Nantucket harbor.
Photo: Billy Wilson/Flickr
Why This $2 Million Nantucket House Sold for Just $200K
The handsome 1,700-square-foot dwelling is in imminent danger of being swept away by the sea
28 Sheep Pond Road on Nantucket just sold for $200,000 after being assessed at $1.9 million. Photo: @nantucketcurrent
Nantucket’s popularity as a summer hot spot shows no signs of eroding—but its coastline is a different story.
In fact, a handsome 1,700-square-foot home on the affluent Massachusetts island, which is located off the coast of Cape Cod, recently sold for just $200,000 after being valued at nearly $2 million. (The average sale price of a house on Nantucket is $3.1 million, per Realtor.com.)
This particular dwelling, however, is in imminent danger of being swept away by the sea, as repeated storms have reduced its once-generous lot size at a rapid clip. Neighboring homes on Sheep Pond Road have also been lost or condemned in recent years.
Photos published by the Nantucket Current show the dramatic decline of shoreline that has eaten away much of the waterfront property’s land since 1988, when former owners Jane Carlin and Ben Gifford acquired the vacation home. “It used to be a neighborhood, and you knew who lived where,” Carlin told the outlet. “And now, if you take a drive out there, there’s not much to see.”
Aerial view of a property on Sheep Pond Road on Nantucket. Photo: Peter Sutters/Nantucket Current
As the shoreline inched closer, the couple searched all winter for a solution, having no luck with their idea of donating the home—assessed at $1.9 million—to charity or having it relocated. Finally, their neighbor Don Vaccaro called with an offer of $200,000, which was quickly accepted.
As an owner in the area, Vaccaro knows what he’s getting, which was crucial for Carlin and Gifford, who avoided putting the property on the market for ethical reasons. “Basically, the house may not last more than six months,” Vaccaro told the Current. “Inevitably the ocean will win. The house is only temporary, everything in life is temporary.”
Cover: Nantucket harbor.
Photo: Billy Wilson/Flickr
