A Massachusetts island is giving away multi-million dollar homes for free, but the exciting offer comes with a catch… the new owners will need to physically move the whole property themselves.
On Nantucket, law states that anyone looking to demolish a home there must first offer it up for free to any takers.
After acquiring the property, the new homeowner has 180 days to move the home to a new plot of land.
Those looking to snap up a historic property that is often worth millions, can keep an eye on local publications, The Inquirer & Mirror and the Nantucket Current.
Residents looking to offload their homes have to legally advertise it for 30 days, as the island’s bylaws dictate.
Realtor Brent Tantamella told Daily Mail that house-moving season begins September 15 and runs until June 15.
Within that window, it is not an unlikely sight to see a stunning multi-million dollar saltbox house on a wide-load trailer being trucked to the other side of the 3.5-mile island to a new home.
‘It’s pretty common,’ Tantamella said. ‘It’s been going on since the 1700s… It’s kind of something we’re known for doing.’
House moving has been a long tradition in Nantucket since the 1700s. Residents who wish to demolish their homes must allow a 30-day period where residents can snap it up for free and move it to a different location – some homes are even worth millions
Nantucket is known for attracting the rich and famous. The Biden family regularly spend time there
When settlers first moved to the island, buildings were heavily concentrated as the community grew. But as time went on and erosion occurred on the shoreline, residents were forced to move inward.
The island was full of amazing shipbuilders, but with the scarcity of lumber, picking up homes and moving the whole thing across the island became the norm, rather than building a property from scratch.
‘They would just put out greased timbers and big wooden rollers and then team up horses, then these houses were moved to take advantage of better land or safer areas from erosion or just changing neighborhoods,’ Tartamella explained.
Although you won’t see a team of mighty horses dragging a gigantic house through the streets of Nantucket anymore, moving houses is still very much a thing, just remote-controlled now, the realtor said.
‘It’s a crazy thing to watch,’ he said. To move a home is not an easy process. It can involve the police, the electricity company, and the public works office, plus move teams, just to coordinate it.
Sometimes power lines have to be moved upward or turned off to avoid being tangled in the roof. And some homes even have to be deconstructed in order to fit down the tight lanes.
‘It’s houses you wouldn’t even think could be moved,’ Tartamella said.
Homes as small as one-floor cottages built in the 1960s to mansions can be moved, he said.
‘It’s pretty common,’ realtor, Brent Tantamella, told Daily Mail. ‘It’s kind of something we’re known for doing’
In the early days, the buildings were heavily concentrated as settlers built a community. But as time went on, they were forced to move inward. With a lack of lumber, they had to pick up their homes and move them
‘They can be pretty big structures,’ Tartamella, who moved to the island in 2004, said.
Homes are usually moved on Wednesdays, unless there is rain, then on Thursdays.
And moving a home isn’t cheap either – although only a fraction of the home’s estimated value – as the cost can be between $100,000 and $200,000, according to Tartamella.
‘I’ve seen houses moved with all the furniture right inside it,’ he told the Daily Mail.
Once the houses are put back together and settled on a new foundation, the new homeowners can move in within months.
‘They’re livable pretty quickly,’ Tartamella said.
However, for those off-islanders hoping to snap up a multi-million dollar saltbox home and move to the ritzy Nantucket, it would be quite the challenge, the realtor said.
With the tight timeframe of 180 days, having land for the home to go on prior to the acquisition is vital.
‘They would just put out basically greased timbers and big wooden rollers and then team up horses, then these houses were moved to take advantage of better land or safer areas from erosion or just changing neighborhoods,’ Tartamella said
However, finding a million-dollar home to move is a rare gem on Nantucket as many have switch to bringing modular homes onto the island
Many takers move homes onto land their families acquired in the 1970s and 1980s, when plots were cheap.
So being quick to respond when a free home is advertised and having the land already in place to move it to is vital.
If a home is advertised and no one is interested in saving it then the homeowner is allowed to raze it to the ground.
However that’s not much cheaper than it is to move the home. Not only do they have the demolition cost, but it costs around $500 per ton of waste to bring the scraps to the junkyard, Realtor.com reported.
With the average home weighing around 80 tons, that could easily lead to a more than $40,000 bill.
Nantucket has a year-round population of around 10,000 residents. In the summer months this swells to around 60,000 people.
The island, known for attracting celebrities, was designated as a historic landmark in 1972. This means that residents need to get permission from local authorities to change outdoor appearance of their homes and businesses.
The windswept paradise is a favorite of for President Joe Biden and his family and also attracts stars including Beyoncé, Kourtney Kardashian, Dave Portnoy and Ben Stiller.
