The coronavirus has caused off-season demand for rentals in the Hamptons to surge.
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As New Yorkers expect to stay home through at least April as COVID-19 cases climb, real estate agents on the East End of Long Island say they’re seeing unprecedented off-season interest in home rentals.
“There’s been a tremendous increase in the amount of activity in the last two to three weeks,” says Kathleen Zappola, an agent with Compass in the Hamptons. “Most of the people that we’re heating from are looking for immediate occupancy through end of April or May. I’ve done several rentals in the last two weeks for people who wanted to get in right away.”
Challenges remain as agents aren’t allowed to show properties in person and there is concern that New York’s 90-day moratorium on residential evictions will allow renters to overstay their welcome.
At the same time, the increase in off-season residents has led government leaders in the Hamptons, as in other rural areas seeing an influx of city-dwellers, to ask New York Governor Andrew Cuomo to limit nonessential travel, fearing that the virus will spread and that local resources, including Southampton’s 124-bed hospital, will be strained.
There have even been reports of newcomers not following recommended social distancing or quarantine recommendations, and instead flocking to the area’s beaches.
Zappola says agents have been keeping the busy market moving, closing deals with clients seeing only listing photos or smartphone videos.
“Nobody really wants to have you in their home, and if they’re not living there we can’t meet with someone coming from New York City without putting people at risk,” Zappola says.
Michael Daly, an agent with Douglas Elliman Real Estate in the Hamptons, says he’s received “emails from colleagues desperately looking for rentals,” with the demand outstripping the supply.
There is also concern that the halt on evictions could put homeowners in a difficult position.
“You could put someone in a house for a month, then they wont leave and (the homeowner) could lose their entire summer rental,” Daly says.
Zappola agrees that this is a concern among homeowners, but notes that many renters are looking ahead to extending their rentals into the traditional season, which runs from Memorial Day to Labor Day.
“People are looking in the short term and are definitely going to take the rest of the season as well,”Zappola says. “People are certain they’re not going anywhere this summer.”