Big week for Nantucket real estate – 9 Kimball Avenue sold for $27.16mm last week!!! The Seller, the estate of the late Richard Scaife, also sold 12 Sherburne Turnpike to the same Buyer for $3.995mm – not a bad guest house… I felt confident going into December that my brother, Pepper II, Doug Foregger and I on the sell side and Gary Winn on the buy side would hold the record for largest sale of 2014 – 33 Squam Road for $21.5mm. But, we got topped by almost $6mm, and almost $10mm if you include the “guest house”. Most of the people that buy properties of these magnitudes have made extremely smart financial decisions throughout their lives; some have just inherited their fortunes. The Buyer of 33 Squam Road has had a brilliant career thus far. The Buyer of Kimball Ave. and Sherburne Tpke. has been kept very confidential. However, I have a hunch who it is; I’ll give you a hint, he is somewhere in the top 100 on the Forbes 400 and he did not inherit his fortune. So, if these guys are showing their confidence in Nantucket real estate, won’t others follow? Don’t the best money managers get mimicked constantly? The market is strong, but the 9 Kimball Ave./12 Sherburne Tpke. deal(s) might bring the market to another level. Remember what happened when Lou Gerstner bought 10 and 17 Berkeley Ave. for $7.08mm and $4.92mm, respectively, in Sept. ’03? The show goes on…
