38 Hamlet Woods Drive, Saint James — Lakefront Colonial
Maison Pawli Realty Presents — 38 Hamlet Woods Drive, a four-level Colonial inside the gated enclave of Hamlet Estates, sitting directly on one of the community’s two lakes. I’ve walked plenty of houses where the water view is something you have to go find. Here it’s the first thing you see when you walk in, and the last thing you see before you turn off the lights. The kitchen, the main living areas, and the primary suite all face the pond on purpose — the sightline was built into the house, not added to it.
This profile goes past the listing sheet. Below you’ll find the verified property data, the real tax number, the school assignments, the flood reality for a parcel that sits on water, what it actually costs to carry a home this size, and the one tradeoff worth knowing before you book a showing.
Walk Through It
An interactive 360° virtual tour of 38 Hamlet Woods Drive, presented by Maison Pawli Realty.
The House, Room by Room
Thirty-five frames, sorted by where they sit in the house. Tap a category to filter; tap any image to enlarge.
Property Details
The Basics
- StyleColonial
- LevelsThree above-grade + finished walk-out lower
- Bedrooms4
- Baths7 full, 1 half
- Total Rooms10
- Living Area4,610 sq ft
- Lot Size0.33 acre (14,375 sq ft)
- Year Built2010 — Quality Features Inc.
- Garage3-Car Attached
- ParkingDriveway
- BasementFinished, full, walk-out
- Fireplaces3 (gas)
- FlooringOak, marble, porcelain
Systems & Utilities
- CoolingCentral Air
- HeatNatural Gas
- WaterPublic
- SewerCesspool
- ElectricPSEG
- GeneratorWhole-house, sized for the home
- ElevatorResidential 3-stop, all levels
- WaterfrontYes — community lake frontage
- HOA$920/mo (Hamlet Estates)
Key Interior Features
- KitchenWolf cooking, Sub-Zero-class refrigeration, granite, custom ceiling-height cabinetry, breakfast bar
- Primary SuitePond-facing, upper floor, private bath, walk-in closet
- Every BedroomPrivate en-suite bath
- Main FloorFirst-floor bedroom + full bath, formal dining, two-story foyer
- Lower LevelEndless pool / resistance swim system, dedicated spa room, full bath, grade-level access
- OutdoorLynx outdoor kitchen on rear terrace, pond as backdrop
- AccessibilityADA-compliant, engineered into the original build
Tax & Financial Data
Sourced from OneKey MLS and Suffolk County municipal records. All figures are estimates where noted and should be independently verified.
Tax ID: 0800-087-00-07-00-077-000 | Assessed Value: $14,100 | Suffolk County, Town of Smithtown | Exclusions: chandeliers, selected light fixtures, fitness equipment
True Cost to Own
Estimates only — every figure below must be verified for your situation. This is not financial advice.
Beyond the mortgage, the real monthly carry on a home this size runs deeper than buyers usually budget. Property tax alone is roughly $3,114/month ($37,370 ÷ 12). Hamlet Estates common charges add $920/month — though those cover exterior maintenance, grounds care, sewer, snow removal, and trash, so a chunk of what you’d otherwise pay separately is already inside that number. Homeowner’s insurance on a 4,610 sq ft custom build with a pool typically lands in the $4,000–$7,000/year range (estimate — get a real quote). Utilities for a four-level home with three above-grade floors and a lower-level pool run higher than the square footage suggests; budget conservatively and ask the listing agent for the seller’s actual figures. A standard maintenance reserve of 1% of value per year on a $1.7M home is roughly $17,000/year — newer construction like this one (2010) usually runs under that, but the systems are not free. The whole-house generator and the elevator are both line items most homes don’t have.
Commute Reality From This Address
The nearest train is the St. James LIRR station on the Port Jefferson Branch, a short drive from Hamlet Estates. Scheduled time to Penn Station runs around 1 hour 24 minutes, but here’s the part the timetable hides: the Port Jefferson Branch is diesel east of Huntington, so most trips into Manhattan require a transfer at Huntington to an electric train. Plan for the transfer, not the headline number. Drivers reach Smithtown and the Route 347 corridor in minutes, Stony Brook University and its hospital in about 15–20 minutes, and MacArthur Airport in Islip in roughly 25–30 minutes depending on traffic. The Northern State and the LIE are both reachable without living on top of either one.
