REAL ESTATE

INSIDE STORIES BEHIND AREA REAL ESTATE DEALS

Hamptons Housing: Enter Laughing
Nothing would be more shocking to aging boomers than to think they've lost their sway—the right address, access to power, money and influence—and proximity to prominent guests at a dinner party. One overriding ethic of all achievers is a constant: to be truly rich you must love money for itself.

Enter the Hedge Fund crowd, which New York magazine recently tried to deconstruct in a feature. After reading it, I walked away as perplexed as ever. Was it scribed in hell—where no one knows how to read or write?

From Manhattan, Greenwich, the Hamptons and Palm Beach, the big issues still come down to real estate and how to show off to the world. But having money and power does not automatically equate to charm and wit. These newcomers to extraordinary wealth have gone overboard, building or buying houses as large as cruise liners. Perhaps if your name is on the roster of the Forbes rich list, the need to impress is not so keen.

Here in the Hamptons, there's been a new emphasis on size. People ask, "Why are these monster houses cropping up everywhere with more shingles than an entire Shaker village?" How big is big until it gets so out of hand it's hard to know which bedroom is the master? Ten chambers, 12 bathrooms, extraordinary kitchens, vast living spaces—nothing but a castle will do.

The dividing line of Hamptons wealth had always been a South-of-the-Highway address. That is no more. Distinctions are blurred. As long as you can find a piece of land that enables you to erect an 18,000-square-foot replica of the high life, location now seems secondary.

Brokers may christen Mitchell Lane or Bull Path as the new Lily Pond Lane. But who are they kidding?