Jet-Set in Siasconset

What: Three bedrooms, three ½ baths in 2,800 square feet on 2.5 acres.

Where: Siasconset, on Nantucket Island, off the Massachusetts mainland

Amenities: More than 300 feet of beach, ocean views from every room, views of Sesachacha Pond, Quidnet Village and Sankaty Lighthouse from master bedroom. Two fireplaces, library, and built-in bar. English garden and Scottish stone walls in the yard.

Asking Price: $5.9 million.

Opening Bid*: $5.6 million.

Agent: Jeff Lee, Lee Real Estate, 508-325-5800

Due Diligence: This house, built in 1875 as a retreat for a Boston nunnery, is one of the original homes on the north bluff of Siasconset, about 10 miles east of the town of Nantucket. Owner Walter Wilson, an insurance agent from Houston, purchased the summer home on Sankaty Head Road -- next door to the popular Sankaty Head Lighthouse on the island's easternmost tip and kitty-corner to the Sankaty Head Golf Club's fifth tee -- in 1990 for about $430,000. He overhauled the floors, foundation, plumbing and electrical systems, added dormers on the second floor and built a garage with a one-bedroom, one-bath guest house. Due to some erosion on Nantucket's east side, Mr. Wilson moved the house inland by 100 feet; it's now 150 feet from the ocean, and the rate of erosion is about 1.5 feet per year. Mr. Wilson says he is selling the house, appropriately named "Sea Watch," because he is buying another parcel of land in Siasconset, where he will build a new house.

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*The opening bid is Weekend Journal's estimate of a reasonable starting point for negotiations to buy the property, based on past sales, prevailing market conditions and interviews with local real-estate experts.

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