Joy Behar hoped to get $11 million for her Hamptons home — but sold it for nearly half that. The mistakes that cost her

But Behar still made money on the deal. She paid $4.75 million for the property in 2016, meaning she walked away with $900,000 more than her purchase price. But the gap between her initial ask and the final sale price tells a more complicated story about luxury real estate pricing and the risks of anchoring too high.

A pricing journey full of twists

The listing agents, Ed Gaetjens and John Wines of Saunders & Associates, acknowledged that the original $10.95 million ask was probably too ambitious. After a series of price reductions, the property reached its low of $5.95 million last December. Then, in a counterintuitive move, they actually raised the price — to $6.995 million — three months later.

Their rationale: a neighboring property had sold for $11.25 million, which they said proved the area’s potential. “The comp next door, that house went for a lot of money, a lot more than any of us thought it would go for,” Gaetjens told Realtor.com.

The agents used that sale as a benchmark to reframe Behar’s home as an undervalued opportunity requiring renovation.

“A lot of people don’t have vision, they don’t see what the house could be,” Wines said. “What we’re trying to do is make it more palatable.”

To support that narrative, they worked with architects to draw up renovation plans, priced out the work and obtained planning permits — without Behar having to spend a dollar on actual construction. “We’re all but doing [the renovation] for them,” Wines noted.

What’s happening in the Hamptons market

Behar’s experience mirrors a broader dynamic in Hamptons luxury real estate. According to an analysis by TBO, which cited appraiser Jonathan Miller of Miller Samuel, the Hamptons luxury market posted a record median sale price of $2,412,500 in Q1 2026 — which is up 18.3% year over year.

But simultaneously, the market’s biggest trades have seen the deepest discounts: a renowned East Hampton oceanfront estate listed at $120 million sold for 40% less, at $72 million.

“Records at the median, deep discounts at the ceiling. That gap is the story of the summer,” the analysis noted. The reason: Hamptons inventory sits 44% below pre-pandemic levels — not because home values across the region are necessarily appreciating, but because the few homes that do sell tend to be the largest and most expensive.

So, for sellers of older, unrenovated properties at aspirational prices — like Behar — the market is far less forgiving.

The lesson for sellers

Behar’s journey is a textbook illustration of what overpricing costs. The problem wasn’t the house itself, it was the starting number.

Nadia Evangelou, the National Association of Realtors’ senior research economist and director of real estate research, has been direct on this point: “Homes priced even 3–5% above market will face longer days on the market and deeper eventual reductions. Well-priced homes will stand out in the market immediately.”