Long Island Mansions on Sale: Live Like Gatsby

Attention Gatsby wannabes: If you always hankered after a waterfront mansion or storied estate home on Long Island's glitzy North Shore -- the Gold Coast that inspired F. Scott Fitzgerald's "The Great Gatsby" -- it might be time to buy.

A growing number of mega-size homes, in neighborhoods famous for their seclusion, bucolic settings and wealthy residents, are coming on the market in the fall season, at prices that are being described as adjustable.

Like other luxury markets across the country, the North Shore market was hit hard by the downturn, but is now showing some traction, which has led to encouraged sellers putting their homes up for sale -- and being open to bargaining -- while buyers are taking a second look. Not exactly fire sales but, says Jonathan Miller, of Miller Samuel Real Estate Appraisers, "we think you will see more competition and larger discounts coming."

Take Windrift (pictured above and at end), a six-acre waterfront estate in Oyster Bay Harbor with 8,000-square-feet, five bedrooms, six bathrooms, a guest cottage, pool and tennis court. Listed at $8.35 million by Daniel Gale Sotheby's International Realty, it was reportedly discounted from an original listing price of $11 million, according to Newsday, but not confirmed by the Realtor.

Some of the listings indeed lend themselves to Gatsby fantasies.