An oceanfront home on the wealthy island of Nantucket sold for just $600,000, a steep discount from its original listing price of $2.3 million.
The median home price on the exclusive Massachusetts island off Cape Cod is $4.43 million, but there’s a big problem with living life on the edge at this newly sold home on Sheep Pond Road, where coastal erosion It is a real concern.
There is a very real possibility that the new owner will get that sinking feeling sooner rather than later and that the entire property will likely be consumed by the ocean within a matter of years.
This led the former owner of the house to decide to reduce the price for a quick sale, as he purchased it relatively recently in 2021 for $1.65 million.
Last summer, the house was renting for $15,000 a week, but during the winter, one storm after another slowly devoured the property’s backyard.
What was once 100 feet of dunes situated between the house and the Atlantic Ocean had been reduced to just 30 feet after they were washed away by the waves.
A beachfront home in Nantucket sold for $600,000, a sharp drop from its listing of $2.3 million.
Brendan Maddigan, managing director of property investment firm JLL, bought the new house and is well aware of the risks, but believes there is still potential.
Brendan Maddigan, managing director of property investment firm JLL, bought the new house and is well aware that he is playing a real-life game of sink or swim that could turn his beachfront bliss into an underwater abyss.
“It’s a gamble, but I was comfortable with the risk,” Maddigan told the Nantucket Current.
There are limited options on what can be done to improve its chances, as the house is already just off the eastern edge of the property and there is no room to move it further away from the increasingly encroaching shoreline.
“It’s a losing battle and I have no certainty that eventually, or maybe not, erosion will wipe out that house.” I looked at it like if I could have that place for a few years, hopefully a little longer, and do everything I could to make it last, I’d be happy. Climate change is very real. “I am hopeful, but I am realistic.”
Maddigan, 42, is already familiar with the area having grown up in Woods Hole, Massachusetts, on Cape Cod.
‘The house is incredible. The location is amazing. And the price mitigates the risk to a large extent,” Maddigan told the Boston Globe.
“I’d like to think it will stay there for a while, but I was definitely aware of the risk of any particular storm causing a problem in the future.
‘The property has some advantages, but I don’t have a crystal ball and who knows what nature will do. We know what the trends are. There are years without erosion and other years where it is important. “I’m planning to do my best to preserve this place as long as possible… But there’s nothing you can do to stop the erosion,” he said.
Coastal erosion is threatening the very existence of the property, and winter storms are taking their toll just 30 feet from the house to the ocean, compared to 100 feet.
This bay window is a cozy place to sit while admiring the ever-increasing sea views.
Maddigan was the first buyer to settle on the house with an all-cash offer, just hours after the price dropped.
“I took advantage of the opportunity and I hope it’s long enough for my kids to have good memories of being there,” Maddigan said. “And who knows, maybe we’ll get lucky.”
“The floodgates opened, I’m not kidding,” listing agent Susan Shepherd of Shepherd Real Estate told The Current.
‘People from all over the country called me. Not only did I personally receive 30-40 calls a day, but other brokers were also calling me to tell me they were getting swamped. I anticipated it, but not that it would be a full-time job. I made nothing but field calls.
Those who made inquiries ranged from first-time homebuyers to those happy to put down $600,000 on a home that may not be around for that long.
“Some people were like, ‘Oh, this isn’t so bad,’ and some people were like, ‘Shit!'” Shepherd explained.
The open plan kitchen and dining room are bright and plenty of natural light floods the room.
‘It was fascinating. There is a lot of the human element and the psyche that influences this. She knew there would be immediate interest, but she didn’t know the volume.
‘It ran the gamut: a first-time home buyer at the opposite extreme, the retirement writer who wanted to get away from it all. The whole range. Someone said, “Oh, I’ll put my chef out there. I’ll put my sea captain out there.” To some, it was simply “Vegas money.”
Shepherd also emphasized that beyond erosion, the price drop to $600,000 also reflected the seller’s motivation to get rid of the property.
“I said, ‘If we want to sell this in hours, not days, where do we price it?’ Pastor said. ‘Was there money left on the table? There could have been. But when I talk to people about the price of a property, time is always a factor. The seller wanted to move on and that had more to do with it than anything else.’ .