Ken Coulter grew to love the North Fork after owning a summer home in Cutchogue for eight years. When the 39-year-old tired of the frenetic pace of Wall Street, he left his job as a bond salesman and his home in the DUMBO section of Brooklyn to move to Orient to live there year-round.

He and his wife, Lauri, 42, a director at a publishing company in Manhattan, bought a 3,200-square-foot Colonial on one acre for about $750,000.

Since the move in June 2005, Lauri works from home via the Internet, and Ken took a position as a sales and marketing director for Raphael vineyard about 12 miles away in Peconic. They have a daughter, Sophia, 8.

"I wanted a totally different lifestyle, and with the ability to telecommute, my wife can do her job with no problem," he says. "I'm coming across more and more people like us who are making this kind of move out here."

In just the past couple of years alone, real estate agents have noticed that an increasing number of young families like the Coulters are moving from western Suffolk County, Nassau County and the five boroughs of New York City to live year-round along the bucolic shores and among the farmlands of the North Fork. In the past year, there has been a 10 percent increase in the number of people buying homes to live in year-round, says Kathleen Travers, Southold-based sales associate and North Fork specialist for Prudential Douglas Elliman.

During the past two years the growth in year-round homeownership has been about 20 percent, says Thomas Scalia, principal broker at Century 21 Agawam Albertson in Southold. There are now 22,000 full-time residents in the Town of Southold, with an additional 10,000 to 12,000 living in the area in the summer, says town Supervisor Scott Russell.

Prices on the North Fork have gone up in the past five to 10 years, as they have throughout Long Island, although buyers still tend to get more house and property for the money, compared with western Suffolk and Nassau County, say agents and brokers in the area.

Quality of life

A greater overall awareness of the North Fork and what it has to offer has attracted more people - particularly for those who used to have summer homes on the North Fork and decided to make the move to live there year-round.

"These homeowners are looking for something other than one long strip mall. They want a quality of life that is more quiet and peaceful, with farms, wineries and great beaches nearby," Travers says.

For others, it is an opportunity to have a second home. Henry and Maureen Krause of Huntington Bay bought a house in Greenport, drawn by the charm of the area.

In addition, the growth in telecommuting - with professionals traveling to their corporate offices only one or two days a week - has allowed more people to move to the area without having to make long daily commutes, Travers notes.

Also, as housing prices have skyrocketed in the past decade, home buyers have realized they can buy more house for the money in this part of Suffolk.

"We're seeing families - in their 20s, 30s and 40s - moving here year-round. We still are a big market for seasonal dwellings, but more telecommuting, as well as a growth in government jobs of all kinds, are enticing people to move here," Russell says.

The area now has more attractions - wineries, stores, restaurants and movies. The number of restaurants and delis, for example, has grown about 60 percent during the past five years throughout the North Fork, to as many as 75 establishments, estimates Christopher Augusta, vice president of the North Fork Chamber of Commerce in Southold.

Bigger lot sizes

Housing construction is up about 100 percent over eight years ago, Russell adds. Although prices are certainly not cheap, the houses tend to be on larger lots, many twice as large as numerous lots in Nassau County.

Starter ranch homes cost $400,000 to $500,000, with two to three bedrooms and 1,800 to 2,000 square feet situated on one-third to one-half of an acre, Travers says. The next size home costs $600,000 to $750,000 and has four bedrooms and 2,200 to 2,500 square feet of space on at least a half acre.

Homes more costly than that are newly built, about 3,000 square feet on at least an acre, and may have a water view or be located near the beach.

Property taxes, which average slightly more than $7,000 annually for a 2,000-square-foot house, can be just two-thirds of what homeowners pay for similar properties in Nassau and western Suffolk, Russell says.

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Krause house (Newsday/Bill Davis)  (Aug 10, 2006)

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