REAL ESTATE

INSIDE STORIES BEHIND AREA REAL ESTATE DEALS

Smart And Sexy
Don't be fooled by the dramatic design of this contemporary Amagansett beach house. A remote-access heating system, state-of-the-art, marine-grade building materials and an indoor/outdoor sound system make it as smart as it is sexy. The extensive use of glass takes advantage of the natural light and breathtaking ocean views. With three guest bedrooms, a media room, wet bar and outdoor shower by the heated gunite pool, not to mention the spa with cascading waterfall, you'll have plenty of company during the summer season. It's listed with Lili Wainwright of Brown Harris Stevens (631-903-6145).

To Have or to Have Not
I reached the point of wondering if the carnage on Wall Street, so long in the making, might not prove in the end a relief, a last dreadful, nasty twist to a numinous world of complex derivatives and common greed. I nearly pine for the days of mainstream, square-jawed investment bankers who sweet-talked genuine entities into real deals instead of phantasmagorical games of darts in the guise of today's financial wizardry.

Since the underpinnings of Hamptons real estate are supported by Wall Street, it's a disappointment indeed when the lords of trade fail when we expect infallibity. The gist is, the vigorously rich who made this gilded playpen amusing are rattling the pleasure dome. While the Bear Sterns debacle beckons as the poster child of 2008, such unrelieved misfortune does not bode well to reignite the bubble to which we've become so accustomed.