What's the skinny on Hampton Bays?

Considered "not cool", not the "real Hamptons". I did however see some very pretty areas there, roads with noth ocean and bay views. If you're buying for yourself, fine, but you will not be able to rent it out as a summer rental. I suspect that at some unknown point it might be discovered, but who knows when.

The "jersey shore" of the Hamptons

Wondering if it's a bad investment. Given the suboptimal markets, maybe we shouldn't buy in a second tier location? Looking for something close to the city on a beach. Does not have to be Hamptons at all. Was even wondering about Locust valley or the western part of Suffolk county,

I had asked the same question. The responses I received were similar to the above. It's the blue collar version of the Hamptons although it is getting nicer.

Like comparing Gerritsen Beach to Mill Basin.

brooksie said

If you are looking for something closer to nyc withth more cache than hampton bays (which has lots of cute homes but isnt considered toni in the slightest) hen perhaps consider Quogue

@mym.- You must be on crack. I have a friend who owns a couple of homes in the Hamptons. They have ALWAYS rented out their home in Hampton Bays. Yes it's not as cool as some places but it's a great place for families.

Adrian-I'm happy for your friend.

actually it's pretty awful for families--lotta meathead roidhead drunks around a la jersey shore--on the beach in the restaurants, etc--priced accordingly--shit rents and sells--but at a massive discount to better communities (for non-Situation/Snooky types)--kinda the antithesis to quogue in price, culture, size of the town itself, everything

it's really the cheese-zone of eastern LI

Let's take it easy on the Jersey Shore, it's not all like Seaside. I spent my summers in Mantoloking, beautiful private beaches. Also Spring Lake,Deal, Bayhead and Ocean Grove is a quaint Victorian town a short train ride away. For a more country setting, horse farms, small roadside vegetable stands check out Colts Neck, NJ.

Hmmm... no one is particularly encouraging on Hampton Bays and if that is what the perception is, then it will be harder to rent or sell. A couple of you mentioned Quoge which is also not as trendy as the Hamptons but does it have the downsides of Hampton Bays?

KB- the Quotes meant like the program ie Seaside. granted JS is not that bad nor is HB. Its realative, descriptive comparison. ie .. East Hampton to Hampton Bays is like Spring lake to Seaside..

You are ill-advised to house shop based upon generalized comments about neighborhoods, likely from people with little or no first-hand knowledge. Hampton Bays is a very large area. Saying it is over-run with frat parties is a bit likely saying the same thing about Manhattan south of 14th street. To be sure, there is a stretch of Hampton Bays ocean that has beach-front Ft. Lauderdale-esque bars that is not like anywhere else in the Hamptons, not because of the locals but the bars are full of day-trippers who need the parking/beach access and transient renters. Residents have access to other beaches that are more in keeping with the Hamptons. And there are a lot more short-term rentals and motels that do not attract the "usual" Hamptons-esque clientele, but the same is true of Montauk. As some above noted, there are parts of Hampton Bays that are as nice as many in the Hamptons, especially along the bayfront. If you are a boater, the water access is as good as the south fork gets and provides the only access between Peconic Bay and the ocean until Montauk.

Sure, there are lots more year-round, "blue collar" residents, with housing stock commensurate with those residents. In many respects, having a year-round community is a benefit if you use your house in the off-season. But if you don't like such riff-raff, you should pass on Hampton Bays, and also pass on Noyac, North Sea, Springs, Quiogue, Quogue, etc.

Although I have seen beautiful places in Hampton Bays, perception does count when it comes to rentals or resales-some people in the market will not even bother to look. Quogue is considered much more upscale.

Quogue is like an outpost of the more upscale Hamptons (Southampton, Watermill, Bridgehampton, Wainscott, East Hampton, Amagansett, Sag Harbor). It is an hour closer to NYC and full of expensive homes. It has virtually no town to speak of though and for "civilization" your town would pretty much be Westhampton. Make of that what you will--while it has the name "hampton" in it, Westhampton is most definitely a different crowd than the towns an hour east. Packed with share houses, a somewhat louder crowd, and more day trippers, it isn't for everyone. But as for Quogue, it has an upscale reputation and a beautiful beach town feel--very peaceful with many many nice homes and quiet great beaches.

