Westhampton and Hampton Bays are comparative bargains. Houses on the ocean, Foglia says, are naturally much more expensive than houses inland. “I could find you something in Westhampton Beach for $800,000, but it’s not where you want to be,” he explains. “That amount pushes you norther, or further west”—away from the ocean beach or the neighboring trendy downtowns.
In that area, “if you don’t want to be on the water and you want to be a five-minute bike ride to the beach,” he says. “on the low end you’re looking at $800,000 to $1.5 million.”
For the true bargain hunters, Foglia recommends looking beyond the Hamptons altogether. “Look at the difference between Westhampton Beach and Remsenburg,” a hamlet just west of Westhampton Beach. “If the same house were built in Remsenberg, it would have a lower value, in Quogue [just east], it would have a higher value, and Westhampton would be the middle.”
The Takeaway
Property in Sag Harbor is in demand.
“For $2 million, you can get a house on the outskirts [of Sag Harbor],” Sanders says. “Between $2 and $3 million, you can buy a small cottage on the water on maybe a quarter of an acre or so that needs work.”
In contrast, $2 million on Shelter Island could get you “three-quarters of an acre, with about a 6,000-square-foot house in mint condition with a pool, guest cottage, and garage,” Madore says. “You get a lot more for your money.” Properties there may not be bargains, but they are relative deals.
Madore says that the island’s target demographic is what he calls the “urban couple.” “They don’t have kids yet, one’s in finance, the other’s in marketing or publishing, and they’re buying a nice starter house out here for $1.5 million.”
As always, the real bargains lie in houses that, for whatever reason, lack a certain cache. “Most people don’t want to live in Remsenberg because it doesn’t have the word ‘Hamptons’ in it,” Foglia says. “Some people want to be seen, and some people don’t, and there are quite a few people [for whom being seen] is what it’s all about.”
This article was provided by Bloomberg News.