Vincent Horcasitas has become a legend in Hamptons real estate. He is ranked regularly among the top one percent of real estate agents in the nation by The Wall Street Journal and sold just shy of $198 million in exclusive listings in 2019 — with $5 billion in sales during his 30-year tenure in East End real estate. His history as a professional tennis player gave him his competitive edge that has continued to position him as one of the leaders of the luxury market. We sat down with Saunders & Associates’ Horcasitas to learn more about his history and methods as he continues to grow as the Hamptons real estate extraordinaire that he is.
Vincent, you studied in California. Are you local to the East End? If not, how did you find yourself here and how did you get into the luxury real estate market, ultimately leading every brokerage you’ve been at?
I went to Long Beach State, we were number two in the country in tennis. I came out here in 1995 to run a tennis club for Taylor Fritz and quickly fell in love with the area. I just thought that I would be good in sales and I wanted to try something different than tennis and in my first six months of selling Hamptons real estate, I sold eight homes.
We love watching your social media content. Your open house at 88 Rose Way looked like fun and the way you lay it out is very approachable. What are some of your standard marketing strategies for those who trust their homes with you?
I would say not to oversell and to give information. Knowledge is power. When you know the homes that are around you, what they’re selling for, what they’re on the market for, how the construction of the property is, how it was developed, and how it got to the market in the first place. Most of these projects I see from the beginning of selling them the land and I see it go from the sale of the land to what the architect has to say, what the builder ends up building, their floor plans, and I’m able to deeply understand the project better than the average person.
You have closed over $5B in the Hamptons. What is your secret? What sets you apart from so many others in this bracket?
I work harder than the other brokers.
We’re sure that it was chaos during the pandemic — you are someone with a very strong team. How do you delegate your work within the organization?
We have a diversified team and our strengths all complement each other. They work incredibly hard.
When selling or buying property here, how deep do you go with your clients and customers — is there a discovery process on what their vision outcome is?
It’s a very direct conversation. Buyers these days know what they are looking for, if there is something that I think will work for them and I think it’s a good deal, I make sure to bring it to their attention.
You went to college on a tennis scholarship. Is it still a big part of your life? Do you think the competitiveness from professional sports added to your sales prowess? Or does a history in sports offer something else?
I would say that whatever sport that you play, if it’s a competitive sport, you tend to usually be a better salesperson because you can take a defeat and you know how to win. When you’ve been working on a deal for 60 days for $10 million and it blows up on you, you’re not crushed. It’s just a loss, you go on, you pick up and you move on and you win the next one.
As the market continues to correct since the pandemic, how is it going for you? How did rentals do for ’23? Also, are homes coming to market and growing your inventory?
Rentals are a big part of our business and the rental numbers are off from last year probably by about 30 percent. But there are still rentals that are getting done on a regular basis. We represent 25 exclusive listings and our inventory is going up and down depending on which homes go into contract and which homes sell. Currently we have sold 15 properties for this year and we have 15 in contract.
What are your predictions for the rest of ’23 and ’24 in regards to the market and interest rates and how that might affect real estate on the East End?
I think under $3 million, the interest rates have an effect on purchasing, and over $3 million, it has less of an effect on your purchase. We’re still very low on inventory, we only have about 1250 units on the market and there are still a lot of buyers that are looking to purchase out here.
You must be incredibly busy, especially in the summer. How do you enjoy your downtime, if there is any?
Going out to good restaurants. I love going out on a boat, playing tennis, and taking my dogs for long walks.
To learn more about Vincent Horcasitas, click here.
