By Phelan Wolf, Esq.
71 Hedges Lane, Amagansett, $3,717,000
115 Hedges Lane, Amagansett, $2,445,000
27 Gansett Lane, Amagansett, $1,600,000
This week there are three transfers in the ever-popular Amagansett “Lanes” neighborhood.
The Lanes are shorthand for the streets that run south from Main Street in Amagansett towards Bluff Road, which runs along the ocean. This is one of the few neighborhoods in the Town of East Hampton that offers easy walkability to both shops and restaurants, and to the ocean beach. The train and buses stop nearby along Main Street, making the area especially popular with weekenders who can arrive via public transportation.
Not long ago, this neighborhood looked like a typical suburb, with lots of tidy ranch homes. The last few building booms have been transformative, with many older homes being torn down and replaced by much larger new houses.
A few years ago, a new law was passed specifically to limit the maximum home size. But today it is still possible to build an approximately 5,000-square-foot house with a swimming pool on the typical half-acre lot.
While there are subtle differences among the streets and lots, there are many more similarities among these properties. This makes the neighborhood, and its comparable sales, particularly well understood by brokers, assessors, buyers and sellers.
71 Hedges Lane provides a good example of one of the large, newer homes. It was built in 2005 and is a very attractive traditional, with five bedrooms and beautiful finishes throughout.
This house sold for less than many similar-sized homes have sold for in the past, in large part because the house is pushed back far from the street, resulting in a smaller than typical backyard. Outdoor space is particularly important to buyers from Manhattan, who typically have no outdoor space of their own in the city, and small yards can be a difficult sell.
115 Hedges Lane is one of the older homes in the neighborhood. It was built in the early 1960s and is approximately 2,200 square feet with four bedrooms. It is in a fabulous location, very close to the ocean end of Hedges Lane, and is in perfect condition.
This is an example of an intermediary type of property—not a new home but not a teardown. This type of property can also be a tough sell, as most buyers want a large, new home, or want to build one for themselves, and this house has a lot of life left.
If one is patient, this type of property can also be an especially good buy. The value of the old structure on this lot can be recouped many times over, for many years, via rental income, until the house is in poor condition and it is time to build a new home for future enjoyment or resale.
27 Gansett Lane was a vacant lot and a typical half acre in the neighborhood. It sold almost immediately, as it is hard to find a vacant lot, and they are in high demand for new homes.
There have been many sales of similar lots and for similar values over the last few years. As the economy improves, there will be many more new homes in this excellent neighborhood.
27east on May 17, 2013