Bank and Credit Union Buyers Dominate Becket's Priciest Recorded Sales This Month

BECKET -- Four of the eight deeds recorded in Becket over the past month listed a bank or credit union as the buyer, meaning half of this period's disclosed-price transactions were foreclosure-related rather than conventional resales.

MARKET OVERVIEW Eight deeds were recorded in Becket between July 24 and Aug. 22. Of those, four included a disclosed sale price, ranging from $27,000 to $434,700, with a median of $262,500 among the disclosed sales. The other four transfers, precisely half the period's total, carried no recorded consideration amount, which limits how much the raw count of eight can say about overall market conditions.

TOP SALES 162 YMCA Road sold for $434,700 on Aug. 3, the period's highest recorded price. Robert M. Whitney was the seller; JPMorgan Chase Bank NA was the buyer.

422 Bonny Rigg Hill Road sold for $325,000 on Aug. 3. John A. Pavese and Melissa H. Pavese were the sellers; Bank of America NA and Mortgage Electronic Registration Systems Inc. were the buyers.

50 Spruce Drive sold for $200,000 on July 27. Suzanne E. Bellavance and Jonathan T. Waldo were the sellers; Lee Bank was the buyer.

A property listed only as Becket, MA sold for $27,000 on July 28. Darrin M. Cloran and Emma Adams were the sellers; Greylock Federal Credit Union was the buyer.

NEIGHBORHOOD BREAKDOWN No street in this period had more than one recorded transfer, so no street-level cluster emerged. By price tier: two disclosed sales fell above $300,000 (422 Bonny Rigg Hill Road at $325,000 and 162 YMCA Road at $434,700), and two fell below $250,000 (50 Spruce Drive at $200,000 and the $27,000 Becket transfer). The remaining four transfers, at 121 Hiawatha Hill, 471 Benton Hill Road, 28 Sioux Road and 303 Old Pond Road, carried no disclosed price.

MARKET NOTES All four sales with a disclosed price named a bank or credit union as the grantee: JPMorgan Chase Bank NA, Bank of America NA together with Mortgage Electronic Registration Systems Inc., Lee Bank, and Greylock Federal Credit Union. That pattern is consistent with foreclosure-related deed transfers rather than owner-to-owner resales, and it means none of this period's disclosed prices reflect a typical buyer-seller transaction.

One transfer, at 28 Sioux Road, moved the property from Elliot T. Slotnick and Philip Judd Slotnick to Elliot T. Slotnick alone, a transfer within the same family.

Two transfers involved town entities. Becket Town acquired 471 Benton Hill Road from Joan L. Keener, with no price disclosed. Becket Town Conservation conveyed the Old Pond Road parcel to Erin Kowalczyk and Edward Kowalczyk, also with no price disclosed.

Deed records for this period did not include bedroom, bathroom or square-footage figures for any property, so no price-per-square-foot comparison could be made.

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.