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 multimillion-dollar Mount Desert mansion hasn’t sold in four years despite staggering price cuts that have slashed the cost by nearly half.
Built in 1988, the 10-bedroom, 11-bathroom estate is perched on a cliff near the southern tip of Mount Desert Island’s Seal Harbor neighborhood. The sprawling home offers nearly 10,200 square feet of living space and 6 wooded acres.
Joseph Fogg III, a retired chair and CEO of a venture capital firm who winters in Florida, owns the home, town records show.
The home was first listed with the Knowles Co. in August 2022 with an asking price of $25 million, but that was dropped within months to slightly less than $19 million. If it had sold, it would’ve been among the most expensive home sales in Maine at the time.
The property’s online asking price history doesn’t stretch earlier than 2024, but late that year it was relisted for about $16.2 million. In August 2025, the asking price was knocked down again to $15 million, but the listing was removed earlier this month.
Last week, Legacy Properties Sotheby’s International Realty listed the estate again, this time for $14.5 million, marking a total price drop of more than $10 million over nearly four years.
Meanwhile, the home’s assessed value has crept up since 2020 and sat at roughly $9.3 million as of last year, according to town property records.
While the home was first listed when Maine’s real estate market was frenzied and largely favored sellers, that environment is stabilizing, which benefits buyers. This means inventory is ticking up and homes are sitting on the market longer, which often lead to price cuts and homes selling for under their asking prices.
Maine’s shifting real estate landscape and the home initially being overpriced may have contributed to its long tenure on the market, said Bill Gaynor of Legacy Properties Sotheby’s International Realty, the listing agent for the property.
But, with properties that fall outside of the typical Maine home, it’s often difficult to tell why something isn’t selling, he said.
“To some degree we never know where these things end up,” Gaynor said. “It’s all a bit of a mystery.”
Despite the price drops, it’s still the second most expensive home for sale in Maine, according to Zillow. It sits just behind a $15 million oceanfront home in Kennebunkport, which offers four bedrooms, six bathrooms and roughly 6,000 square feet of living space.
The Mount Desert estate is one of many multi-million dollar homes on Cooksey Drive. The area is also home to summer getaways of other celebrities, including Martha Stewart and Dick Wolf, the creator of the long-running “Law & Order” television show.
The mansion is filled with wood paneling, multiple fireplaces, and windows and balconies that overlook the ocean. Aside from the home’s grand scale, there are luxury finishes and features throughout, such as a sauna and wine cellar.
While the home itself is opulent, Gaynor said the land it sits on and the panoramic ocean views are “extraordinary.” This is, in part, due to the moss-covered forest floor that gives it a “manicured” appearance.
“I’m not sure there’s a better site in Maine,” Gaynor said. “You don’t really see the ocean until you’re in the house, then it’s this kaboom moment.”
The home is ideal for someone with a large family to fill it, Gaynor said, and a buyer who values privacy, as the property can’t be seen from the road.
“There’s a sense of seclusion and privacy that’s quite rare,” Gaynor said. “I’ve had a few phone calls about the home, so hopefully we’ll get people on site soon.”
