America’s swankiest trailer park! Montauk enclave becomes hotspot for the rich and famous

Working-class locals at a Montauk trailer park claim they are being pushed out by rich and famous buyers who have fallen for the ‘shabby chic’ area.

Homes on the Montauk Shore were worth just $95,000 during the ’90s, but now sell for more than $5 million, while some charge $20,000 a month to rent.

Vitamin Water co-founder J Darius Bikoff, singer-songwriter Jimmy Buffett and film producer Karen Lauder are among the prominent names to have purchased trailers at the 65-year-old park.

It comes after Dailymail.com reported this week that an 800-square-foot mobile home in the same area sold for $3.75 million this week, which works out to $5,000 a foot.

The scruffy trailer park is conspicuously located in celebrity hotspot The Hamptons, which boasts high-profile residents like Beyonce, Gwyneth Paltrow and Robert Downey Jr.

Vitamin Water co-founder J Darius Bikoff, hedge fund manager Dan Loeb and film producer Karen Lauder are among the prominent names to have bought trailers at the 65-year-old park.

It comes after Dailymail.com reported this week that an 800-square-foot mobile home, pictured, in the same area sold for $3.75 million this week, which works out to $5,000 a foot.

But Montauk Shore had always been a self-contained, working-class community, until recently, when billionaires began buying trailers because of its proximity to surfer’s paradise, Ditch Plains.

Described as “Montauk’s best kept secret,” the park is home to 199 homes, including 152 individually owned lots and 47 leased sites.

There is also a community clubhouse for residents to host parties and a heated pool and playground on site.

But locals say Mercedes-driving out-of-towners are jacking up prices and simply using the trailers as changing rooms after their swim and leaving the units empty in the off-season.

It means the cash is being pushed out of the local community.

“When you read about the history of Montauk, it was a working-class town,” Kathy Pare, a Montauk Shore resident, told the newspaper. New York Post.

‘Now, they are being valued and expelled.

‘When we first moved here, it was a much closer community. On weekends we had parties, karaoke, we went out with our neighbors; now, since many people moved, we have many tenants.

‘They can get rowdy at night because they’re there to have fun. You don’t get to know people for a long period of time. They don’t respect the rules.

Pare and her husband Chris bought a one-bedroom RV in the park for $175,000 in 2001.

Chris also said The charge: ‘Personally, I don’t think it’s that good.

General photos of the Montauk, Long Island RV community, Montauk Shores Condominium. The park is located in the celebrity hotspot of The Hamptons, but has always been a self-contained, working-class community until recently.

Described as “Montauk’s best kept secret,” the park is home to 199 homes, including 152 individually owned lots and 47 leased sites.

Described as “Montauk’s best kept secret,” the park is home to 199 homes, including 152 individually owned lots and 47 leased sites.

On-site amenities include a community clubhouse for residents to host parties and an on-site heated pool and playground

‘People with money who are moving don’t really want to be part of the community.

‘We have functions all year long: barbecues, 4th of July parties. Years ago, there were more residents participating in these.

‘The guy from Vitamin Water, he doesn’t want to hang out with us.

He doesn’t want to come to the clubhouse barbecues.

Other residents told the newspaper that in the 1990s trailers in the park could be rented for $50 a month.

Resident Ken Hilderbrandt purchased a property for $95,000 in 1998.

He has since tore down the trailer and built a two-bedroom, two-bathroom modular home that could now cost as much as $60,000 for a three-month summer rental.

The $3.75 million home was custom designed by John Hummel, who works with homebuyers in some of New York’s most lucrative communities. Pictured: A different trailer in the park

The last highest sale on record on the lot was $1.85 million for a trailer sold in 2022. Pictured: A different house in the park

The transaction set the record for the highest recorded sale per square foot, according to reports. In the image: a different house in the park

On Airbnb, a trailer on the lot is listed at $5,413 per week.

The property is advertised as a “sexy, modern, newly renovated, family-friendly home” that is a 30-second walk from the beach.

The ad continues: ‘Yours is waterfront living in Montauk’s best seaside community.

;The property is located among more than twenty acres on a bluff overlooking the Atlantic Ocean.

‘5 minutes by car from the city with many shops and restaurants.’

Montauk has been described as increasingly gentrifying in the past two decades.

Long Island witnessed a surge in sales in the early 2000s after 9/11 caused city dwellers to want to flee their urban environment.

In 2013, Vitamin Water businessman Bikoff purchased the East Deck Motel in Ditch Plains for $15 million.

An Airbnb listing for a trailer in the park describes it as a “sexy, modern, recently renovated, family-friendly home.”

A trailer has been listed on Airbnb for over $5,000 for a week’s rental. In the photo

The intention was to build a private club for wealthy surfers, the East Hampton Star reported.

But angry locals put a stop to the plan, and the motel was put back on the market for $25 million.

The $3.75 million sale of a Montauk Shore home this week set the record for the highest sale per square foot on record.

The last highest recorded sale on the lot was $1.85 million for a trailer sold in 2022.

The home was custom designed by John Hummel, who works with buyers in some of New York’s most lucrative communities.

Furnished with two beds and two baths, the trailer offers panoramic ocean views and views across 25 acres.

Inside, the new owner will enjoy luxury amenities and elegant finishes.

The charge reports local residents say it was the same unit that musician Jimmy Buffett got into a bidding war for in 2005.

In 2005, musician Jimmy Buffett, pictured in 2016, got into a bidding war for a trailer on the lot.

J. Darius Bikoff (pictured), who co-founded Vitamin Water, is among those who recently purchased a trailer on the Montauk Shore

The home reportedly sold for $430,000 to another buyer, even though Buffett was allegedly offering $30,000 more.