Real Estate: The Real Talk of the Town
Volume 48, Issue 8
By April Jimenez

The real estate market on Fire Island is hot, hot, hot. The reasons are as plentiful as the market’s offers. “Sales are through the roof because the
values are going up,” said Island Properties of the Pines proprietor Jon Wilner. Island Properties is not the only broker having a successful season. The
general consensus island-wide is that Fire Island real estate is booming for the third year in a row. Although each community is as different as can be, the
trends are undeniable. There has been a surge in purchases as opposed to long-term rentals, while each agency reports an increase in short term, weekly and
bi-weekly rentals. “There are so many people renting, more than usual,” said Lori Mattiasen of Fire Island Sales and Rentals in Ocean Beach. “A lot of people don’t want to travel abroad and it is close and convenient. It may be because it is just not affordable to rent for the whole season.” Other possible reasons for the overwhelming demand for short-term leases range from a change in the family dynamic, such as working mothers, kids in summer camp and single parents to shorter vacation times and owners not wanting to rent out their homes. Whatever the reason, the demand for short-term leasing affects all of Fire Island, both realtors and potential renters. “[Renting short term] is not our favorite thing but it is a significant part of our business and it has changed our routine. We are flooded with calls about weekly rentals,” said Dana Wallace of Dana Wallace Real Estate in Ocean Beach. The call for weekly and bi-weekly vacation homes disrupts the flow of the usually seasonal rentals, which in turn affects the availability and prices of all homes.

Buy Buy Buy
While full-season rentals are on the decline, purchases are soaring. Only 20 percent of Fire Island is developed with approximately 5,000 usable lots in 18
small communities. A shortage of available homes coupled with the high demand nationwide for vacation homes has driven the mounting interest in buying
instead of long-term renting. “In combination with the real estate boom we’ve been having as well as there being a finite amount of land to acquire on Fire Island, people are finding that buying is the best possible investment,” said Joshua Shure, whose family owns a home on Denhoff Walk in Ocean Beach.
Kismet realtor Sam Wood of Island Beach Realty noticed that sales, as opposed to rentals, have gone up tremendously. “We started with 85 rentals. Now we are down to just 24,” he said. Wood notes that people would rather buy a home and renovate it. Potential homeowners run into problems when trying to expand on their new homes. “It can take up to two years to get building permits,” said Wood, adding that by having a pre-existing permit, a seller can add up to $5,000 to the asking price of a house. The million dollar barrier is not the exclusive sales tag for waterfront, high-end communities as it once was. Now even houses far from the water in almost every community are shattering the million dollar ceiling. A house in Seaview just sold for $2 million.  And one in Dunewood sold recently for over a $1 million, according to Kitty King, of Kitty King Real Estate in Fair Harbor. “We are setting a new high,” said Linda Cahill of Barrier Beach Properties in Saltaire. “The reason for the higher prices are the scarcity of inventory.” The buzz about expensive homes on the island has focused on the Seaview home for sale for near $4 million. Each realtor spoke about “the resistance” in the communities to break the 1, 2, 3 and now $4 million mark, in mythic terms. “There is a reluctance to buy into a new category. This is new territory. Nothing has sold for that price before,” said Wallace.
The home, which has not been sold as of yet, increases the property value of the entire block. All this talk of resistance has not dashed Wallace’s
optimism. He relates cheerfully, “Fire Island is unique. In the 33 years I have been doing this, there has only been one slump in the early ‘90s. I don’t see that
happening again anytime soon.”

Pricey Paradise
Both sale and rental prices are higher this year than before, due in part to the high demand and the scarcity in inventory, according to Cahill. And
because people are renting for shorter terms, the seasonal rentals are not as available and are higher priced when they are. This doesn’t mean, however, that
vacationers are not willing to pay for a slice of paradise. “The rentals are strong in the high-end market,” commented Mattiasen.
Wilner went as far as to say it is his busiest summer ever. So what attracts certain people to particular areas?

