furniture and look for big accessories. These are just some of the tips she offers in her forthcoming book "Libby Langdon's Small Space Solutions" (Knack, $24.99).

Langdon -- who has decorated homes from Southampton to Sagaponack -- appears regularly on HGTV's "Small Space, Big Style."

Actress Renee Zellweger -- who owns a four-bedroom farmhouse in East Hampton -- was recently seen in the Hamptons with MSNBC's Dan Abrams, reports Star magazine. Zellweger's home was once ranked as one of the top 10 U.S. celebrity summer homes. Maybe it deserves the rank for winter, too.

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Celeb watchers say that since Jennifer Lopez and Marc Anthony bought the house next door to their home in Brookville that they must be staying together, but Star reports in its latest issue that the stars "have not been getting along at all lately" there. A source goes on to say that, "It's been war!" there. Read about their homes -- and see photos -- by clicking here.

Getty Images photo

"Will he sneak out of this house, too?" asks the Feb. 9 issue of In Touch about this Lloyd Neck mansion, where Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie will soon be living. According to the magazine, Pitt has "often snuck out to drink beers alone at the local pubs" while living in the south of France with Jolie and their six children.

Well, Pitt can do that on Long Island, too, but he'll have to take his limo.

The closest bar to the 48-acre Sassafras compound is probably the Valencia Tavern in Huntington -- which is about six miles away. A pretty low-rent place, the VT, as it's called by locals, is probably one of the only bars in the area where people have been known to light up when they're not supposed to. So unless Pitt plans to shower before he goes back home, Jolie will know where he's been.

Read more about Sassafras and why Pitt and Jolie plan to live there by clicking here.

This house in Aquebogue is for sale.

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Yes, now TMZ has weighed in on Jennifer Lopez and Marc Anthony's latest purchase -- the house next to theirs behind the gate to their estate in Brookville. "While the house looks nice from the outside, it's definitely a designer nightmare on the inside," according to the site. "Hopefully the $2.05 mil price tag didn't include the furniture."

Fans are torn on the juicy gossip site's post. "This place is almost as tacky as Graceland!" wrote one reader. Another: "Are you kidding me? I'd be grateful to own it -- furniture included. A lot of us can't afford anything like that."

See what else most of us can't afford -- more photos of both Brookville houses Lopez and Anthony own.

This house in Deer Park is for sale.

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This house in East Islip is for sale.

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Long Island's storied Gold Coast seems like an unlikely place to film a movie starring some of TV's hottest reality stars, but then again Victoria Gotti and her sons set the precedent several years ago when they opened their Old Westbury home (now on the market) for "Growing Up Gotti."

The latest Long Island project is "Reality Horror Night," which is being filmed at the Glen Cove Mansion Hotel and Conference Center.

The 55-acre estate used to be known as The Mansion. The 25,000-square-foot Georgian house was built in 1910. The property belonged to John and Ruth Pratt. He was an attorney and an executive with the Standard Oil Company; she was was the first Republican congresswoman from New York State.

The estate was turned into a hotel in 1967.

It's been used as a location for "North by Northwest," "Sabrina" and "Where’s Poppa."

The cast of "Reality Horror Night" includes contestants from shows such as "Survivor" (Billy Garcia), "The Biggest Loser" (Erik Chopin), "Rock of Love" (Destiney Moore and Frenchy) "Celebrity Fit Club" (Joseph Gannascoli), "True Life" (Danielle Dipietro), and "I Wanna Work for Diddy" (Robert Smith).

"The reality stars are led to believe that they are competing for a prize of $1 million, and before they realize a scam took place, the game costs them their lives," says Sean Pomper, the executive producer, creator and writer.

Pomper has lived his entire life on Long Island, and he already has a sequel planned -- on Long Island. By then, he'll also have a new crop of reality TV stars to choose from (and perhaps Sassafras -- the Lloyd Neck mansion where Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie will soon be living -- will be available).

It took a while, but the three-bedroom, 2 ½-bath home in Sag Harbor owned by Arlene Alda, wife of actor Alan Alda, has finally been sold.

Public records show that the Noyac Road Colonial sold for $550,000. The sale closed Jan. 6. The .57-acre property originally went on the market in the summer of 2007 for a reported $799,000.

The Aldas still own plenty of property in the Hamptons, including more than 25 acres on Olivers Cove Lane in Water Mill and nearly eight acres on Blank Lane in Water Mill. The home they just sold reportedly was used to house the Alda family’s domestic employees for years.

