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Trouble in Paradise !! Forecolsures Looming for the Hamptons Poshest Pads

SELIM ALGAR

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In the first three months of this year, banks have launched preliminary foreclosure actions - known as lis pendens proceedings - against a record 120 borrowers in East Hampton and Southampton towns.

Twenty percent of those borrowers live in homes that are worth more than $1 million, according to figures from the Suffolk County clerk.

And the list gets longer every week.

Socialite Janice Becker is facing foreclosure on her $5 million property on Wyandanch Lane in Southampton.
Socialite Janice Becker is facing foreclosure on her $5 million property on Wyandanch Lane in Southampton.
Socialite Janice Becker is facing foreclosure on her $5 million property on Wyandanch Lane in Southampton.
Investor Roger Thanhauser is trying to sell his house, estimated at $7.5 million, in East Hampton village.
Socialite Janice Becker is facing foreclosure on her $5 million property on Wyandanch Lane in Southampton.
Real-estate mogul John Conroy, who has a $3.5 mortgage on this Bridgehampton spread, is facing foreclosure proceedings.

Socialite Janice Becker is facing foreclosure on her $5 million property on Wyandanch Lane in Southampton.
Former UBS exec marc Warren has a suit pending against him over his Bridgehampton home and its $1 million mortgage.

"This problem didn't even exist before," said John Brady, a broker with Coldwell Banker in East Hampton. "They used to pop up once in a while, and you wouldn't even pay attention. Now you expect to see new ones every week."

A total of 10 East End homes, including a massive Westhampton mansion, were foreclosed outright since the beginning of the year.

In addition, more than 800 East End homeowners - a mix of rich and middle-class people from Riverhead to Montauk - have been flagged by credit-monitoring companies this year for late payments.

Brady said the high-end, delinquent borrowers are finance types, lawyers and speculators who overextended themselves on second homes and investment properties.

Some of the Hampton high rollers feeling the pinch are:

* Janice Becker, a regular on the Southampton village social circuit, is facing foreclosure on her multimillion-dollar Wyandanch Lane property.

* Advertising veteran Ransel Potter is defaulting on a $1.8 million mortgage on an Amagansett parcel.

* Real-estate honcho John Conroy is in lis pendens for a $3.5 million mortgage on a Bridgehampton spread on West Pond Drive.

* Former UBS executive Marc Warren is in lis pendens on a $1 million mortgage for a Mitchells Lane pad in Bridgehampton.

* Investor Roger Thanhauser is trying to sell a home on Main Street in East Hampton village to avoid foreclosure.

The Post contacted 13 Hamptons homeowners currently in lis pendens for loans exceeding $1 million. None returned calls for comment.

Suffolk County Deputy Clerk Chris Como said that most homes in lis pendens manage to avoid foreclosure through emergency measures like a short sale or the rallying of funds. But appearance on the list, he said, is a sure sign of major financial trouble.

Como said banks don't initiate foreclosure actions until a borrower falls severely behind in payments.

Corcoran broker Susan Breitenbach said young Wall Streeters who gobbled up trophy properties in recent years are starting to suffer. She recalled getting calls from Bear Stearns employees desperate to unload their East End homes after the company's recent implosion.

"These are people who are used to success," Brady said. "There is a level of denial and embarrassment when I have to call [people] to ask about mortgage problems."

However, Lori Barbaria, a renowned East End broker with Prudential Douglas Elliman, said the doomsday predictions were premature.

"I've seen no evidence that the market is in real trouble here," she said, adding that the high-end sector remains strong.

Barbaria, who just sold a foreclosed Bridgehampton home for $3 million last month, said that lis pendens and foreclosures may be rising, but that they are mainly limited to the subprime market and pricey spec homes.

"We are going to have to wait until September to see if we're in crisis," she said.

Another top-selling East End broker who spoke anonymously said the area was bracing for fallout from impending Wall Street layoffs.

"That wave hasn't even hit yet," he said. "A lot of them who bought second homes are already trying to shed them."

"You'll always have the super-rich who can make moves out here no matter what," the broker said. "But I think there's a dose of reality on the way."

selim.algar@nypost.com

www.nypost.com/seven/05122008/news/regionalnews/trouble_in_li_paradise_110497.htm