The Rennert Estate in Sagaponack. Luxury living for $185 million on the dunes complete with English style gardens, 29 bedrooms, 39 bathrooms, power plant, 164-seat theater, and 3 swimming pools.

Well, many people in the business taking the Fourth off, partying, going away, staying in, chilling out for a competitive summer frenzy to line up the serious customers who, having withstood the season, will buy in the Fall.

Town and Country had a thing at Bostwick's to celebrate their, "newest arrivals…Alicia Ward (Cook Pony Farm/ Corcoran), Rick Slater (Alan Schneider/ Corcoran), Kris Salvatore (Alan Schneider/ Corcoran), and Laura Mott (Prudential Douglas Elliman)." As I said, competitive which may be CEO Judi Desiderio's middle name.

Billy Joel is safely ensconced in the former Roy Scheider Sagaponack ocean front beach house. Roy Scheider and family are somewhere in Sag Harbor. Lorraine Bracco hosted the Retreat Night at Hampton Hall, William Macy and Felicity Hoffman, filming, are renting in Southampton, (Lord, I loved him and Baldwin in State and Main) and Alec Baldwin was at the Palm celebrating the Town Democratic Committee.

Big doings near Two Mile Hollow Beach in East Hampton. That stretch of vacant land across from Cross Highway from Further Lane down Two Mile Hollow Lane, two large lots with Ocean frontage transferred to the same buyer for a total of $103 million according to closing reports from Suffolk Research. Deeds recorded on June 27th. Now there's a hefty reward for the Community Preservation Fund tax.

Last week Realty Takes mentioned the sub-prime disaster impacts as reality checks that we called a healthy concept for those of us who dwell on the eastern end of paradise. Well here's another one amidst the almost rabid conspicuous consumption area in the northeast: Habitat for Humanity was recently awarded with a proclamation from Suffolk County Executive Steve Levy for building more than 100 homes for the working poor. Statistics show that thousands of low-income working families and their children are living in substandard rental housing in Suffolk. Habitat for Humanity builds homes with no-profit, zero-interest mortgages.

Yeah, right! "Now run and get me the new Apple cell phone/ipod whatever and I want it right now."

Houses at Sagaponanck is alive and well, they tell us, "Entering another busy summer…excited to kick it off with the completion of the house designed by Stan Allen. This will be followed by the Tsao & McKown House, also in July, and the Smith Miller Hawkinson House in October." They hope we – I take it to mean my readers as well - can join them on "Saturday, July 7th at 6 PM for the unveiling of the Stan Allen House. This event is jointly hosted by the Houses At Sagaponack and Silas Marder Gallery. In addition to artwork, we will have furniture from the International Contemporary Furniture Fair in New York City on display."

Who is providing the ear plugs for that busy weekend? One smartass writer once suggested real estate signs go on the roofs, so that passengers on low-flying take-offs and arrivals could view them. Maybe the patterns have changed since then.

Talk about conspicuous consumption (I'm in my old CCNY onlooker-to-the-radicals mode) this from Business Week writing about the most expensive homes in the world. We, Eastern End of Suffolk, came in third with the Rennert Spread in Sagaponack. Approx. value: $185 million, Size: 63 acres, 110,000 square feet (66,000 square feet house). Features: 29 bedrooms, 39 bathrooms, 3 dining rooms, 3 swimming pools, 164-seat theater, recreation pavilion with basketball court, gym, and bowling alley, two courtyards with fountains, English formal gardens, guardhouses, and power plant.

And to argue in the interest of level playing fields, that conspicuous consumption is not solely a Hamptons phenomena, for #1 we have: Mukesh Ambani, chairman, Reliance Industries, Mumbai, India. Cost to build: $1 billion, Size: 570 feet, 27 floors (including six floors of parking for Ambani's 168 cars), 48,000 square feet. Features: Ceilings double the height of normal building ceilings, an entertainment floor including a 50-person movie theater, three floors of terrace gardens including an interpretation of the hanging gardens of Babylon, two floors with facilities for health and fitness, a two-floor guest apartment, four floors of living space, three rooftop helipads, and one floor for air traffic control.

And for the Runner-up: Sheikh Hamad, Foreign Minister of the Gulf State of Qatar, in London. Approx. Price: $197 million, Size: 20,000 square feet. Features: penthouse apartment, underground parking for 115 vehicles, private elevators to each residence with eye scanners, underground passageway to the nearby Mandarin Oriental hotel, 24-hour hotel services, bulletproof windows, views of Hyde Park, wooden baths, marble work surfaces, floor-to-ceiling fridge, and panic room.

Have a happy and safe summer. Drive carefully.

India and London notwithstanding, East End real estate remains a very strange business.