"Cut Your Energy Bills Now: 150 Smart Ways to Save Money & Make Your Home More Comfortable and Green," by Bruce Harley (Taunton, $12.95) There's something for everyone looking to reduce energy costs and improve a home's environmental performance. This is a very practical book, using clear language and photos to show how to make simple fixes: clearing air ducts, insulating walls, fixing water leaks, upgrading appliances to more efficient models and much more. Most of these projects can be done by every homeowner--cleaning the coils of the refrigerator, for example, or using cold water in the clothes washer, while others, such as adding insulation or installing a thermostat, might better be done by experts. Information is delivered in short bits, and the occasional debunking of energy myths.
--PAM ROBINSON

This house in West Babylon is for sale.

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"Ultimate Tropical," by Luca Invernizzi Tettoni (Rizzoli International, $65)
From simple houses on stilts in Thailand to a spectacular Mexican-style home on the ridge of a volcano in the Philippines, this book examines the varied and gorgeous architectural styles to be found in tropical countries around the world. There are nearly 600 photos of these often-remarkable homes. We see the influences of European culture in some cases, with Portuguese and Spanish colonists building churches in the Philippines or the British putting up bungalows in Burma. Other homes show the blend of a mixture of cultures, with buildings in Malacca, Malaysia modeling influences from native Malay people, European colonists and Arab Muslims. The photos in this book show deep, rich color and great panoramic scenes of beachfront homes and inland waterways and habitats. The author provides knowledgeable explanations into what we are seeing, the cultures that produced the homes and insights into the materials that are used. This is a beautiful book and the perfect antidote to cold, icy weather.
--PAM ROBINSON

This house in Brentwood is for sale.

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"The Artistic Furniture of Charles Rohlfs," by Joseph Cunningham (Yale University Press, $65)

The author takes a sober and scholarly look at a creative furniture-maker who mixed multiple styles to form a distinctive American style. Dozens of examples of Rohlfs' work--a standing desk, a candelabrum, a hall chair and many more items--are shown in spare photos, often unaccompanied by any other furniture elements. The book isn't limited to his career as a furniture style setter but also examines the changing standards of his times and the people who influenced him, including his wife, mystery novelist Anna Katharine Green. Among the many photos and drawings of his work are occasional photos showing Rohlfs at work and the interior of his home, or such artists as Oscar Wilde, whose creativity and aesthetic paralleled Rohlfs', copies of programs or pamphlets promoting Rohlfs' career as a designer and, earlier, an actor, and many of the halls and estates where his work was featured. --PAM ROBINSON

This house in North Selden is for sale.

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The Old Westbury estate of Cynthia Phipps has gone into contract. The closing is expected to take place by June.

The 20-acre estate since is listed with Locust Valley-based Piping Rock Associates for $11.5 million. The property was first listed last year for $13 million.

The 62-year-old Phipps died from injuries she sustained in a fire last year inside her Manhattan apartment.

Phipps' father, Ogden, owned and bred champion horses and had an investment banking business. His grandfather, Henry Phipps, was the partner of steel magnate Andrew Carnegie.

The 12,000-square-foot house, built around 1930, was once the main residence of the once-sprawling Phipps estate. It was designed by the Manhattan architectural firm of Delano and Aldrich.

Former Newsday publisher Raymond Jansen has dropped the asking price of his waterfront estate in Lloyd Neck to $1,990,000. The house had been listed at $2,395 million -- down from his original asking price of $2.795 million.

Jansen put the 1794 farmhouse -- a former tavern -- on the market after retiring in 2004. The house has five bedrooms and two baths.

Margaret Hargraves and Peggy Moriarty of the Cold Spring Harbor office of Daniel Gale Sotheby's International Reality are co-listing the house.

Moriarity once was the listing ahent for the nearby house where Angelina Jolie and Brad Pitt plan to live. In March, the acting duo and their children are going to rent nearby Sassafras, a 48-acre estate on the Long Island Sound, while Jolie films the movie "Salt."

This house in North Stony Brook is for sale.

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"Pop-Up Cards: 19 Spectacular 3D Cards," by Jo F. Mathieson (St. Martin's Griffin, $19.95)
This handy guide provides all the information needed to create holiday or fun cards for virtually any occasion, from standard holidays to congratulations to someone who's just passed a driver's test or celebrating any kind of good news. Each card project is clearly explained, with photos, simple directions, advice on when to use the cards, the necessary tools and, best of all, several pages of templates for creating the cards or their many pieces. This is a very colorful and fun work, helpful to crafters or parents wanting to help children express their creativity.

A recent report in Star magazine claims that North Merrick resident Ali Lohan has moved to California "to support Lindsay" after a supposed breakup with girlfriend Samantha Ronson. Lohan was by her big sister's "side as she picked up her belongings from Sam's," according to the magazine.

Asked about the story last week, Lohan's rep tells RealLI, "She went to visit her sister. And she's back."

Now comes this: The Star reports in its Feb. 9 issue that Lohan has been enjoying California so much that she hasn't been seen in school and plans to drop out.

