Manchester By The Sea Home Prices Range Widely as Trust Transfers Dominate Recorded Deeds

MANCHESTER BY THE SEA -- Thirteen property transfers were recorded at the Essex County (Southern District) Registry of Deeds for Manchester By The Sea between July 10 and Aug. 8, with disclosed sale prices ranging from $500,000 to $2,375,000 and five of the transfers involving property owners moving real estate into their own family trusts.

MARKET OVERVIEW

Of the 13 recorded deeds, eight listed a sale price. Those disclosed prices ranged from $500,000 to $2,375,000, with a median of $1,175,000. The remaining five transfers did not disclose a price, which is typical for deed records and, in this period, coincided with transfers where the grantor and grantee appear to be the same individual acting as an owner and then as trustee. Thirteen recorded transfers over a four-week span is an active pace based on the raw count alone.

TOP SALES

The period's highest-priced sale was 6 Victoria Rd Lot 6, which sold for $2,375,000 on July 28. Christopher C. Rollins was the seller and Christopher Forespring the buyer. At 16 Woodholm Rd Lot 14, the property sold for $2,325,000 on July 24, with Gregory O'Brien as seller and Daniel Riff as buyer. The property at 17 Loading Place Rd Lot 3 sold for $2,100,000 on July 20; Susan C. Hanson-Philbrick, as trustee, was the seller, and Thomas Lyons was the buyer. At 79 Pleasant St Lot 2, the sale price was $1,250,000, recorded July 22, with Christina Alexandra Cunningham selling to Jeffrey Parrish. Rounding out the top five, 33 Smiths Point Rd sold for $1,100,000 on July 30, with the 33 Smiths Point Nominee Trust selling to Cyrus Bartol LLC.

NEIGHBORHOOD BREAKDOWN

Flatley Avenue was the only street with more than one recorded transfer in the period: 0 Flatley Ave (Aug. 5) and 8 Flatley Ave Unit 8 (July 16) both changed hands, though neither disclosed a sale price and both involved a single owner transferring property into a trust bearing their own name. No other street had more than one recorded sale. Among the eight sales with disclosed prices, two fell under $600,000: 95 Summer St at $500,000 and 27 Norwood Ave Unit 2 at $530,000. Three fell in the $600,000-to-$1.5 million range: 3 Big Rock Rd Lot A at $975,000, 33 Smiths Point Rd at $1,100,000 and 79 Pleasant St Lot 2 at $1,250,000. Three sold above $1.5 million: 17 Loading Place Rd Lot 3 at $2,100,000, 16 Woodholm Rd Lot 14 at $2,325,000 and 6 Victoria Rd Lot 6 at $2,375,000.

MARKET NOTES

Five of the 13 recorded deeds, or roughly 38 percent, were transfers in which the grantor and grantee share the same name, with the property moving from an individual into a revocable or living trust in that person's name: 4 Knight Rd Lot F (Thomas Patrick Murphy to Thomas Patrick Murphy, trustee), 22 Hickory Hill Rd Lot 25 (Zachary George Tropeano Lovatt to the Tropeano Lovatt Revocable Trust), 0 Flatley Ave (Leslie Schoenherr to the Leslie Schoenherr Living Trust), 1 Old Colby Way Lot 2 (Laurie H. Glimcher to the Laurie H Glimcher 2001 Trust) and 8 Flatley Ave Unit 8 (Alexander T. Forsyth to Alexander T. Forsyth, trustee). None of these five disclosed a sale price, consistent with their appearance as internal ownership transfers rather than open-market sales. Separately, 95 Summer St was sold by a representative of the Edwin Benjamin Dott estate, and 27 Norwood Ave Unit 2 was sold out of the Peelle Family Living Trust, both to buyers outside the family name, with prices disclosed in both cases. Two of the 13 recorded properties, 27 Norwood Ave Unit 2 and 8 Flatley Ave Unit 8, are identified in the registry as condominium units.

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.