In real estate the mantra goes: location, location, location. Add to that: a President slept here.
The Blue Heron Farm in Chilmark is for sale with an asking price of $23.7 million. The property’s addition to the rarefied world of high priced real estate listings has received considerable free national publicity thanks to President Barack Obama.
Mr. Obama and his family have stayed at the 28.5-acre compound on Tisbury Great Pond for the last three years. The owners, William and Molly Van Devender of Mississippi, reportedly decided to sell the estate because they have been spending less and less time on the Vineyard.
Wallace and Company Sotheby’s International Realty of Edgartown is the listing agent. The property includes a 4-bedroom house, gym, tennis court, and private beach access, and comes with an approximately $37,000 annual property tax bill.
The Van Devenders purchased the property in September 2005 for $19,940,000 from Richard Fisher et al., executors of the will of M. Anthony Fisher to Blue Heron Properties LLC.
The eventual sale will not set any Island records. According to Martha’s Vineyard Land Bank real estate transfer fee data, the single largest commercial sale to date was the Harborview Hotel and Kelley House for $45,100,000 on December 20, 2006.
The top residential transaction was the sale of 10, 18 and 24 Ocean View Avenue in Edgartown from David Hedley to James Reynolds, trustee of the Edgartown Harbor Nominee Trust, for $25,175,000 in February 2006.
That is followed by the sale of 1 Starbuck Neck Road in Edgartown from Thomas McDermott, Jr., trustee of the Georgetown Nominee Trust, to Mark Dalton et al., trustees of the MVBH Realty Trust for $21,892,500 in October 2001.