Hamptons Cheat Sheet: Summer rental season tees off early, tiny Sag Harbor bungalow sells for $10.5M … & more

With the U.S. Open in Southampton, summer rental season tees off in February
The annual rush to secure a summer rental in the Hamptons began in earnest in February, and the upcoming U.S. Open at Shinnecock Hills Golf Club in Southampton only added to the competition for high-end properties, according to TRD’s annual Long Island Market Report. “We have been getting a lot of rental requests this winter, which is good for a healthy rental market in the upcoming summer,” said James Petrie, a broker at Compass in East Hampton. While some brokers were worried that early interest in rentals could be a sign of a slowing sales market, others said the new tax law is giving luxury buyers the confidence to pull the trigger. “It seems like people are feeling really comfortable spending money,” said Diane Saatchi, associate broker at Saunders & Associates in East Hampton. [TRD]

Sag Harbor bungalow: $10.15M for 654 square feet on .83-acres
A 654 square-foot bungalow on Glover Street in the Sag Harbor sold for $10.15 million. The .83-acre property, which has 170-feet of frontage on Sag Harbor Cove, has been owned by the same family for 70 years and was bought by an anonymous buyer. The small 1930s bungalow sits in the heart of Sag Harbor’s Historic District. [27 East]

East Hampton, Southampton and Montauk lead the list of most-searched rental locations
East Hampton is where most potential renters are looking for East End summer homes, according to data from the new Out East real estate portal. Since Presidents Day, the traditional start of rental season, 15.4 percent of rental searches are in East Hampton, followed by 8.4 percent for Southampton and 8.2 percent for Montauk. Amagansett and Sag Harbor rounded out the top five most-searched destinations. Of the towns on Out East’s list, Montauk had the lowest median rent at $23,300 per month and Amagansett had the highest median price of the top-searched towns, at $31,300 per month. [Curbed]

More than 4,000 apply for Section 8 wait list in East Hampton
The East Hampton Housing and Community Development Department received a record-setting 4,041 applications for its Section 8 housing voucher wait list this year. That’s 10 times the number of people who applied for the federal housing subsidy program in 2012. While the luxury housing market in the Hamptons is strong, 10 percent of East Hampton’s full-time residents live below the poverty line, the highest percentage in Suffolk County. East Hampton only manages up to 189 Section 8 vouchers, which will pay about two-thirds of a resident’s rent, housing and community development director Tom Ruhle told Newsday. [Newsday]

Builder seeks wetlands permits for subdivision on 42 acres in Water Mill
Yumi & the Kids LLC has proposed subdividing a 42-acre Water Mill parcel in order to build three new houses on land that also includes the existing home known as Fordune at Flying Point. The firm will need freshwater wetlands and tidal wetlands permits to build on the site off June Pond Drive, which was once part of the Henry Ford Estate. The New York State Department of Environmental Conservation is seeking public comment on the plan, which the Southampton Town Planning Board already approved. [27 East]