Sheila Bair Takes Her Amherst Mass., Home Off the Market

Even Sheila Bair, chairman of the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp, can’t sell her house. Last week, Ms. Bair removed her 14-room colonial in Amherst, Mass., from the market after reducing its sale price by $100K. It’s a familiar story as the housing crisis unfolds across the country.

WSJ: After listing the five-bedroom property in April, the couple cut the price to $745,000 less than three weeks later, then reduced it again before withdrawing the listing. Ms. Bair’s real-estate agent, Stephen Feldman, of Prudential Sawicki Real Estate, declined comment. An FDIC spokesman said Ms. Bair decided to remove the listing and wait for the market to improve on the advice of her real-estate agent. The family will continue to lease the house to its tenants. Ms. Bair and her family currently rent a house in Maryland.

Houses in downtown Amherst are a tough sell in the current economy, said Linda Rotti, a sales manager at Jones Group Realty, another agent in town. The downtown location, extensive remodeling and size of Ms. Bair’s house — it has 3,630 square feet of living space — pose difficulties, Ms. Rotti said.

Ms. Bair paid $355,000 for the colonial house in 2002.

Photo: WSJ

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