Prices in Montauk’s “Best Kept Secret” are still making headlines.
A $3.49 million mobile home just hit the market in East End’s Montauk Shores, a tony trailer park — long a crash pad for millionaires and even some billionaires — at the far reaches of the East End.
If sold at asking, the tiny oceanfront home would tie for the area’s most expensive price per square foot.
The two-bedroom, clapboard home sits on the edge of Montauk Shores. Demetri Sopkiw
The 700-square-foot property on offer. InGageRE
The modern kitchen and living area. InGageRESusan Ceslow of Dougals Elliman holds the listing alongside colleagues Demetri Sopkiw and Candace Ceslow. The privately owned lot’s oceanfront views, Sopkiw told The Post, is its prime selling point.
“You’ve got the most beautiful panoramic, oceanfront view in Montauk,” Sopkiw said. “You wake up to your surf report. You wake up to the weather report. You’re on the beach. It’s about as good as life can get.”
The Montauk Shores Condominium Complex was founded nearly 50 years ago along a 2-mile stretch of Ditch Plains beach. The enclave earned a reputation as a working-class community with world-class surfing. Today, its decades-old mobile homes are known to attract million-dollar price tags and occasional bidding wars.
At just 700 square feet, the clapboard mobile home on offer comes out to nearly $5,000 per square foot. For reference, the average price per square foot in Manhattan’s luxury market sits at $2,535, according to recent data from Miller Samuel and Douglas Elliman.
An aerial view of Montauk Shores Condominium Complex, with the $3.49 million listing bordered in blue. Demetri Sopkiw
The living room features a picture-perfect view of the surf. InGageRE
Despite its modest size, the unit’s kitchen offers ample counter space and a full-sized refrigerator. InGageRE
The deck space overlooks the dunes. InGageREThat home’s impressive price per square foot would tie it with that of Montauk Shore’s record-setting 2023 sale — an 800 square-foot, custom-built trailer that reportedly sold off-market for $3.75 million. Both properties sit along the neighborhood’s prime, oceanfront lane.
The two-bedroom, one-bathroom spread dates back to the 1970s, Ceslow said, although the seller undertook interior renovations in 2017. The sole bathroom also hosts the stacked washer/dryer unit, and the kitchen features a gas stove top.
The property boasts a large deck and access to the historic surfing community’s shared amenities, including a heated pool, a recreation center, a playground and a basketball court.
While the complex’s modern day reputation is that of a shabby-chic playground for the wealthy, longtime residents of Montauk Shores can still recall when its mobile homes could be rented for $50 a month and six figure sales would cause a stir.
The primary bedroom. InGageRE
The bathroom includes the home’s washer/dryer. InGageRE
A smaller second bedroom. InGageREToday, old surfing vans park alongside Mercedes SUVs and units have attracted bids from the likes of Jimmy Buffet.
Montauk Shores’ income bracket began an upward climb around the turn of the century, but a boom of buyers really shook things up after 2020 lockdowns sent wealthy buyers fleeing to the coast.
Demand in Montauk Shores remains high for the right homes, Ceslow said. She recently sold a 600-square-foot trailer on a leased site for $830,000 — a historically high price for a leased lot. Homes on privately owned lots, like this most recent listing, fetch the highest prices.
Elsewhere in the 200-lot complex, prices vary in tandem with the state of the homes and the status of the lots. A four-bedroom home on a leased lot that listed in March for $1.19 million is now $829,000, according to Out East. A three-bed offered for $3.6 million in early 2024 is currently listed at $2.6 million.
