Southampton Cove rental markets as U.S. Open base near tennis action

The U.S. Open pitch at 78 Waters Edge is not about a private court or a showpiece estate. It is about a four-bedroom, two-bath Southampton Cove house, listed at $9,000, that is being sold as a quiet base for one- to two-week stays around the tournament.

That makes the math and the setting matter more than the fantasy. The home at 78 Waters Edge Rd, Southampton, NY 11968, measures 1,569 square feet and is being marketed through Nest Seekers International as a “turnkey” rental in the coveted Southampton Cove community. Out East’s listing shows 14 photos and frames the property as a short-term vacation rental, not a tennis compound. There is no pool, and there is no room for a tennis court, so the appeal is not what happens on the property. It is what sits around it.

Southampton Cove’s own property owners association says its job is to promote the mutual interests of owners and maintain the marina, pavilion and other association-owned structures. That tells the story of the neighborhood as a waterfront, shared-use community rather than a sports enclave. For a tennis trip, that can be the point. A visitor can keep the stay stripped down to the basics, sleep in a private house, and spend the day moving between Shinnecock Hills, Southampton village, beach stops and dinner reservations without paying for a larger resort-style rental.

The timing helps. The Town of Southampton says the 2026 U.S. Open Championship will be held June 15 through June 21, 2026 at Shinnecock Hills Golf Club, and officials expect more than 150,000 attendees over the seven-day championship week. Local reporting says Southampton will allow permitted rentals of three to 14 days during a June 8 through June 24 window, which creates exactly the kind of short stay that a property like this is trying to fill. The listing’s one- to two-week language fits that window neatly.

The broader lesson is that not every U.S. Open-period rental in the Hamptons needs to sell itself as a destination in its own right. Some properties work because they are close, discreet and easy. In a market shaped by the 2018 Shinnecock Open, when the USGA programmed fan activities throughout June 11 through June 17 and market commentary said the event drew tens of thousands of fans, media personnel, corporates and players to the Hamptons, a smaller Southampton Cove house can still make sense. It is not the house for a private tennis weekend. It is the house for people who want the tournament, the village and the East End around it, with the rental itself staying out of the way.