Bank and credit union buyers feature in most priced Bernardston sales

BERNARDSTON -- Fourteen property transfers were recorded at the Franklin County Registry of Deeds for Bernardston between Sept. 18 and Oct. 17, but only five carried a recorded sale price, with financial institutions appearing as the buyer in several of the highest-value transactions.

MARKET OVERVIEW Fourteen sales were recorded in the period. Of those, five included a consideration amount, ranging from $15,000 to $400,000, with a median of $182,000 among the priced sales. The remaining nine transfers show no price yet, which is common when the registry has not yet received or processed that data; it does not indicate the parties withheld the figure. Based on the raw count of 14 recorded transfers, the period registered a routine level of deed activity for Bernardston; without comparable prior-period figures, no further characterization of market pace is warranted.

TOP SALES The highest-priced transaction was 44 Gill Rd, which sold for $400,000 on Oct. 5. Paul M. Laude and Sandra A. Laude were the sellers; Greenfield Cooperative Bank was the buyer. At 315 Martindale Rd, the property sold for $344,000 on Oct. 2; Jillian Balasco was the seller, and the buyers were Guild Mortgage Co. LLC and Mortgage Electronic Registration Systems Inc. The 80 Merrifield Rd property sold for $182,000 on Sept. 21; Olga Taran and Mihail Taran were the sellers, with Luso Federal Credit Union as the buyer. At 109 Bald Mountain Rd, the sale price was $20,000 on Sept. 24; Holly K. Stumpo was the seller, and Franklin First Federal Credit Union was the buyer. The 24 Gill Rd property sold for $15,000 on Oct. 5; Steven Duffany and Steven Frederick Duffany were the sellers, with Peoplesbank as the buyer.

NEIGHBORHOOD BREAKDOWN Gill Road accounted for two of the period's priced sales: 44 Gill Rd ($400,000) and 24 Gill Rd ($15,000), both recorded on the same date, Oct. 5. Bald Mountain Road, including variant address listings, had four recorded transfers: 296 Bald Mountain Rd, 109 Bald Mountain Rd, 116 Bald Mt Rd and 116 Bald Mountain Rd. Of these, only 109 Bald Mountain Rd carried a recorded price, $20,000; the two entries at 116 Bald Mt Rd/116 Bald Mountain Rd list different sellers, Dianne Michaud and Allen and Lori Walsh, respectively, with no buyer or price listed for either as of this reporting. West Mountain Road, also listed under two spellings, saw two transfers: 74 W Mountain Rd and 32 West Mountain Rd, neither with a recorded price yet. Among priced sales, two fell above $300,000 (44 Gill Rd, 315 Martindale Rd), one fell in the $100,000-$300,000 range (80 Merrifield Rd), and two fell under $25,000 (109 Bald Mountain Rd, 24 Gill Rd).

MARKET NOTES Several of the period's buyers were banks, credit unions or mortgage-related entities, including Greenfield Cooperative Bank, Peoplesbank, Guild Mortgage Co. LLC, Cross River Bank, Franklin First Federal Credit Union and Luso Federal Credit Union. This pattern, combined with the low recorded prices at 24 Gill Rd ($15,000) and 109 Bald Mountain Rd ($20,000), is consistent with foreclosure-related deed transfers rather than conventional market sales, though the data does not specify the legal basis for each transfer. Separately, several transfers appear to be within the same family or an associated trust or estate: 296 Bald Mountain Rd (Michael A. Deane to Michael A. Deane), 32 West Mountain Rd (Kromholz estate to Franc V. Kromholz), 24 Deane Rd (transferred from the Ruby H. Rodgers Revocable Trust) and 24 Turners Falls Rd (Debra J. Gass to Zachary C. Wysocki and Dustin D. Gass as trustees). No bed, bath or square-footage data was available in the deed records for any property in this period, so no price-per-square-foot comparisons could be calculated.

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.