Vineyard Open House Blog

'On Martha's Vineyard'--Vineyard Open House Newsletter

    On Martha's Vineyard
Vineyard Open House Real Estate
Vol I, No. 1      November 2014

Headlines

Introducing...Our First Issue
Cedar Tree Neck...Where My Vineyard Story Begins
Autumn on the Vineyard
Mortgage Trends
Market Update
Listing Spotlight
Home under $500,000
Home under $1M
Home under $2.5M
Next Issue

 

 

 

 

 

 

Cedar Tree Neck: Watching the clouds roll in across the Sound.

Introducing....

Welcome to the first issue of the Vineyard Open House Real Estate newsletter! This newsletter will inform you about happenings on Martha's Vineyard, real estate market and mortgage trends and specially selected homes for sale.

Please give us feedback on what you like or want to see more of. You can also request to be placed on an automatic e-update to receive an alert when a home in your price range comes on the market. Just email me your parameters (towns, price, number of bedrooms) and we'll set you up.

I have been coming to Martha's Vineyard all my life like my parents and grandparents before me. I look forward to sharing my island experiences and look forward to corresponding with you!--David Lott, Owner, VOHRE

Back to top

Cedar Tree Neck...Where My Vineyard Story Begins

Long before Cedar Tree Neck was a wildlife preserve, it was a vacation destination owned and operated by the brother-sister tandem of John and Emma Daggett. Miss Daggett, as she preferred to be called, was the mistress of the Neck and walked its paths and hills with a spritely

 

Miss Daggett and me behind the house on the bluff.

authority while still in her 70s.

Dressed in brightly patterned silk dresses, pinz nez glasses perched on the end of her nose and her hair put up in a chignon, she stood tall over her dominion like her stately home that looked down on the North Shore and Vineyard Sound spread out before it. She was quick to smile and laugh, not much taller than me at age 8, but there was no question she was in charge.

The Rose Cottage
My parents and I stayed in the Rose Cottage. The road down to the preserve now cuts right through what was my bedroom. Up to that time, I was the only child ever allowed to stay at Miss Daggett's.

The Rose Cottage was actually just two bedrooms and a privacy room where the chamber pots were stored. That's right--no running water, no bathroom. You had to go up to the big barn on the bluff to use the community bathroom and take a shower.

The barn was a special place. Soaring post and beam ceilings, relics and treasures brought back from sailing trips around the world and a picture window overlooking the Sound where I would sit during a Nor'easter and watch the wind, the dark rumbling clouds and silver-streaked rain come tumbling across the Sound and make landfall on the beach directly below. I may have been only eight years old, but that barn and those storms are some of my most cherished and long-held memories.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Catch of the Day: As a proud 6-year-old, I held my catch high.

Three Meals
Meals were served three times a day at the main house on the bluff. Miss Daggett sat at the head of the table. Often a large white tureen of fish chowder was set before her and she would laddle it out and send the bowls down the table.

My father and I provided the sea bass, scup and flounder that served as the basis for the chowder on many occasions. My parents and I did not sit at the main table at which all the guests, usually 15 to 25, sat. We had our own table so as not upset the 'grownups.' Indeed, the closest people to me in age were my parents. A generation canyon, not a gap, but one easily bridged over a game of backgammon....

My stays at Miss Daggett's were just the first of the many Vineyard stories I was to accumulate over the years. They have been important, defining and funny.

Tell us about your Vineyard stories and we'll print some of the best in the future.

Back to top

Autumn on the Vineyard

After the storm: The Vineyard Haven town dock glows at sunset after the first event of the winter.

Fall Start: Holmes Hole Sailing Association raced through the fall until Oct 30. (Susan Waldrop Photo)

Back to top

Whither Mortgage Rates?

The Federal Open Market Committee recently ended its two-year quantitative easing program in which where the central bank buys Treasuries and mortgage-backed securities to keep interest rates low. The group expects to keep the federal funds rate, a key benchmark rate for consumer and business loans, low for a "considerable time."

Rate watchers expect rates to remain low for the rest of 2014 and into early 2015. The second half of 2015 could see rate rise as high as 5%. Here are current rates, with no points, at Martha's Vineyard banks.

30 Year Fixed Rate                           15 Year Fixed Rate
Martha's Vineyard Bank    4.00%        3.125%   
Santander Bank                   3.99%        3.25% 
Cape Cod 5                           3.875%       3.125%    

TIP: Make your offer for that house you love even stronger by being pre-qualified for a mortgage. Pre-qualification makes you a more attractive buyer and could mean the difference in a competitve situation when a property receives more than one offer.

Back to top

Market Update

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Sold! Renovated home at 39 Look St. went for $550,000.

There were 51 properties sold on Martha's Vineyard in October--41 single-family homes, 6 land deals and 4 condos. Edgartown, which has been strong most of the year, lead the way with 19 transactions, followed by 17 in Oaks Bluffs and seven in Vineyard Haven.

