What housing slump? Manchester mansion priced at $14.6M

By Patrick Anderson
Staff writer

February 27, 2008 09:06 am

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MANCHESTER — Though foreclosures are climbing and home sales falling to new lows throughout Massachusetts, at least one real estate professional is confident of a blockbuster closing.

This month, Crow Island, a 5-acre mansion estate perched at the water's edge on a rocky Ocean Street peninsula, went up for sale at a list price of $14.6 million. If it actually closes at that price, it would be the most expensive home ever purchased on the North Shore.

And because the estate, built around the turn of the 20th century, has recently undergone a major renovation, the listing broker believes there's a good chance of actually getting that number. While other high-end properties in the area have started out at much higher prices, they've sold for significantly less. For instance, the current record-holder, the Seahome estate on Boardman Avenue, was listed in 2004 for $17.75 million; it finally sold last August for $11 million.

The Crow Island estate, which real estate agency J. Barrett calls "a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity," includes an 8,700-square-foot, six-bedroom stone mansion with views of Kettle Cove and a separate three-bedroom carriage house with its own office and yoga studio.

"You are up on this big chunk of rock; it truly feels like an island," said Holly Fabyan, the listing agent for Crow Island. "But the eclecticness of the interior makes it not intimidating. It really doesn't feel like 8,000 square feet."

Crow Island hits the market during a nearly two-year regional and national housing slump that experts say may still be months from hitting bottom.

According to figures released yesterday by the Warren Group, a publisher of real estate data, the number of single-family homes sold statewide during January dropped 28 percent from January 2007, from 2,943 to 2,010, the lowest level since the company started collecting the statistics in 1987. In Essex County, the number of sales in January dropped 20 percent year-to-year and median sale prices for homes in the county fell 4 percent.

"Judging by the last few months of lackluster sales and ever-increasing number of foreclosures — which can create a glut of low-cost homes on the market — these downward trends are many months from ending," said Timothy Warren, chief operating officer of the Warren Group, in a statement released yesterday.

But North of Boston, high-end sales are bucking those trends.

The number of homes sold for more than $2 million in Essex County has increased each of the last three years, up to 49 in 2007 from 42 in 2006 and 41 in 2005, according to the Warren Group.

In Manchester, the market for multimillion houses has stayed particularly strong.

According to Fabyan, seven Manchester properties sold for more than $3 million in 2007, up from four in 2006 and two in 2005.

Jon Gray of J. Barrett said he was not surprised that high-priced properties were still moving, even as the middle and bottom of the market has collapsed.

"The high end is still very strong," Gray said. "In the long term, real estate is still a great investment."

However, even upper-echelon sellers have been forced to lower their homes' asking prices in recent years.

The record for the highest-priced home ever sold on the North Shore was set last August when 16 and 18 Boardman Ave., an estate known as Seahome, was purchased for $11 million. That property was first listed in 2004 for $17.75 million.

On Norton's Point Road, the Harborwatch estate was sold last year for $10.5 million after being initially listed at $12.6 million.

The Wyck Estate on Smith Point Road, which is available for $13.7 million, was first listed at $23.5 million.

Crow Island was built by Manchester's Curtis family around 1900 and had only one other owner, the reclusive Hyde Cox, friend to poet Robert Frost, until its current owner, Jeffrey Cunningham, bought it in 1999 for $6 million.

The latest assessment of Crow Island by the Manchester Assessor's Office, completed in January 2006, values the property at $8.2 million. The annual tax bill for the estate, according to a listing on the Web site luxuryrealestate.com, is $62,000.

Cunningham, CEO of a company that publishes Directorship Magazine, a publication catering to corporate executives, has had a great vantage point from which to observe the chaos caused by the slump in the housing market and collapse of the subprime mortgage industry. Cunningham also sits on the board of directors for Countrywide Financial, the country's largest mortgage lender.

Fabyan said she was confident the record-setting price tag for Crow Island was in line with its market value and the property would not languish without a buyer. She said many of the homes that have sold for less than their lofty initial asking prices have required significant work while Crow Island has already recently undergone a major renovation.

"Of the seven properties that sold for over $3 million in 2007, the majority are in extensive renovations," Fabyan said. "This is one of only two that are 'move-ins.'"

Fabyan said brokering multimillion-dollar home sales doesn't differ too much from selling more typically priced properties, except that the buyers usually pony up for the properties in cash.

"These are the kind of people who are kind of impervious to market fluctuations," Fabyan said. "They usually don't need financing."

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