Jury Out on 2017 Hamptons Rentals

If your home is rented, I suppose you don't need to read this and should congratulate yourself for wise decision making and prudent management of your Hamptons property. However if you are sitting by the phone waiting for a prospective renter's call then perhaps reading this will annoy you. Either way Memorial Day weekend is but 3 weeks away and here is where the landscape of Hampton rentals sits.

Diane Shifman of Rosehippartners.com was kind enough to once again share her wisdom as she enters a decade of renting and selling Hamptons properties. She was all bells and whistles just 6 weeks ago as rental activity was brisk and fluent. However she now reports that rental activity in the Hamptons is in pause as Memorial Day looms in the near future of just three weeks away.

Diane preaches flexibility in how you plan to rent your home. She believes it may be wiser to piecemeal the rental in order to maximize price and flexibility for the new renters. The new renters are still successful folks but are now challenged for free time so they request shorter term deals (two weeks or month) than the old school, Memorial Day to Labor Day, total package that must home rental owners prefer. This can be accomplished within the parameter of the new registry law.

For 6 years I wrote a weekly real estate column (Estate of Mind) for what was then the largest weekly circulated paper in the Hamptons. What I learned was "be flexible," with setting renting prices. However there was/are always those who demand top dollar for modest homes and sour prospective renters who spend valuable time looking and rejecting over zealous pricing. "Pennies wise and dollars foolish," was how one real estate sales legend put it. We were sitting in his Bridgehampton office and he said, "Every year I watch a few good homes go unrented because of stubbornness... because they painted, remodeled or put on a new roof, they demand more money than last year, and scare away people with signed checks in their hand." He added, "Years ago I stopped interfering, it was too aggravating." The rule is a good buyer or renter will find someone/somewhere to meet their price of what they plan to spend or can afford. The skilled business minded home owner must perfect the art of extracting that check.

So soon the rubber mets the road because quite frankly if your home is not rented by Memorial Day, "hello" it won't be rented from Memorial to Labor Day! So start changing your renting and pricing strategy. Also many believe July is the new prime month and discount August because kids schools now start before Labor Day.

Successful management of Summer Home Rental in the Hamptons is an art form that many locals have mastered. They foster a relationship and basically renew year to year. It seems to be the out of town investors who are insensitive in their pricing and behavior. However greed plays a part both in pricing and bidding.

For sure come July and August the allure of the beautiful Town Beaches, and great summer weather will persuade some folks to open their checkbooks and make the call. It looks like as of now there will still be quality deals available.