Although I know the answer, what do people think of Long Beach/Atlantic Beach/Lido Beach?

great waves!

lots of surfers but many take the rr out.
Some nice houses modeled on L.B. in California. Aging co-op buildings on beachfront.
Bungalows on sidestreets.

The water is not clean and clear. You have to go out east for that.
Not sure what you could rent out there.
Is that overpriced new condo building sold out yet?

Is the crowd "Jersey Shore" like? Doesn't look quaint from photos. Also, for buyers, property tax look very high.

Hampton Bays is a hidden gem! I grew up spending most of my summers in southampton village and I also work in real estate. I dont know it all but I think Hampton Bays has lots of potential. Maybe these places will change your outlook on things:

Rumba: www.rumbarumbar.com
Cowfish: www.facebook.com/CowFishHamptonBays
Canal Cafe: Great lunch spot
Orlandos: shrimp tacos are big time.
Scottos: Dont miss the Pizza...Wow!

Also a new development is up that is changing the scene in East Hampton Bays called Canoe Place Landing - www.canoeplacelanding.com. Place is legit!

The movement has begun on the Shinnicock canal! Check it out

tm2mc,

I had a house in Long Beach for a couple of years. Great town but definitely high property taxes and constant local fiscal scandals. It's a small middle-class city though there are some more expensive homes by the water. Beautiful lifeguarded beach draws lots of day-trippers during the summer, and nonresidential parking gets tight. Lido and Atlantic are further from the train, and consequently somewhat more upscale.

@truth, that waterfront condo building is not sold out yet, but it is getting there.

ali r.
DG Neary Realty

Thanks Ali

I had heard that Quogue was more upscale so may give that a shot but again the perception seems mixed. Sounds like "Definitely not core Hamptons but a notch (or possibly two) above Hampton Bays." While I agree that one should not generalise, I do fear that if I ever need to unload the property in Hampton Bays in a hurry, I may have to take a big haircut because not as many people will look at it. Would it likely be the same in Quogue?

Ali - always wondered about Long Beach/Atlantic/Lido. So close to the city with beautiful beaches but not as in as I'd thought they be. I can't see the appeal of sitting in traffic for hours every weekend when you can be settled in your beach home in under an hour but for some reason, the Hamptons have a lot more sex appeal.

Sounds as if you want to buy for a less-upscale price now but sell for a more-upscale price later. It's difficult to have it both ways, but towns do sometimes change over the long term.

In general, Quogue has a more upscale reputation than Hampton Bays. Quogue is many things, because it too is relatively large. But you are not comparing apples to apples when evaluating housing stock or the ability to "unload the property in a hurry." A decent house "south of the highway" (i.e., on the ocean side of Old Montauk Highway) just outside the village in Quogue will be quite expensive (multiple 7 figures), but the same house south of the highway in Southampton, Watermill, Sagaponak, or East Hampton will be way more expensive, perhaps even a multiple. This is not just because of the disreability of the towns, but also because there are fewer houses "south of the highway" in the other towns, there is more land mass "south of the highway" in Quogue, lots tend to be larger further east, and you need to cross a bridge to get to the beach from Quogue. To some, however, the latter might be a benefit, as you can have a boat dock in your backyard and be walking distance (or across the street from) the ocean.

Houses are, generally speaking, cheaper "north of the highway." But that might not be true when you go "north" enough to get to the bay, where waterfront houses can be expensive, although bayfront houses historically were smaller cottages that in many instances have given way to McMansions. But the price differential still exists as you move to "cheaper" parts of the towns. There are, for example, several (in my view horrible) planned communities north of the highway in Quogue called Wildlife I, II, III, and a few others. Houses are cheaper here (but not cheap). There are areas north of the highway in Southampton (Noyac, North Sea, Shinnecock) and East Hampton (Northwest woods and Springs) with cheaper houses, but to the extent you could find roughly equal houses and land, Quogue all in will be cheaper, often by a lot.

