SELLING the HAMPTONS
The hottest market’s most cutthroat Realtors are reality’s newest stars
LAST summer, Hamptons real estate agent Peggy Zabakolas pulled up to her $20 million Watermill listing — Eagle’s Point, a hidden gem situated at the highest elevation in the area — and caught another broker red handed.
Fellow Nest Seekers agent JB Andreassi, 33, was trying to steal the listing for the 7-acres compound by sweet-talking Zabakolas’s co-listing agent.
But with the potential to get $1.25 million in commission on the property — which was once rented by Mariah Carey and features nine bedrooms, a chef’s kitchen and a wine cellar — she wasn’t going down without a fight. She rolled up in her white BMW and heels scoffing, “What are you doing here?”
Such drama is all too common in the world of Hamptons real estate. Zabakolas and Andreassi are two of the seven Nest Seekers starring on the “Selling The Hamptons” reality show, whose second season premiered on Max on March 1.
The series portrays the cutthroat agents going head-to-head to sell luxury homes in a world where the stakes are high, the inventory is low and the Whispering Angel rosé is free-flowing.
“Everyone tries to go after everyone’s listings because it’s such a small, close-knit community — there’s more brokers than there are sellers,” Zabakolas, 37, told The Post. “Everyone aggressively tries to get what they can.”
White glove service
Nest Seeker Bianca D’Alessio told The Post that she spends big on marketing and other expenses — between $20,000 and $50,000 for residences and $200,000 for developments — to do her job effectively. Some of it is covered by the agency, but some comes out of her own pocket.
“I spend more money on marketing than any other broker in the market,” she boasted.
Expenses might include luxury accommodations, transportation from the city and private chef dinners — all for prospective buyers that are heavily courted.
D’Alessio, 31, is known for her selfdescribed “white glove” service. She’ll arrange to pick up potential buyers from their homes in the city in a private car service to shuttle them out east, letting them spend the night in the property or arranging for a stay at five-star hotels such as Topping Rose House in Bridgehampton.
Filtered water tasting
She even goes as far as putting together an itinerary of restaurants — favorites include Jean-Georges at Topping Rose House and Le Bilboquet on the waterfront in Sag Harbor — for clients to check out.
“[I want] to give them the full experience of what it feels like to buy a house in the Hamptons,” she told The Post.
D’Alessio, who manages a $10 billion real estate portfolio of properties and developments for Nest Seekers International, told The Post that she is currently gearing up to host a filtered water tasting in her latest listing. The $7.5 million energy efficient seven bedroom, seven bath home in East Hampton features a sauna, hammam, home theater, wine cellar and infinity-edge pool.
“It’s thinking about how do you create that momentum and excitement leveraging the current property and the reputation of this developer to build a mystique,” she told The Post.
Like D’Alessio, Zabakolas is also in the process of moving mountains for her clients, who this season are seeking “amenities galore” including movie theaters, golf simulators, indoor/outdoor pools, tennis and basketball courts.
It’s no longer about marketing a Hamptons property as just for summer fun. Clients want living quarters for every month of the year. She recently sold a home with an outdoor tennis court that turned into an ice skating rink.
“They [clients] all want year-round homes and true smart homes to access the blinds, music and temperature from their phones,” Zabakolas said.
On the new season, there are two new agents in the mix and inventory is tighter than ever. There’s aspiring pop-star turned real estate agent Ashley Allen, the daughter of developer Jeff Allen, and Dylan Eckardt, a Montauk born-and-bred party boy and former pro-surfer.
Eckardt has sold Hamptons homes to the likes of Rihanna and Post Malone, and also worked in Malibu, Ca
lif., for years,
The 45-year-old — who Nest Seekers boss Eddie Shapiro once told Vanity Fair was “an acquired taste” — keeps the brokers on their toes, making his grand entrance on the show in a matte black Mercedes Benz G Wagon and boasting: “Everything I touch turns to sold.”
He brags about his $253 million in sales for the year, outpacing the other agents.
“No one knew I was coming. They were a little scared,” Eckardt told The Post. “When I watched the show I was a little shocked at their remarks about ‘why is he here?’ First of all, b---h, I am the Hamptons.”
‘I deliver’
“Before me, real estate in the Hamptons was housewives, white wine spritzers and Capri cigarettes. I saw an opportunity where I can merge the gap between the money and the locals.”
Eckardt said he makes waves with the rest of the cast, even taking over Allen’s listing from her own father.
“I really did take Ashley’s father’s Jeff Allen’s listing because I deliver what people can’t deliver. I get s--t done,” Eckardt said.
Zabakolas is having to resort to desperate measures in the current market.
“I always try to be in the know by networking. I’ve literally put on my running sneakers and ran down Meadow Lane and handwrote letters to see if owners would be willing to sell because a lot of the Hamptons is off-market,” she said, noting that her hustle resulted in landing an off-market property that went for north of $20 million.
“It’s that constant ‘going after it’ attitude that you have to build,” she added, noting that her last big sale in Southampton was an offmarket deal for $17 million last year. She’d worked with the seller for three years.
D’Alessio, meanwhile, says she’s staying out of the drama this season.
“There’s various ways to win over business. Some take the high approach, others take the low approach,” she said.
“There’s definitely ruffled feathers, agents thinking other people are coming after their business. It’s interesting to see what agents get distracted by that.”