[MUSIC PLAYING] We're thinking that the season is going to be challenging.

Sluggish sales, some long-time businesses are struggling this holiday season.

She said, well, the good news is you don't have anything in your brain.

The bad news is your liver is 50 to 60 percent necrotic, which means dead or cancerous, and I give you three weeks to live.

How one local couple is building a housing development on a foundation of hope.

Plus, as costs climb, we're looking at ways to help keep Long Island seniors from outliving their retirement savings.

It's Your Business, Long Island.

I'm Newsday TV's Jasmine Anderson.

And I'm Ken Buffa, a local real estate developer and cancer survivor is changing the landscape of one Long Island community.

Newsday TV's Virginia Huie shows us a legacy of hope.

Just off 25A near Gail Drive in Rocky Point sits a housing development being built on a foundation of hope.

We call it the estates at Rocky Point and we feel that it's going to be the gemstone of the town.

Real estate developers, Frank Meehan and his wife, Kathy Santomero Meehan, started the project in 2018.

The timing seemed unlikely happening shortly after Kathy received a devastating diagnosis.

The bad news is your liver is 50 to 60% necrotic, which means dead or cancerous.

And I give you three weeks to live.

It was pretty scary when somebody gives you a diagnosis, a death diagnosis.

I like to tell people don't believe it.

Kathy got a second opinion and fought cancer with treatment, a positive attitude and prayer.

When Frank was presented with the opportunity to build a 47 luxury home subdivision, he thought it was a great way to help Kathy focus on the future.

I was trying to always have her looking forward to something.

So I said, "This is a long-term project.

Nothing's happening.

We've got to get this done.

We're a team."

Fast forward seven years.

After clearing the land, constructing a road to the property, and putting up the first model home, the Meehans are ready for potential buyers to come take a look.

"Nice and large, nice and spacious."

Kathy gave a tour of this multi-generational model home.

It's designed to accommodate a family with elderly parents or adult children living together.

The homes are expected to sell for $859,000 and up.

"Well, if people need homes, I guess it's a good thing.

I just think it's going to be a problem with the traffic in the area."

77-year Rocky Point resident Mary Ann Brown is skeptical about a large housing development, but the Meehans are confident it'll be an asset.

"It's just going to be a great community."

Reporting for Newsday TV, I'm Virginia Huie.

Here to talk more about this story, home builder Kathy Santomero Meehan and Newsday Business Reporter Jonathan Lamantia.

Thank you so much for being here.

Kathy, I want to begin with you.

We're talking about three weeks to live.

Now seven years later, you are building a 47-home subdivision.

Just tell us about your journey.

What was that journey like for you?

- Well, it was a little scary in the beginning.

When I first got diagnosed with breast cancer was 2013 and I'm very optimistic, so I thought that I was gonna have no trouble and I'm into health.

So I went with an optimistic attitude and I managed to overcome the breast cancer and then in 2018 I was diagnosed.

I felt fine.

I just went for a PET scan to make sure that everything was okay and that's when I learned that I had liver cancer or it spread to my liver.

So my liver was 50 to 60% necrotic or which means dead or cancerous.

So I was not, you couldn't operate on me because it was spread all over.

We were very involved in church and we had a lot of support and a lot of prayers and I think that's pretty important too.

And so that got me here.

- Jonathan, I wanna bring you into the conversation.

This is a major development for Long Island.

We haven't seen anything like this in a while.

What does this mean for the community?

- Yeah, that's right.

I mean, with subdivisions on Long Island, people think about Levittown and thousands of houses going up in neighborhoods around Long Island after World War II.

But in the last say five to 10 years, when you look at some of the biggest subdivisions, they're only around 40 to 50 houses, just like this one.

So for Rocky Point, this is a major subdivision.

You're gonna have 47 houses here.

And at $800,000 and up, that's definitely a high price point for Rocky Point, where for the first half of the year, the median price was about 535,000.

So definitely above what the older homes that are now reselling, like everywhere else on Long Island, have been selling for.

- So not everyone is on board with this project.

We have to talk about that.

