Rich cribs: All in the family in Northport
The four-bedroom, 4.5-bath Victorian on Highland Avenue, which just went into contract, was built and sold in 1895. The original broker, Henry S. Mott, is the great-grandfather of Jacquie Lewisy, the Signature Premier Properties agent that most recently listed the property. Credit: Handout
Henry S. Mott, owner of the Henry S. Mott Real Estate and Insurance Exchange in Northport, was the agent of record for a home that sold in the late 1800s for $7,000.
This past week, that same home was sold again, this time for $1,049,000, by Mott's great-granddaughter, Jacquie Lewisy of Signature Premier Properties. Signature's Donna Spinoso-Gelb brought the buyer.
It seems real estate is in Lewisy's blood, which she discovered when she found her great-grandfather's real estate book in her grandmother's basement six years ago. "I knew my great- grandfather had something to do with insurance and the bank, but finding that book was when I realized he was in real estate," says Lewisy. "
book was written in the late 1880s, and it's like a Multiple Listings site, but in book form. As things sold, he would just cross them out."
The four-bedroom, 41/2-bath Victorian on Highland Avenue, which just went into contract, was built and sold in 1895. It is one of several Victorian properties in Northport that Lewisy's great-grandfather brokered. These days, Lewisy always checks the antique ledger to see if she has a connection to any homes on the market.
Lewisy has another property that appears in her secret book -- a 22-acre parcel on Duck Island that includes a 15-bedroom, eight-bath, two-half-bath Swedish-style manor house that is about to be re-listed for $8 million, after being off the market for a while and getting redecorated. Lewisy's great-grandfather sold the original 47-acre property for $25,000 in the 1920s and her grandfather installed the boiler. "When I told the family about my connection, it was a done deal. I just had to be the agent," says Lewisy.
