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Good return on investment? Wealth manager sells non-waterfront Palm Beach estate for $21M
Built in 1930, the home quadrupled in value in 20 years
The CEO of a wealth management firm sold his non-waterfront Palm Beach estate for $21.3 million — quadrupling his investment in 20 years.
Records show H.E. “Gene” Rayfield Jr. sold the home at 211 Dunbar Road to a trust named for the address. West Palm Beach-based attorney Maura Ziska signed on behalf of the buyer.
Rayfield is CEO of Traverse City, Mich.-based Rayfield Investments, and former chairman of the East Carolina University Board of Trustees.
Aaron Lynn Warren and Gary Little of Sotheby’s International Realty had the listing, and Lisa and John Cregan of Sotheby’s International Realty brought the buyer. Warren and Cregan declined to comment.
Rayfield bought the house for $5.4 million in 2002, according to records. The nearly half-acre property includes a 6,000-square-foot, seven-bedroom, eight-bathroom home built in 1930, according to the listing. The estate includes a guest house, an apartment over the garage, and a 50-foot pool.
Rayfield sold furniture with the home for an additional $3 million, Little said. It was not reflected in property records.
According to Little, Rayfield bought the house “freshly renovated,” but never did any major work himself.
The home went into contract with other buyers who backed out of the deal, Little said, but the estate only spent three days back on the market before the new buyer emerged.
The sale marks a significant price jump for properties on Dunbar Road, outmatched only by spec developer Todd Glaser’s flip of a historic mansion on the street for $27.5 million last year.
Little thought the sale price fit the size and location of the lot. “I don’t think that it was a high price, necessarily,” he said, “I think it was a fair price.”
The pandemic-fueled buying frenzy on the island has finally begun to subside, but pricing remains strong. Limited inventory and high demand continue to push sale prices to record highs, as Palm Beach real estate enters its busy winter season.
“We’re going back to a calmer, more normal time,” Little said. “Palm Beach is a small place and a lot of people want to be there.”
This month, a Boston real estate CEO sold a non-waterfront lot with plans for a 6,900-square-foot house for $10.3 million. Also this month, retail magnates Robert and Susan Burch sold their non-waterfront Palm Beach estate for $24 million.
Todd Glaser and his partners listed the mansion they’ve been renovating on Tarpon Island for $218 million, a price that, if met, would break the $173 million Florida sale record set earlier this year. The investors bought the private island for $85 million last year.