Bidding war? Palm Beach house on North End fetches $10.25 million after asking less
A house that had not changed hands in 14 years has sold above its asking price on the far North End of Palm Beach, according to the price recorded with the deed.
A Boston-based limited liability company paid a recorded $10.25 million for the four-bedroom house at 220 Esplanade Way, which was listed at $9.95 million.
Seller Iris R. Lapidus sold the house as trustee of a revocable trust in her name to an entity managed by Boston real estate attorney Andrew P. Stempler, the deed recorded Jan. 4 shows.
Lapidus and her late husband, Steven R. Lapidus, had bought the traditional-style house new for $2.5 million in April 2009, the year after it was completed on speculation, records show. The two-story house has 5,043 square feet of living space, inside and out, according to property records.
The sale recorded this month came together quickly, according to the closed listing in the multiple listing service. Agent Suzanne Frisbie listed the house Nov. 28 and landed it under contract Dec. 13. The deal closed Dec. 28, the MLS shows, but the deed took a week to record.
As new Palm Beach properties continue to slowly but steadily enter the MLS, they are helping fill a longstanding gap in listings, especially for better-quality properties, real estate observers say. And that means that bidding wars, even less-than-fiery ones, are again part of the island’s real estate scene. In some cases, would-be buyers are driving sale prices up by competing amid housing inventory that is only beginning to recover its footing since plummeting to historic lows two years ago.
Frisbie declined to comment. So did agent Samantha M. Curry of Douglas Elliman Real Estate, who represented the buyer.
Lapidus and Stempler, a partner at Boston law firm Smith Duggan Cornell & Gollub, couldn’t be immediately reached for comment.
Frisbie’s sales listing touted the home’s ground-level primary suite with an adjacent office, as well as the kitchen with a butler’s pantry and morning bar. The house also features a wine closest, mahogany floors, hurricane-resistant windows throughout and two separate garages.
The backyard, meanwhile, has a “tropical vibe with mature plantings, colorful bougainvillea and a heated pool and (whirlpool) spa,” Frisbie’s sales listing said.
The midblock house, which stands about a half-mile from the inlet at the northern tip of the island, has “shared ocean beach access,” the listing said.
The house is at least the second Palm Beach home to sell above its asking price within the past couple of weeks. As reported Monday on PalmBeachDailyNews.com, a lakefront house on the southwest point of Ibis Isle in the South End sold for $16.45 million, according to the sales listing updated in the Palm Beach Board of Realtors Multiple Listing Service. That property, at 2308 Ibis Isle Road W., had been asking $15.5 million. A deed for the sale on Ibis Isle had not been recorded as of early Tuesday, so it was unclear if the recorded price would match the one expected to be documented at the Palm Beach County Courthouse.
SOLD ABOVE ASKING PRICE: A 1980s-era lakeside house on Palm Beach's Ibis Isle fetches more than its its seller asked for, MLS shows
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Darrell Hofheinz is a USA TODAY Network of Florida journalist who writes about Palm Beach real estate in his weekly “Beyond the Hedges” column. He welcomes tips about real estate news on the island. Email dhofheinz@pbdailynews.com, call 561-820-3831 or tweet @PBDN_Hofheinz.
This article originally appeared on Palm Beach Daily News: Palm Beach house sells for recorded $10.25M, besting its asking price
