Watertown Home Prices Range Widely as Trust Transfers Mask Half of August Sales

WATERTOWN -- Thirteen property deeds were recorded in Watertown between Aug. 7 and Sept. 5, but only six disclosed a sale price, ranging from $490,000 to $1,050,000, with a median of $727,500 among those six.

MARKET OVERVIEW

Registry of Deeds records show 13 property transfers in Watertown during the period. Of those, seven listed no consideration amount, a pattern that lines up with transfers moving property into revocable trusts or family living trusts rather than sales to outside buyers. Among the six transfers with a disclosed price, sale amounts ranged from $490,000, for a unit at 5 Repton Circle, to $1,050,000, for a unit at 24 Otis Street. The median disclosed price was $727,500. Because more than half of the period's recorded transfers carried no price, the raw count of 13 does not by itself indicate how active the open market was; disclosed-price activity was limited to six transactions.

TOP SALES

The highest-priced recorded sale was 24 Otis Street, Unit 24, which sold for $1,050,000 on Aug. 12. Christina Whitbeck was the seller and Lisa Laplante the buyer. The second-highest was 28 Hudson Street, which sold for $975,000 on Aug. 11; sellers were Alfred F. Beninati and Alfred F. Beninati Jr., and the buyer was Mark Valchuis. Third was 67 Maplewood Street, Unit 2, at $845,000 on Aug. 10, sold by Molly Somers and Robert John Hutnyan to Emily Hutnyan and Matthew Hutnyan. Fourth was 10 Hilcrest Circle, Unit 10, at $610,000 on Aug. 14, sold by Nichole E. Ferree (also recorded as Nichole E. Clarke) to Andrew F. Marley and Carson S. Burrington. Fifth was a Watertown property recorded without a street address, which sold for $505,000 on Aug. 18; Aleksandr Kushnarev was the seller and Gil Cohen the buyer.

NEIGHBORHOOD BREAKDOWN

No street in the dataset recorded more than one sale during the period, so no single-street pattern emerged. By price tier: one sale topped $1 million (24 Otis Street, $1,050,000); four sales fell between $500,000 and $1 million (28 Hudson Street, $975,000; 67 Maplewood Street Unit 2, $845,000; 10 Hilcrest Circle Unit 10, $610,000; and the unaddressed Watertown property, $505,000); and one sale fell under $500,000 (5 Repton Circle Unit 5405, $490,000). The remaining seven transfers, on Barnard Avenue, Hovey Street, Spruce Street, Ralph Street, Stearns Road, Knowles Road and Bigelow Avenue, carried no disclosed price.

MARKET NOTES

Seven of the 13 recorded transfers, or 54 percent, moved property from an individual owner into a trust bearing the same family name, such as a revocable trust or family living trust: 122 Barnard Avenue, 66 Hovey Street Unit 66, 11 Spruce Street, 66 Ralph Street, 21 Stearns Road Unit 2, 21 Knowles Road Unit 2 and 40 Bigelow Avenue Unit 15. Every one of those seven transfers was among the deeds with no disclosed price, accounting for all of the period's non-disclosed sales. Separately, eight of the 13 recorded addresses included a unit number, indicating condominium units, while the other five were recorded without a unit designation. Beds, baths and square footage were not available in the deed data for any transaction.

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.