While Rentals Are Up, Construction Shows A Steady Climb Too

By Lona Rubenstein | 4 Comments

East Hampton - More positive market views, new construction, and architectural trends.

Tom MacNiven, honcho of Prudential Douglas Elliman Real Estate in East Hampton, writes about their comparative rental data for January through May 2009: "Rental volume up 30 percent over the same period in 2008. Rental income up 45 percent over the same period in 2008. We know sales are down. Rentals are not. Good agents have gone where the money is, boding well for the future. Historically, a large number of our buyers rent first." And, Lori MacGarva from that same office tells us she has many buyer-bids in right now on properties she has shown.

A buildable East Hampton property from Prudential Douglas Elliman.

From Town & Country CEO Judi Desiderio: "We are still writing summer leases in each office as we speak. It was almost as though people thought it wouldn't come. I keep thinking about how the 'Whos in Whoseville' still celebrated Christmas even after the Grinch took all their toys and stuff. Here the Grinch is the economy this past winter and we are like the 'Whos of Whoseville.' Nothing is going to ruin our summer of 2009."

As to construction.

On Buckskill Road, where the Racquet Club of East Hampton used to be, major construction is going on across the whole seven acres or so. We wrote earlier it had changed ownership in a $5-plus million deal when those kinds of transfers weren't showing up that often.

We called Jay Jacobs, summer camp impresario, the principle buyer of the property. He put us in touch with Eric Meyer, director of Jacob's Hampton Country Day Camp. Wrote Eric: "We have begun construction on the future home of Hampton Country Day Camp. When completed, the camp will have three pools, including one built specifically for our three and four-year-olds, two basketball courts, a baseball field, a soccer field, a playground area and more. Right now, we are renovating the former pro shop - [at the Racquet Club] - to turn it into our camp office. We will be building our dining hall in the adjacent lot that is now part of the larger lot. Assuming there are no long delays, we plan on opening for the summer of 2010."

In the village on Race Lane and Gingerbread Lane, we see a slower, steadier construction going on - the new Bridgehampton National Bank building - a smaller version now located in the Reutershan parking lot.

From the publicist of Corcoran's Diana Saatchi, as to the new trend in East End real estate - namely contemporary, open-roomed homes:

A "contemporary" Sagaponack home from The Corcoran Group.

"Like the American Revolution soon to be celebrated, a reactionary or voice from the past moves. In the late 1970s, smaller contemporaries were going up in East Hampton's Northwest, and then Bob Gwathmey built his award-winning one in Amagansett; Norman Jaffe, working with old textures, stone, wood, and tile, designed and built some great ones in Bridgehampton South, and later on Cross Highway in East Hampton Village South. Sagaponack South was a contemporary farm sprouting the new East End house-style on the virgin farm fields. Tooker-Laferlita's homes sold themselves in Sagaponack and East Hampton - turnkeys whose extraordinary colorful décor matched the innovative styles.

"My own favorite was architect and builder Budd Shulman's designs. There was one in Wainscott I found breathtaking - all white, spacious, clever. I told him so. 'Why don't you buy it?' he suggested. It was listed at $225,000. Not only was I selling houses, not buying them, but if I had all the money in the world, how could I, with kids sprawled throughout and three dogs who had their own minds, live in such a property? No, it was for vacations and fun and second homes with housekeepers.

"Then, the trend with Richard Meier leading the way went to postmodern. The traditional East End look, but bigger, better, where now, some seem fit for a high school."

Oh well, to Saatchi's announcement of the new trends out east, as they say, the more things change the more they stay the same, because East End real estate is a very strange business.

• Lona Rubenstein is an accomplished author residing in East Hampton. Her new book, "Getting Back in the Game: Finding the Fountain of Youth in Cyberspace" can be found at local booksellers and online at www.gettingbackinthegame.com. For more real estate news and views contact Lona at lonafirst@aol.com.

Comments

Scott Robbie from New York says:
We are serious Hampton buyers, but seller must realize that it's a new world. We are not making low ball offers, we are making ones that are in line with the new market. It's a fact that you can not expect to make a profit if you bought in the last 3 years. Sorry, it's just a fact. RE is possibly going to fall another 40% according to Deutsche Bank analyst team led by Karen Weaver. Even if they are half right, that's 20%. So once RE agents do their due diligence, they will start making sales, until then we have a standstill. Plus let's face it, if you have not sold now, well into June, you are most likely not to make a sale until March 2010. I am not going to buy you place post summer and start a mortgage for 6 months. I rather you keep paying it, and then I reap the benefits of the Summer of 2010. Good luck sellers, but wake up.

Kenny Mann from Sag HArbor says:
For the first time in 25 years, I have been unable to rent my prime property in Sag Harbor for the first three weeks of July...despite dramatically reduced rates, intense advertising and hours of hard work posting "deals" on various websites. The rest of the season has gone in fits and starts - a week here, two weeks there - but no one is calling and very few people are emailing me about the remaining time slots. So from my perspective, it looks dismal and bleak...unless anyone out there wants to rent July 3 - 23...??? Great rates!!

hellolotte from Sag Harbor says:
To Michael from Southampton: It's just this blog which is rose-hued. See http://www.rapidtrends.com/2009/06/06/wealthy-hamptons-eerie-new-world for the flip side of the story. (July Vanity Fair article)

michael from southampton says:
Rentals are slow, sales are barely existing. Why does the Real Estate community continue to market an upbeat scenerio as if the public are a bunch of naive gullible buyers listining to their wishful prognosis.

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