There's been a flurry of property sales in the Hamptons while you were away. The biggest, of course, headline-making sale was to hedge funder Steven A. Cohen. He bought a nice little place on Further Lane for a reported $60 million, which was probably the change left over in his pocket from the $150 million he spent on a Picasso several days earlier. The sale hasn't closed yet so the final price is unknown.

Will that be the biggest sale of 2013? Who knows. Courtney Sale Ross, of Ross School, listed her Georgica estate for $75 million. Whether anyone buys it this year and for what price remains to be seen.