If you were waiting for the bottom, it looks like you just missed it. Home prices in the Hamptons are on their way back up, rising 4.7 percent in the third quarter. Houses priced in the range of $2 million to $5 million led the charge. In fact, the number of properties clocking in at more than $2 million (including the former getaway of Ponzi schemer Bernie Madoff, which went for $9.41 million) jumped 44 percent -- 46 sales occurred from July through September this year. And, the median price for this part of Long Island increased from $860,000 last year to $900,000 this year.

The action appears to have been driven by buyers who'd normally look for something close to $10 million ... who began to see what they could get for a mere 20 percent of that price. When opportunity knocks ... you know the drill.

Even with this bit of good news, the number of homes sold last quarter fell 2.3 percent, with those fetching less than $500,000 posting the largest decline (22 percent). So, all isn't rosy in the land of the wealthy, unless of course, you're still wealthy.

On Saturday, Sept. 5, the First Annual Ferrari Hamptons Rally will kick off in an excess of East End glamour. The invite-only festivities begin with an exclusive VIP brunch reception at the Georgica Restaurant & Lounge in East Hampton. Participants in the Rally will then pilot their Ferraris - over $30 million worth - past breathtaking estates, polo fields, vineyards, marinas and the ocean, through East Hampton, Amagansett, Sag Harbor, and Southampton. At its conclusion the gaggle of jet-setters, celebs, socialites, media and business moguls will be treated to a late afternoon fête complete with specially-created cocktails and hors d'oeuvres. The Rally's founder, real estate entrepreneur, restaurant and nightlife impresario and Ferrari collector Nathaniel Christian is co-hosting the event with Nikki Beach Midtown, the Manhattan outpost of the world-renowned Nikki Beach brand. Rally sponsors include Grey Goose Vodka, Monticello Motor Club, Puma, Piper-Heidsieck Champagne, Red Bull, Voss Water, Hamptons Magazine and Ferrari of Long Island, among others.

[via JustLuxe]

Today's home is a contemporary beauty in the Startop Estates development of Montauk on the East End of Long Island, New York. The home is perched on an inclined property and the home has been custom built to work with the land, its angular shape contoured to the property in order to provide the best views. The five-bedroom home has a striking 60-foot-long heated gunite pool and a rooftop deck that offers long views of the Atlantic Ocean, Long Island Sound and Montauk Lake. The open floor plan is loft-like in style and the home's clean lines call for modern furnishings. To keep you warm on cool nights there are three indoor fireplaces and two outdoor ones. Large windows let in as much light as possible and materials including beige concrete, Andalusian Brownstone, sisal carpeting and hand-scraped limed quarter sawn oak make up the floors of the home. It was listed at $5.8 million and has been reduced to $3.9 million.


Experience more lush living in luxury homes and mansions or see the stars living large with celebrity homes galleries at AOL Real Estate.

On July 26 Mercedes-Benz hosted the 2nd Annual Hamptons Pursuit "Road Rallye", a 60-mile scavenger hunt from Bridgehampton to Montauk. Car enthusiasts including local East End VIPs drove vintage, classic, or just plain cool cool cars including several amazing Mercedes looking for clues and answering trivia questions at checkpoints, all while raising money for The Retreat, a non-profit program that supports victims of domestic violence throughout Long Island. Stunning Sports Illustrated Swimsuit Issue model Julie Henderson (above) and Top Chef's Sam Talbot attended a barbecue following the auto-scavenger hunt at Kalbacher's Auto in East Hampton where road stories were shared with good food and drink during an auction of classic cars.

Several celebrities did attend the art fair, but they brought little excitement, it seems, beyond their appearances. Jon Bon Jovi, personalities from The Real Housewives of New York City, Kelsey Grammer and Russell Simmons were all spotted, but Bloomberg didn't report any purchases.

The biggest name at the ArtHamptons fair, of course, was Michael Jackson – a creation by Andy Warhol. Originally, Vered Gallery had hoped to sell it via silent auction, but the gallery yanked the portrait late last week ... claiming that collectors were looking at the piece but "needed more time to assess the value."

Or, maybe they were just at the beach, like everyone else, apparently.

