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Nantucket beachside home that sold cheap due to erosion is demolished 6 months later
Once assessed at more than $1.9 million, the home sold for just a fraction of that value last June amid concerns about the creeping shoreline.
Sold for just $200,000 six months ago, a beachside home on Nantucket was razed by work crews this week after the town condemned it due to coastal erosion.
Once assessed at more than $1.9 million, the home at 28 Sheep Pond Road sold for just a fraction of that value last June amid concerns about the creeping shoreline. Nantucket’s Board of Health voted last month to condemn the property, noting the narrow access road was “almost ready to fall off the bluff.”
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The home was ultimately demolished Tuesday, the Nantucket Current reported, noting the property had lost another 10 to 20 feet of coastline since Don Vaccaro purchased it last year. Vaccaro did not respond to a request for comment.
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The co-founder of TicketNetwork, he’s owned an adjacent property at 26 Sheep Pond Road since 2014, according to the Current. Vaccaro told the news outlet snapping up the since-demolished lot next door ultimately cost him more than $400,000.
“However I was able to use it one week with my family and kids in both houses, which was a priceless experience, so it was worth it in the end,” Vaccaro told the Current. He had also rented out the 28 Sheep Pond Road property since buying it.
Built in 1979, the 1,783 square-foot Colonial is one of several homes in the Sheep Pond Road area to have fallen victim to coastal erosion in recent years. In 2023, the Board of Health condemned another property at 21 Sheep Pond Road after encroaching waves washed away the land beneath the home. Another home down the road sold for just $600,000 — not even a third of its original asking price — in April after the shoreline lost 70 feet to erosion in a matter of weeks.
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Speaking to The Boston Globe last year, Nantucket Assessor Robert F. Ranney said the neighborhood has been experiencing erosion at an average rate of 10 to 15 feet per year. He estimated about a dozen homes in the area have disappeared off the map.
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