Sebastian Stamatatos is one of the Huntington High School science research program’s prized students, but he isn’t using microscopes and test tubes to shed insight on area of interest.
Mr. Stamatatos has been studying the effects of over-assessed home values on the number of days a house is up for sale. The bright teenager is president of the high school stock analysis club and treasurer of the Math Honor Society. The tutoring coordinator of the Science Honor Society and a member of three other honor societies, he has participated in the science research program in each of the past four years.
Huntington senior
Sebastian Stamatatos
“Property taxes have been increasing for the past two decades, causing many homeowners to either grieve their taxes or move to more economical areas,” states an abstract of Mr. Stamatatos’ project. “With the increase in housing prices, homes take longer to sell than they did before the housing market crash during the Great Recession. Homeowners may need to sell their homes in a timely fashion, increasing the need for information about property taxes and their correlation to time on the housing market.”
The teenager has had a remarkably well-rounded experience over the past four years. Mr. Stamatatos is a Blue Devil varsity baseball player. A member of the high school Key Club, the senior is also on Huntington’s mathletes team. He captured second place in the historical paper category during last year’s National History Day contest.
Mr. Stamatatos participated in the STEM program at the Composite Protoyping Center in Plainview. CPC is recognized nationwide for its innovative applications and equipment. Students completing the program earned college credit through the Vaughn College of Aeronautics & Technology.
The senior has put his science research project to good use. “I was able to use it and create an LLC serving the community filing tax exemptions,” Mr. Stamatatos said.
The research project was tedious at times, but enlightening. “An analysis of over-assessment and time on the market was performed and it was hypothesized that an over-assessed home will require more time to be sold,” states the project abstract. “The real estate data was obtained from the Multiple Listing Service. The homes analyzed were sold from July 1, 2014 to July 1, 2015. All were located in Zone 20 (Huntington Township) and were in the price range of $500,000 to $750,000. The homes were categorized as either over-assessed, under-assessed, or properly assessed based on a comparison between their projected values and actual selling prices. Linear regressions were performed on the data in an attempt to properly linearize the points. Thus, under-assessed homes took a shorter time to sell than homes that were accurately assessed, while no correlation existed between prices of over-assessed homes and their time on the housing market.”
Mr. Stamatatos has filed admission applications with Cornell University, Villanova University, Fordham University, University of Pennsylvania and the University of Michigan. “I applied to all of their business schools and will study entrepreneurship and finance,” he said. “I would like to eventually become an investor and start companies that I turnover and sell. I would also like to help struggling companies and help turn them toward success.”
A student in Huntington UFSD since kindergarten, Mr. Stamatatos has enjoyed studying in one of Long Island’s most impressive melting pots.
“Science research has helped me develop coherent projects on some unfamiliar topics and has allowed me to discover a newfound interest in real estate,” he said. “Without science research I would have never stumbled upon the tax flaws in New York State. I’ve had a great experience in Huntington, allowing me to meet people from very different walks of life.”