REAL ESTATE

INSIDE STORIES BEHIND AREA REAL ESTATE DEALS

The New Big Thing
For celebs and non-celebs alike, buyers appear to be asking for more and more out-door "indoor" space—and developers are being more than accommodating. "Outdoor spaces are a new status symbol and an exciting place to entertain," notes Corcoran broker Deborah Srb. Fireplaces and massive outdoor chef kitchens are currently popular, though owners are finding that giant plasma TVs and stereo systems are less than practical because of the bugs they attract. Pools are also getting more elaborate: $30,000 rectangular shapes are out in favor of $500,000 pools with mosaic tiles and waterfalls, along with "intricate walking paths through outdoor gardens and carved-out sanctuaries and 'Zen dens'," Srb remarks. —J.G.K.

On the Beach
There is no accounting of Hamptons real estate that doesn't border on the Byzantine. Though I'm leery of banalities, I think our system of presenting, recording and cataloguing real estate transactions is at best a flawed affair. In most locales, multiple listing services rule a certain section of the real estate world by clearly defining, in highly restricted order, properties that are for sale, pending or sold. The Hamptons does not operate under an MLS environment.

Of course, there are other tracking methods such as town data and various services that record activity once deeds transfer—enough for local brokers to perform searches on what has sold, which help to determine comparative values for anyone who needs to know.

But you can't walk into any office on the East End and ask a broker how many houses are for sale at, say, $5 to $10 million, because they only have listings on what their companies have in the computer data base.