Haggling renters a thing of the past, Hamptons brokers say

Demanding renters are edging out of the Hamptons beach community this year, according to brokers on the East End. While last summer saw a glut of low-balling summer boarders, the Corcoran Group’s Susan Breitenbach told the New York Post that the market is “100 percent better than last year.” While rental rates still haven’t rebounded to the boom days, Breitenbach said that property owners are more likely to hold their ground and make fewer concessions, which is making some in the region hopeful for a comeback. As The Real Deal reported in the March issue, brokers still aren’t seeing overspending on the East End, but the wimpy rental offers of 2009 might feel like a distant memory this summer. “Last year, everything was down and everyone was down, and people were making ridiculously [low] offers,” Jane Gill, a vice president at Saunders & Associates in Bridgehampton, told The Real Deal. “This year, most of my customers are already circling around the properties that they’re considering — in February. That’s a good sign.”