No air-conditioning. No satellite TV. No swimming pool. No second floor.
The most expensive home ever sold on Fire Island, according to industry insiders, has a staggering price tag of more than $2.5 million, but doesn’t have many of the amenities that realtors agree are first among prospective buyers’ demands. The triple-lot bayfront property in Seaview – arguably Fire Island’s most desirable village, and certainly its most expensive – drew top dollar, despite a lack of metropolitan amenities, and backed up an old, three-word saying: location, location, location.
Lori Mattiasen of Fire Island Sales and Rentals in Ocean Beach closed the deal in early June. The largest previous sale price on Fire Island was a Fire Island Pines home that went for around $2 million, realtors say.
Several Seaview properties have asking prices in excess of $1 million, and many Ocean Beach real estate firms list two properties for more than $2 million. But however common million-dollar asking prices might be in today’s hot-to-the-touch real estate market, actually selling a million-dollar home is a much rarer event than listing one. Realtors in the scenic and peaceful western-island community of Saltaire have a difficult time convincing buyers to pass the million-dollar mark at all.
The rationale behind the resistance is the subject of much debate among real estate professionals, and though it is often attributed to the psychological effect a seven-figure price tag has on the buyer, or to the Suffolk County mansion tax (which, at one percent of the sale price, comes to $10,000 for a million-dollar home), the actual reasons for the great barrier are unknown, and many feel that it is just a matter of time before million-dollar sales are routine.
“It has a spectacular piece of property,” said Mattiasen of the $2.55 million home. “It’s a triple-lot and a really charming house, five bedrooms, two-and-a-half bathrooms. It’s a huge piece of property and beautiful piece of property. No AC, no satellite, no pool, just the location and the size of the property, really.”
The original owner died and his children sold the house, she said. Both the seller and buyer are quiet, private people, and she noted that the new owners, whom she described as “very, very nice people,” do not watch television.
“Seaview gets consistently higher prices than Saltaire because it’s close to Ocean Beach and gets the Ocean Beach facilities,” said Mattiasen.
And the market shows no sign of cooling off.
“We just got an offer of $2 million for a house listed at $2.5 [million] that’s not even on the water in Seaview,” she said.