A Look at the North Fork Real Estate Market
I recently completed a series looking at what is happening in real estate across the different hamlets of the Hamptons.
Now, it is time to look North.
Just two short ferry rides away is the North Fork, a place many people first encountered through Nelson DeMille's Plum Island. It has always had its farms, vineyards, galleries, beaches and wonderful small towns, but something interesting is happening there now.
Luxury yachts are mooring in Greenport. People who live in the Hamptons travel across Shelter Island to tend their oyster beds. The beaches near Orient Point remain remarkably empty, even in the middle of summer.
And then there is the shopping.
Every Main Street, in every town from Southold to Jamesport, feels very much like what the Hamptons used to be. There is not one national luxury brand among them. Instead, there are bookstores and independent shops with incredible finds for people who care about the details, both in their personal affect and in their home décor. You find clothing, jewelry, antiques, art and objects chosen by people who care about where something came from and how it was made.
And the food? North Fork Table & Inn, Southold Social and The Frisky Oyster are only the beginning.
If you are tired of the traffic, the crowds and the increasingly familiar version of luxury in the Hamptons, the North Fork offers an alternative. It is quieter, less self-conscious and still connected to the land and water that made the East End special in the first place.
It can also make tremendous financial sense.
If you are looking to downsize, both in space and in cost, and put some money in the bank, the North Fork may be the perfect alternative. You do not have to give up the life or friendships you have built in the Hamptons. You can still come to dinner with your friends.
One recent convert meets her Hamptons friends at two of her favorite restaurants on Shelter Island. They each take one ferry, and she has come to love those ten quiet minutes on the water as part of the evening.
And then there is what your money can buy.
One North Fork property currently offered at $3.795 million sits on more than six acres. It has a four-bedroom home, a working Merlot vineyard, two barns, ten horse stalls, beehives, raised garden beds, a chicken coop, a saltwater pool and a wine-barrel sauna.
In the Hamptons, that price might buy you a beautiful house. On the North Fork, it can buy you an entirely different way of living.
The North Fork is not trying to become the Hamptons, and that may be precisely its appeal. It is still possible to find some room, discover something no one else is wearing and arrive at an almost empty beach. All just two short ferries away.
- Sarah Minardi
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