The U.S. Open just came to an end out on Long Island, drawing enormous crowds of fans who were undeterred by the unfavorable weather. Even if it hadn't rained, they would have struggled to enjoy the experience, as the event's organizers designed it in a way that made attendees earn their pleasure. And, the complaints were many. I heard one guy complain about $9 hot dogs, and the lines were awful. Trying to drive to the Bethpage golf course was a nightmare, as some had to park up to half an hour away and take buses to the tournament.

Many mused that there had to be a better way. And, there was. If you want to enjoy the U.S. Open next year, keep the following tips in mind. Plan ahead, and you can engineer a fantastic experience, even if the United States Golf Association is trying to prevent it.

1. Stay in the city
This may not be applicable next year, since the open isn't held at the same golf course every year. But, if the event is taking place on Long Island (and this goes for anything, not just golf), stay in Manhattan. You will have a bit of a hike in front of you in the morning and evening, but you'll also have the city at your disposal – which is definitely worth the trouble. I stayed at 60 Thompson down in SoHo, and I'm now more than happy to recommend it. The stylish hotel offers a great contrast to the attire worn by golfers (and golf enthusiasts).

How bad is it out there for yachts? Even federal authorities can't sell yachts it obtains from fraudsters. Malcolm MacLean at Boat International has learned that Camper & Nicholsons has dropped the price on Seascape, the 123-foot Heesen yacht once owned by lawyer Marc Dreier. Earlier this month Dreier pleaded guilty to eight charges related to a scheme to sell $700 million in fictitious promissory notes. His yacht Seascape was listed at $13.5 million but now the yacht, which has five cabins and cruises at 26 knots, can be yours for $12.5 million. The listing is here.

The NY Times also reports that two luxury Hamptons properties with ocean views belonging to Dreier will go up for auction next month. The homes in East Quogue, New York will be auctioned off on June 17 through Maltz Auctions and could bring in over $12.5 million. The larger home is an eight-bedroom oceanfront retreat and requires a $400,000 deposit. The smaller home is a four-bedroom vacation getaway with a $100,000 deposit. In better times both the yacht and the beach homes would have brought in more money. The yacht has been described as being worth at least $18 million and Hamptons real estate has cooled over the past year.

We keep seeing more of these car and estate deals. The seller of today's estate in Nissequogue, New York is throwing in his $130,000 Maserati Quattroporte. Newsday's Real LI says the seller is Yucel Edebali, a real estate developer and the president of Crest Contracting Inc. The home is on 14.5 acres and overlooks Long Island sound. The 8,500-square-foot home has two home theaters, six bedrooms and both indoor and outdoor pools as well as a tennis court. The home was built in 2008 and is listed at $13.9 million.

Experience more lush living in luxury homes and mansions or see the stars living large with celebrity homes galleries at AOL Real Estate.

Country clubs and yacht clubs are finding this economy increasingly difficult to navigate. Newsday reports that the Knickerbocker Yacht Club, Long Island's second-oldest yacht club -- at 135 years old -- has shut down and is selling its prime Port Washington waterfront property.

The economy and membership decline doomed the club, which provided many generations with sailing and summer fun. Rising costs and decreasing membership fees meant that club was unable to create a budget that would pay the club's debts and provide sufficient funds for operating costs. The club's remaining 54 members will meet soon to discuss whether or not to continue as a club in name only to keep the tradition going. Membership was once as high as 280 in the 1980s. The club's property could worth between $4 million and $8 million. When it is sold, the debts will be paid and members will vote on what to do with any remaining funds.

Laura Mann of Newsday reported last month that Jets quarterback Chad Pennington had put his house on Long Island on the market but I think recent news makes today a fine chance to discuss this one. The quarterback, who just lost his job to the man who can't retire, Brett Favre, has a home in Muttontown, New York that he is eager to sell.

I would not have guessed that this six bedroom brick Colonial belonged to a celebrity and certainly not a sports celeb until I saw the huge fitness area. Pennington's pad is a 7,000 square foot home on over two acres that include a Gunite pool and a four-car garage. It's a rather bland but certainly expensive family home with details like a billiards room, master suite with a fireplace and what looks to be a coffee bar. Overall it looks freshly outfitted from a high end furniture store right down to the window treatments. Pennington bought the house in 2005 for $3.595 million. It first hit the market for $4.095 million a month ago but is now down to $3.995 million as Pennington clearly wants to get out of town.

For more prime properties and lush locations, see Luxury Homes and Mansions.

