'Dynasty' Hamptons Style

Whether they’re working as power teams or independently as individuals at the same firm, multigenerational families seem to be a growing force in the local real estate scene, where bonds of trust and an eye to the future are essential elements.Father and son Tim and Jon Davis, of Corcoran, and mother and sons Keri Dayton and Ethan and Zack Dayton, of Sotheby’s, are just two examples.

Tim and Jon Davis had never broached the topic of working together until the fall of 2012, when Jon Davis was 22 and his father suggested that he join him in business. Tim Davis started selling real estate 34 years ago, and as his son watched him run the area’s top real estate firm, Allan M. Schneider Associates, overseeing dozens of agents, he said it was always in the back of his mind that he might one day take up a similar career.

Tim Davis recalls the moment he put the question to his son, who’d studied business and gone on to work for his uncle, Keith Davis, owner of the local Golden Pear cafes. “We were sitting outside,” Tim Davis said, “and I said, ‘What do you want to do?’ I could see that he had matured because of his job in the service industry.”

I told him, ‘If you’re interested in getting into this business, you need to be serious and make a commitment.’”

Jon Davis said he was quick to say yes. “I wanted to make a transition to a career where I could see a future,” he said. “I like people,” he added. “I like connecting with them and making them happy.” He had discovered that at the Golden Pear, where he met people he has since represented in real estate transactions.

But there was a bigger reason, said Jon Davis—his father had “built something from nothing [and] I didn’t want it to fade away.” Tim Davis and his fellow managing principals at Schneider sold the company in 2006, and Mr. Davis currently has more than 40 property listings, many with prices in the stratosphere. He’s been called the number one Hamptons broker and was ranked the number four agent in the country last year by the Wall Street Journal.

Those are large shoes to fill, but Jon Davis is off and running, proving his value especially in the digital domain. “I understand social media,” he said. “I wanted to grab a different demographic that he wasn’t reaching.”

A more prominent presence on the internet has opened new doors, his father said, not least of which are connections they’ve made to forge new partnerships in the U.S. and abroad.

Tim Davis recalls that he was “pleasantly surprised” when his son agreed to come aboard. “I never knew it was something he’d always wanted to do,” he said, adding that he has learned to listen to what his son has to say.

“He’s in the world where things are changing so fast,” Mr. Davis said of his son.

Like Mr. Davis, Ms. Dayton cited the energy and open-mindedness of bringing one’s offspring on board. “They’re ready to do anything, they take on more than someone who’s been in business awhile,” said Ms. Dayton. “They don’t question things, they jump right in.”

She said she was thrilled that her two sons have also joined Sotheby’s at its East Hampton office. Though the three family members don’t work as a team, the mother is available to guide her cubs through the real estate trenches—and the young men have an aunt on hand, too. Ms. Dayton began her real estate career in the 1990s, when she and her sister, Kathy Konzet, worked under local legend Tina Fredericks. Today, the two siblings share a desk.

“The younger generation brings in high energy,” said Ms. Konzet. “They’re computer savvy and bring so much enthusiasm.” She said she is impressed by their “fearlessness … the way they go after people for exclusives.

“They’re less inhibited and think outside the box,” she continued.

Certainly the flexible hours offered by a real estate career fit in with the brothers’ lifestyle. “We’re big-time surfers,” said Ethan Dayton, who’s 25. He and his younger brother take their laptops wherever they surf, from Panama to Hawaii. And surfing off the beaches of the South Fork has brought them new listings.

“Surfing has become so popular—everyone wants to do it,” said Zack Dayton, who’s 23. The brothers work the summer crowd, meeting prospects “in the water or events at galleries … where people from the surfing world meet,” he said.

It doesn’t hurt to share a well-known and longtime local name, either. “The name Dayton stands for a lot,” said Ms. Dayton, adding that it conjures up images of a family that is “hardworking and loyal with strong roots here.”

With pride she recounted her boys’ first sale, an exclusive waterfront listing of hers in Sag Harbor. “They brought the buyer in and really worked hard,” she said. “They have a lot of their own connections from having grown up out here.”

The brothers value their experience in the real estate trenches for allowing them to “open our eyes to a lot more of the community you wouldn’t otherwise see.” Yet one thing did surprise them both.

“It’s a lot more competitive than we thought,” Zack Dayton said. “It drives you to work harder.”