REAL ESTATE

INSIDE STORIES BEHIND AREA REAL ESTATE DEALS

Sagaponack Sale
Some say a good buy in recent deed transfers was the $18.3 million sale of a 2.5-acre property with 300 feet on the Atlantic, just at the end of a private lane off Fairfield Pond in Sagaponack. From the beach, the 10,000-square-foot house (with 9,000-square-feet of decking), above, looks like a resort. The description fits: seven bedrooms, a staff wing, an open entertaining area and an indoor pool surrounded by heated tiles. What you can't see from the beach (or the movie Wall Street, where it briefly appeared) is the evergreen landscaping with its own tiered pond and waterfall. Despite the shifting sands and erosion issues that Sagaponack oceanfront properties have faced, beach houses remain in highest demand. Gary DePersia of Allan Schneider/Cororan handled the sale. —H.B.

Fall Trends
If the summer real estate market draws a particular buying crowd—couples happy to casually poke around open houses on their way to the beach—the fall season typically draws the serious buyers, the ones willing to drive out from the city. So what can buyers expect in these chillier months? A leveling-off of prices, more wiggle room for negotiation, fewer bidding wars, rising inventory and plenty of multimillion-dollar spec houses, say brokers. And perhaps, some long-awaited stabilization.

"We've gone into a more normal market phase," says Paul Brennan, regional manager in Prudential Douglas Elliman's Bridgehampton office. "There's a lull after two years."