Ann Ciardullo and Keith Green publish a monthly blog/newsletter that goes out to nearly 10,000 people. It supports a unique phrase: “If you’re lucky enough to be in the Hamptons… then you’re lucky enough.” As it turns out, that simple phrase also celebrates their life in the East End. For the past 10 years, they’ve been top-tier brokers with Sotheby’s International Realty, but have also spent the decade building a life together with family and friends. They truly believe they’re “lucky enough.”
To say they support each other is a massive understatement. They also have an instinctive sense of where each other’s strengths lie – and when to pass the baton to the other. That’s true whether they’re handling a complex real estate transaction or planting and tending a movie-worthy vegetable garden in their home in the Hamptons.
When her children began having children years ago, Green designed and built a vegetable garden for Ciardullo at her East Hampton home, where she could teach her five young grandchildren how to plant and care for vegetables.
“When I planted that first garden, I think the farmer in Ann came out,” says Green. “I saw her strolling into the garden every morning in her pajamas with a cup of coffee and hand-watering the roots and talking to the plants. Her plants were magnificent and the vegetables were incredible.”
As last winter turned to spring, Green redesigned the garden and developed plans to replace it with a much larger, more complex arrangement. Starting in February, he strapped on a tool belt and set about what he described as “the hardest work of my life.” Following the plans they had drawn up, he set about building “the 1,000-square-foot garden of Ann’s dreams,” he says. First, he had to excavate 45 cubic yards (100 wheelbarrow loads) of clay and replace it with 45 cubic yards of rock dust (another 100 wheelbarrow loads) for the foundation. Then he hand-laid the brick paths through the garden in a “basketweave” pattern. “If you ever hire a bricklayer, pay him extra,” Green admonishes. “I literally couldn’t believe how much it hurt.” Next came the construction of 23 meters of 40 cm high raised beds made of cedar wood, which were filled with 45 cubic meters of new compost soil.
Although their property was already deer-proof, the garden still needed to be fitted with a rabbit-proof fence because there were so many rabbits running around. “The fence definitely had to have a rural feel, while also fitting in with our wonderful house and property,” he says. Of course, he designed and built it himself.
But when it was finished, he was finished too, “because this is my garden,” Ciardullo exclaimed, reminding her partner not to even think about touching a plant. Their first plantings included tomatoes, cucumbers, eggplant, bush beans, cabbage, strawberries, basil and more.
“Cabbage was a new vegetable to me,” says Ciardullo. “But Keith has this great recipe for coleslaw, so I thought I’d give it a try. He used the same recipe, but the whole family agreed that my cabbage made it better than ever.”
“The garden project turned out to be a metaphor for our collaboration in real estate. We know when to pass the baton to the other and when to give it back,” they say, seemingly at the same time.
Although Ciardullo and Green work closely together on many deals, some clients feel more comfortable working with one of them. For example, over the past 15 years, Ciardullo has worked with a group of prominent clients, assisting them with four transactions in the Hamptons.
“They like working with me – I know the whole story and the whole family, so it’s natural,” says Ciardullo. In the client’s last transaction, Ciardullo had primary responsibility for the entire deal. But as the transaction neared the finish line, a negotiation component suddenly arose that was very opportunistic for the client, and Ciardullo decided the client’s interests would be best served if Green helped negotiate. “Ann said to me, ‘Please join me,'” says Green. “And under her guidance, we conducted one final negotiation together and achieved a great result for her client.”
For Green and Ciardullo, their seven grandchildren are among the greatest blessings of their lives.
“Our relationships with our grandchildren are seamless in that the question of who is a blood relative never comes up – we’re just grandma and grandpa – and we feel the same love and connection for each other’s grandchildren as we do for those we’re technically related to,” Ciardullo says.
Each of the five youngest grandchildren (ages 5-9) planted a small part of the new garden this year. “They can’t wait to eat the tomatoes and cucumbers they planted,” says Ciardullo. “It may sound cheesy, but we ‘nurture’ our relationships with each of our grandchildren individually and with the same care.”
The same goes for their customers.
“Our relationship with each client is unique,” says Green. “We bring the same level of commitment to each of them, but each client has different needs and approaches life differently. So each transaction is different because we build the process around them.”
A few years ago, a newlywed couple purchased a weekend home through them. “We helped them find a wonderful, fun home,” says Ciardullo. “A few years later, they had a baby and decided to make the Hamptons their year-round home.” Green and Ciardullo knew a “weekend home” would no longer fit the family’s lifestyle, so they began looking on their own for a new home that would better suit them. “The couple wasn’t quite ready to move, but we found a house that was perfect for them,” says Ciardullo.
They invited the couple to dinner, and after dinner, Green suggested writing down the criteria the couple thought were most important for their next home – “the 10 things that mattered most.”
“After we got that done, we told them, ‘Tomorrow at 10 a.m. we’ll take you to your new house,'” Ciardullo recalls. “They said, ‘Don’t be silly.'” But as it turned out, the couple liked the house that Ciardullo and Green had carefully chosen for them and they bought it.
“Today, this family is the happiest family in the Hamptons,” says Ciardullo. “They live in their dream home that we literally picked out for them. Did they put their signature on it? You bet they did it brilliantly and lovingly… but we picked it out for them!” exclaims Ciardullo.
Many of Green and Ciardullo’s clients have become close friends. “We find common ground with our clients. We learn about their families and they learn about our lives. We recently sold a $10 million estate to a world-famous celebrity. At the closing, she mentioned she would like a vegetable garden and I showed her some pictures of the one Keith planted for me. Last week, she texted me from Italy to ask how my vegetable garden is doing. How lovely is that?!” Ciardullo says demurely.
Just as they planted and maintained their garden, Green and Ciardullo use their individual strengths side by side when serving their clients, as was recently the case with clients who wanted to build their dream home from scratch.
“We found them a spectacular piece of land south of the highway in Georgica, negotiated it in a bidding war, and even put them in touch with the builder and landscape architect,” says Ciardullo. “The point is, they may think it’s their home, but to us, it’s our project too,” adds Green. “Of course, when it’s finally finished, we know it’s time to hand them the baton… along with the keys!”
Perhaps nothing sums up how Ciardullo and Green feel about their lives better than the fact that they just launched a comprehensive website where they share everything about their work as real estate agents and also their lives. Of course, it’s called luckyenough.com!
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