A real estate record was recently broken with the purchase of a $45 million estate in Wainscott, making it the most expensive home in New York state. (Just a butler's pension more than Rupert Murdoch's $44 million Fifth Avenue penthouse.) Industry insiders debate the value.

"It's a sickness," said Mona Holzman, who oversees sales for Laffey Associates, a real estate firm on the North Shore of Long Island. She said she was shocked that a Hamptons home had fetched $45 million. "I guess people just don't know what to do with their money. I don't know what could be so spectacular about this house."

But the worst part? The new owner, Stewart Rahr, CEO of a pharmaceutical distributor that rakes in $3 billion a year in sales, was able to pay for it all with a check. We guess no one told him about Tucker Carlson's fear that the Hamptons could one day be under water. Sucker.

Sale of Estate in Hamptons Raises Bar to $45 Million [NYT]

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