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.
Two luxury estates are for sale in southern Maine could set records as the most expensive homes ever to be sold in their communities.
One property, priced at $15 million, sits on the coast in Cape Elizabeth and was once owned by famous actress Bette Davis. The other home is a $14.95 million estate in Kennebunkport with amenities that include a tennis court, pool and putting green.
If they sell for their asking prices, they will be the second and third most expensive residential properties ever to be sold in Maine, according to Chris Lynch, president of Legacy Properties Sotheby’s International Realty, which is managing the listings. They will also be the most expensive homes to be publicly listed in their respective towns.
“These are both properties that will set all kinds of records in in the state of Maine and it’s just coincidence that they both happened in the same week,” Lynch said. “These would be two extremely significant property sales.”
Only seven homes in Maine have ever been publicly listed and sold for more than $10 million, and all of them were in the Mount Desert Island region, according to Lynch.
The most expensive home ever sold in the state was previously owned by David Rockefeller and went for $19 million in 2018 after two billionaires got into a bidding war over it, Lynch said. That estate also sold privately before it ever entered the public market.
Both Cape Elizabeth and Kennebunkport are known to be two of Maine’s wealthier coastal destinations, and home prices in the communities have skyrocketed in recent years in tandem with the rise in home sale prices statewide.
The average home prices in Cape Elizabeth and Kennebunkport are now valued at roughly $883,000 and $1.1 million, respectively, according to Zillow. That’s more than double the price of an average home in Maine, which now sits at nearly $417,000.
The $15 million estate on Zeb Cove Road has 7,600 square feet of living space with five bedrooms and six bathrooms, four of which are full bathrooms. The home has nearly 1,200 feet of ocean frontage and roughly seven acres.
The home’s other amenities include multiple balconies, covered porches and a terrace, as well as a two-bedroom, two-bathroom carriage house for guests.
The property was once owned by Bette Davis, who died in 1989 and was best known for her roles in “All About Eve” and “Death on the Nile,” but the home she lived in there was torn down and a new house — the one currently for sale — was built in its place in 2002, Gaynor said.
The $14.95 million home on Ocean Sound Drive in Kennebunkport was built by Neil Clark Warren, a psychologist and Christian theologian who is best known for founding eHarmony, an online dating website. The property is now owned by a “commercial real estate and hospitality mogul” based in Florida, Lynch said.
The seven-bedroom, eight bathroom estate with water views has roughly 15,600 square feet of living space and an elevator. The home’s host of amenities include a tennis court, home gym, putting green and heated infinity pool and hot tub. There’s also a guest house and tennis cabana on the 16-acre property.
Both Lynch and Gaynor believe the homes they represent will sell for their asking prices, though it’s difficult to say what kind of person might buy them.
“Most everyone who buys here has some tie to Maine — they grew up here, summered here or went to camp or school here,” Lynch said.
Homes for sale in Maine generally attract local buyers from within the state and, in some cases, the greater Boston region, Lynch said. However, lavish estates like these two properties can draw prospective buyers from across the country or world.
“With all high-value homes, the buyer is usually someone who’s looking for something unique and special and has been looking for a while but hasn’t found what they’re looking for,” Lynch said.
Gaynor anticipates someone from Maine will buy the Cape Elizabeth property for their primary residence but likely spend their summers somewhere warmer. For the Kennebunkport home, however, he predicts someone will purchase it to be a vacation home.
“Maine is still a less expensive option than a lot of resort areas in the Northeast like Nantucket or the Hamptons,” Gaynor said. “These homes would be double the price if they were in one of those places.”