Premiere jet charter broker Halcyon is arranging luxury helicopter packages between New York City and the Hamptons this season via the purchase of a special flight club card. The trip, which can take up to four hours on the Long Island Expressway in typical summer traffic, is a mere 45 minutes by helicopter. The Halcyon coordinated flights offer high-speed premium helicopters with luxurious cabins -- Bell Jet Ranger, Long Ranger, Augusta or Eurocopter -- staffed with two pilots, and can accommodate up to four passengers. Their Southampton Flight Club Card costs $7,700 (plus fees) and includes two one-way transfers from NYC to East Hampton or vice versa. The East Hampton Flight Club Card costs $22,500 (plus fees) and includes six one-way transfers. With the purchase of a card you also get a bottle of champagne, a carton of strawberries and a Halcyon Jets' gift basket containing Keihl's sunscreen, Origins organic lip balm, a Ralph Lauren beach towel and a bottle of Evian Mineral Water Spray, so you're ready to hit the beach the moment you arrive.

In his preface to Jake Rajs' beautiful new book, Beyond the Dunes: A Portrait of the Hamptons (Monacelli Press, $60), New Yorker architecture critic Paul Goldberger notes the photographer "shows us a vision of the Hamptons at once beautiful and fragile, prosperous but not smug." No easy feat when it comes to portraying such a storied locale, and Rajs manages it magnificently. The book is divided into geographical sections of the South Fork: Westhampton, Quogue and Hampton Bays; Shinnecock and Southampton; Water Mill, Bridgehampton and Sagaponack; Sag Harbor and the Springs; East Hampton and Amagansett; and Montauk (or, as we like to call them: No Money, Old Money, New Money, Some Money, More Money and What Money?). Along the way he finds everything from privet hedges to pumpkin fields and fishermen to polo players. Pictured here is an imposing "cottage" on Southampton's fabled Gin Lane. The book won't be out for another couple of weeks, but you can pre-order it now on Amazon. Meanwhile see the gallery for a preview.

NeighborhoodScout.com has used their matching function to find neighborhoods that are "discount equivalents" of some of the hot and pricey communities we recently covered in our Most Expensive Zip Codes estates.

It's getting increasingly hard to afford the Hamptons but if you head to Mattituck, New York on Long Island in New York there are still some deals to be found. Whereas the median price in the Hamptons is $1.38 million, in Mattituck the median price is $525,307. The area was once used predominantly for farming but is now prime real estate. You won't find the same celebrity power that you do in the Hamptons but you won't have to pay $65 million either. Today's home sits on a bluff 95 feet above Long Island Sound. It has amazing views which are showcased through the floor-to ceiling windows. There are five bedroom suites, a large formal living room and an an office. It has a huge basement that can be used as a game room or for entertaining. Outside there is a custom gunite pool and a covered patio. This home is listed at $3.4 million.

Yesterday's estate was a modern version of a French chateau. Today's version is the real deal, a 17th century Chateau which was shipped to the United States in the 1920's. It now sits on 6.7 acres in Upper Brookville, NY. The listing says that the seven-bedroom chateau which measures 6,800 square feet has been renovated for today's living, but we'll have to take their word for it since there aren't any interior pics. The outside is pretty fantastic though with all sorts of antique stone details.

The NY Times did a story on this home when it was listed at $6.995 million last year. it turns out that the home is from the village of Les Petits Thons in the Vosges area of France, about 120 miles from Dijon. Ashbel H. Barney, part of an old New York family, shipped an entire wing of the Château des Thons, to New York. Rumor has it that this is where Voltaire carried out his affair with Madame de Chatelet but that turns out to be a myth. If the home looks familiar you might have seen it in the background of ads advertising various products. It is now listed at $5.995 million.

Another chance to own your own vineyard and live the winemaking dream. Marco and Ann Marie Borghese have put the Castello di Borghese winery on sale for $9.2 million. The 85-acre vineyard and winery are located on the  North Fork of Long Island. They bought the estate in 1999 when it was Hargrave Vineyards for around $4 million. The Borgheses have increased production capacity and renovated the public rooms and offices. They aren't in a great hurry to sell but they have already had offers. The winery makes Chardonnay, Merlot, Cabernet Sauvignon and Cabernet Franc and also hosts Wine Camp, an immersion experience in the creation of wine.

[via LennDevours]