Dublin Hill Contract

31 Dublin Hill Drive, asking $6.450 million, reports a contract. The owners paid $6,438,680 for it in 1999, so no home run (ignoring the pleasure of living here for 31 years), but that reflects the limited market today for older homes — this one was built in 1941 — no matter how gracious.

Listed by John McAtee, of New England Land Company. John is not only an excellent agent and an incredibly nice person, he loves and understands old homes and conveys that enthusiasm during his showings. I spent a couple of hours with him some years ago when I had a client interested in one of his listings. I won’t say he was in tears, but he did bemoan that, with a lot split available, and the main house in need of major renovation, the likelihood was that the house was doomed. It was.

John’s latest listing is 78 Mayo Avenue, in Belle Have, $15.9 million. Originally built in 1886, it was spectacularly rebuilt a few years ago in a 3-year project. Everything was redone and brought up to date, from roof to mechanicals to new windows exactly like the originals, but double-paned. Even the foundation is new, and the new owners took advantage of that part of the project to shift the house’s angle so that it now looks directly south, for a better view.

Okay, enough on McAtee — I just really appreciate his devotion to old homes, and his efforts to keep them standing.

78 Mayo