Thursday, October 1, 2026
Realtor and designer Joseph DeVito enjoys going out to dinner, and more often than not, he goes alone.
On weekend nights, you'll usually find him at Harvest House in Malverne, where he likes sitting at the bar, catching up with friends and acquaintances and meeting new ones.
"I love getting dressed and going out to dinner," said DeVito who believes that dressing well is a form of good manners. "By the end of the night, I've usually seen a lot of people I know, and I've almost always met somebody new."
That's exactly what happened one June evening just one year ago. While waiting for their table, a husband and wife struck up a conversation with DeVito. They talked about interior design, fashion and travel before the conversation turned to where they lived.
The couple told was from Malverne Park Oaks, where they had raised their children after expanding what had originally been a ranch into a two-story custom home. They also shared that they were building a retirement home in the South and were beginning to think about the next chapter of their lives.
When their table was ready, they exchanged Instagram accounts and headed into the dining room.
Five minutes later, they were back. "They said, 'We missed you,'" DeVito recalled. "They asked the waiter if they could move because they wanted to keep talking."
The three spent the rest of the evening together, and over the course of a year they continued running into one another at Harvest House, catching up on the progress of the couple's new home and talking about everything from design to travel to life on Long Island.
As construction on the retirement home neared completion, the couple called DeVito and asked him to come see their house because they were preparing to sell. They planned to interview several agents but that changed before the meeting was over.
"The couple looked at each other and said, 'We're not meeting with anyone else,'" DeVito said.
Winning the listing wasn't the end of the process. For DeVito, it was where the real work began. During a second walkthrough, the homeowners followed him from room to room with a notebook, writing down DeVitos’ suggestions on everything to stay and what should go before professional photographs were taken.
"I told them to rip the Band-Aid off," DeVito said. "If you're not taking it with you, now is the time to divest yourself of it."
He also connected the couple with professionals he regularly recommends, including movers, a removal company, a painter and his real estate attorney. Drawing on his experience in real estate, interior design and landscape design, DeVito said he believes preparing a home for the market means helping homeowners navigate every step of the process, not simply entering the listing into MLS.
When he returned two weeks later, the house looked completely different. The clutter was gone, the rooms felt larger and brighter, and the home was ready for photography before being listed for $1.4 million.
DeVito said the story is a reminder that real estate relationships often begin long before someone decides to buy or sell a home.
He has built much of his business by staying involved in the communities he serves, whether that's supporting local businesses, sharing his design work or simply spending time in places where neighbors naturally gather.
Harvest House has become one of those places. Friends often stop by after he sends a text saying he'll be there, and one group of local women affectionately refers to themselves as "Joseph's Angels," a nickname they chose after years of meeting up at the restaurant.
Conversations usually revolve around family, home projects, vacations or what's happening around town. Every so often, though, one of those conversations grows into something more.
Looking back, DeVito doesn't remember that June evening as the night he found a $1.4 million listing. He remembers meeting a couple who weren't quite ready for the conversation to end. A year later, when it came time to sell the home where they had built a lifetime of memories, they already knew who they wanted to call.
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