What are some of the concerns?

- Yeah, so I talked to some folks at Brooklyn Bagels down the block, and folks talk about traffic, right?

You're gonna have more people here.

You're gonna have 47 houses, potentially 47 families, and so you're gonna have some more cars, you're gonna have some more kids in the schools, and so those were some of the main things.

Some other folks talked a little bit about affordability and just the idea of Rocky Point you know being a place where you know people have been able to afford a home better than in other parts of Long Island where you know the median prices are closer to you know $700,000 and so they were a little bit nervous that you know is this a sign that affordability is kind of going away in Rocky Point but I think the means would would tell you and their their real estate agent would say you know these are brand new houses and you know folks are getting the opportunity to kind of customize details and so that's a different sort of opportunity than you know buying a house that might need renovations elsewhere in Rocky Point.

Well Kathy how do you want to address those concerns?

>> Well some of the people that have come into the my office, because at first we didn't hire a realtor, so I was the one that was doing it and they would come in and they'd say well we've been looking but anything we find needs renovation needs it'll cost us more money than what you are presenting.

So I don't even have to sell, they come in and they want it.

Another woman came in and she was like, you know all my friends want to live there because it's a circle and so, excuse me, the backyards but up to each other they envision going from one yard to the next you know so it's kind of like a Norman Rockwell feel to me.

Walking through that home for the first time, what was that like for you?

Exciting, exciting and it's nice because we're doing multi-generational so the particular model that we chose to do has a primary bedroom on the first floor and the second so say if your parents want to live with you or your children want to live with you or just a guest.

One woman is using it as a playroom so you know there's a lot of options a lot of options for families.

Kathy thank you so much.

Jonathan thank you for your time.

We'll be following this development of course and for more information just head to our website Newsday.com.

Turning now to housing prices here on Long Island Newsday business reporter Jonathan LaMantia breaks it down.

Thanks Ken.

So Long Island home buyers may have noticed that month after month they're seeing record home prices but they might not understand why.

And so when we look back 10 years, the third quarter of 2015, the median home price on Long Island excluding the East End was $390,000 which right now it's really hard to find any home for that price across Long Island.

Going into the pandemic, third quarter of 2020, $500,000 was the median price.

But just since the pandemic, Long Island has seen a 50% increase in the median price of a home up to $750,000.

And so you might be asking, you know, why are prices continually going up?

You know, what is leading to competition among buyers?

And really, what agents say is it comes down to the number of homes for sale.

So when we look at that since 2015, back then when Long Island was still coming out of, you know, kind of a glut of homes for sale after the financial crisis, 16,000 homes for sale.

That slowly got depleted even before the pandemic when there was a real kind of a supercharging of demand and in the third quarter of 2020 about 8,500 houses for sale.

And already that was lower than we had been five years earlier.

But at this point, as of the end of September, less than 5,000 homes for sale.

So what agents say in terms of when will we see kind of a moderating of home prices and end to the bidding wars where we see six and ten homes selling for above asking price, you're really going to need to see that homes for sale number eventually increase and kind of take off some of the heat on buyers.

Now let's shift to holiday sales.

Rising costs are squeezing Long Island businesses and some Long Islanders are cutting back on buying gifts.

It's going to be a struggle.

Like diamonds, some local businesses are under pressure this holiday season on Long Island.

Patchogue Jewelers feels the heat from tariffs.

It costs us more to buy anything.

It costs us more to make any kind of pieces for any customers.

The married couple said, "I do" to the business a decade ago.

And now they are trying to retain customers by eating the cost of tariffs and repurposing old jewels.

When we're struggling in one end, we actually make it up on the other end.

Some businesses are on the upside.

Einstein's Attic, a toy store in Northport, sells gifts for as low as $5.

The toy industry is stronger than ever.

We're really lucky to be able to source items from non-tariff areas.

We sourced as many as we could and we purchased everything before tariff.

So we really loaded our warehouse.

The National Retail Federation says sales are expected to reach a trillion dollars this year.

However, people are spending less this holiday season.