Twenty-fours homes sold for $1M or more, 17 homes went for less than $1M. Median selling price was $1.242M.

The market for homes over $1M has strengthened this year with October being a big month for million-plus homes which caused the median price of homes sold to rise.

However, this rise does not necessarily mean that prices are rising, just that activity in the higher-price brackets has kicked into a higher gear. In fact, the median price for homes sold in all of 2014 is nearly the same as last year: $595,000. What is changing and giving a sense of a better market is that homes are spending fewer days on the market.

Back to top

On the Market

Here's a sampling of homes for sale in three different price brackets. Please contact me if you want to know more, or want to investigate other properties.

Under $500K

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

55 Hazelwood Avenue, Vineyard Haven, $497,900
Information provided by MV Seacoast Properties

Beds/Baths: 4/2      2,000 SF      .47 Acre

> This lovely custom built open floor plan home sits on almost a half-acre of land where the huge side lawn could host a family football game. Feauring 4 BRs and 2 BAs, this 2,000 SF home is just  a two-minute drive or a short bike ride to Main St. Vineyard Haven and the ferry. Relax on the beautiful farmers front porch and full length deck. 5-bedroom septic offers the possibility of an attached garage with an apartment above. Send me more information about this home!

Back to top

Under $1 Million

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 
191 Weaver Lane, Vineyard Haven $799,000
Listing Information provided by Viewpoints

Beds/Baths:     3/2    2,323 SF   2.07 acres

> If warm wood describes the environment you'd like to wrap yourself in, then this contemporary post-and-beam home is for you. Designed by a well-known architect, partitions and movable screens form a nest of discrete rooms and serene overlapping spaces.

Meticulous craftsmanship shaped the oak floors, pine trim and cherry kitchen cabinets. The beams are fir and first-story ceilings are mango plywood. Live here and you'll have easy access to the Lagoon. Both Land Bank and Sheriffs Meadow conservation land abut the propety's more than two wooded acres. Featuring 3 BRs and 2 BAs and set off of a country lane, this intimate hideaway offers privacy along with walking distance to Vineyard Haven. Send me more information about this home!

Back to top

Under $2.5 Million

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

'The Outermost House'

681 Herring Creek Rd, Vineyard Haven, $2.1 million

Beds/Baths:     3/1    904 SF   3.00 acres
Listing Information provided by Coldwell Banker Landmarks
Aerial Photography by Tyra Pacheco

> Martha's Vineyard's north shore and the passageway into Lake Tashmoo provide the spectacular setting for the Outermost House. So called because it is the last property at the end of Herring Creek Rd.

Set at the ocean's edge and protected from Vineyard Sound waters by a massive stone breakwater, the home will fulfill every fantasy you have ever had about an oceanfront home. The property covers three acres and includes more than 250 feet of your own pristine beach.

Sit on the deck for early morning coffee, lunch or dinner with friends and enjoy incredible sunsets as the sun drops behind the Elizabeth Islands in the summer and into the sea in winter. Walk right up from the beach into the outdoor shower and on to the deck with just a few steps. Send me more information about this home!

Back to top

Next Issue

 

 

 

 

 

 

The Black Dog: All decked out for the Christmas season.

Some of the articles in our next issue:

• Christmas on the Vineyard
• New to Market
• Market Update & Trends
• Vineyard Christmas Photo Album

______________

'On Martha's Vineyard' is published by Vineyard Open House Real Estate. Copyright 2014-15.

For real estate information or questions about listing your house with us, please contact: David Lott, Owner/REALTOR, 10 Union St., Vineyard Haven, Martha's Vineyard, MA. Office: 508-338-2495, Cell: 203-270-9357. Broker, Mary Sullivan, Sales Associate/REALTOR, Kristin Zern, cell: 914-439-2047, or send us an email

 

Sun Sets on the 2014 Holmes Hole Sailing Season, 'One of the Best Ever'

Holmes Hole Sailing Association boats head out to West Chop in year's final race.

by David Lott
Special to the Vineyard Gazette and MV Times

The Moffett Race, run the first Saturday after Labor Day, has been the traditional season-ending race for the Holmes Hole Sailing Association. But with beautiful fall weather and eager skippers on hand, that tradition has been firmly scuttled.

Tango, a J/100 skippered by Phil Hale, cruises to first in the year's final race.

Last Thursday eight boats came to the line for the 11th and final race of the Fall Racing Series. Missing from the group was the Alerion 28 Penelope and skipper Mo Flam who had secured their names on the Schwarz Cup the previous week.

A fall champion having been declared notwithstanding, skippers who still had boats in the water jumped at the chance to have yet one final go around the traditional harbor triangle course.

It was a beautiful night with a 4:45 start so as to get in before sunset. Was it that long ago that races started at 6 pm? A gentle 8 mph breeze from the WSW pushed the fleet along from the West Chop buoy aboard a flooding tide to East Chop and in.

