The off-market sale of an oceanfront Southampton Village property just closed Tuesday for near its $35 million asking price, making it one of the top sales of the year across the Hamptons.
The address is 950 Meadow Lane and the seller is Mary Helen Jordan. The residence on 3.2 acres was built in 1997 and is 2,799 square feet. It has five bedrooms and five bathrooms. The property also boasts a tennis court and an 800-square-foot pool.
James Giugliano of Nest Seekers represented the seller and had a hand in bringing the unnamed buyer. Mr. Giugliano was also involved in the sale earlier this year of 263 Surfside Drive in Bridgehampton, which was another off-market sale and is poised to be the No. 1 transaction of 2019.
Off-market deals are trending on the high-end, according to Mr. Giugliano. “The best properties normally aren’t on the market,” he said.
But how does one sell a property that isn’t advertised for sale?
“The key to marketing something off-market is having contacts in the city, having local contacts,” Mr. Giugliano said. “There is a small little pool of brokers that deal in this vicinity of pricing.”
Mr. Giugliano said off-market deals are an answer to overpriced properties
“Everything on-market right now is overpriced,” he said. “You’re seeing oceanfronts sitting on the market for two, three, four years now.”
He said real estate agents are overpromising to get a listing, using “ridiculous numbers that would never happen,”
“The data backs it up,” he added. “If you had something listed for over two years and you had price reduction after price reduction, you clearly priced the property wrong.”
He points to the brokers, not the sellers who demand top dollar, as the ones who are responsible for overpricing.
“The reason why it’s so hard is not because of the seller themselves,” he said. “It’s because of everybody else trying to get a listing. Nowadays, the only way to get a listing is to overprice it.”
Mr. Giugliano said 950 Meadow Lane will be a record price for pure land on Meadow Lane because the existing house will not stay, and the sale did not include plans for a new home.
“There’s no way they’d keep this,” he said. “It’s a teardown.”
What makes it valuable is the land — 3.2 acres — and the location.
“It’s in the beginning of Meadow Lane, it’s really close to the village, it has really expansive oceanfront,” Mr. Giugliano said.
Eileen O’Neill of Douglas Elliman was also involved in bringing the buyer.
Staff Writer on Oct 23, 2019