'Sabrina the Teenage Witch' Freehold house back on the market — and now it's much cheaper

The Freehold house that served as the backdrop for the hit '90s sitcom "Sabrina the Teenage Witch" is back on the market for $1.35 million, down from its original list price of $1.95 million two years ago.

The property's real estate agent, Sean Mulligan at ARC Real Estate in Millstone, said he was drawing interest from businesses such as law firms and doctor's offices and residents who could restore it to its original use as a Victorian home.

"We're getting pretty good activity now," Mulligan said. "I think it's priced right for the market."

Three Buddies LLC, a family business based in Colts Neck, purchased the 6,800-square-foot building at 64 E. Main St. from a bank in 2014, becoming the latest owner of a turn-of-the-20th-century house that over the years belonged to Freehold Borough's first female attorney; hair stylists who decked it out in elaborate Christmas lights; and a law office whose name is still stamped on a window.

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Its rich history aside, the house gained fame when its façade was chosen by scouts for "Sabrina the Teenage Witch" to serve as the cutaway shot for Spellman Manor in the fictional town of Westbridge, Massachusetts. It was where Sabrina Spellman lived with her two 600-year-old aunts, Hilda and Zelda, and their talking cat, named Salem Saberhagen.

The show was based on the Archie comic book series in the early 1960s, and it starred Melissa Joan Hart, whose character needed to learn how to harness her supernatural powers while winding her way through the growing pains of high school.

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The specifics of how the location experts settled on the Freehold home is a bit murky. But Scott Beskin, who bought and converted the building into a law office in the 1980s, told the Asbury Park Press two years ago that scouts stopped in one day and offered him either $100 or $200 to take a photo of the front of the building to use on the show. He signed a release giving them permission.

The deal could have turned the Freehold site into a tourist attraction, like the Victorian home in Boulder, Colorado, that was the scene setter for "Mork and Mindy," or the North Hollywood, California, home where "The Brady Bunch" ostensibly lived, or the North Caldwell home of the "The Sopranos."

But the house fell on hard times instead. In the aftermath of the Great Recession in 2011, it landed in foreclosure. Three years later, Boiling Springs Savings Bank sold it to the current owners, Three Buddies LLC, according to Monmouth County property records.

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Three Buddies, which listed the home two years ago without success, is searching for a buyer again in a complicated real estate landscape.

In the residential market, the median price of a Monmouth County home sold through the first 10 months of the year was $669,600, according to the New Jersey Association of Realtors. That was still 4.6% higher than the same time last year, but a slowdown from the double-digit price increases in 2021 and 2022.

In the commercial market, the historic Freehold home could create obstacles for companies that want open floor plans. But it could be a good fit for smaller companies such as law and accounting firms that are asking employees to return to the office after years of working remotely, said Doug Twyman, senior managing director for Colliers International.

Michael L. Diamond is a business reporter who has been writing about the New Jersey economy and health care industry for more than 20 years. He can be reached at mdiamond@gannettnj.com.

This article originally appeared on Asbury Park Press: 'Sabrina the Teenage Witch' Freehold house for sale at lower price