A typical summer start, often more than 20 boats would come to the line.

Phil Hale made sure that his J/100 Tango made the most of the outing, arriving at the start with a newly cleaned bottom and easily out-sprinting the fleet to an easy 8-minute cushion and the win. Roger Becker, whose C&C 24 lives for light-wind days, guided the red-hulled boat and its voluminous jib to second. Commodore Jerry Goodale took third in his Pearson 31, Stormalong.

Former commodore Dan Culkin was at the helm on Magic Time, a Vineyard Vixen, and captured fourth ahead of the Cape Dory 25 Sandpiper and skipper Ernie Mendenall. Finishing sixth was David Lott on Avanti, a Cape Dory 270.

Two boats did not finish, one of which was Lagoonah, a Columbia 32, which stopped to pick up some lobster for the after-race pizza.

'One of the Best Ever'
Commodore Goodale remarked with pride after the race that the sailing season had been 'one of the best ever.' With more than 20 HHSA races, plus three Vineyard Cup races, Around the Island Race, Moffett, 11 Fall Series races and other events, an energetic boat could have sailed in nearly 40 races.

"Our cup runneth over," said Goodale. Two days later the first big storm of the winter roared in and thoughts immediately turned to next year.

For more HHSA information, go to www.HolmesHole.org.

5 Great Hiking Trails on Martha's Vineyard for Fall & Winter

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Hike No. 1: Great Rock Bight, off North Road, Chilmark

 

This time of year is a spectacular time for hiking on Martha’s Vineyard. With dozens of trails that wind through the woods, along ocean fronts, and over bluffs, hiking on-Island is not your average hiking. And with foliage peeking later on the season than on the mainland, now is the perfect time to enjoy the trails.
 
1. Great Rock Bight, Chilmark: A popular trail off of North Road in Chilmark, this hike takes you a few moderately easy miles through the woods and to an incredible bluff overlooking Vineyard Sound. Its beach is only accessible by the foot path, so even during the summer, it’s never crowded. Trails are dog-friendly, so bring your pooch along!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Longpoint Wildlife Refuge: Beach and woodland formed by the last ice age.

2. Long Point Wildlife Refuge, West Tisbury: One of the most magical places on Martha’s Vineyard, Long Point Wildlife Refuge has miles of hiking trails with some of the most pristine vistas and vegetation.

At more than 600 acres, Long Point encompasses beach, dune, and woodland, which bracket a broad sandplain heath. The property is an off-season treasure, especially for birders and other nature-watchers.

Long Point Wildlife Refuge is all that remains of a broad prairie with scattered woods that was formed over many years after the last ice age.  You can stay by the water to swim and relax, or follow a two-mile trail that leads through oak forest and savanna bordered by Middle Point, Long Cove, and Tisbury Great Ponds. Sorry, dogs not allowed.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Caroline Tuthill Preserve: Dogs are welcome.

 

3. Caroline Tuthill Preserve, Edgartown: This fun trail is a favorite among Islanders. It’s easy to get to, just off of Edgartown-Vineyard Haven Road, and the winding trails take you over small hills, through the woods, and to beautiful water views of Sengekontacket Pond — just a few easy miles will get you there!

And if you bring your dog, she’ll likely enjoy a playdate while there since this trail is a favorite among dog owners. Be sure to also check out the many other trails across the Island that are part of the Sheriff’s Meadow Foundation.

4. Menemsha Hills, Menemsha: This 211-acre preserve allows hikers to climb to the top of the second-highest point on Martha’s Vineyard, and offers spectacular ocean views. Three miles of trails cover wetlands, woodland groves, open coastal plain, and a rocky ocean edge.

Approaching the shore, dune grass and pitch pine predominate. Hikers will also see goldenrod and beach plum helping anchor the dune cliffs above the beach, where rocks of every size dot the sand and line tide pools.

And just beyond the northeast edge stands the remnants of a brick chimney, all that remains of a 19th-century brickworks. Please leave dogs home. Visit The Trustees of Reservations for more info about all their hiking trails.
 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

John Presbury Norton Farm, the start of 4 miles of trails over 118 acres.

 

5. John Presbury Norton Farm to Womesket Preserve: A memorable place to hike in any season — and a fabulous place of more than 118 acres to snowshoe or cross-country ski during the winter.  John Presbury Norton Farm’s trails bring hikers to the lovely Wompesket Preserve. Start at the intersection of the State and Old County Roads and follow a continuous public trail of some four miles in length from Duarte’s Pond on the Lambert’s Cove Road to the Old County Arboretum opposite the town school.

This combo is home to easy hiking trails that meander through the woods, across open fields, and eventually to Blackwater Pond (where, if you’re feeling extra adventurous, you can pick up more trails and continue on). And dogs are always welcome! Be sure to check out Martha’s Vineyard Land Bank for all of their trails.


Source: Martha's Vineyard Chamber of Commerce