Photo of Butler Road near Falls Road by Tenney Mason of Patuxent Publishing

Here's an eye-popping stat to start your day: A Baltimore County property sold for $9.5 million in August, by far the region's most expensive sale of the month.

It's not an all-time record -- author Tom Clancy spent $12.6 million in 2009 on a huge Ritz-Carlton Residences penthouse that was originally three separate units. (Clancy went on to purchase three more condos at the Ritz to round it out to six.)

But $9.5 million is still really unusual for the region.

The property, on Butler Road where Reisterstown and Sparks Glencoe meet, is more than 100 acres with a four-bedroom, seven-bathroom house. The listing says 144 acres; the property records suggest 108. A few more details here, including an aerial view. (The photo above is in the general area.)

The buyer was Michael Lund Petersen, presumably the same Michael Lund Petersen who bought a condo for $2.7 million in 2008 ... at the Ritz. Small world.

I called jewelry company Pandora yesterday to see if this is also the same Michael Lund Petersen identified in past years as the company's president -- and one of the selling shareholders when Pandora went public last year -- but did not hear back. Pandora is best known for its high-end charm bracelets.

All told, 20 properties in the Baltimore region -- the city and its five surrounding counties -- sold for at least $1 million in August. 

Posted by Jamie Smith Hopkins at 6:00 AM | Permalink | Comments (1)
Categories: Housing stats, Priciest home of the month
        

Photo courtesy of Bonnie Parks

The Baltimore-area housing market topped out at $3.2 million in December. The property above shows what those buyers got for their money.

The home, on about 3.5 acres of land where the South River meets Selby Bay in Anne Arundel County, has its own pier, beach and two-bedroom guest house.

"It's just the most phenomenal lot, with all the waterfront," said Bonnie Parks, broker of Annapolis Realty, who was the listing agent. "It looks ... all the way down to the Eastern Shore across the Bay."

The sellers -- who had purchased for $4 million 10 years ago and were asking $4.5 million -- live in New Jersey and used the Edgewater home as a weekend place, she said. The buyers live in Maryland but also plan to spend weekends there. 

The three-bedroom main house, built in 1995 on the foundation of the original 1920 structure, has large screened-in porches and a master suite with a bathroom "the size of most people's bedrooms," Parks said.

Whether legend or truth, the story passed down from owner to owner is that the property was a speakeasy in the '20s. "There's a huge safe in the basement," she said. "When the current buyers looked at it, they said, 'Hmm, bet there was a lot of rum in here.'"

Here's a close up of the house:

Continue reading "Top home sale in the Baltimore area in December" »

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Categories: Priciest home of the month
        

The most expensive home sold in the Baltimore region during November -- changing hands for $3.4 million -- is an Annapolis waterfront property with its own heated lap pool and spa.

The four-bedroom home, with four full bathrooms and two half-baths, sits alongside Spa Creek, near the point where it joins the Chesapeake Bay. The property comes with 168 feet of bulkheaded waterfront, two deep water slips and a boat lift, according to the listing.

Other features: a library, a gourmet kitchen with a six-burner stove and a "2+ person" tub in one bathroom.

It was originally listed for almost $4.7 million, according to Redfin. Last sale price: $2.7 million in 2003.

The house was far and away the top of the heap for November sales through the multiple-listing service, run by Metropolitan Regional Information Systems. No. 2 in Baltimore County changed hands for $1.3 million while No. 3 in the city's Fells Point neighborhood went for $1.2 million.

At the other end of the spectrum is this two-bedroom Baltimore property, a rental rowhome that appeared to be in pre-foreclosure and sold for $1,500. (Original list price was $9,900, so that's a heck of a drop in percentage terms.)

Oh, and real estate agent Michael Hamby has compiled a list of the priciest home sales of the Washington region in 2010, including parts of the Baltimore area. Find it here.

Posted by Jamie Smith Hopkins at 7:00 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)
Categories: Priciest home of the month