The state's most expensive mansions aren't in southern Maine
Mar. 5—If you are looking to buy a big house with a view in Maine, and money is no object, be prepared to drive Down East.
Four of the top 10 most expensive houses for sale in Maine are in coastal Hancock County, according to Realtor.com.
The most expensive house currently on the market, listed for $9 million, is a 14,000 square-foot mansion set on 38 shorefront acres in the Hancock County town of Brooklin on the Blue Hill peninsula, according to the website.
It is owned by Louise Murfey, a Tahitian actress who starred in "Mutiny on the Bounty" and who is the widow of Spencer L. Murfey Jr. There are six buildings total on the property which, according to the town's property tax assessment information, has an overall assessed value of $4.2 million. The property was last listed for sale in 2017 for $7.8 million.
The second most expensive house for sale in Maine is also in Hancock County. The Bar Harbor home sits high over Frenchman Bay, has 8,100 square feet of floor space and 7 bedrooms, and is listed for $8.9 million. Owned by Eastern Watch LLC, it has an assessed value of $3.7 million, according to the town's property tax records.
Nearby Knox County is the site of the third most expensive house listed in Maine. An 8,000 square-foot house on Mountain Arrow Road in Camden with terraced gardens, a pool, and views of Penobscot Bay is listed at $8.5 million. Rounding out the top four is a 3,100 square-foot shorefront home built in the 1800s that sits in a pasture next to Pretty Marsh Harbor in Mount Desert and is listed at just shy of $8 million.
Last fall, another house that was for sale in the Hancock County town of Orland got media attention for being listed for sale for $10 million. That property — a lakefront home on Craig Pond that is owned by Kenneth Irving, former CEO of New Brunswick-based firm Irving Oil, and his wife Tasha Irving — is currently not on the market, according to the listing agent.
Hollywood actor John Travolta, who owns a 10,000 square-foot mansion on Islesboro in Waldo County, also has his property listed for sale. It has been on the market for more than a year for $5 million.
As far as median prices go in Maine, the most expensive places to live all are coastal towns, according to the Maine State Housing Authority.
Kennebunkport in York County had the highest median home price in all of Maine last year at $969,500 while Ogunquit, also in York County, had the second highest median home price at $873,750. Falmouth in Cumberland County, abutting Portland, had the 3rd-highest median home price in 2021 at $750,000 with Mount Desert in Hancock County right behind at $739,000.
The towns with the next-highest median home prices last year — both of which are ski resort towns — were Newry in Oxford County at $660,000 and Carrabassett Valley in Franklin County at $561,250.
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