On Nantucket, the dirt is worth more than what sits on it. That's why a 1,736-square-foot colonial that sold for $3 million five months ago is now being given away for free.
The owner just wants the land. Whoever takes the deal will have to figure out how to physically move the house off the property.
The Deal
The house is at 140 Surfside Road, with three bedrooms, two baths, and just over an acre of land. It last changed hands in December 2025 through an LLC tied to local buyer Dean Lampe, who paid $3 million.
Now the owner is using Nantucket's Demolition Delay Bylaw program, which lets homeowners give away older homes to anyone willing to relocate them. The program is meant to keep usable houses out of the landfill.
Anyone who wants the home submits a letter of intent to the town's building commissioner and to the owner.
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Why Free Still Costs Money
Free does not mean cheap. The buyer has 180 days to physically move the house off the property and pay for the move themselves.
The bill for relocating a house this size runs from $150,000 on the low end up to $500,000 if the job is tricky. Even at the top end, it's a deal.
Nantucket's typical home sells for about $4.4 million, and an empty lot on the island runs you roughly $1.65 million just for the dirt. Spending $500,000 to land a million-dollar house on a piece of land you already own is the kind of math that makes locals show up fast.
A Nantucket Quirk
Shelly Lockwood, a local agent at Pepper Frazier Real Estate, told Realtor.com these listings move quickly. Buyers priced out of Nantucket's high-end market often buy a lot first and wait for a free home to pop up.
The Surfside Road house is not at risk from erosion, which has threatened some Nantucket properties closer to the water. It's not clear why the owner is giving the house away, but on Nantucket, the land is often worth more than the home that sits on it.
What to Watch
The Nantucket housing market is one of the most extreme in the country. Land scarcity is so severe that a perfectly good house becomes the cheap part of the equation.
Last year, former Patriots coach Bill Belichick sold his Nantucket beach cottage for close to $4 million. For anyone watching coastal property values, the lesson is the same.
On islands that aren't making more land, the house is just decoration.
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