Shelter Island $38,000/July: The covered porch on this 4-BR, 4-bath house on Ram Island offers a view of Gardiner’s Bay. Inside is a living room with a fireplace. Agent: Seth Madore, The Corcoran Group, 631-749-2216 (
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It’s that time of year again. The holidays are over and the city is a slushy mess, which has everyone pining for beach season. These are prime conditions, or so brokers and landlords hope, for the early birds to come out east and start signing seasonal leases in the Hamptons.
This year, renters aren’t just coming east, they are coming far east. At this point, the most action has been seen on the eastern tip of the south fork.
“Folks are going further east — to Amagansett, Montauk,” says Ernie Cervi, executive managing director of the Corcoran Group’s Bridgehampton office. “There is new life to those areas, so it’s attracting another group of people.”
He is referring to hot nightspots like the Surf Lodge, Ruschmeyer’s and the Sloppy Tuna, which all opened in Montauk over the last few years and have the young and hip descending in droves.
“We’ve been getting a lot of calls for Amagansett this year,” says Jeff Steinhorst, vice president of Nest Seekers International. “We have three calls for Amagansett for every one for another area.”
He explains that part of the appeal is Amagansett’s proximity to Montauk; i.e., the ability to be near Montauk without being in Montauk.
“People want to be close to the East Hampton beaches, dining, shopping,” Steinhorst says, “but have the access to the nightlife in Montauk.”
Also coveted, as always, are houses on the beach and near the Hamptons’ villages.
“All the stuff that’s in the village, people love. They can walk to town, walk to dinner. Anything within walking distance goes first,” says Cornelia Dodge, a Halstead Property associate broker.
“Anytime you get near a village it’s hot. Southampton is hot. Sag Harbor is hot. Bridgehampton is hot,” says broker Enzo Morabito of Douglas Elliman. “It’s in the village area where people can walk, it eliminates having to have a car.”
Like last year, the Hamptons rental season started early. Mild temperatures — until last weekend, of course — have had interested parties heading out on weekends and even during the week.
“The weather has been great, which has worked in our favor,” says Cervi. “I have brokers going out on Tuesday or Wednesday, and they’re coming back with signed leases. We usually don’t see a lot of activity until after Presidents Day.”
He attributes some of the action to fallout from Hurricane Sandy. Unlike other beach areas within driving distance from the city, the Hamptons wasn’t heavily damaged by the hurricane.
“We’re getting a lot more people because of Sandy. People from other beach communities, from Long Beach, from New Jersey,” Cervi says. “These people are new to the area. They may not be renting for the whole season, but they’re out to test-drive the Hamptons.”
And landlords offering short-term leases are making it easier for this new demographic to rent. These one-month or even one-week leases became popular in the wake of the recession among people who felt they couldn’t afford the entire summer season — Memorial Day to Labor Day — but were loath to let the Hamptons go altogether. Though more of a headache for a landlord, who has to clean and set up between tenants, short-term leases can be more lucrative. Landlords who are willing to gamble on monthly — or even weekly — leases are often able to earn more for June, July and August separately than they would for the entire summer.
That’s an attractive option given that prices have remained steady over last year.
“Pricing is about the same. We’ve been telling landlords that if you rented your house for X last year then you should probably list it for X again this year,” Cervi says. “If they make a mistake, there will be a bidding war.”
Landlords who don’t heed this advice should prepare to be flexible.
“If you’re not negotiable, they’re going to pick you over,” says Morabito.
Overall, rental housing stock is tighter this year due to the institution of a new capital-gains tax that began in 2013. The tax had Hamptons home sellers extremely negotiable at the end of last year, preferring to move their properties than to sell later for more and incur the tax.
“There have been a tremendous amount of sales because of the tax incentives,” says Morabito. “So a lot of the houses that we would be renting have sold, and the inventory is down.”
Which, brokers hope, will make competition high.
“I tell my clients to bring their checkbooks,” Steinhorst says. “I had a rental where the customer made a full-price offer but didn’t bring his checkbook. The broker drew up leases and e-mailed them to the customer on Sunday. He was going to send a check on Monday morning. But someone came in and signed the leases on the kitchen table and had a check — and as any smart owner would do, he took the check and the lease that was in front of him.”