General Discussion
Related: Editorials & Other Articles, Issue Forums, Alliance Forums, Region ForumsIn the Hamptons, the Rich Are Buying Up Quarantine Mansions for the Whole Family
Deals Are Ending in a Bidding War and TearsIn the second season of Big Little Lies, Laura Derns character whirls on her husband and snarls at him, as their position in the 1 percent starts to look precarious: I will not not be rich. So it is in the Hamptons where, despite an ongoing global pandemic, the well-heeled will not not experience a picture-perfect summer. Unwilling to put any indulgence aside, even for a short while, as they reach the August summer midpoint and a potential extended stay into fall, Hamptonites are fortifying their fortresses, insulating themselves with the classic trifecta of money, indifference, and an outsize invincibility syndrome.
At a glance, it almost looks like any other summer. Barely a beat has been skipped. Restaurants are open with a bustling outdoor scene. The line at Round Swamp market, a farm stand with prepared food and baked goods, where a bag of granola will set you back $22, is unfathomably long. Not only is there a wait list for most of Tracy Andersons newly operational, $90-a-pop outdoor classes, but some class wait lists are so long that theyre already closed for sign-ups. Ive never seen that, said one regular class-taker. And lest a pesky rule like no gatherings of more than 50 people stop a charity function, the Chainsmokers held a now-under-investigation benefit concert, which Goldman Sachs CEO David Solomon opened with a DJ set.
-snip-
When people started leaving New York City, I read articles about them heading to the Hamptons and hoarding freezers to stockpile food, said one August-only renter. I imagined what it would be like to get a tomato in August. To be safe, she paid more than $500 for an entire summers worth of roughage.
-snip-
The real estate market, too, has felt the pandemic reverberations. Compounding is the latest Hamptons trend, meaning families dont just own one mansiontheyre buying two and even three seven- and eight-figure homes on the same street, grabbing up surrounding acres for family members. Its a trend that emerged last year but has rapidly accelerated since the pandemic began. With so many adult kids leaving the city and moving into their parents homes, people feel they need more room, said one Hamptons real estate agent who asked not to be named. They can see this could be a long-term gig, having the kids live here with them. I have one client with a $10 million main house buying another one with a whopping price tag next door for the kids . I have another client whos trading upfrom a $5 million home to a $10 million one.
https://www.vanityfair.com/news/2020/08/in-the-hamptons-the-rich-are-buying-up-quarantine-mansions
Moostache
(9,908 posts)One of the greatest tools of the rich - the one that allows them to convince themselves that their greed and horrible behavior towards their fellow Americans and humans in general is out of sight and out of mind.
They do not see, touch, feel, hear or acknowledge poor people in the flesh, only in the abstract.
MAKE THEM SEE IT...MAKE THEM FEEL IT....and then they will FEAR IT and demand a different system to secure themselves from it. (and here, that 'it' is reality...)
FoxNewsSucks
(10,481 posts)They don't give a shit. They'd just have their security clear a path through the riffraff.
They don't connect their own greed and money-hoarding with the poverty of others.
RKP5637
(67,112 posts)MFGsunny
(2,356 posts)Buns_of_Fire
(17,261 posts)When it comes time to start harvesting the rich for tonight's dinner, they'll all be nice and corralled in one area.
In the meantime, it looks like they'll be plumping up nicely.
Vinca
(50,386 posts)without ever seeing them in person. I bet they're surprised when they get here and learn their idyllic bit of rural paradise is an hour from a grocery store. LOL.
EarthFirst
(2,915 posts)halt...