Gregory Charles of Amityville has seven children and says since his hours were cut at work, he plans to focus on needs, not wants.

I used to buy them a lot of stuff, but now it's like, no, they have to really need it for me to buy them something.

Stacey Thompson from Levittown says she plans to make dinner for loved ones instead of splurging on gifts this year.

I'm definitely cutting down on the people that I'm shopping for only because of the way that the economy is working.

People will spend more cautiously this year because their concerns about tariffs, their concerns about the economy, their concerns about the job cuts that are taking place nationwide.

Still with customers having less to spend, the Martinez family is hoping the sparkle from the past will keep the holiday tradition alive.

The season is going to be challenging.

We have seen an increase of special orders, pieces that they have in the family, pieces that they want to maybe refurbish.

A self-made millionaire from India is growing his gas station empire here on Long Island.

Andrew Ehinger shows us how Bola Market is expanding.

How are you doing, Ra?

Good to see you.

Bola Oil Corporation owner and founder, Harry Singh, likes to meet his employees, but unlike some CEOs, likes to discuss the everyday details.

Come on, let's take a walk.

Let's see how your store looks.

The self-made billionaire takes pride in every one of his Bola Market stores that now dot Long Island and the Tri-State.

There are 300 locations and counting, and few things escape his attention, even gum on the sidewalk.

You've got to pay close attention that when people are throwing gums on the floors, they need to get it cleaned daily.

It's that attention to detail and some savvy business skills that have, in the last couple decades, rocketed the Garden City-based company into a gas and convenience store powerhouse in the Northeast.

We want to be more than a gas station.

We want to be able to facility that can provide a food service, the facility that could be there 24 hours a day.

In 1983, Singh immigrated to the U.S.

from India.

Hard work and several years later, he bought his first gas station with his wife in New York City and quickly started growing his convenience store brand.

Bola Markets now employ more than 2,000 people and are offering services like prepared and fresh foods in a food court-like experience where he says the customer always comes first.

If you greet them well, you thank them well, you treat them well, they'll continue to come by.

One of the hallmarks of Bola markets are free, clean and functional bathrooms that Singh says motorists truly appreciate.

We're the first company that introduced the marble bathroom.

Singh says cleanliness is paramount when you're offering food to customers, a division of the business that now garners 60 to 70 percent of profits.

Gasoline sales, he says, make up the rest, prices which the company and even Singh himself watch almost obsessively.

And you can go ahead and drop the price down for cents today.

Yeah, we had a market move.

Singh says some other gas and convenience store companies have tried to make a dent here in New York, but haven't had a lot of success.

But Bola Market, he says, continues to grow.

And because, he adds, he tailors each location to the community's needs.

That allows me to build something that people need, A, and the B, that people are happy with.

In Wontow, Andrew Ehinger, Newsday TV.

Living on Long Island is expensive, especially for older folks looking ahead to retirement.

On average, New Yorkers have about $670,000 saved for retirement.

That's far short of the more than $1 million needed, according to Online Resource Center Seniorly.

We spoke to Richard Dreschler from West Babylon.

He's mortgage-free and collects Social Security, disability and a pension.

But with inflation, he still tries to keep his spending in check.

I worry about the price of gasoline and utilities, but I seem to get by.

I don't let it worry me too much.

There's nothing you can do about it.

- Joining us now to talk more about this is Newsday reporter, Brianne Ledda and financial expert, Ed Slott.

Thank you for being here.

Brianne, I want to start with you first.

Why does it seem like seniors are outliving their savings?

- Well, people are just living longer to begin with.

And here on Long Island, the life expectancy is higher than the national average, but people are also increasingly reliant on their own personal savings.

There's been a decline in pensions, at least in the private sector, since the 1980s, and it's become far more common for people to use defined contribution plans, like a 401(k), for example.

- Let's talk about that.

With Ed, there has been a longstanding 4% rule guiding retiree savings.

Explain what that is, and is 4% still enough?

So the 4% rule was done decades ago.

It was just a number they calculated, not really that scientifically, I don't think, that if you took out 4% of your money, the whole point is that you should never run out of money in your lifetime.

