Essex home sale tops $1.2 million as three prices post this period

ESSEX -- Ten property deeds were recorded in Essex during the four weeks ending Oct. 3, but only three carried a sale price, limiting what the data can say about where the local market stands this period.

MARKET OVERVIEW

The Essex County (Southern District) Registry of Deeds recorded 10 transfers for Essex addresses between Sept. 4 and Oct. 3. Of those, three included a sale price, ranging from $700,000 to $1,234,000, with a median of $970,000 among the priced sales. Ten recorded deeds in a single month is a notable volume for a town of Essex's size, but with seven of 10 transfers still missing price data, which typically appears in the registry within about a week of recording, a fuller read on pricing trends for the period will need to wait. The two most recent transfers, both recorded Oct. 1, are among those without a price yet.

TOP SALES

8 Lufkin Point Rd Lot B sold for $1,234,000, the highest recorded price of the period. Frank K. McClelland sold the property to Matthew Safford; the sale was recorded Sept. 23.

44 Lake Shore Dr Lot 59-61 Inc sold for $970,000. The seller was listed as Hiselman J F T, with J McDonough as buyer; the deed was recorded Sept. 29.

157 Main St sold for $700,000. The seller was the Paul C. Neily Living Trust, and the buyer was Mark Henderson; the sale was recorded Sept. 21.

The remaining seven transfers recorded during the period do not yet show a sale price.

NEIGHBORHOOD BREAKDOWN

Southern Avenue saw two transfers on the same day, Oct. 1: 194 Southern Ave Lot D and 186 Southern Ave Lot C, both involving seller David M. McPherson. One went to an entity, 194 Southern Avenue LLC; the other went to McPherson David TR. Neither has a recorded price yet. Beyond that cluster, the remaining eight transfers were spread across separate streets, Cogswell Court, John Wise Avenue, Lake Shore Drive, Low Land Farm Road, Martin Street, Lufkin Point Road, Main Street and one listed only as "See Record," with no other repeated street names in the period.

MARKET NOTES

A majority of this period's transfers appear to be within-family or trust-related changes of ownership rather than open-market sales, which helps explain why most lack a recorded price. Examples include 186 Southern Ave Lot C (McPherson to McPherson TR), 12 John Wise Ave (Gary D. Haynes TR to Gary D. Haynes TR), 10 Low Land Farm Rd Unit 2 (Edward Camuso to Edward J. Camuso TR), 68 Martin St (Emily Allen to Emily J. Allen) and the Bruce-to-Bruce transfer listed as "See Record." Deed data does not indicate motivation for these transfers, only that the grantor and grantee share a name or trust designation. Among the three sales with recorded prices, all involved unrelated buyers and sellers, suggesting the open-market activity for the period is concentrated in that smaller group of transactions. Bedroom, bathroom and square-footage figures were not available in this dataset for any property.

Recorded Deeds

Source: Registry of Deeds. Sale amounts shown as recorded; transfers without a disclosed consideration are noted as such.

Compiled from official town feeds, community organizations, and local press. Outside reporting is attributed inline.