Housing
This section of the BDN aims to help readers understand Maine’s housing crisis, the volatile real estate market and the public policy behind them. Read more Housing coverage here.
The two most expensive home sales in Maine last year, totaling more than $25 million, were brokered by the same real estate agent.
Bill Gaynor, based in Legacy Properties Sotheby’s International Realty’s Kennebunk office, was the listing agent for the only two home sales to top $11 million last year, according to an annual report from Legacy Properties Sotheby’s International Realty.
All told, the homes Gaynor has had a hand in selling last year total more than $36 million. While the properties vary in location, price and size, Gaynor has developed a reputation for selling some of the state’s most luxurious and exclusive waterfront properties.
Demand for Maine real estate, including luxurious second homes on the coast, erupted during the pandemic. Gaynor recalled selling a property sight unseen to a family who had never once visited Maine.
“We’re not affordable, but we’re less expensive than other east coast options like Nantucket or Martha’s Vineyard,” Gaynor said.
While the hunger for coastal Maine properties has slowed some in recent months, Gaynor said there will always be a market for them.
“Quality and rarity will always sell, no matter the commodity,” Gaynor said. “But, even a Ferrari needs to be priced correctly.”
The most expensive Maine home sold last year was a five-bedroom, six-bathroom estate on Zeb Cove Road in Cape Elizabeth. The home closed in September for $13.4 million — a bit under the home’s asking price of $15 million.
The nearly 8-acre property generated media attention, as it was once owned by famed actress Bette Davis, but the home she lived in was torn down and the 7,600-square-foot house there now was built in its place in 2002.
The second most expensive property, a five-bedroom, four-bathroom waterfront estate in Kennebunkport, sold last January for its asking price of $12 million.
Some homeowners seek out Gaynor to sell their home privately, meaning they’re never publicly listed or advertised, while other luxury property sales are helped along by agents representing prospective buyers. However, Gaynor isn’t opposed to holding public open houses on some high-end homes.
“You never know who will be walking through the door,” Gaynor said. “Even in the days of electronics, it pays to be on the ground and open the door as wide as possible.”
One sale roughly 25 years ago stands out across Gaynor’s real estate career, which spans nearly three decades.
At the time, Gaynor had priced a “beautiful” Cape Elizabeth home at $4.5 million, which was considered an “outlandish ask” at the time, he said. The property was on the market for more than a year until the sellers accepted a $3.5 million offer for it.
“The house was worth more, but the market wouldn’t support what it was worth at the time,” Gaynor said. “It was a lesson to take what you can and do what you can with it.”
Though Gaynor’s name is linked with some of the priciest and most coveted homes across the state, he said the satisfaction he gains from his work comes from buyers and sellers he has worked with to help them achieve their goals.
“Instead of the bricks and mortar, it’s more about the hopes, wishes and dreams,” he said.