Born and raised in Hampton Bays, NY, Taylor Jayne constantly envisioned she ‘d construct her life in the place that raised her. But like so numerous locals on the East End, the dream kept slipping even more out of reach.
After a years of renting in Southampton, most just recently paying $2,200 a month for a one-bedroom apartment or condo above a garage, Jayne chose she didn’t wish to spend a lot money paying another person’s mortgage.
So at age 31, Jayne and her mommy began searching for starter homes online. With Southampton’s mean home-sale cost hovering around $1.7 million, the hunt was hard.
But then they discovered it: a 700-square-foot, two-bedroom mobile home in Suffolk Pines Mobile Home Park, noted for just $185,000. At the time, the listing was the cheapest home for sale in the Hamptons, according to reports. The trailer is a 700-square-foot, two-bedroom mobile home in The Hamptons, New York. Photo credit: Taylor Jayne
The trailer was a mile from Westhampton town, and a mile and a half away from the beach.
The 2nd she stepped inside the aging 1968 trailer, Jayne states she could already visualize the improvement she was going to make.
“My mother believed I was insane,” she laughed. “I actually made a discussion with state of mind boards and whatever.”
Although Jayne and her mama tried to protect a traditional home loan, they weren’t able to, so Jayne’s mother used inheritance money left by her late father, Jayne’s grandpa, to purchase the home in money. The sale eventually closed at $150,000, with a contract that Jayne would pay her mother back regular monthly.
Jayne knew the minute she entered the trailer that it was meant to be hers. Image credit: Taylor Jayne For Jayne, the purchase felt deeply personal.
“My grandpa was always into purchasing and flipping homes,” she stated. “It seemed like something Papa would have done.”
A Year Later, The Couple is Still Refurbishing the Mobile Home
The timing turned out to be perfect in another method, too. Jayne’s fiancé, Wyatt Buffington, matured working building and construction together with his daddy– a skill set that would become the couple’s biggest asset. Together, they gutted and rebuilt much of the trailer themselves, setting up floors and windows, including crown molding and shiplap ceilings and slowly turning the once-dated mobile home into what Jayne calls a “retro browse shack.”
“People tease me on TikTok for adding crown molding to a trailer,” Jayne said. “However when you’re within, you really forget it’s a trailer. It seems like a real home.”
Jayne and Buffington began remodeling the trailer in 2025. Photo
credit: Taylor Jayne The couple has actually budgeted approximately $20,000 for remodellings, leaning heavily on sweat equity and help from family and friends. The kitchen and bathroom are still works in development, however nearly every other inch of the home has been touched by the couple’s hands. They have plans for Buffington’s papa to help them do a complete gut renovation of the bathroom and kitchen.
Outside, surfboards raid the fence. Inside, the decor channels a nostalgic variation of the Hamptons– less luxury influencer visual, more laid-back beach town energy from decades past.
“It’s the Hamptons my moms and dads and grandparents keep in mind from the ’80s,” Jayne stated. “I wanted it to feel elevated, however still casual and retro.”
Jayne and Buffington have actually been DIYing the majority of the renovation. Picture credit: Taylor Jayne
What Started as a Financial Investment is Turning Into a Forever Home
Today, the couple pays a $690 month-to-month HOA cost plus $1,250 a month to Jayne’s mother. That’s still less than what Jayne as soon as paid in rent.
And while the initial plan was to remain for simply a couple of years before offering, the trailer has quietly ended up being something larger: a grip in a neighborhood they believed they ‘d be evaluated of permanently.
Among their closest friends recently moved into the park, too. Neighbors bring deals with for their dog. What began as a short-term repair now seems like home.
The couple doesn’t understand if they will offer or keep the trailer. Photo credit: Linsey Kromer
Still, the pressure of the Hamptons housing market looms large. In March 2026, Westhampton home rates rose 57.1% year-over-year, with mean costs climbing to $2.1 million.
For Jayne, that truth just enhances why she bought the trailer in the first place.
“This was our way of getting our foot in the door when the door felt totally closed,” she stated. “Now every choice we make seems like we’re constructing something for ourselves instead of paying another person’s mortgage.”