Worthington Property Sales Await Price Data as Registry Recording Lag Continues

WORTHINGTON -- Five properties changed hands in Worthington between Aug. 28 and Sept. 26, according to newly recorded deeds at the Hampshire County Registry of Deeds. Sale prices for all five transactions had not yet reached the registry's records as of this report.

MARKET OVERVIEW The registry recorded eight documents affecting Worthington properties during the period, but three were not property sales: two homestead declarations and one certificate releasing a Massachusetts estate tax lien. Excluding those, five deeds represent actual transfers of property. None of the five listed a sale price at the time of recording, so a price range and median cannot be calculated for this period. Five recorded transfers over four weeks is a modest total. Worthington is a small town where sales volume is naturally low, and no comparative data is available to say whether this represents an increase or decrease from a typical month.

TOP SALES Because no sale prices have been recorded for any of the five transfers, they cannot be ranked by price. All five are listed here in order of recording date.

32 Brown Hill Rd, sold Sept. 16. Seller Vicki M. Davis, personal representative of the estate of Dona Elaine Martin, transferred the property to Herbert C. Bergquist, trustee of the Herbert C. Bergquist Revocable Trust. Price not yet available.

280 Old Post Rd, sold Sept. 10. Sally A. Lemme, personal representative of the estate of Grant M. Knapp, transferred the property to Joanne M. Blocker and Brenda L. Brodrick. Price not yet available.

17 Old North Rd, sold Sept. 4. Mortgage Electronic Registration Systems Inc. transferred the property to Cai Walkowiak. Price not yet available.

494 West St, sold Aug. 31. Florence Bank transferred the property to William J. Rutkowski Jr. and Carol R. Rutkowski. Price not yet available.

A Worthington property, sold Sept. 23. The Antonia P. Lake Trust, with Antonia P. Lake as trustee, transferred the property to the town of Worthington. No street address or price was listed in the deed record.

NEIGHBORHOOD BREAKDOWN No two of the five transfers occurred on the same street, so no single-street cluster emerged this period. Two entries involve the same seller, Antonia P. Lake: the trust-to-town transfer and a separate document at 494 Kinne Brook Rd recording a certificate releasing a Massachusetts estate tax lien, which is not itself a property sale. Estate-related transfers accounted for two of the five sales, at Brown Hill Road and Old Post Road, where personal representatives conveyed property out of a decedent's estate. The remaining three transfers involved a trust receiving property, a town acquiring property, and two transfers originating from financial institutions: Mortgage Electronic Registration Systems and Florence Bank.

MARKET NOTES No sale price was available for any of the five recorded property transfers as of this report; prices typically appear in registry data within about a week of recording, so figures for the later transactions in this window may still be forthcoming. Two of the five transfers originated from financial institutions rather than private sellers: Mortgage Electronic Registration Systems Inc. conveyed 17 Old North Rd, and Florence Bank conveyed 494 West St, a pattern consistent with properties that passed through a lender before reaching their current owners. Two of the five transfers moved property out of an estate through a personal representative, at 32 Brown Hill Rd and 280 Old Post Rd. Beyond the five sales, the registry also recorded two homestead declarations, filed by William T. Sampson Jr. at 44 Goss Hill Rd and Laura L. Oliver at 455 Williamsburg Rd. A homestead declaration is a legal filing that protects a home from certain creditor claims; it is not a transfer of ownership and is not counted among this period's sales.

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.