Is a Beaver Pond Keeping This Gem From Selling?

At the end of Bridle Path stands a big yellow house on 3.6 acres of secluded land and an interior fit for a magazine. You'd think people would be racing to put offers in, but it's been so difficult to sell that the price was just reduced by $200,000.

"I can't figure out why this house isn't selling," Margo Kealler, the homeowner, said as she walked into her gourmet kitchen. "This kitchen was once in a magazine."

Kealler -- who runs her business, Park Street Travel, out of her home -- believes what's keeping buyers away isn't inside the house, but rather outside. Down a slope from her house sits a beaver pond, and Kealler said several potential buyers have shown up, looked at the pond and left.

Kealler and her husband built the house at 257 Bridle Path 33 years ago. Now she plans to retire and move to Atlanta, but she must sell this house. So this past week, she dropped the price from $1.2 million to $999,900.

"I'm really upset about the price, because that's my retirement, but I don't know what else to do," she said. "No one's complained about the price though. I can't drop it any lower than that."

It's that pond, she said, adding that some potential buyers have expressed concerns about having their children near it. Kealler met with town officials recently, but they said there is nothing they can do because the pond is protected land.

Beaver ponds are not known to be problematic for homeowners. Rarely will a beaver go near humans or pets. In fact, for many people, a pond is an added bonus. It's protected so no one can ever build there. Kealler said she's never even seen the beavers in the Bridle Path pond. And there are geese, blue herons and many other birds that add to the scenery.

"Someone said to me, 'you have a bird-seeker's paradise here,'" she said.

With a classic old-school colonial look, the upgrades in this 5,225-square-foot house give it a modern "wow" factor, blended with traditional New England elegance. The house has six bedrooms and sits near Lake Cochichewick, with the woods in back stretching all the way to Smolak Farms.

"There's so much privacy here," Kealler said. After three decades, she still marvels at the home.

In addition to the gourmet kitchen, the house has a formal dining room accented molding and a fireplace, two master bedroom suites (one with a marble bath), and more.

With any luck, someone will grab that bird-seeker's paradise soon and Margo Kealler can retire in peace.