Flood Zone & Water Reality
This parcel sits directly on a community lake, so flood designation deserves a straight answer rather than an assumption. Neighboring Hamlet Woods parcels are estimated to fall in FEMA Zone X — the minimal-risk designation, where flood insurance is generally recommended but not federally required. That is consistent with the development’s elevation. But because this specific home fronts the pond directly, the exact FEMA panel for 38 Hamlet Woods should be confirmed through the FEMA Map Service Center or the listing agent before you assume insurance costs. The lake here is a managed community amenity, not a tidal waterway, which changes the risk profile considerably from a coastal waterfront parcel. Verify the panel; don’t guess.
School District
Smithtown is one of the larger and more established districts on the North Shore. The listed assignments come from the MLS data sheet; because school boundaries can shift and gated developments occasionally cross lines, confirm the exact feeder schools for this address directly with the Smithtown Central School District before relying on them.
The Neighborhood
Gated & Guard-Staffed
Hamlet Estates is a gated community of roughly 85 homes with 24-hour guard-staffed entry. The HOA handles exterior maintenance, grounds, sewer, snow, and trash — the kind of arrangement that suits a buyer who wants the house without the weekend chore list.
Resort-Grade Amenities
A 9,300 sq ft clubhouse, resort-style pool and spa, lighted tennis courts, full fitness center, basketball, bocce, a playground, a lakeside putting green, and two community lakes with paddle boats. This home sits directly on one of those lakes.
St. James Character
St. James was a summer haunt for stage and screen names a century ago — the Barrymores, Buster Keaton, Irving Berlin. The historic district along Route 25A still carries that texture, and the village stays walkable and low-key.
Route 347 Access
The cross street is Route 347, putting the full Smithtown–Lake Grove shopping, dining, and services corridor minutes away, plus quick connections toward Stony Brook, Port Jefferson, and the parkways.
A Day in This House
Morning light comes off the pond into the kitchen and main living areas, because that’s the wall the architect pointed at the water. Coffee on the rear terrace, under the Lynx outdoor kitchen’s coverage, works in October as well as July — three gas fireplaces and a four-season terrace mean the cold months don’t shut the back of the house down. The endless pool on the lower walk-out level means a swim doesn’t depend on the weather or the season, and it opens to grade level, so the lower floor reads as a real fourth living level, not a finished basement. The three-stop elevator quietly solves the thing that makes most three-story homes tiring to live in — groceries, laundry, luggage, and the daily up-and-down all stop being a negotiation. End the day in the pond-facing primary on the upper floor, where the same view you walked in on is the last thing you see.
What Makes This Home Stand Out
A Real Elevator, Built In From the Start
A residential three-stop elevator serving all levels, plus full ADA-compliant design engineered into the original 2010 build — not retrofitted later. For single-level-equivalent living across four floors, or for a household planning to stay in place for the long run, this is a feature you almost never find at this build quality.
Direct Lake Frontage Inside a Gated Community
The home sits on one of Hamlet Estates’ two community lakes, and the principal rooms were oriented to face it. Waterfront living without the coastal-erosion and tidal-flood exposure that comes with a Sound or harbor parcel.
A True Fourth Level With an Endless Pool
The finished walk-out lower floor houses an endless pool and resistance swim system, a dedicated spa room, and a full bath — with natural light and grade-level access to the rear yard. It functions as its own living level, not a converted basement.
Every Bedroom Is En-Suite
Seven full baths and a half across four bedrooms, with a first-floor bedroom and full bath on the main level. The layout supports extended family, live-in help, or a private guest wing without anyone sharing a bathroom.
The Honest Tradeoff
Two things to weigh, and I’d rather you hear them from me than discover them later. First, the tax bill is real: $37,370 a year is a Suffolk County number that lands near the top of the range for the area, and the $920 monthly HOA sits on top of it — though that HOA does fold in maintenance you’d otherwise pay piecemeal. Second, this is a four-level home on a third of an acre. The square footage goes up rather than out, which is exactly why the elevator and the gated community’s shared grounds matter so much — you get the space and the amenities without a sprawling lot to maintain. If you want a wide flat acre, this isn’t that house. If you want 4,610 finished square feet, a pond out the back, and someone else handling the snow, it is.
