58 Wiggin Farm Road/Moultonboro/9.5 Million/Squam Lake
 

If sold for 9.5 million it would be the most expensive home ever sold on Squam lake. It was built by a Titanic Survivor.
https://nhlakesproperty.com/listing/...ough-nh-03254/


After surviving the Titanic, Richard Beckwith sought peace and quiet. He found it by constructing 58 Wiggin Farm Road on Squam Lake, in the picturesque town of Moultonborough, N.H.
The summer property is listed for $9,500,000.
Beckwith, his wife, and teenage daughter were passengers on the Titanic, but made it into the lifeboats. Some claim their story was potentially a source of inspiration for the famed 1997 film “Titanic.” Legend has it that the family was aboard the ship in an attempt to get the teen away from a potential boyfriend, The Wall Street Journal, which broke the story on the listing, reported. Ultimately, the boyfriend found himself on the lifeboat as well, and the parents had a change of heart.



“Some newspaper accounts, filed just after the survivors reached New York, claimed that Behr had proposed to Helen while they were still in their lifeboat,” the Journal wrote, adding that the couple later married with the Beckwith parents’ blessing.
These days, the eight-bed, 3.5-bath property, which was built in 1899, is a shingled home on the market for the first time in more than a century. Set on just under 4 acres and boasting 964 feet of shorefront, the home measures 5,605 square feet.
A long drive through the woods leads to the luxury property, which welcomes guests up a few steps onto the wraparound porch, which has screened-in sections. The entrance leads into a welcoming living room, home to a three-sided white brick fireplace under beautiful wooden beams.
But it’s the view that strikes you upon entrance.
“When you walk into the house, you’re just immediately drawn to the views of the lake,” said Joe Dussault of Dussault Real Estate, who is the co-listing agent with Jacalyn Dussault. “These long lake views [see] across to the Squam Range. And if the sun were going down, you would have views of beautiful sunrises and sunsets.”


If the property gets its $9,500,000 asking price, it would be the highest ever paid for a home on Squam Lake, Dussault told the WSJ.


THE HOME IS NOT WINTERIZED

How did a survivor of the Titanic sinking (1912) build a house in 1899?

Apparently, he measured twice and cut once, and made sure all the wooden pieces fit together, perfectly!

You know what really caught my eye in the listing is the bottom line that says "THE HOME IS NOT WINTERIZED" which probably means no insulation in the walls, attic, foundation and no heating system, and probably no air conditioning, either.

Will take a wild guess on its annual Moultonborough property tax ........ budda-budda-bing ...... and a drum roll here ...... rat-a-tat-tat-tat ..... I guess $28,000/year not based on much of anything ...... :eek: ..... duh!

Excellent question


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Plastics...

He was born in 1874.

http://titanic.fandom.com/wiki/Richard_Leonard_Beckwith..... 1874 to 1933

Here is the link to the story at Boston.com
https://www.boston.com/real-estate/r...ilt-listed-nh/

Ah.. so a future Titanic survivor at the time he built the house...

But it says this: "After surviving the Titanic, Richard Beckwith sought peace and quiet. He found it by constructing 58 Wiggin Farm Road on Squam Lake."

It appears he survived the Titanic in 1912 and then, for peace and quiet, time-traveled back to 1899 to build the home he knew he'd need after that fateful day 13 years later.

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Some of the interior pictures on the listing show a cast iron radiator and baseboard heaters.

For tax purposes: public record and online :

58 WIGGIN FARM ROAD MOULTONBOROUGH

2024 town property card:
Buildiing: $435,900
Features: $40,500
Land: $ 3,416,800

Parcel Total: $3,945,800

What a beautiful house! It was in the Homes for sale magazine.

Apparently not paying his “fair share “ of property taxes.

The thing I love about Squam postings is that so often they are completely irrational, but masquerade as understandable because they are so precious. With no heat or insulation, no showers, 1970s kitchen; it's a $10MM tear down.:eek: But with the Titanic connection, beauty of the house, and Ralph Lauren-ish 4 generation photos, you'd be a complete boor to tear it down.

A white elephant. Just sign here...

Someone with too much money will buy it.

I agree completely!...And if someone did insulate it, add showers, upgrade the kitchen and refurbish the exterior and bring it up to energy saving standards, people would call it a "McMansion" and chastise it for being out of place.

Dan

“These long lake views [see] across to the Squam Range. And if the sun were going down, you would have views of beautiful sunrises...”

Huh??

You can see the studs in the walls with no insulation and no interior wall covering.

We can do it in a way that you would never even know that we touched it.

That's what's so neat about it, the old fashioned.

insulating olde walls, made easy-peasy!
 

