Hamptons homes that sold for under $1 million

To home seekers shopping in the under $1 million price range on Long Island's East End, Douglas Elliman agent Constance Porto warns of "slim pickings."

"You're going to have to make a decision quickly, because they don't stay on the market that long," Porto said. "And anything under a million is going to need work."

But Quogue-based Compass agent Mariana Nunes said it is still possible to gain entry to the East End for $999,999 or less.

"When COVID hit, the pricing in Hampton Bays skyrocketed," said Nunes. "But, there is still opportunity in Hampton Bays to snag properties for under a million, if you're a discerning buyer and you have an eye for certain things."

Priced at just under $600,000, a small cabin on a 0.18-acre property in East Hampton sold for $620,000 in October.

"The cottage itself, you're probably looking at 250 square feet," said Douglas Elliman agent Andrey Trigubovich. "That's the smallest I've ever sold here."

The cabin is smaller than most apartments, condos and co-ops, Trigubovich said, which usually start at 300 square feet.

"If you know the Hamptons market," he said, "it's hard to find anything under $800,000, $900,000 here."

Much of the interest came from artists looking for a small parcel of land with a tiny house on it, Trigubovich said.

"That tiny house, you can increase the size of it," he added. "There's potential there. But in the meantime, you can also just clean it up and make a cute one-bedroom or just studio apartment."

Listed for $999,000, this farm ranch-style home sold for $960,000 in January after a few months on the market.

"It needed a lot of work," said Porto, a Douglas Elliman agent based in Hampton Bays. "It was a big house, with a nice two-car garage, but it needed updating."

The four-bed, two-bath house sits on a 0.44-acre lot in the Hampton Bays School District. Annual taxes on the property total $7,362. Community residents have access to a private beach through a small park within walking distance of the home, Porto said.

The house had central air conditioning and oil and baseboard heating; but the buyer added a pool, renovated kitchens and bathrooms and took down walls to create a more open floor plan. The buyers also painted the outside of the house.

"The location warrants it; it's just a premier area of Hampton Bays," Porto said of the work the new owner is putting in.

This three-bed, two-bath ranch with deeded right of way to Beaver Creek sold for $910,000 in February.

"It did need some updating," said listing agent Victoria Reynolds, of Daniel Gale Sotheby's International Realty. "But it was in Westhampton."

Annual taxes on the 0.31-acre lot, which is in the Westhampton Beach School District, total $4,923. An additional parcel in a different tax map came with the property, Reynolds said. The neighborhood has sidewalks that offer safe routes to schools and the village.

Reynolds said the house was in a favorable location and had potential.

"It was dated," she said of the property, which was sold by an estate. "But, it was still cute because it had the wide-plank floors, wood burning fire place."

The buyer is "making it into a very Hamptons cottage," with shingles and a heated saltwater pool, Reynolds said.

This three-bedroom, two-bathroom ranch in the Rampasture Point neighborhood of Hampton Bays closed for $945,000 in April.

"It was small, but it's very nicely maintained," Porto said of the 1,000-square-foot house on a 0.41-acre property. Annual taxes on the property, which includes a breezeway and a one-car garage, total $9,226.

The home is not waterfront and does not have a pool; but Porto described the area, which is surrounded by water, as a "really special place." The block has its own beach, she said.

Priced at $999,000 and sold for that amount in December, this three-bedroom, two-bathroom home in Southampton sits on a 0.59-acre property in Southampton School District. Annual taxes total $2,865.

"It's a very small, very small market under the million-dollar mark," Compass agent Gail Toma said. "In my opinion, this was a fantastic opportunity to come into this area."

Through the Compass Concierge Program, the seller took a no-interest loan and used the money to paint the home's interior, redo floors and clean up the basement before the sale, Toma said.

"This was a very part-time home, very gently used," Toma said.

Assets include proximity to the ocean and the village of Southampton; but there are tradeoffs for Southampton life at this price point. The home cannot have a backyard pool, has a crawl space instead of a basement and does not have a garage.

