REAL ESTATE

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Stewart Rahr, a pharmaceutical distributor, still holds the state record price for buying a $45 million house with 25 acres on Georgica Pond. His new neighbor will be developer Sheldon Solow, who also owns Manhattan's 9 West 57th Street. Solow bought 14 acres next door to Rahr for $25 million. Lenz brokered both deals

And then there is poor shock jock Howard Stern—who got a shock of his own when he was booted out of his $600,000 rental because his landlord, billionaire socialite Terry Allen Kramer, sold it for $34 million—a record oceanfront sale for Southampton Village. Still, the nine-bedroom, 11-bath, shingle home with a seaside pool on more than 2.5 acres is now considered a tear down—while bordered by 350 feet of oceanfront beach and a saltwater pond. (Not bad for the new owner: a young dad whose father-in-law is a Goldman Sachs partner.) Lenz, the listing broker, had no comment.

Still available in Southampton is Barbara Lee Diamonstein and Carl Spielvogel's home—with no tennis court and an indoor pool instead of an outdoor pool. Linda Wachner, the former CEO of the Warnaco Group Inc., which licensed Calvin Klein underwear, has also been having a tough time selling her Southampton home, priced at $62.5 million. Yes, it's on the ocean. But it's also near the heliport, which gets busier, noisier and smellier each year. (People spending that kind of money are, well, choosy.) But while non-white elephant, $20 million-plus oceanfront homes are selling quickly, with an average on-the-market time of six or less months, according to estimates from local brokers, homes under $10 million may take a year to sell and homes under $3 million are taking even longer.

"Some people are always reaching. Anyone else is trading up," Lenz says. "The trade-up market is fantastic. The entry market isn't." After all, $2-3 million is a lot of money for your first house—but "the Hamptons is sizzling, as anyone driving on 27 will tell you," she remarks.