Peek inside the most expensive home sold in Monroe County in 2022

The most expensive home sold in Monroe County in 2022 features an outdoor pool and tennis court, indoor sauna, wine chiller and walk-in closet and pantry.

Sold for just under its listing price, $2.7 million, the home, in northeast Bloomington, has a brick exterior with Indiana limestone accents and a new slate-look shingle roof, custom cherry kitchen cabinets, a grand entryway with double staircase and a living room with soaring ceilings and a wall of windows.

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“It’s just a beautifully crafted home, said Brian Thompson, sales manager with FC Tucker.

Beyond location and craftsmanship, Thompson said the home offered something that buyers increasingly have been looking for, especially during the pandemic: space.

Built in 2006, the home has six bedrooms and 5.5 bathrooms and covers more than 10,000 square feet. It has 10-foot ceilings and more than 100 windows and doors. The home’s garage alone exceeds 1,000 square feet.

As the pandemic forced many adults to stay at home from work and children home from school, buyers have put a premium on more space, including for homeschooling and offices, Thompson said. The Russell Road home has a dedicated office with built-in bookshelves, bay window seating and a table with chess board.

Thompson said buyers also have been asking for more entertainment space, as the pandemic forced the closures of theaters and concert halls. The previous owner of the Russel Road home used one room as a music room: it had a piano, keyboard, guitar and clarinet. And the lower level served as an “entertainment paradise,” according to the Realtor’s description. Photos show a poker room, a dart board, tables for air hockey, ping pong and pool, along with a workout area with steam room, sauna and full bathroom. The home also had a dedicated movie room, with theater-style chairs.

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The walls of a “science room” displayed posters about genetics, parts of a cell and the periodic table of elements. The room has desks, a sink and tools including a drill, a microscope and a bunsen burner. And a fire extinguisher.

The nearly 26-acre property also has a large outdoor swimming pool, tennis court with gazebo and fully stocked pond with a dock for fishing and kayaking.

Many people who are moving to Bloomington, especially higher-end buyers, have some kind of connection to the city, Thompson said. They may have studied here themselves and are looking to retire here. Or they have children or grandchildren who went to school here and have stayed.

Those buyers often look for lots of space to host large family gatherings.

“Why take a vacation if you’ve got a house like this?” Thompson said.

He said home prices have been pushed up across the nation in part because builders in the past decade have not built enough homes to meet demand. Freddie Mac said in mid-2021 that the nation had a housing shortfall of 3.8 million units. The median price for homes sold in Monroe County this year through November was $295,000, up 11.4% from a year earlier. The Russell Road home's assessed value has increased 37% since 2015.

Thompson said FC Tucker probably sold more million-dollar homes in 2022 than in the prior two years combined. He said demand has stayed strong even as interest rates have risen this year. Higher-end buyers also often don’t have to worry about interest rates: For example, the buyers of the Russell Road home paid cash.

Thompson said that while higher-end buyers can easily have a home built, many of them don’t want to deal with uncertainties related to materials shortages and construction timelines. To build a home now similar to the one on Russell Road probably would take two years, he said. And it also probably would cost twice as much.

Rising interest rates are affecting primarily buyers who are in their first or second home and want to up- or downsize. Many of them are paying mortgages with interest rates of about 3%. If they sold their current home and bought another one, they would see their interest rates more than double. At a 3% interest rate, the monthly payment on a 30-year fixed mortgage for a $250,000 home loan would be about $1,000. At a 7% interest rate, that same loan would cost nearly $1,700 per month.

Those higher prices are keeping a lot of people in their homes even though they may want to move, Thompson said. And that’s further lowering the supply of homes, especially in the mid- to lower price ranges.

Boris Ladwig can be reached at bladwig@heraldt.com.

This article originally appeared on The Herald-Times: Peek inside the most expensive home sold in Monroe County in 2022