Insulating it by filling in the wide wall spaces between the wall studs is a home owner, do-it-yourself type of a chore that's made easy-peasy when you do it with GE insulating foam for big gaps and cracks .... http://www.lowes.com/pd/GE-GE-Big-Ga...ion/5013598317

So easy to do with just a wide putty knife which you use to smooth it flush with the wall studs. ..... :rolleye2:

Will make a great first summer project for the happy new home owner. .... ;)

It's not irrational if it was built through time travel!

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We don’t need no STEENKIN’ insulation…!🤣

That would change the character.
They strip the shakes, cover with RZIP to create the required continuous insulation layer, and then reapply shakes that either weather naturally or with a preapplied coating that speeds up the weathering effect.

KA Clason Fine Woodworking already did one of these on Lake Winnipesaukee.

Where on Lake Winnipesaukee?

I don’t know how to post a listing. Maybe one of you can do it for me. The Kona boathouse is for sale now for just under $5 million. Prices are certainly going crazy up here.

Moultonborough.

https://www.architectmagazine.com/pr...-winnipesaukee

"Despite the interior exposed framing, the exterior walls are insulated outside the sheathing with several inches of rigid foam providing a very efficient insulation with continuous insulation bridging the structure. The roof is insulated with closed cell foam and the crawlspace is also insulated."

The next year should be interesting. Inventory is starting to rise at the high end and "Price Improvements" (!) are popping up on a regular basis.

I think we've seen the top of the market for a while.

Indeed...."Supply and demand" will lead to a downturn in valuation as the current owners and buyers, baby boomers, die off and there are fewer well-heeled buyers to take their place.

people have always said that...
 

...but more buyers always seem to be there. Thirty years ago I looked at a nice cottage in Hanson Cove they wanted $125K for and I thought they were out of their minds!

Just a thought into the future…
 

Some of us would like to leave their waterfront properties to the next generations. That has many positives attached, including their enjoyment of the property with their families, and they can inherit at the stepped up value, which can save an enormous amount in taxes. Of course, that can change, depending upon which political party holds the reins.

So how many cans of the spray foam are you thinking it would take ?

Trusts bypass any of that regardless of what party holds the reins in the future.

... best to start w/ one $4.39 spray can, and see how good it goes on?

Understand now that spray foam is probably very flammable, so is definitely better to go with some other insulation design, or something, like the pink fiberglass rolls and 5/8" thick, sheet rock panels which are much more fire resistant.

True, but Sue's general point remains--people/families may hold properties for a VERY long time. With the huge increase in values, my sense is that today's buyers will hold even longer. If you bought 30 years ago, you could be looking at your lake house as one of your largest assets, and selling could have a meaningful impact on overall quality of life. But if you are buying today, you are likely already set for life

But if they hold, the step-up value doesn't matter.
It matters when you sell and have to pay capital gains tax.

That’s one of the considerations….if the heirs decide to sell, they avoid capital gains taxes on the property unless the total estate exceeds the maximum allowable amount, which is $10 or $12 million, I believe.

That's not how the capital gains tax on the sale of real property works.

If you are an expert, please feel free to enlighten us. This is academic, in the event heirs decide to hold on to an inherited property. It has been my understanding that capital gains taxes can be avoided on inherited real property because of “stepped up value” at time it’s inherited. Maybe I misunderstood our attorney. It seemed pretty straightforward to me.

Not an expert, but I am familiar with the basic concept of capital gains on the sale of real property being subject to tax.

Yes, real property inherited upon the death of the owner generally receives a step-up in basis and the new owner takes the property with a new basis, which is the property value as of the date of death. But your post I quoted is about heirs selling property, with no mention of when that sale might occur or what the value at the time of sale might be. If the property being sold is not a primary residence, any gain in value from the date of the previous owner's death to the date of sale will be taxed as a capital gain, either short term or long term, depending on how much time elapsed. If the property is a primary residence, as defined by the IRS, and certain timing rules are satisfied, up to $250k of capital gain is exempt for a single person, and $500k for married couples. This has nothing to do with the value of an estate.

https://www.investopedia.com/ask/ans...inhomesale.asp

When you inherit a property, you pay the estate tax - actually the estate does if the assets are over the current $13.61 million basis.
When you sell an inherited property, you pay capital gains. Capital gains involves figuring the basis for the investment.

A step-up basis means that if my grandfather paid $25K for a property, and I inherited it at $3 million, then sold it for $3 million. I have $0 capital gains.
Without the step-up basis, my basis would be the $25K plus additional upgrades, but leaving me with a capital gains of roughly $2.9 million plus or so.

If I don't sell it. I don't have a capital gains to pay, and so the step-up value has no effect.

Right, any estate tax owed is charged to the estate, not any party inheriting property from the decedent. And yes, an estate would need to be pretty big to incur an estate tax, under current law. (But don't forget to reduce the amount of the estate tax exemption by any gifts made by the decedent that exceeded the annual gift tax exclusion for the year when the gifts were made.)

Not my cup of tea for 9 million. Is it just me or do some of the pics appear to have people in the windows? Haunted? :D