Obama’s Former Rental Sale Sets New Record for Martha’s Vineyard Residential Property
A Chilmark property that formerly served as a vacation home on Martha’s Vineyard for Barack Obama’s family during his presidency has sold for $37 million. According to the Dukes County…
WEST TISBURY , MA – AUGUST 16: U.S. President Barack Obama rides a bike during a vacation on Martha’s Vineyard August 16, 2013in West Tisbury, Massachusetts. Obama and his family are on a weeklong vacation. (Photo by Rick Friedman-Pool/Getty Images)
A Chilmark property that formerly served as a vacation home on Martha's Vineyard for Barack Obama's family during his presidency has sold for $37 million. According to the Dukes County Register of Deeds, it is the highest residential sale ever recorded on Martha's Vineyard.
The 28.5-acre property overlooking the Tisbury Great Pond went up for sale earlier this year for $39 million.
When the Obamas stayed at the vacation home beginning in 2008, the owners were William and Molly Van Devender of Mississippi. The Van Devenders purchased the property in September 2005 for $19.94 million from Richard Fisher et al, the executors of the will of M. Anthony Fisher, to Blue Heron Properties LLC.
The Blue Heron Farm property includes four bedrooms that overlook Town Cove, an arm of Tisbury Great Pond, and the Tiasquam River, which extends into the cove. Additionally, the property features two houses, a barn, a pool, a gym, a golf hole, tennis courts, and private beach access.
According to an MV Times report, the real estate transaction of the four properties that make up Blue Heron Farm was recorded in the register's office on Thursday, July 10. The actual price was not revealed in the filings, nor was the buyer. Martha's Vineyard Land Bank records receive revenue based on a 2% charge on property sales, and officials reported receiving $740,000 on July 10 from the sale of the four properties.
The MV Times notes that in property records at the Registry of Deeds, the sale was recorded as a conveyance to a trust. The four properties were “granted” to a new trust, the Blue Heron Farm Nominee Trust. The nominee trust was also created and recorded on July 10 and signed by S. Fain Hackney, a Martha's Vineyard attorney. Hackney said he couldn't comment on who the beneficiaries are under the trust that purchased the property.
The MV Times spoke with Paulo C. DeOliveira, register of deeds at Dukes County, who said that this type of transaction is administered so that the general public isn't aware of who the buyer is. State property laws permit this type of transaction.
