24D-342 91 Round Hill Rd 2013-07-12 Published on GazetteNet
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Northampton sees most
expensive house sale to date: $1.7
million
By BARBARA SOLOW
@BarbaraSolow
Thursday, July 11, 2013
(Published in print: Friday, July 12, 2013)
NORTHAMPTON — A single-family home on Round Hill Road made local real estate history when it sold last week
for $1.7 million — the highest price in recent memory, according to the city assessor’s office. The buyers paid cash.
The contemporary home at 91 Round Hill Road, which was sold July 5 to buyers from Kirkland, Wash. also came
off the market in record time: 73 days, far below the statewide average of 118. The house was assessed this year
at $1.31 million.
Other high-end home sales in the city in recent years include a house on Ward Avenue that sold for $1.3 million in
2006 and a home on North Farms Road that sold for $1.2 million in 2011. Those were believed to be the highest
prices paid for single-family homes in Northampton until now, according to City Assessor Joan Sarafin.
Ellen Bartos, part owner of Delap Real Estate, which handled the Round Hill Road home sale, was as surprised as
anyone by the transaction.
“The market is moving more quickly but not for something at that price,” she said. “I honestly never thought it would
sell.”
The five-bedroom house on Round Hill Road is located in a leafy neighborhood perched near Smith College just
above downtown, which is part of its value. In addition, Bartos said, the home has customized features such as
granite fireplaces, elegant crown moldings, and two professional-grade kitchens that justified the list price.
“The materials are all top-of-the-line and every detail is just perfect,” Bartos said. “I’m not sure there’s another
house like this in Northampton.”
Northampton sees most expensive house sale to date: $1.7 million | GazetteNet.com
Built in 2008 by the sellers, Kathryn and Dana Carpenter, the home was purchased by Theresa Mason and Amit
Mehta, trustees of Edgecliff Trust in Kirkland, Wash., according to Sarafin.
Mehta is listed as a vice president of J.I. Properties Inc. in Kirkland, Sarafin said. An online search identified him as
vice president of Eagle River, an investment firm based in Kirkland and a former treasurer at Nextel Partners Inc.
before it was sold to Sprint Nextel.
Bartos said the purchasers called about two months ago to say they’d seen pictures of the Round Hill Road home
online and were flying in from the West Coast for a tour. It was the third time she had shown the 4,873 square-foot
house since the property was listed earlier this spring.
Bartos declined to reveal other details about the buyers — or sellers — of the Round Hill Road home. Neither the
Carpenters nor Mehta returned phone calls from the Gazette requesting an interview. There was no phone number
available for Mason.
Other local real estate agents were encouraged by news of the $1.7 million home sale in Northampton.
“It’s great,” said Rick Sawicki of Sawicki Real Estate in Amherst. “It means that people think it’s safe enough to buy
in the Valley.”
Sawicki, a board member of the Real Estate Association of the Pioneer Valley, said he was impressed by the short
length of time the Northampton home was on the market, noting that 73 days “is fantastic,” and one for the record
books. “Every once in a while, lightning does strike,” said Sawicki.
The Massachusetts Association of Realtors reports that the statewide average for the number of days a single-
family home stays on the market until sale is 118 this year, down from 129 days in 2012.
The association also reports that single-family home sales in Massachusetts rose 8.5 percent in May over the same
period last year, the latest figures available. The statewide median sale price of $325,000 for a single-family home
was also up by 8.7 percent over $299,000 in May of 2012.
On the upper end of the real estate scale, Sawicki said he had a house listed for $1.6 million in Amherst two years
ago, but the seller withdrew before the deal was finalized. He said the most expensive property he has sold since
then went for $700,000.
Northampton real estate agent Julie Held noted that one sale does not indicate a trend. Still, she believes the $1.7
million house sale should have a positive impact on the market.
“I think it speaks of confidence in our area,” said Held, a former Delap agent who recently opened Maple and Main
Realty in Florence with some other former Delap employees.
“For the past three years things have been sluggish, but we are seeing the higher end start to move,” Held said.
Patrick Goggins, president of Goggins Real Estate, predicts no ripple effects from the sale.
“I see this as an aberration,” said Goggins, who has been in the area real estate field since 1973. “The
circumstances would be hard to find again in the marketplace.
Northampton sees most expensive house sale to date: $1.7 million | GazetteNet.com
“We have not yet become a $1 million community,” Goggins added. “We have some upper-end homes that are
approaching those numbers, but not on a regular basis.”
Meantime, what does a nearly $2 million home in Northampton look like?
Hint: it definitely has a kitchen island (make that two) and granite counter tops.
An informal tour of the Round Hill Road house that Bartos gave a reporter earlier this week offered a glimpse of
numerous other special features. Among them were the Goshen stone walkway in the front, floor-to-ceiling oak built
-in bookcases in the library, artfully designed “waterfall” faucets in the lower level bathrooms and a dog shower in a
corner of the two-car garage.
Bartos said the house has a handicapped accessible apartment on the basement level that has its own gas
fireplace equipped bedrooms, bathroom and kitchen (hence the second island). A wraparound deck on the house
overlooks a patio and a landscaped pond on the 0.35 acre lot.
Bartos arranged for professional photographs to be posted with the house listing to help showcase the property’s
distinctive elements for potential buyers.
She’s still getting used to the idea that the house actually sold.
“I’m still pinching myself,” Bartos said. “Real estate is often a matter of luck and timing. The right person has to
come along at the right time.”
Bartos, while she’s convinced the regional real estate market is improving, said she remains conservative about the
future.
“We have to bank this,” Bartos said. “We might never get another sale like this one.”
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17-million
Northampton sees most expensive house sale to date: $1.7 million | GazetteNet.com