One of the Mounce Mansions on Avondale Road has been listed by Eastern Valley Real Estate Ltd. for $434,900.
The listing has only been active for two days, but it’s already gone viral, with over 400,000 clicks on their website as of Feb. 8.
One of the Mounce Mansions on Avondale Road has been listed by Eastern Valley Real Estate Ltd. for $434,900.
The listing has only been active for two days, but it’s already gone viral, with over 400,000 clicks on their website as of Feb. 8.
Wanda Graves, a real estate agent with Eastern Valley Real Estate, said she’s never seen anything like it.
“It’s been pretty amazing, I think a lot of it has been generated through Facebook with the shares from there,” Graves said. “We were very surprised with how much exposure it was getting.”
The Facebook post has more than 13,000 shares, 5,000 comments and 7,000 reactions, as of late Feb. 8.
Graves said the firm hadn’t expected such a huge response, with interested callers from British Columbia, Ontario and even as far away as Ireland.
“I thought it would generate some interest, given the size of the house, the location and of course the price,” she said. “I knew we’d be busy with it, but not to this level.”
Graves said Eastern Valley has been getting lots of interest from potential buyers, with multiple bookings scheduled throughout the next couple of weeks. Many of those interested buyers are coming from the Halifax area, she said.
VIDEO: Stunning video, photo tour of historic mansion for sale in Newport Landing
Many have used pop culture references to compare the listing to a haunted house, Downton Abbey, Beauty and the Beast and more.
“The poltergeist comments people are making has gotten to me, but I haven’t seen any down there,” she said. “I’ve been there quite a bit on my own, spent some time in the house by myself, and haven’t had any issues. So either they don’t exist or they’re OK with me.”
Graves said the mansion has a grandiose look and feel, with a crystal door, a grand foyer and original woodworking throughout.
She said that the firm has received some interest from business clients, who are looking into the possibility of turning the building into a bed and breakfast or an inn.
The property is currently zoned as residential, so a business would need to apply to the municipality to change the zoning.
Graves said the building does need work but is structurally sound.
“The exterior needs some painting, there’s some boards that need to be replaced, it’s more of that type of thing,” she said. “A buyer may want to change the inside, which might be a shame, but some may want to modernize it.”
Garnet Caldwell, owner and broker of Eastern Valley Real Estate, said he’s never seen a real estate post like this spread so fast.
“Social media is relatively new to us in our industry, we certainly have had properties before that have drawn a lot of interest,” Caldwell said. “But it’s the first time in our social media world that we’ve seen this happen.”
Caldwell said the property has been listed with different real estate companies over the last few years at different price points.
“It’s a wow-factor house, there aren’t too many like it around,” he said. “There’s a twin house to it next door that was for sale and sold recently.”
HantsJournal.ca will have more on the historic property shortly, including an interactive look inside.
About 98 Avondale Road, also known as one of the Mounce Mansions
Assessed at: $625,400
Bedrooms: 7
Bathrooms 2.5
Size: 7,000-square feet
Heating: Baseboard, furnace, hot water
Listing Size: 3.17 Acres
Age: 107 years
Tax rate: $1.0163 per $100 assessed value = $6,316.54 a year
