Katie Lee and her new Water Mill home

Katie Lee, the ex-wife of Billy Joel and author of two cookbooks of her own, purchased a home in Water Mill for $3.5 million, about half-a-million less than the asking price, Newsday reported. The 6,700-square-foot, six-bedroom, six-and-a-half-bathroom home sits on two acres of land, and was listed by Kimberly Stengel and Dane Clark of Town & Country Real Estate.

Lee had been living in a Sagaponack beach home purchased by Joel when they were married and that home is now on the market for $16.75 million, a significant price cut from its initial $22.5 million asking price. Lee recently sold her Manhattan townhouse, at 23 Perry Street, for $11.65 million. [Newsday] [more]

From left: Corcoran’s Tim Davis, Prudential Douglas Elliman’s Dolly Lenz and her Water Mill home

Dolly Lenz has upped the asking price on her seven-bedroom, seven-and-a-half-bathroom Water Mill home after a “major redecoration.” According to Newsday, the “stratospheric” Prudential Douglas Elliman broker, who in a rare move last June, granted a co-exclusive listing on the house to the Corcoran Group’s Tim Davis, is now asking $5.9 million for the property, up 7 percent from her previous, $5.495 million price tag. According to Davis’ listing, the 6,459-square-foot mansion, which sits on 1.5 acres with a pool and separate carriage house, has “fresh new interiors and a great floor plan.” [Newsday] [more]

A Hamptons home once profiled in Architectural Digest is now at the center of a legal dispute between “Today” correspondent Jill Rappaport and ex-beau investment banker Richard Swift, according to the New York Post. In a lawsuit filed yesterday in Manhattan Civil Court, Swift alleges that he paid $2.6 million to construct the home in Water Mill, while Rappaport forked over $142,500 for the land. Swift claims that the couple, who dated from November 2002 to June 2010, had made a verbal agreement to share the property — but Rappaport sees it differently. [more]

The Water Mill mansion

A 20,000-square-foot behemoth has hit the market in Water Mill for $58.5 million. The mansion, a newly built property listed by Harald Grant, a senior vice presid [more]

From left: Davis, Lenz and the Water Mill listing

Corcoran and Elliman sitting in a tree… at least on the East End of Long Island. Prudential Douglas Elliman superbroker Dolly Lenz has brought on the Corcoran Group’s Tim Davis to help move a $5.5 million Water Mill property, according to Curbed. The roughly 6,000-square-foot home sits on 1.5 acres and includes three fireplaces, a pool and separate carriage house. Lenz did not immediately respond to The Real Deal’s requests for comment, while Davis was unavailable for comment. [Curbed]

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From left: Davis, Lenz and the Water Mill listing

Corcoran and Elliman sitting in a tree… at least on the East End of Long Island. Prudential Douglas Elliman superbroker Dolly Lenz has brought on the Corcoran Group’s Tim Davis to help move a $5.5 million Water Mill property, according to Curbed. The roughly 6,000-square-foot home sits on 1.5 acres and includes three fireplaces, a pool and separate carriage house. Lenz did not immediately respond to The Real Deal’s requests for comment, while Davis was unavailable for comment. [Curbed]

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With summer imminent, renters and buyers are starting to set the tone in some of the East End’s most frequented vacation towns, determining which areas are hot — and which are still reeling from the recession. Montauk is top dog, according to New York magazine, with buyers and renters flocking to the hamlet once preferred by Bernie Madoff, whose home there sold to Vornado exec Steven Roth for a cool $9.4 million last year. While bargain basement prices aren’t endemic to the region, some areas — like Southampton, Water Mill and Sag Harbor — could still offer some relatively good deals, according to brokers in the region.

Actor Richard Gere has sold his Water Mill house for $5.9 million, about a third lower than the $8.8 million asking price. The price was slashed to $7.2 million in June after being initially put on the market in February. The seven-bedroom, seven-bathroom home sits on 1.2 acres including a guest house, artist’s studio and a heated pool. Gere and his wife, actress Carey Lowell, purchased the home for $2.75 million in 2001.

A three-bedroom cottage on Cobb Isle Road in Water Mill saw a $2 million price cut today. PropertyShark.com has debuted its new interactive New York City crime map. A new affordable housing complex opened in Bedford-Stuyvesant. For more click here. TRD
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The pop group Jonas Brothers is looking for a rental house in the
Hamptons, according to the Post. So far, the young brothers have
checked out Sandcastle, developer Joe Farrell’s 31,000-square-foot
house at 612 Halsey Lane in Bridgehampton, which comes with a
skateboarding ramp, bowling alley, rock-climbing wall and recording
studio. Farrell said he wants to rent out the home for just two weeks
for $500,000, although another potential renter offered him $1.5
million for the summer. The brothers also looked at the Water Mill home
that was the centerpiece of Henry Ford II’s estate. The
33,000-square-foot home has a game room, tennis court and 1,000 square
feet of oceanfront.