"The story is false," Lohan's rep says. She adds, in fact, that Lohan is homeschooled. "She's working on her career, and is not moving to LA."

The Lohans bought their Colonial -- featured in the cable TV show "Living Lohan -- in 2004 for $650,000. Read more about the house here.

Nassau County photo

This house in North Uniondale is for sale.

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There’s been a price cut on Sagaponack Greens, the 41-acre property owned by Manhattan attorney and real estate investor Alan Schnurman. The property had been listed with Prudential Douglas Elliman for $64.5 million. It is now co-listed with The Corcoran Group’s Gary DePersia for $47 million, a 27-percent reduction in the asking price.

The property, which Schnurman purchased in 2005 for a reported $25 million, is also available in eight estate-like lots from 1.4 acres to 2.3 acres and ranging in price from $5.25 million to $5.75 million, says DePersia. “It’s the largest combination of land available in Sagaponack so close to the ocean. Nothing compares in size and quality,” DePersia says, adding, “It’s a great opportunity for someone to buy one or more lots, and build a good-sized house with pool and tennis courts, or build a family compound with house and guest house.” No matter how a builder positions a house on the land, DePersia says that each lot would afford “first-floor views” of the ocean.

The lots border a 25-acre agricultural preserve, and are within walking distance to the ocean. Ira Rennert’s 60-acre spread is a stone’s throw away.

Alan Schnurman is partner in the firm Zalman and Schnurman of 1800lawline.com.

This house in North Ridge is for sale.

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Jerry Seinfeld's East Hampton house once got the top spot in OK! Magazine's list of the top U.S. celebrity summer homes.

But apparently for some celebrities, the spread is good enough for winter, too.

Madonna and Alex Rodriguez stayed last weekend at the seven-bedroom home, the New York Post reports.

Seinfeld bought his 12-acre waterfront estate -- with its baseball diamond -- for $32 million from Long Island guy Billy Joel. Seinfeld, a Massapequa native, once compared the house to "Versailles."

This house in North Glen Head is for sale.

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"How to Sell a House Fast in a Slow Real Estate Market," by William Bronchick and Ray Cooper (Wiley, $19.95)
Selling a home in a tough market starts with the right attitude, according to these authors. They offer guidance on pricing, staging, financing, negotiating, open houses and more. But their starting point is the idea that success at selling a home depends on having confidence that a sale is possible and taking the steps to follow up on those beliefs. They offer specific ideas on how to use aggressive sales and marketing tactics, how to determine the right price, and negotiate with potential buyers firmly but fairly. This is a clearly written and useful guide to anyone looking to sell a property.
--PAM ROBINSON

Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie will have use of a yacht while living in Lloyd Neck, Star magazine reports.

"Built in England in 2006 and named after the owner's daughter, the vessel features four decks, its own helipad, accommodations for 12 guests and 26 crew members, hot and cold pools, a full gym and three Jet Skis," according to the magazine. "There's even a movie theater."

Last week the Faded Youth Blog reported, that Pitt, Jolie and their children are renting Sassafras while Jolie films scenes on Long Island for her upcoming film "Salt." The estate was once on the market for $60 million. The property has three houses -- one of which is seen above.

The 48-acre estate has two helipads.

Buying a home can be difficult enough in normal times, but it can be nerve wracking with the credit crunch, mortgage crisis and first-time home-buying jitters.

The Long Island Housing Partnership is offering private and free mortgage counseling to first-time homebuyers. Counselors will find out if there are grants available and try to hook up buyers with fixed, low-interest rate loans.

Appointments can be scheduled in buyers’ home counties; the meetings would probably take place in county offices. To set up an appointment with the Hauppauge-based nonprofit, call 631-435-4710.

Jennifer Lopez and Marc Anthony have brand-new neighbors -- themselves. Public records show that the superstar couple purchased the home next door to the one they already own in Brookville for $2.05 million.

The sale closed Dec. 19 on the 2.24-acre property. The deed is in Anthony’s name.

The five-bedroom, 4 ½-bath Colonial originally went on the market last March for $2.299 million with Regina Rogers of Prudential Douglas Elliman. The property shares estate gates with the home that Lopez and Anthony already own. The couple reportedly spent millions of dollars to fortify security and the gates to the estate prior to the birth of the twins, Max and Emme, last year.

At the time the house went on the market, Rogers told Newsday, “In order to access this house, you have to enter through the estate gates. I love the approach, and the long Belgian block-lined bluestone driveway."

The home that Lopez and Anthony had already owned was purchased by Anthony in 2000 for $3.7 million. It has been reported that J-Lo’s mom, Guadalupe, moved in with the couple last year to help out after the twins were born. Could this house be for her?

Read more about the Lopez-Anthony properties here.

This house in North Central Islip is for sale.

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