A $2.5 million home on its own island near Tenants Harbor is one of a kind.
The 1,400-square-foot, shingle-style cottage, listed by York-based Anchor Real Estate, made its market debut on Tuesday. The 2-bedroom, 1.5-bathroom home has commanding, wrap-around views of some quintessential midcoast scenes: sunsets, the bustle of fishermen and seals sunning on rocks at low tide.
It was the primary, year-round residence of the sellers for nearly a decade. They built the home custom in 2015, having purchased the tiny Mouse Island site three years prior, Becky Baker, one of Anchor Real Estate’s agents, said.
“They just kind of fell in love with this gorgeous location and wanted to build something on it,” Baker said. “They’re not from Maine, but they love the area and love the fact that it’s the only house on a little island.”
One drawback of island living can be needing to boat to the mainland and back whenever you need groceries, take a trip into town or go to work. The house on Mouse Island is unique in that a narrow road connects it to shore, giving the owners easy access to Tenants Harbor and Rockland just over 20 minutes away.
The sellers also solved another challenge of coastal homeownership by raising their home on stone-clad piers, which reduced the risk of flooding at high tide on the small island. The road has also held up well but might be a task to plow in the winter, Baker said.
The home is well-equipped with heat pumps and generators to handle all kinds of climate-related eventualities, Baker said. It also was constructed with structural insulated panels that Baker said make the home more efficient by keeping the house hot if hot and cool if cool.
Other features include a wet bar, covered deck and an unusual parking spot under the home itself.
Given the home’s high price, the Anchor agents are not sure how long it will sit on the market, but they expect their open house this week will be busy. The St. George real estate market is hot with inventory tight: the home on Mouse Island is only one of five for sale there.
“It’s definitely a one-of-a-kind property,” Baker said.
