Record price for Robin Hill spurs hope for turnaround

By Lloyd Garrison

With the warm winter and early spring, Norfolk home listings, long frozen in place have suddenly begun to thaw, and one of them, the estate on Mountain Road known as Robin Hill, has just sold for a record $3,950,000.

The price, brokered by Tom McGowan of Elyse Harney Real Estate, was the most ever paid for a home in Norfolk. “The new owners are an art dealer and his wife from New York,” says McGowan. “They will be weekenders, and they are very private people. You won’t see them very often down by the Corner Store.”

Longtime Robin Hill owner Carol Stein often hosted musical soirées in her spacious living room with its high ceilings, French doors and two Steinway pianos. The 20 acre residence at 281 Mountain Road is graced with Palladium windows, seven antique fire places, formal gardens and a cobblestone courtyard.

Some might consider the price paid for Robin Hill a steal, as it was more than one third less than the original listing of $6,250,000. But the reduction was in line with many recent home sales in Norfolk that have closed at less than half the asking price.

While home prices remain historically low and some Norfolk listings have been on the market for over two years, three of Norfolk’s resident realtors detect a lot more buyers on the hunt for bargains than at this time last year.

“It may be the early spring,” says Betsy Little, “or it may be a rising stock market and low interest rates, but there are definitely more people looking. I am really, really busy.”

McGowan believes an increase in buyer interest was evident last fall. “That interest has carried over into this spring. The market won’t be like six years ago, but it will be a lot better than last year.”

Jill Vantine of Locust Lane Realty, which lists nine Norfolk properties, is a little less sanguine. “We are not booming but we are doing better,” she says. “We have an offer on one property. People are not super fast to make a decision.”

Little cites a loosening of credit available to home buyers, especially at the local level. “The big banks are still skittish, still holding back,” she says. “My advice to any buyer in Norfolk is to go to National Iron Bank and other area lenders who never got caught up making bad loans during the housing bubble. They know the local market and are ready to invest in it.”