Real LI

The Old Trees saga continues…

As RealLI reported last week, the 10-acre Southampton estate that had been on the market since 2006 finally sold two weeks ago for $39.25 million. The asking price was $48 million.

The buyer and seller of the property, as revealed last week in the The Palm Beach Daily News, were financier Donald Burns, who sold Old Trees to Harlem real estate developer Rodney Propp.

The plot thickened this week when the New York Post and The Wall Street Journal provided further details on who might actually be putting out the welcome mat at Old Trees this summer. Both papers report that shortly after purchasing the estate, Propp flipped the property to hedge fund manager John Paulson. The Journal says that Paulson paid $41.3 million.

When RealLI asked Don Burns for a comment on the sale, Burns declined to name his buyer, but said, “I know the identity of the current owner, and I have a sense that his family is an excellent match for this one-of-a-kind home.”

Incidentally, as RealLI has reported, Propp’s Bridgehampton home is currently on the market with Susan Breitenbach of the Corcoran Group for just under $14 million. The Journal reports that Prudential’s Michael Shaheen is now listing Paulson’s Southampton home. The asking price $19.5 million.

So if Propp sold off Old Trees quickly and is also selling his Bridgehampton home, inquiring minds want to know if he’s already got another home lined up in the Hamptons. A source tells RealLI that he just may be the person who purchased that $60 million Gin Lane home that last month was rumored to have gone to Tiger Woods. Propp did not return calls for comment, so we’ll have to wait and see.