Family Trust Transfers Outnumber Cash Sales In Ayer's August Deed Recordings

AYER -- Only eight of the 17 property transfers recorded in Ayer between Aug. 7 and Sept. 5 carried a disclosed sale price, and those eight ranged from $299,000 to $1,550,000, with a median of $555,000. The remaining nine deeds moved property among family members or into personal trusts without a stated consideration amount.

MARKET OVERVIEW

Seventeen deeds were recorded in Ayer during the four-week period ending Sept. 5. Of those, eight included a stated sale price, ranging from $299,000 for a single-family home on Jackson Street to $1,550,000 for a transfer listed only as "Ayer, MA" with no specific street address. The median price among the eight disclosed sales was $555,000. Because more than half of the period's recorded deeds, nine of 17, were transfers within families or into revocable trusts rather than open-market sales, the raw count of 17 transfers overstates the volume of arm's-length activity. Based on disclosed sales alone, eight transactions in four weeks is a modest but not unusual pace for a town of Ayer's size, and the data does not support characterizing the period as either especially active or especially quiet.

TOP SALES

The largest transaction recorded was a $1,550,000 sale in Ayer from Orion Park LLC to Sawyer May LLC on Aug. 27; the deed did not list a specific street address. The second-highest sale was 16 Madigan Lane, which sold for $889,000 on Aug. 13, with Christopher Coelho buying from Laurie A. Horgan and Kevin P. Horgan. At 49 E. Main St., Kwame Addo purchased from Todd R. Johnson for $565,000 on Aug. 21. 132 Oak Ridge Drive sold for $560,000 on Aug. 11, with David George Jr. and Lyndsey Inserra buying from Meredyth Scanlon. Rounding out the top five, 48 Pearl St. sold for $550,000 on Aug. 18, with Martin Flohr buying from Pearl Street Realty Trust and Shelley Migrants, trustee.

NEIGHBORHOOD BREAKDOWN

Autumn Ridge Drive was the only street with more than one recorded transfer in the period: Unit 104 changed hands Aug. 12 and Unit 704 changed hands Aug. 7, and both were transfers into trusts sharing the grantor's surname, with no price disclosed on either. Among the eight sales with a disclosed price, three fell under $500,000: 55 Littleton Road Unit 1B at $405,000, 46 Central Ave. Unit 2 at $315,000, and 7 Jackson St. at $299,000. Four fell between $500,000 and $1 million: 48 Pearl St., 132 Oak Ridge Drive, 49 E. Main St. and 16 Madigan Lane. One sale, the Orion Park LLC to Sawyer May LLC transfer, exceeded $1 million. No other street had more than one recorded transfer in this period.

MARKET NOTES

All nine transfers without a disclosed price in this period involved a grantor and grantee sharing a surname, or a grantor transferring to a trust bearing that same surname: 11 Forest St., 33 Nashua St., 7 Groton School Road, 58 Snake Hill Road, 126 Sandy Pond Road, 104 Autumn Ridge Drive, 40 Pingry Way, 10 Pond St. and 704 Autumn Ridge Drive. Deed records do not indicate a reason for these transfers. Four addresses in the period included a unit number, indicating condominium-style properties: 55 Littleton Road Unit 1B, 104 Autumn Ridge Drive Unit 104, 46 Central Ave. Unit 2 and 704 Autumn Ridge Drive Unit 704; two of those four had a disclosed price and two did not. Bedroom, bathroom and square-footage figures were not available in the deed data for any property recorded this period.

Recorded Deeds

Source: Registry of Deeds. Sale amounts shown as recorded; transfers without a disclosed consideration are noted as such.

Compiled from official town feeds, community organizations, and local press. Outside reporting is attributed inline.