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Recent Island Real Estate Transactions
Theonia Boyd and Jon W. Boyd purchased 5 Rhythm Road in Chilmark from Neil S. Braun and J. Paul Mohair for $866,500 on Sept. 15..
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Real Estate School Honored
Dukes Academy has been selected as one of the top three real estate schools in the commonwealth by Banker and Tradesmen, a leading real estate and banking journal. More than 40,000 votes were cast in the balloting...
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Foreclosure Begins on Bradley Square, Housing Fund Scrambles
Foreclosure proceedings have begun on the Bradley Square property in Oak Bluffs, four years after the Island Affordable Housing Fund began an ambitious redevelopment scheme that never got off the ground...
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Assessors to Inspect Property In Islandwide Value Update
Real estate and personal property values are currently being updated in all Island towns in order that each town’s assessments can be certified by the Department of Revenue later this year for fiscal year 2012...
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Landmarks Makes Mark
Coldwell Banker Landmarks Real Estate of Vineyard Haven is proud to acknowledge the designation of licensed real estate broker awarded by the Massachusetts state division of professional licensure to Diana Lynn, Karl Buder, Lynn Buder and Dave Federowicz...
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Rebounding Real Estate Market Has Land Bank Poised for Acquisitions
The real estate market on the Vineyard appears to be showing signs of life, according to the most recent data from the Martha’s Vineyard Land Bank.

Land bank revenues are up for the first six months of the fiscal year, even though the number of sales remains relatively flat...
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Real Estate Course
New requirements for obtaining a Massachusetts real estate license take effect in the spring of 2011 requiring three years of experience as a salesperson as a prerequisite for obtaining a broker’s license; currently one year is required...
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Sandpiper Realtor
Mary Ashley has resumed her affiliation with Sandpiper Realty Inc. after a professional and educational hiatus...
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Rental Opportunities
Applications for four newly built Tisbury affordable homes are now available at the Dukes County Regional Housing Authority at 346 State Road in Vineyard Haven (behind Craig’s Bicycles)...
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Growing Foreclosure Rate Calls for Action
As home mortgage foreclosure notices began appearing, then multiplying, in the Vineyard newspapers, John Pearson grew concerned. When the notices began to include names he knew, including people who volunteered with him at Big Brothers/Big Sisters, he convened a group to take action...
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Green Tour at 250 State Road Tomorrow
The Island Housing Trust is offering a tour of eight eco-friendly houses currently under construction off State Road in West Tisbury. The tour is on Saturday, Jan. 9, from 11 a.m. to noon. John Abrams of South Mountain Company will explain how this neighborhood of houses designed to approach zero net energy and achieve the highest green building certification in the country (LEED Platinum) is being built. Philippe Jordi of the Island Housing Trust will explain how this model project was made possible through a collaborative effort including the Land Bank, Cape Light Compact, Habitat for Humanity of Martha’s Vineyard, the Island Affordable Housing Fund, and the town of West Tisbury...
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Home Buyers Give Island an October Jolt
The federal first home-buyer’s credit appeared to pay off on Martha’s Vineyard, where October sales of existing homes were up on the same month last year.

A surge in home sales nationwide was reflected in Dukes County — the six Island towns posted 25 sales in October this year, compared to 17 last year, according to figures provided by the Warren Group. Those 25 are a big chunk of the 111 single-family home sales so far this year; by this time last year, the Island had recorded 145 sales...
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Single Bid at Foreclosure Auction Wins Colonial Inn
After just a single bid at a foreclosure auction yesterday inside the Colonial Inn in Edgartown, Jack McConnell and Tom McConnell won ownership of the hotel, condominium and retail complex overlooking the harbor on North Water street. Their bid was $2,050,000; there were no other bids...
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State Reduces CPA Matching Funds
For the past eight years the Community Preservation Act has provided funding for cash-strapped Island towns looking to preserve historic landmarks, protect open space and create affordable housing...
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Realtor Tackles Affordable Housing Issue
By now the contours of the affordable housing dilemma are painfully familiar — soaring real estate values have squeezed middle-class Islanders, forcing them to choose between a shaky rental market or relocating off-Island. In an attempt to move the debate beyond Darwinian free-market economics and glacially-paced town initiatives, Vineyard realtor Jim Feiner is attempting to forge a third path, blending private philanthropy and free-market economics to provide affordable homes for the Island community...
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Whaling Captain’s Home Opens As Summer Designer Showcase
In the past few decades, the only way to spiff up an antique captain’s house was to sell it to a millionaire and have the buyer’s workmen attack it with pick-axes and bulldozers. But something very different and refreshing is happening to the 1840 Captain Thomas Mellen house on Main street, Edgartown, designed by master builder Ariel Norton, and owned by the Keniston family for the past 80 years. The 2,900 square foot home is now being developed to benefit Habitat for Humanity, and its restoration, conceived as a showcase for Island designers, is beginning to take on fairy-tale qualities...
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Island Broker Receives Green Realty Designation
Jean Kelleher of Kelleher Real Estate has become the first Island broker to be awarded the National Association of Realtors’ new green designation. She completed a course giving participants comprehensive knowledge of green homes and buildings and issues of sustainability...
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Falling Values Hit Real Estate
Mortgage refinancings on Island expose slumping property values in many areas, homeowners find

Historic low interest rates that have led to a flood of mortgage refinancings in recent months have by accident exposed a marked trend of slumping property values on the Vineyard. In roughly 75 per cent of June home reappraisals conducted on behalf of Martha’s Vineyard Savings Bank, the Island’s largest lender, properties were found to be below their assessed values...
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Island Realtor Assists with State Realty Exam Update
Robert M. Sawyer, Island real estate instructor and author of Massachusetts Real Estate Principles, Practice and Law, recently participated in a meeting of experts to update the state-licensing exam for real estate salespersons and brokers in Massachusetts...
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Foreclosure Nets Edgartown Inn for Island Resident
The former Tuscany Inn in Edgartown sold for $2.7 million yesterday in a foreclosure auction at the historic property on North Water street...
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Bank Statement
The Martha’s Vineyard Savings Bank reported it closed $90.6 million in mortgage loans during 2008...
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Advance Bookings Reported to Be Down For Vacation Homes and on Boat Line
One month before the first day of spring, the Vineyard summer home rental market is sluggish, with many agents saying that advance bookings this year are down between 10 and 15 per cent — at least so far. The news from the Steamship Authority matches the trend, with advance reservations for automobiles down about 12 per cent from this time last year...
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Critics Assail Bill to Impose Rental Tax
A new bill authored by Cape Cod lawmakers that would extend a 9.75 per cent lodging tax currently in place for hotels to weekly rentals has already stoked opposition both here and across the state, primarily among real estate brokers and people who rent their homes during the summer months for extra income...
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Real Estate Classes
Beginning this month January, Dukes Academy, the Vineyard’s only licensed real estate school, will add to its existing continuing education curriculum in response to the current socioeconomic issues confronting the marketplace...
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Welcoming Jennifer Rouse
Margaret Steele and Bill Le Royer are pleased to announce that Jennifer Rouse has joined their team of sales associates. Jen worked in Boston as a human resource administrator for several years before mobing back to the Vineyard...
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