Community Ties
Kismet, the town furthest west on the island thrives on its family-oriented atmosphere. “We have an explosion of kids, with the movie house and the pancake
breakfasts. There is really something for everyone here,” said Wood, noting that Kismet has become quite a desirable vacation spot.
Grace Corradino, of Fire Island Living Real Estate, who deals exclusively with rentals in the west end: Kismet, Saltaire, Fair Harbor, Dunewood and
Lonelyville. She observes that their popularity lies chiefly with access or the lack of it. The small villages and private beaches deliver the perfect type of
seclusion that Corradino’s clients crave. “On the west end we have second and third generations,” said Corradino. Adults who were raised on the beaches of Kismet, for example, are now raising their children there. “People come here for the self-contained community.”

A Different World
The central towns of Ocean Beach, Cornielle Estates and Ocean Bay Park still attract more of the “groupers,” as realtors affectionately refer to them. Young, single adults in a house-share and group rental situation flock to the central island. Although OBP has been turning increasingly towards a home-owner occupied community, many homes still fill up weekends with group shares. “Ocean Beach is laid back, care-free and I find that everyone I meet in town,
the beach, the bars and share houses are friendly and want to have a good time,” said Jamie Rosen, a 24-year-old sharing a house in OB.  “It's not a
pretentious place with materialistic people like you find in other summer share hot spots, such as the Hamptons. I find that the difference is that the people
drawn to Ocean Beach love the good life but aren't superficial.” The main reason Ocean Beach is the “place to be” is the active nightlife that it offers. There are restaurants and bars, the movie house and arcades, basketball and tennis courts in Ocean Beach that [other communities] don’t offer. These towns also permit group renting, a zoning code that towns such as Saltaire, Seaview and Dunewood do not allow. The glitz of OB does more than bring out the kids. With more than a dozen restaurants and several shops in the area, many realtors report that homes in neighboring Seaview and Robbins Rest are a hot commodity because of their proximity to Ocean Beach and Ocean Bay Park.

Pining For the East End
The biggest buzz in real estate may very well be on the predominately gay east end in the Fire Island Pines and Cherry Grove. “The Pines has become a world-wide vacation destination, a resort community,” observed Doreen Katen of d. katen Fire Island Properties in the Pines. “We get people from Hong Kong, London and I have a group that comes from Texas every year.” The overwhelming attraction to FI’s very unique East End is credited to the
laid back lifestyle. Katen said even Hamptonites are coming to the Pines. “It’s relaxed, there is no commute, no cars, it is just easy. In the
Hamptons everyone is compelled to be active. Here, we go to private parties and hang out on the beach. It is a different mindset.”
The beaches and parties are only part of the draw of the east end. The entire dynamic of vacationing in the Pines and the Grove has changed.
“We are changing from a seasonal community to a nine-month community. There has been a lot of redevelopment and I credit it to Eric von Kursteiner. He
brought back the glamour and the excitement with his restaurants and dances at the Pavilion,” said Wilner enthusiastically.
Cherry Grove has seen possibly the biggest spike in demand for vacation housing. Wilner attributes the surge to more gay couples having children and having
two full incomes. “Gay couples have more money to spend,” he said. Maria Mezzatesta and her partner of nine years, Kathy Rosenthal, have rented
in Cherry Grove for three years. Now that they have two-and-a-half-year-old twin daughters, Gracie and Annie, they feel that the Grove’s lifestyle is more
important than ever. “We love the beach,” Mezzatesta said. “We used to come here for years [and] it’s nice to be at the beach and have a gay community with our families.” Rosenthal adds that there are more people with children in the Grove than ever before. As far as the rumors about Cherry Grove becoming an increasingly straight vacation spot, as written about in Newsday and The New York Times, Shirley Mandell of Cherry Grove Island Realty disagrees.
“I’ve been here since the 1960s and when I first came here there were a lot more straight people than there are now so I don’t think there is any truth to
that,” she said. There are so many choices to make when considering Fire Island as your own personal paradise: to buy or to rent; straight or predominately gay; quiet seclusion or party parade; bay or oceanfront. Ultimately though, no matter where you decide to stay, the hardest decision you make will be what SPF to wear. After all, you are on Fire Island.