Housing
This section of the BDN aims to help readers understand Maine’s housing crisis, the volatile real estate market and the public policy behind them. Read more Housing coverage here.
A $2 million riverfront property billed as an “equestrian paradise” is for sale in midcoast Maine.
The property runs along the Penobscot River, offering 30 acres of rolling fields and 1,700 feet of deepwater shore frontage. It sits on the opposite shore from the public Sandy Point Beach in the small town of Verona Island, between Prospect and Bucksport.
The property’s most prominent feature is its barn: an 1880s post and beam structure with horse stables, living quarters and a polygonal turret, according to its online listing. The barn was originally designed by famed architect William Appleton Potter, who’s best known for designing buildings for Princeton University in New Jersey as well as municipal buildings and churches around New England. The barn was built out of state and later reconstructed on this site, said the property’s listing agent, Dan Burpee.
“It’s a once in a lifetime offering,” he said.
When you step inside the barn, you can see all the way to just off the tip of Fort Point State Park, said Burpee, a real estate agent with Two Rivers Realty. The barn includes multiple stables, a hay loft and custom motorized doors, but its turret is not finished and needs renovating, according to the listing.
The 2-bedroom, 3-bathroom living quarters in the barn have a water view. The space is inspired by Tuscan architecture and includes a stone chimney, heated floors and stone tile floors, according to the listing. Other features include a walk-in closet, soaking tub and hammered copper sinks. There’s a second, standalone residence on the property — a classic farmhouse — but it needs renovating.
Though previous owners made full use of the property’s barn and acreage by keeping horses there, Burpee said all the showings he’s had thus far on the place have been with prospective homebuyers more interested in its waterfrontage. The property was first listed in August, and at the moment all interest in it has been from out-of-state.
“That is not too uncommon at this price point,” Burpee said.
The price was slashed by $500,000 recently to make it more competitive, the agent said. Though home prices around Maine have skyrocketed in the past couple years, they are being cut all over Maine right now as the real estate market cools slightly.
Verona Island is a well-kept secret, Burpee said. The small community in midcoast Maine has some of the cheapest taxes in the area.
“The mill rate is under 10. It’s pretty crazy,” Burpee said. “A lot of people drive over the big bridge and don’t realize what Verona has to offer.”
