Posted on 03/16/2009 10:04:28 PM PDT by TigerLikesRooster
Hamptons hit by recession
The summer playground of New York's rich and famous is feeling the pinch of the economic slowdown, as the number of homes entering the early stages of repossession almost equals the number of homes being sold.
By James Quinn, Wall Street Correspondent
Last Updated: 9:42PM GMT 16 Mar 2009
Ditch Plains beach in the Hamptons town of Montauk. Hamptons hit by recession: An arts and crafts house in the historic Hamptons village of Sag Harbor, where John Steinbeck used to live.
An arts and crafts house in the historic Hamptons village of Sag Harbor, where John Steinbeck used to live.
The exclusive beach-side region of the Hamptons – made up of a series of small but affluent towns on the eastern end of New York's Long Island – is being hard hit by the recession, as inhabitants struggle to meet mortgage payments and others attempt to sell up to liquidate assets.
New data shows that the number of legal filings against mortgage holders in relation to some form of early foreclosure activity – suggesting that the homes may be at risk – in the week ending March 13 was 16 in the Hamptons' popular East End area. This compared with 21 homes being sold.
The data, compiled by the Long Island Real Estate Report, suggests the area's residents are finally becoming subject to the economic issues facing the rest of the country.
The numbers also show that the average mortgage entering "Lis Pendens" – suit pending – was higher than the average sales price that week by 10pc, something which the popular Hamptons Real Estate Blog says was "unfathomable even six months ago."
(Excerpt) Read more at telegraph.co.uk ...
Ping!
Steinbeck didn’t make enough from the books to pay his bills? You’d figure getting public schools to make you assigned reading would guarantee wealth.
Grapes of Wrath bum.
Yeah, he blew through the Nobel Prize money on a binge that included pole dancers girls and cheap wine.
MMMM..perhaps some Bernie Madoff investors had homes out there on the eastern end of Long Island?
Cool — I have a lot of cash, does that mean I can buy in the Hamptons?
Typical lib.
Hmmm, why is Paulson selling, I wonder?
Hmmm, why is Paulson selling, I wonder?
He heard a rumor it was always a good idea to buy low and sell high.
even such small affairs as the state of the housing market in long island?!?
does this really sell papers in the UK? is it a slow news decade over there?
For the same reason certain Americans follow the goings on at Como.
it just seems kinds strange to me that they are obsessed with minute details of our culture.
it would be like the NY Times having a section dedicated to the royals every day.
I think you’d probably be able to find at least one piece about Europe in major papers every day. And, too, there is still a big NYLON culture thing going on...
The Hamptons is also a seasonal vacation area for the ultra rich of Manhattan, especially wall streeters. Part of the reason to own out there was parties and social events that were mainly so the trophy wives could sport high fashion and climb the social ladder while the captains of industry were working deals to expand their net worth. That whole scene is going to be dead for years now.
A good answer, I always think on that end of Long Island as potato farm country. I prefered the Gold Coast bay-Scott Fitzgerald zone my self.
It will be fun watching the “New York Housewives” next season, LOL!
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