Two Disclosed Prices Range From $105,000 to $195,800 in Middlefield

MIDDLEFIELD -- Seven property transfers were recorded in Middlefield between July 17 and August 15, but sellers disclosed a sale price in only two of them, both on East River Road, leaving most of the period's activity without a public price tag.

MARKET OVERVIEW

Hampshire County Registry of Deeds records show seven transfers in Middlefield during the period. Only two of the seven, 28.6 percent, included a disclosed consideration amount. Those two prices ranged from $105,000 to $195,800, for a median of $150,400. Because five of the seven transfers carried no listed price, the disclosed range does not represent the full scope of activity recorded in the town during the period. Seven transfers in four weeks is a modest volume for a small town, and this report has no prior-period figures on hand for comparison.

TOP SALES

191 East River Road sold July 22 for $195,800, the period's highest disclosed price. The seller was Begin Your Stay LLC; the buyers were Verus Residential Loanco LLC and Mortgage Electronic Registration Systems Inc. Bed, bath and square-footage data were not available in the deed record.

188 East River Road sold Aug. 12 for $105,000. The sellers were Susan Schneller and Susan Begin; the buyer was Begin Your Stay LLC. No bed, bath or square-footage data were available.

The remaining five recorded transfers, at 30 River Road, 176 Chipman Road, 9 Alderman Road, 24 Chester Road and 191 East River Road (a second transfer at that address), carried no disclosed sale price.

NEIGHBORHOOD BREAKDOWN

East River Road accounted for three of the period's seven transfers: 188 East River Road (Aug. 12), 191 East River Road (July 22) and a second transfer at 191 East River Road (July 22). All three involved either the Begin surname or the entity Begin Your Stay LLC as seller or buyer. The remaining four transfers were spread across four separate streets, River Road, Chipman Road, Alderman Road and Chester Road, one transfer each. Of the two transfers with disclosed prices, both fell under $200,000; no price data are available for any transfer above that level.

MARKET NOTES

Three transfers in the period were not conventional buyer-seller sales in the typical sense. At 30 River Road, the seller was listed as Michael M. Peros, personal representative, along with the estate of John Peter Peros, with the transfer recorded as an affidavit regarding estate tax. At 9 Alderman Road, the sellers were Edward James and the Farrelly Family Farm Trust, with the town of Middlefield as buyer. At 176 Chipman Road, sellers Albert N. Sirard and Barbara J. Sirard are tied to a recorded declaration of homestead rather than a transfer to a new buyer. At 24 Chester Road, the seller was Berkshire Bank and the buyer was Jane M. Peirce; a bank as seller typically indicates a previously foreclosed or bank-owned property. The East River Road cluster noted above, where the Begin family and Begin Your Stay LLC appear as parties across three separate filings, is a pattern worth watching in the record but this report draws no conclusion about its cause. Deed records for the period did not include property-type classification, so no single-family, condominium or multi-family breakdown is possible, and without square-footage data no price-per-square-foot comparison can 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.