So the rule was, the rule or the theory, was that if you only took out 4% a year, it would last you your lifetime because the earnings would replenish it, you'd never run out of money, which is really the goal for most people.

But if you think about it, even if you have a million dollars in savings, 4% is only $40,000 a year.

And it depends where you're taking that 4% out of.

Let's say you're taking it from an IRA.

Well, then there's taxes on that money and Social Security could be taxed and people have Medicare IRMA charges that add to the tax bill.

So the more they take out, the higher the tax bill and the less of that amount they keep.

So 4% is not enough unless you have, I'd say, more than a million in savings.

And even in that case, it doesn't seem to be enough to live here on Long Island, given the costs and expenses of life here on Long Island.

Yeah, I gotcha there.

And you know, Brianne, so this brings me to living on Long Island.

Is it a viable option for retirees?

That's going to depend on the individual and what they have saved and invested over time.

But it should be noted that it is more expensive to live here.

The cost of living keeps going up along with property taxes.

And seniors do need to plan for unexpected expenses, especially because medical costs do tend to rise with age.

- Gotcha.

Ed, how can seniors account for these higher expenses?

- 80% of Americans will need long-term care at some point.

And many of those people may be caretakers themselves.

So medical bills and long-term care, that's the elephant in the room.

That's the one that everybody needs to look out for.

There's one silver lining here.

We talked about state taxes and real estate taxes being so high here, you do get a new break in the new tax law for deducting more of those taxes.

So it may lower your income to the point where if you have to take from an IRA or 401k you may pay little or no taxes on that money thanks to the increase that's called the SALT deduction, state and local tax deduction that's new for this year goes back up to $40,000 depending on your income.

So that could be a bill, a big help in saving tax money and keeping your tax bills low so you keep more of what you have to withdraw.

The money question here for you Ed is what happens if someone runs out of money or they haven't saved enough?

What are the consequences and what can they do?

What's the safest way to balance fixed income?

Well people ask me, there's a different version of this question all the time.

They say how much will I need for retirement for the rest of my life?

And I always answer that with another question.

How much do you need?

Tell me how much you spend and then I'll tell you how much you need because that's the number.

Many seniors do have mortgage-free homes.

Maybe they could tap that equity with reverse mortgages and get some of the money out of there.

That's exactly what that's meant for.

Or if they don't have other savings, they may have to rely on family members or children or move to a lower cost of living location, a lower state or city.

Yeah, a lot of seniors relocating and making a difference there.

Thank you, Ed.

Americans are living longer and their money has to stretch longer.

Thank you for the advice.

Our thanks to Brianne and Ed for joining us.

You can read more about this story on Newsday.com.

All right.

Thanks, Jasmine.

Upgrade your wardrobe without breaking the bank.

Newsday travel reporter, Carissa Kellman, takes us thrifting.

I do kind of consider myself the queen of thrifting.

And today, we're in Brooklyn, the mecca of thrift shops.

Let's check them out.

$20?

If there's one place where your dollar still stretches, it's L Train Vintage in Bushwick.

Wait, I need this.

For 20 bucks?

With 10 locations across Brooklyn, the Bronx and Manhattan, most things run between 6 to $40.

Old boots, OK, that means you can experiment, take risks and still have money left for tacos.

Later, you'll be able to kind of get out of the bounds of what your style is and redefine it because the prices are so fun to play around.

This is really comfortable.

Oh my God has the tags on it too.

New looks drop every day sourced from all over the world, so don't be afraid to hit the dressing room and convince yourself that one day you'll definitely wear that.

Okay, maybe not that.

I'm pretty sure I hit the jackpot here.

Let's go check out the total.

The total was $82.

I got three jackets, a flannel, a t-shirt, and a hat.

I think that's pretty amazing.

On to the next.

Next up, Greenpoint, where thrifting gets a glow up.

The entire thrift is full of curated 90s and 2000s pieces with prices averaging 45 to $70.

This is something you're not going to find anywhere else, so I had to get it.

So think less bargain bin and more stylist wardrobe.

