Homeowner's Gamble on Eroding Nantucket Bluff Pays Off, For Now

Five years ago, Charles and Miglena Fotopoulos purchased a 1951 cottage at 93 Baxter Road, perched precariously on Nantucket's Sconset Bluff, for $899,000. At the time, the property was noted as an unusual sub-$1 million sale on the island, and the house itself was alarmingly close to the bluff's edge. Despite the obvious risks associated with the eroding coastline, the Fotopouloses' gamble that the house would remain standing for at least five years appears to have paid off.

Just a few feet of land now separate the back of the home from a 40-foot drop to the beach below. When the house was built, the ocean was hundreds of yards away. Decades of erosion have claimed neighboring properties.

Charles Fotopoulos, a Massachusetts car dealer, acknowledged the precarious situation when the sale closed in September 2021. "It was cheap and I said ‘hey, I’ll buy it’,” he told the Nantucket Current. "The foundation is structurally sound, and with the geotubes there, unless we have a killer storm, I think we’re safe. A lot of people think I’m crazy, but if I get five years out of it, I think I’m good. I’ll take that any day.”

Indeed, five years later, the house is still standing, as are the geotubes—large sand-filled fabric bags installed at the base of the bluff to absorb wave energy—though they have sustained damage. The view from the living room is described as both "great" and "scary."

Past Owners and Coastal Defense

The sellers, Steven and Erin Freeman, reportedly lost approximately $631,000 on the property. They had purchased it for $1.53 million in 2007, when 50 to 70 feet of land buffered the home from the edge. The Freemans attempted to mitigate the erosion by moving the house closer to the road in 2010 and undertaking unauthorized bluff work in 2017, which resulted in an enforcement order from the island's Conservation Commission.

They were also involved with the Sconset Beach Preservation Fund, a group financing the geotubes. Despite the losses, their broker indicated they were aware of the risks involved in the purchase. It is estimated that the Freemans may have recouped some of their investment through summer rentals, with peak weeks fetching up to $10,000.

The current owners have also utilized the property for rentals, advertising it in September 2025 for $10,000 a month and listing it for $29,500 per month this past summer.

Ongoing Debates Over Erosion Control

The geotubes themselves have become a point of contention. The Nantucket Conservation Commission voted in 2021 to remove them, an order the preservation group did not follow. This year has seen significant damage to the geotubes from storms, with concerns raised by the commission's chair in March about the project's potential "complete failure."

A proposal to expand the armoring measures was narrowly defeated by voters at the Town Meeting this spring. However, a Superior Court judge sided with the expansion permit in August. The Conservation Commission has indicated it might allow repairs to a section damaged by suspected vandalism in January. Further complicating matters, state environmental regulators identified a dozen unresolved issues with the proposal in a letter dated August 31.

Opponents of the extensive armoring argue that the presence of older homes, like the Fotopouloses' cottage, provides the legal basis for such structural interventions. "The presence of that pre-1978 house is what provides the legal justification, in part, for the permitting of hard armoring,” stated D. Anne Atherton of the Nantucket Coastal Conservancy.

The Fotopouloses are not affiliated with the preservation fund. As their five-year mark passes, the cottage remains standing, but the long-term future of the property and the bluff it sits upon remains uncertain.