Dan's Papers - September 21, 2007 - Real Estates by Diane Strecker

For many second home owners on the East End this time of year represents the last days of their season in the Hamptons in their summer home. The beaches begin to empty of sun bathers and fill with the smell of wood fires from the fireplaces of the beach houses lining the shore. Soon after the holidays, cold weather and biting winds blowing off East End waters begin to drive many south. It is common among the die hard beach crowd that frequents the Hamptons in summer, to follow the sun in winter. Many with summer or beach houses here have also added a winter residence to their real estate portfolio either down south, or somewhere in the Caribbean. It is common for promoters and developers from the south to come out to the island in summer or into the city to sell their southern properties to the Hamptons snowbird set.

This week in Manhattan the Corcoran Groups' Sunshine Group is featuring the Mondrian Beach Resort of South Beach and will be showcasing its luxurious resort condominiums to the public by recreating a model unit here in the city. The same resort developers also made a presence in the Hamptons this past season when they helped host a fund raiser in Sag Harbor for a local charity, Miracle House. A stay in one of the exclusive luxury condominiums was auctioned and thousands were raised for the cause. The Corcoran Group's Sunshine Group has set up an information gallery to the property in a replica of one of their South Beach resort units.

In 2005 WCI Communities, another renowned exclusive resort developer rented a Southampton mansion to set up a model for their resort comminutes in Palm Beach Florida during the US Open and draw the golf set to their luxury units down south. The company hosted parties through out the entire summer week and drew crowds with golf celebrities present to help them promote the project. Hundreds of visitors filed through the doors of the monster mansion on Great Plains Road to see the high-end golf villas proposed in Palm Beach.

In New York, there luxury apartment sales remain strong. While the rest of the country is experiencing a slump in the market and values through out other parts of the country drop lower by the day, here in New York and the Hamptons, the high-end market remains very much alive and stable. Just last week, a Fifth Avenue apartment sold in New York at $7.5 million. The two bedroom two bath luxury property with view of the city and park was sold by Pierre Berge, a Parisian luxury goods mogul, to Giancarlo Giametti. Fox Residential, who held the listing priced the unit at $7.75 and sold it at nearly full price.

Rentals in the Hamptons have also brought in huge numbers this season, with one listing renting in Southampton for the year for over a million dollars. Heather Mills, former wife of former Beatle Paul McCartney paid $200,000.00 for just a month on Georgica Pond. The six bedroom estate of satirist and writer Nora Ephron is located in the heart of Georgica, an area that is virtually is packed with other high profile residents such as Steven Spielberg, Kelly Klein and Martha Stewart, just to name a few. McCartney who has frequented the area for many years owns two Hamptons estates that include one in Amagansett and one in North Sea.

In the Hamptons, it still costs approximately $25-35 million for an estate on the ocean. Where substantial acreage is concerned, prices are driven even higher. Oceanfront homes in East Hampton and Southampton have closed above $30 million this past season and properties containing substantial oceanfront acreage have gone as high as an astounding $103 million. Relative markets would include Palm Beach in Florida, New York and Beverly Hills. The ultimate in estate ownership is to have the best of all of these markets by owning an apartment in New York, a summer home in the Hamptons and a winter residence in Florida.