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She’s 102 years young Community helps Seaford centenarian celebrate her birthday By KATe NAlePiNSKi knalepinski@liherald.com
Kate Nalepinski/Herald
SeAFoRD ReSiDeNT DoRoTHy Meinke waved to family, friends and community members who drove down Brooklyn Avenue on Sunday to help her celebrate her 102nd birthday.
Seaford Fire Department sirens blared last Saturday afternoon as a trail of more than 15 cars and trucks paraded down Brooklyn Avenue to honor a special Seafordite. Resident Dorothy Meinke smiled and waved to passersby from her front lawn as drivers honked and cheered. It was a birthday drive-by parade to celebrate Meinke, who this week turned 102. Meinke was born Dorothy Luhrs to William and Julia
Luhrs on March 2, 1920. She grew up in Flatbush, Brooklyn, one of four children. She described her entire life as “a blessing.” “I was very lucky,” Meinke said, seated comfortably in her living room last week. “I had a wonderful life, I really did. . . . I had a mother and father that loved me, but more importantly loved each other, so we had a very nice family life.” When she was 8 or so, she would head down to Flatlands Avenue in Brooklyn to play tag and jump rope with roughly 15 Continued on page 3
Real estate prices continue to soar in Wantagh-Seaford By MARiA CeSTeRo and JoRDAN VAlloNe mcestero@liherald.com
Wantagh real estate agent Michael Sherack said that home prices across Long Island are on the rise – and Wantagh-Seaford is no different. Sherack, 47, sells homes within 60 neighborhoods across Long Island. A Seaford resident since 2008, Sherack said properties in Wantagh are selling for more money than in the past as the number of available houses has dropped. “Bidding wars” frequently ensue, he said. “There seems to be an insane amount of demand for houses on
Long Island and there’s not enough inventory to meet it, and Wantagh and Seaford are really no different,” said Sherack. As an agent, “it can be frustrating sometimes, but rewarding to a certain degree, when you find a buyer their perfect home.” A nearly $2.5 million home sale set to be finalized this week in South Merrick reflects wider trends seen across the island. Real estate prices have spiked on Long Island since the start of the Covid-19 pandemic. An influx of buyers seeking suburban homes has been met with limited inventory, Sherack said. One key MLS data point gathered by Sherack showed that in
January, the median sales price of Wantagh homes was $615,000, a rise of 11.2 percent from the prior year, when it was about $553,000. Neighboring Seaford’s median sales price was reported at $599,000 the same month. That’s an increase of roughly 12 percent since last year alone. And the median home price on Long Island stands at $600,000 — just a year ago, it was $550,000, according to Realtor.com. As of late February, Sherack said that he had only 28 houses in his inventory to sell in Wantagh. In Seaford, the market is even tighter: there were only 19 houses up for sale.
Sherack said he’s watched buyers take part in bidding wars and has seen as many as 20 buyers competing for a single home. “There’s a lot of competition for all the houses in the area and there are a lot of people on the move,” said Sherack. “The average home prices are consistently rising, and some buyers won’t be able to go that high.”
Buyers are taking out more expensive loans than in years past, he added. Further, the average interest rate is projected to be 4 percent by the end of 2022. It was roughly 3.45 percent in late January. Although Sherack stated that rising prices may sway buyers away from certain houses, sellContinued on page 5