Busy buyers looking to add the Hamptons to their portfolio of plush playpens want one thing: turnkey satisfaction.
That’s why brokers say demand for new construction is soaring.
“If you are ready to make a decision, are organized and don’t change your mind, you can close in December and it will be ready by June,” says Douglas Elliman’s Martha Gundersen of renovation turnaround times in the Hamptons. “But if it’s big and if it’s a gut renovation where you take it down to the studs, lift the house and put in a basement — basically rebuilding a whole house — that could take a year, to a year-and-a-half.”
At 172 Cranberry Hole Road in Amagansett, however, you won’t have to touch a thing. It’s 8,200 square feet and seven bedrooms worth of newly built easy living, with amenities like a 20-by-42-foot heated salt water pool, a hot tub, a tennis court, a “sporting field,” a sun deck and 3,000 square feet of travertine patios packed with an outdoor kitchen, dining area, bar, barbecue and fire pit. Gundersen is listing it for $12.5 million.
“The demand is coming from families with young children,” she says. “They want to push around baby carriages in the lanes, walk to the beach or a farm stand and live a very healthy low-key life.
There are also families from California or Florida with kids and grandkids living in New York who buy a house for get-togethers. They buy new construction because there’s less maintenance — the air conditioners are new, everything’s new. You don’t have to spend your time waiting for contractors to fix things.”
But if you want a fresh facade, buy it now, adds Douglas Elliman broker Thomas Cavallo, who comes from an East End builder family. “Inventory is low and the cost of material is increasing,” he says, noting that prices are likely to rise even further due to the current trade wars. “Where do you think all our lumber comes from? It comes from Canada. So, that’s going to make the cost of new construction go up a bit.”
When future costs go up, builders tend to reprice their existing inventory at what it would cost to build today, leaving no room for relief. However, one get-it-while-it’s-hot opportunity was just completed by BJC Custom Homes at 5 Widow Coopers Path in North Haven.
It’s an eight-bed, 10-bath with 9,600 square feet tricked out with all the new tech and toys — from a sprawling wellness center with steam room and sauna and a home cinema to “resort-style” heated pool and cabana. Cavallo has it listed for $11.99 million.
Or add ultra-convenience to ultra-ease by shopping in Westhampton Beach.
There, the six-bed, eight-bath, 4,900-square-foot “Nordic Modern Beach Home” at 774 Dune Road was recently built by First Dunes.
Modern conveniences include: a heated gunite pool, a cabana with shower and bathroom, a chef’s kitchen (Gaggenau and Thermador appliances, check and check) and a four-car garage.
It’s asking $8.75 million as a co-lisitng with Compass’ Christopher Furchert and Serhant.
“Serenity now” was never so apropos.