I took home the crochet top for $68 because thrifting is cardio.

I wrapped up at five leaves, a neighborhood spot where coffee and cocktails come out of the window.

Hungry, there's watermelon, gazpacho, or burgers topped with fried egg, pineapple, and beet slices.

Because why not?

It's Brooklyn.

I'm Carissa Kellman for Newsday TV.

You can't beat a good deal.

Deal's a deal, that's true.

That's right.

Well, let's highlight the jobs you do.

Yeah, in this month's LI Works, we're taking a look at some of these roof-climbing holiday helpers.

You ever wonder who puts up some of your favorite holiday lights?

Well, it ain't Santa Claus.

Grab your bulbs, we're installing lights.

I'm never getting down from here.

Today we're looking at some of the holiday helpers who spend the season climbing ladders and clinging to gutters.

Hi, my name is Stasia McKenzie.

I'm the owner of Island Illuminations.

We've been doing this for five years and we just love bringing everybody's imagination to life.

And you guessed it, if you want a spot on this green team, you better get used to big heights and long hours.

Can't be afraid of heights, that's number one.

Number two is long hours, 10-12 hours a day.

Not only that, you have to be jolly and scrappy.

There we go.

Nice.

Fourth try.

Pinch the wire, slide this right on.

Perfect.

That was it?

That's it.

That was way easy.

Luckily, I, of course, am a natural.

How's the spacing looking?

Is that good?

Done.

What is it, 20 more houses to go?

Now, although height is a huge factor, speed is also important because seasons only last so long and with more than 300 houses on the lighting list.

We call it "No-vember" because there's no days off in November.

But if you're willing to grind, grasp, and even glow some garland, you might just make it as a holiday light installer.

The best part about the job is making people happy, making the homeowner really happy.

They love to see their end result.

Even if it means your life depends on it.

What's the hardest part?

Uh, when there's a steep house.

The steep pitched roof.

Yeah.

So you gotta try and hang on.

For dear life?

For dear life.

That'll get you in the holiday spirit, right?

And not only do they have to put it up, but they actually have to go to all 300 of those houses and take it down.

A lot of hard work.

And you were on the roof, which was pretty impressive.

Yep, I did not fall, so maybe they're hiring.

We'll see.

Fingers crossed.

A Long Island volunteer is helping inmates live healthier lives.

My name is Laurie Pinka, and I volunteer for many reasons.

The first is to celebrate my son.

I've come to discover that service is my driving force.

I currently volunteer with the James Pinka Foundation at the Appank Correctional Facility.

We provide CrossFit classes to people that are incarcerated due to substance abuse.

The team behind me is invaluable.

You have 12 calories on the bike or the rower, whichever one you guys choose.

One person do six step up and then the other one do 12 calories on the bike.

Fitness is a pillar of long-term sustained sobriety so we offer that anchor for people to grab on to that will hopefully help them remain on their recovery path.

I started this foundation in memory of my son James Pinka who I lost to an overdose eight years ago.

Volunteering has given me a sense of peace.

It helps me tell James's story.

It helps me say his name.

I work really hard with people that are struggling with substance abuse because I remember where my son was when he was struggling.

Make sure you stay close to Laurie as you guys are moving on from here because that's where your recovery, that's where it continues.

We have a slogan that we say in the jail.

Alright, on three, what do we say?

And still I rise.

One, two, three.

Still I rise!

Thanks guys!

And that slogan and still I rise translates into life.

My happiest moments are when somebody leaves Yappank and they give me that call.

Everybody gets my business card when they're inside.

And when they actually call me when they get home, that's when I realize the impact that we made.

This works.

This can really help anybody dealing with substance abuse issues.

They want to continue on their fitness journey and now they're choosing to continue on their fitness journey.

I just love those full circle moments.

It's the cornerstone of our foundation.

And still I rise!

- That's your business, Long Island.

- And coming up next month, how to stay safe with scams on the rise.

- And for all your local business news and how it impacts you, go to newsday.com.

I'm Jasmine Anderson.

- And I'm Ken Buffa.

Thank you so much for watching.

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