So, there is no easy comparison. People have different tastes. I rented every summer on the south fork for 15+ years before buying a house on the north fork years ago. I value my time too much, and would never deal with the traffic heading too far east, despite my love for the Amagansett dunes. The trip to East Hampton or Amagansett can easily be an hour longer than Quogue. So, it presents a different equation if you are a weekends only commuter, and looking at a 1.5 hour ride to quogue, or a 2.5 hour ride to points further east.

lo, I think Long Beach stays middle-class BECAUSE it's so close to the city. If you moved it an hour further away, it would become a second-home community, and then it would become more upscale...

NYC-sport - thans so much for your post. Where in the North Fork did you buy? We are open to that too.

Lo--We are in Mattituck, a mile from any public road, on a 130 foot tall bluff on the LI sound. It is, to us at least, everything we wanted, and 1.5 traffic-less hours from home (well, except for that Queens traffic). If you love ocean beaches, you just can't compare a sound or bay beach with the south fork ocean beaches. But we did not love the east end for the beaches, but for the cool summer trade winds, boating, fishing, the lighting (which is hard to describe, but the lighting in the sky at dawn and dusk is just different (or so says my struggling artist wife)), and the sunsets over the sound from my back porch are as good as it gets on this coast. Okay, we are also lushes, and spend a fair amount of time at wineries. Basically, a trip to the hardware store or the dog park means a stop at a winery.

"the lighting (which is hard to describe, but the lighting in the sky at dawn and dusk is just different (or so says my struggling artist wife))"

This is something that you hear mentioned every now & then, but I wonder if there's really anything to it. I think you get the same light in NYC, but most people are inside & on a lower floor surrounded by buildings from all sides, so they don't notice it. Then when they go out east, they have an epiphany about some indescribable magic of sunlight.

The light does seem different out east. I think it is a product of the refraction and reflection from ocean and bay water and the alignment of the land and water to the way the sun travels. Just my opinion. There's a softness and glow to the light that is special. In NYC it is a different alignment of the water to land--the land is not a narrow spit on an east-west axis.

Very well described by kyle. Natural magic, clean clear water.

Probably the light is being affected by NYC. Pollution and particulates will do wonderful things to light and throughout history it has been noted that sunsets and sunrises were particularly dramatic in the months and years after big volcanic explosions.

The "driving to the Hamptons" thread is about to merge with this one.
Prepare for volcanic eruption.

>lo, I think Long Beach stays middle-class BECAUSE it's so close to the city. If you moved it an hour further away, it would become a second-home community, and then it would become more upscale...

Agree 100% Ali.
It is a beautiful stretch of beach,from Atlantic to Lido with Lido Beach maybe the blue collar prize. Dare I say Lido Beach is the Quogue of the "Bays."

I did look at a couple oceanfronts in East Quogue at peak "crash" (Lehman collapse). Both could be had for under $2mm at the time. The proximity to Neptunes was unbearable.

On the Hampton halo, it is most assuredly from the difference in air pollution.
That same thing aside from light pollution that allows you to see hundreds of stars instead of 3 in the city.

I lived 30 stories up for several years in manhattan. You can see every morning any time of the year a distinct smog haze across the entire city. It's just a grey/black layer visible across the horizon.
I call it Hazescoting.

The same way I explain to non-New Yorkers who...er... "fume" about bus & car exhaust blasted onto their food while dining al fresco:

"Enjoy the free seasoning-it's Manhattan Pepper!"

http://hamptons.curbed.com/archives/2012/07/11/indian_wells_has_gotten_a_little_too_popular_this_season.php

most quogue/ e quogue beaches are very quiet, i go to dolphin lane and many sundays there are at most 5-10 other people there, neptunes? gimme a break, never go near it, never see those types around, i would guess they just shuttle between there and the boardy barn

Market bifurcation - 1%-er Hamptons hanging in there, Quogue / Bays getting pounded. Should always take broker reports with a pound of salt but thought this was relevant to discussion here...

http://nymag.com/daily/intel/2012/07/buyers-snapping-up-vacant-land-in-the-hamptons.html