Sag Harbor $50,000/July-August Located on a half-acre in the Village of Sag Harbor, this three-bedroom, 3 1/2-bath house has both a heated pool and a pond right in the backyard. The pond and gardens are both visible from the deck. There is a living room with cathedral ceilings, plus an eat-in kitchen, a den and a woodburning fireplace. (
)
Officially one-third of the way into the Hamptons summer rental season, what remains on the market constitutes something of a puzzle.
“It was common, historically, to expect demand for homes to be rented for the entire season,” says Linda Perillo, senior vice president of the Heddings Property Groups’ Hamptons operation. By “entire season,” she means Memorial Day through Labor Day.
“This year, people are looking for little snippets of time out of the season; one week here, one month there, two weeks, three weeks,” she says. “It makes it hard to find the home you want, in the price range you want, for the time you want.”
Brokers started noticing this breaking up of the season as a trend in the last couple years, but this year it has become de rigueur.
The down economy has people working harder and longer, making them less willing and able to take huge chunks of time off. And when they do decide to take a vacation, they don’t want to break their budget.
“People don’t want to spend money,” says Noel Love, an agent with Brown Harris Stevens in the Hamptons. He admits that June has been rather slow. But he anticipates that as we close in on July 1, interest will increase.
“We may see an influx of people who want deals from July through Labor Day, low-balling,” Love says. “But most of the properties I represent, if someone comes in and insults them with an offer, they say ‘Don’t bother.’ ”
According to Perillo, it’s been tricky to get landlords on board with the idea of breaking up the season. She watched as many passed up offers for shorter chunks of time in the hopes that the ideal renter — the one who would stay for the whole summer, thus saving homeowners from having to clean and prepare the house for new guests more than once — would surface.
“The idea of having to get a cleaning person to turn it over three times a season is overwhelming,” Perillo says. “It was difficult for many homeowners to take that leap. They didn’t realize that [breaking up the season] was the case, and in the meantime, they passed up a good August and a good July rental.”
The ones who embraced this new way of handling the rental season have done well.
“Everything is à la carte, and you get a premium for each,” Perillo says.
And the ones who didn’t are now reconsidering.
“There are properties available in all price points still,” says Ernie Cervi, executive managing director at the Corcoran Group in Bridgehampton.
“There is something that will appeal to everyone, from a cottage to a castle,” Cervi adds. “Those that didn’t rent for the summer will be broken up into months.”
Though many houses are priced $100,000 and up for the rest of the season (this is the Hamptons, after all), you can still find monthly rentals for around $20,000.
“Prices are coming down an easy 10 to 15 percent on rentals because we’re getting close to July 1,” Love says. “They’re not going to give them away, though.”
“At [the end of June], if I had a July rental available, I might be somewhat negotiable,” Cervi says.
Not only has the season been broken up, but it’s also been extended.
Traditionally, renters haven’t been interested in coming to the Hamptons in September, but brokers are seeing more and more vacationers choose it.
“September has become a month that people want to be here,” Cervi says. “[Renters have] figured out that it’s less crowded, and the weather is still great.”
Not to mention, it’s cheaper to rent. According to Cervi, September goes for 25 percent less, on average, than the rest of the summer.