Luxury buyers want more than a beautiful view, modern kitchens and open layouts that allow them to carry on conversations across rooms with family or guests.
They want a home that feels secure and provides them with seclusion, free from the view of other rooflines or decks, or neighbors in adjoining yards.
In urban and suburban environments, a fence or strategic landscaping can achieve this effect. In towns with more land, nothing is a substitute for acreage.
While oceanfront and ocean-view properties continue to command attention among top sales for the Ocean State, some high-end buyers are looking well inland.
Beyond the custom and historical homes in Newport, Narragansett and other waterfront communities, beautiful, spacious and somewhat secretive estate homes dot the Rhode Island landscape.
The highest-end sales among them tend to be near the oceanfront towns – more South Kingstown or North Kingstown than Lincoln or Foster, for example. And they are not clustered in specific towns.
In recent years, the request for a private retreat is becoming more common among buyers, said Judith Chace, the broker and owner of Mott & Chace Sotheby’s International Realty. People still want oceanfront properties, but now she’s hearing the word privacy among features in demand, she said.
Why are people looking for seclusion? Beyond the obvious – no one really wants to be watched in their home, backyard or garden – is an issue of security. Luxury buyers are high-net-worth individuals who want to feel safe in their home.
‘The more we give up our privacy, the more … we will crave it.’
MARY PHILBIN, Mott & Chace Sotheby’s International Realty agent
A recent survey, conducted for the real estate company Luxury Portfolio International, found security and privacy topped the must-have list for luxury buyers worldwide.
Its research focused on buyers planning to purchase homes in the $1-million-and-up range over the next three years.
When asked what makes a house a home, unnamed survey respondents cited emotional connections to a home and the need for security.
“It is the place where I sleep, so it’s where I feel most safe and comfortable,” wrote one respondent.
Another noted: “It’s extremely private and secure and is tailored to my exact needs.”
In the U.S., about 80 percent of the luxury market in single-family homes falls into the $1 million to $4 million range.
In Rhode Island, once someone moves directly off the ocean or Narragansett Bay, that buys a lot of house and yard.
One of the more substantial sales of the past year in Barrington came on an interior property on Rumstick Point. The $1.2 million sale of 3 Stone Tower Lane involved a historic stone house, on a lot of more than an acre. Originally part of a 40-acre estate created in the 1890s, the house has high hedges and mature trees that provide privacy from neighbors.
Other recent sales have included properties that border conservation lands – the ultimate in privacy if they remain undeveloped in perpetuity.
In South Kingstown, a property on 5 acres bordering a land trust recently sold for $1.4 million. The house has water views – over the private-access Potters Pond – and is not easily viewed by passersby. A look at the address on Google Street View yields only a winding entrance road off Oliver Hazard Perry Highway.
Mary Philbin, the agent at Mott & Chace who handled the sale, said several of her recent closings have involved such properties that are tucked away, private from even immediate neighbors.
“Is privacy now a luxury commodity? I think it is. I think it will become even more so in the years ahead, and it is definitely going to be something you’re going to have to pay for. Once again, the high-end buyers are in a position to do just that,” Philbin said.
Also in South Kingstown, a newly listed property is surrounded by open fields, quite literally.
The property in the Matunuck village, for sale at $2.7 million, is on nearly 15 acres not far from the Matunuck and Moonstone beaches. It has a house that was built from the same design and plans for the Andy Warhol estate in the Hamptons.
Among its features: a pond surrounded with lush landscaping doubles as a pool – it’s lined and built for swimming.
In addition to the field acreage, the listing agent, Claudia Philbrick, said the property is surrounded by conservation land on three sides. Originally part of a South County farm, the property is a rarity.
“These old coastal farms, they just don’t exist anymore. To have this swath of land, with beautiful stone walls and just acres and acres of privacy, right near the beach, is exceptional,” Philbrick said.
In Rhode Island, luxury buyers can be drawn to Newport for its social scene, as much as its landscaped vistas. The buyers who want privacy crave more space.
“The people who are very familiar with this area know, well, ‘I have access to the water, so I want my privacy, I want my acreage,’ ” Philbin said.
Tethered to a digital world, the quest for privacy at home may become stronger as years go on.
“The more we give up our privacy, the more I think we will crave it,” Philbin said.
Mary MacDonald is a staff writer for the PBN. Contact her at Macdonald@PBN.com.