"Most of the time, in that price point, you're not going to get everything on your wishlist," Toma said. "Some areas will offer you more value for your investment."

Properties in Southampton come with fewer amenities than comparable homes in the western Hamptons market — Hampton Bays, East Quogue, Westhampton — Toma said.

"The house was comped very carefully," Toma said. "And it was purchased at its appropriate value for the market."

In February, Nunes sold a three-bedroom, two-bath in Quogue for $987,000. Annual taxes on the 0.36-acre property, which is in Quogue School District, total $2,716.

"That's a Quogue Village historic home that was very charming in the sense that it had a lot of original features from the 1800s," Nunes said, "which was the reason why a lot of the buyers that came through came to see it."

Interior features included an enclosed front porch, hardwood floors, butcher-block kitchen countertops and an enclosed rear porch. Warmed by oil and hot water, the house had no central air conditioning.

Outside, there were a large deck, a basketball court and raised garden beds.

"That house was sold for under a million because it was for the person who would come in and restore it to its glory," Nunes said. "It was fine to live in the way that it is, but it really is for somebody who has an appreciation for historic homes."

Ideally, she said, the buyer would maintain the original details while modernizing the house.

A three-bedroom, one-bath ranch in Hampton Bays closed in April for $847,000. The "quaint" 1,050-square-foot home on a 0.26-acre property was kept meticulously, said Nunes, the listing agent.

"We had a lot of activity on that house," she said. "I think one of the biggest draws for it was its proximity to Hampton Bays South... and also how central it is to both Westhampton Beach and Southampton villages."

The property offered an unfinished basement, an attached one-car garage, a fenced-in yard and recently planted Miami crape myrtle trees.

"It's perfectly livable because it was really well-kept, and the person who bought it had a vision for it," Nunes said. "It presented an opportunity for improvement if somebody wanted, but also, to live in the way that it is."

Listed for $875,000, this three-bed, two-bath cedar ranch sold for $975,000 in January.

Working with a "no-nonsense seller" who wanted to sell the home quickly, Douglas Elliman agent David Donohue underpriced the home on purpose. Of six or seven bids, all but one were over the asking price, Donohue said.

"We even had higher offers than the price that it did close at," Donohue said; but this was a "clean deal." The buyer was prepared to pay in cash and close quickly, which Donohue said carried significant weight in the seller's decision.

Annual taxes on the 0.4-acre property, which is within Southampton School District, total $2,506. Properties in Southampton farther east tend to be more expensive than those in East Quogue and Hampton Bays, Donohue said, but pricing involves strategy.

"You could've priced it at a million 50 and ended up at the same price," he said. "But you may have blocked out a few potential buyers by pricing it up there."

A prospective buyer interested in a Southampton home priced around $875,000 found himself redirected to this house in Hampton Bays. Though he wanted to stay close to the Southampton area, the client was open to properties from East Hampton to close to East Quogue.

"Some buyers are very particular to where they want to be as far as location," said Donohue, who brought the buyer to a home listed by Julie Pinkwater and her husband, Will Metzger. "This buyer was looking for a price point."

The three-bedroom Hampton Bays house was just out of budget: the asking price was $895,000. The parties negotiated, and the buyer closed on the house at $850,000. 

The previous owner had renovated the house three years earlier, Pinkwater said.

"It's in perfect condition, you don't have to do one thing to it," Pinkwater said. "But you can."

Among options are the installation of a pool and renovations to the basement, which is only accessible from outside, Pinkwater offered. 

"There are opportunities in the Hamptons, and a fair amount of them if people are flexible on their location," Donohue said. "Or, they're willing to do work."

By Arielle Dollinger

arielle.dollinger@newsday.com@aridollinger

Arielle Dollinger joined Newsday as a staff reporter in 2022. Previously, she covered local and national news as a freelancer for The New York Times, Newsday and other outlets.