Former Fox News correspondent Rick Leventhal says it’s bittersweet to have sold the Westhampton beach house he’s lived in for 30 years, but he doesn’t have one regret about the move he made to the West Coast to be with his wife Real Housewives of Orange County alumna Kelly Dodd.
The 1,500-square-foot home at 9 Tanner’s Neck Lane boasts views of Moriches Bay, sold earlier this month, closing at $1.16 million, according to Corcoran’s website.
“It’s melancholy, you know, it’s a little sad for me,” Leventhal tells Behind The Hedges. I spent 30 years out there. I really enjoyed that house a lot.”
In fact, that’s where he met Dodd by chance five years ago.
He hosted a party July Fourth weekend in 2019 and his friend, former New York Ranger Ron Duguay ran into Ramona Singer from the Real Housewives of New York City, who Dodd was visiting, the night before. “The next day he told Ramona he was coming to my house and so she grabbed Kely because she really liked Ron and she’s like, ‘Let’s go, let’s go to Rick Leventhal’s house for this party. Kelly was kicking and screaming the whole way because she had other parties to go out to, but when we met it was just kind of magical,” he recalls.
Just a little more than a year later, the couple was married.
“It kind of came full circle for me. This was my great escape from the city and then it became my impetus to escape to California,” Leventhal says.
A few months after the wedding, Leventhal put his former bachelor pad up for sale with an asking price of $1.3 million in February of 2021. He lowered it to $1.195 million and then took it off the market. It was on the summer rental market for $18,000 per month in 2021, and more recently at $26,000 per month.
Leventhal first found the home as a rental himself. He began renting it in the summer of 1994, then year-round for 10 years before he bought it as a summer home. He lived in New York City for 25 years and it had become “a bit of a grind,” he says. “I always loved New York, but it’s not an easy lifestyle, you know? You’re battling traffic and crowded sidewalks and the noise and congestion. California has palm trees, sunshine and beaches and just really is like paradise, especially Newport Beach, where we live. So I’m very happy where we are now and I don’t regret any of it.”
He had put a lot of sweat equity into the Hamptons house, which sits on a 0.62-acre property with a large heated pool surrounded by an oversized deck and tiki bar. “I’m handy. I like to do projects, and that was my chance to go to work. So I would drive out there, and like build a fence. I built the bar where I got Kelly a first drink — not her first drink, but her first with me!” He also built an outdoor shower and repaired the deck boards. “I took pride in it — replacing screens and screen doors, whatever it was, painting — I like to get my hands dirty and that’s where I did it for 25 years.”
“This is a special property. I don’t often see old-school Hamptons beach houses with so many amenities,” Ashley Farrell of the Cocoran Group tells Behind The Hedges. She and Lexie Schrage, also of Corcoran, have had the listing since April of 2024. “The home is renovated throughout and offers a rooftop deck with views of the bay, just a short distance from the property — all this without an exorbitant price tag!”
The property went into contract on June 7, but the contract period was longer than usual due to summer tenants in the residence, Farrell explains.
Inside, the updated kitchen features stainless appliances, such as a Kitchen Aid range and refrigerator, Samsung dishwasher, Uline ice maker and wine refrigerator.
The living room has a wood-burning fireplace with French doors that lead out onto the back deck. Hardwood floors can be found throughout. There is also a dedicated laundry space, central air conditioning and a roof that was put on in 2013.
There are four bedrooms, plus bonus space, and two baths, including an en suite master bedroom with access to the backyard deck.
The new owners will not only be able to enjoy the water views from the rooftop deck but also walk to the bay, just 600 feet from the home. Plus, the house is situated a mere 2.5 miles away from Westhampton Beach’s Main Street.
Leventhal and Dodd have no plans for another home on the East Coast. “I think we’ll make periodic trips back to New York. I’m working for NewsMax now. I have my own show on Newsmax 2 called the Rick Leventhal Report and so at least one week a year I come out to New York to work ou to the studios in New York City and can always go out ot the Hamptons as part of that . . .,” he says.
For now, they are focused on renovating a new home in Huntington Beach, California, which they closed on the day after they sold the Hamptons house. Leventhal says he had a lot of equity in the house and invested it in the new home, less than a mile from the Pacific Ocean. “We’re going to create a beautiful kitchen, high ceilings, big open room and gonna trick it out.”
The couple, who are currently renting on Lido Isle, a man-made island in the harbor at Newport Beach, hope to be in the new place around the New Year.
