It’s now official, the Hamptons are now the sixth borough. When you pick up your land line phone, you now have dial the area code for local calls. It’s not that it’s a big deal but I kind of think it’s the tipping point for something. I’m not sure what… but it’s definitely a tipping point for something.
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| New Technology is coming to the Hamptons! |
Meanwhile, I never realized it but when you sell real estate on the East End you start to speak a language all of it’s own. A few months ago I started noting the terms I use with some of my other friends in the biz out here to describe the people and places in our humble little neck of the woods. So here they are in no particular order or significance, additions to the lexicon of selling Hamptons real estate.
TMS or Taj Mahal Syndrome – this is when a home seller thinks their particular property is the best of the best. Yes, it involves an inflated price tag on their home and total denial of the realities of the market place. While they love their gilded fish faucets in the downstairs powder room, very few consumers will put a value on such a luxurious fixture. It doesn’t matter how much they cost. It’s really a frustrating affliction for realtors because how do you not insult your sellers while explaining, “everyone thinks your #@#***% gilded fish are hideous?”
Catfished – this term is actually used more often when discussing Facebook profiles but can also be used to describe when some customers actually see an advertised listing in person. Thanks to
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| Catfished: photoshopping happens |
modern technology and overseas sweat shops, it’s easier for property photos to be “enhanced” without spending a fortune. A gaping hole in the roof? No problem, it’s solved with a click of a mouse and a wave of a pen. So imagine, the buyers delight when they actually see the house in person!? They’ve been “catfished.”
A Kobe – Remember when Kobe Bryant got tangled up in a sex scandal a few years back? A few nasty headlines and the next thing you know is his wife got a brand new bauble the size of Texas? Well it happens here too. So, while diamonds are a girls best friend, real estate is many a girls BFF (rings can get lost). Now, I don’t want to sound sexist. There are more than a few men out there getting their “kobes” too. But while I’ve also noticed it’s usually spouse #2 who gets these 8000 square foot multi-million dollar baubles, there really is nothing wrong with it. I’m happy to helps someone “kobe” anyone, anytime.
Earhardt – Yes, I’ve written about this before but a great term is worth repeating. This one was shared to me by one of our local cab drivers a few years ago. This is a person who is renting a home in the Hamptons but can’t remember where it’s located. A reference to the pioneer and missing aviator Amelia Earhardt. These particular folks are usually spotted wandering around early in the season on the streets of the east end looking for the cedar shingled house with the pool in the back yard.
Yes it’s fun being here in the playground of the rich, famous and sometime clueless… where we have a lifestyle and a language all our own!
Recently I was made aware of a new term for certain renters that the locals use. They call them the “mirrorless.” What does that mean and who are these people? Well, let me tell you. These are the people who wear fur coats in June, speedos with bulging guts and high heels on the beach. Apparently it comes from one particular incident,that an old timer agent friend of mine told me about. A few years ago when a tennant complained to an agent that the house had no mirrors anywhere in the house the agent went to the hardware store and bought a few inexpensive stand alone full length ones. Well when they went to the house, they discovered these people weren’t kidding. The wife look like she put her make up on the Cyclone at Coney Island and the Husbands Coogi sweater was about two sizes too small. Thus the term “mirrorless” was born in a Hamptons summer rental.
I’m not coining a new term but it is one I just discovered. It’s called an Earhardt! Apparently cab drivers in the Hamptons have been aware of this for years. Every year new comers come to the East End and move into their beautiful new 4 bedroom, 4 bath, heated pool compounds for three months. Now I appreciate that the newcomers to our community respect the rules of the roads and don’t drink and drive. But please from now on REMEMBER WHERE YOU LIVE! Saying, it’s a house with gray shingles off 27 doesn’t really help the driver. Nor does, “it has a pool in the backyard or I think it’s on Bay or Ocean or something like that.” Yes, apparently it’s an epidemic for cab drivers this time of year… tenants that get drunk and can’t remember where they live! If your a real estate agent like me, print little cards with the address for your new tenants. It’s the right thing to do. Otherwise, the cab drivers with be referring to them as an “Earhart.” Yes, like Amelia Earhart.