How Top Broker Enzo Morabito Became ‘Mr. Hamptons’
How well does Enzo Morabito know the East End?
In a recent conversation with Dan’s Papers, shortly after his eponymous team at Douglas Elliman was named the Hamptons market leader in sales volume for a 14th consecutive year, the super broker recalled answering that very question from an interviewer.
“I said that you could put me in an airplane, blindfold me, throw me out with a parachute, and when I land —just by the topography, the flora and fauna — I could pretty much tell you where I am,” he says.
While he certainly enjoys a reputation for playful embellishment (particularly when it comes to poking fun at his own outsized personality), after nearly 60 years on the East End — growing up an Italian immigrant in the Bellport-Patchogue area; surfing and guarding the Hamptons beaches; buying, developing and selling land and homes across the North and South Forks — Morabito can credibly make that claim.
From promoting shows and owning a beach club on Dune Road to playing polo and riding in equestrian jumping competitions to holding court over lunch at the American Hotel, Enzo Morabito is the living embodiment of the East End lifestyle.
“I’ve really been ingrained in the whole scene for a long time,” he says. “I’m kinda like Mr. Hamptons.”
ENZO EVERYWHERE
Morabito got his start in East End real estate while working as a middle school teacher, when he put the extra cash from a promotions business he had been running toward buying, packaging and selling 16 lots in Sagaponack. The successful sales inspired him to open his own firm, Sagaponack Real Estate, in 1980.
“No one knew what Sagaponack was at the time. There were no homes there,” Morabito says. That pioneering spirit and vision helped him to further grow his business and develop his knowledge and command of the East End market.
Upon joining Douglas Elliman in the 1990s, he worked out of the Bridgehampton office, established the brokerage’s presence on the North Fork and went on to launch The Enzo Morabito Team with his wife, Cathy. In the years that followed, Morabito’s marketing prowess and unabashedly gonzo approach to advertising (including planes towing “Weather courtesy of Enzo!” banners along the Atlantic shoreline on blue-skied beach days)has made the team ubiquitous across the East End. “People ask me, ‘Does it work?’ and I go, ‘If you do all of it,’” he says. “They go, ‘Well, what works best?’ and I go, ‘All of it.’”
With offices in both Sag Harbor and Westhampton Beach, they are the rare team to have achieved success on both sides of the Shinnecock Canal, selling more waterfront homes than anyone else in the Hamptons.
“For a long time, people didn’t think that anywhere west of the canal was really the Hamptons,” he says. “But with the pandemic and pricing, people are looking at different towns, villages and hamlets. Now, you look at Westhampton Beach and Quoque — there’s less traffic, and they’re closer to the city — people have started to see the value of being there.”
While many in the luxury real estate industry have been preoccupied with the persistently high interest rates and scarce inventory, Morabito is confident in his team’s expertise and the steadiness of the Hamptons market. Indeed, after two consecutive years of flat rental seasons, brought on when the pandemic drove many renters to become owners, the upcoming season looks promising.
“There’s always movement going on here; it’s never flat,” he says. “So far this year, rentals are moving along. We’re getting back into a normal state of real estate.”
On the sales side, as a trusted advisor to his clients with a knack for identifying smart investments, Morabito notes, “If you’re in New York, and you’ve made it, you’ve got to have a place in the Hamptons. No matter what you buy, if you can hold it for five to 10 years, you can make money.”
PLAYING THE LONG GAME
Reflecting on his team’s rise to consistent dominance in the Hamptons over the years that followed, approaching the $5 billion benchmark in sales volume, Morabito cites three key factors.
“First and foremost, we are listing brokers,” he says. “Our whole business is geared towards getting the listing and then protecting the client no matter what. We control the inventory, we protect our clients and we get the most money that we can — period.”
With many celebrities and other prominent figures among the clientele, the team promises discretion in all of its public dealings. When it comes to communicating directly with clients, it’s all about candor.
“We always tell the truth,” Morabito says. “We are totally transparent with people, sometimes to our financial detriment.”
Lastly, The Enzo Morabito Team plays the long game when it comes to growing its ranks of talented agents.
“When people come to work with us, it’s basically like an apprenticeship,” he says, noting that new agents are paid for their work during an extended probationary period. “They come in and ask if they can join the team, and I tell them, ‘We’ll let you know in about two years.’”
Morabito even prefers aspiring agents who are entirely new to real estate. “If they’ve been in the business a little bit, by the time they get to us, they’ve already got bad habits,” he explains. “We take people who are brand-new and have done something in their life that would point them in this direction. I look for people with different talents or strengths that we don’t already possess. Basically, we each play different instruments, and it all blends together beautifully.”
The fact that the team has so many longstanding members, with as many as 20 years of continuous service, speaks to Morabito’s success in team building. Also, he added, they have a lot of fun.
“It’s like a running slapstick comedy,” he says. “No matter what happens, we always end up laughing.”
And in the end, it all comes down to being an authentic part of what makes the Hamptons unique.
“This is truly an amazing place to live in,” Morabito says. “You have to love it, and we love it. We love what we do.”
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