How Brie Stephens Turned a Stalled Listing Into a Lakefront Success Story

Brie Stephens spotted the opportunity long before anyone else did. A half-acre lot on Boathouse Road in Moultonborough had been sitting on the market without a buyer. It offered 100 feet of frontage on the water, 100 feet in the back, southwest-facing exposure, and a gently sloping lot that practically described its own future. To Brie, the vision was obvious: this was a spec build waiting to happen, the kind of site made for an Adirondack-style home on one of New Hampshire's most sought-after lakes.



And yet it expired without a contract.



Brie Stephens leads Lake Life Realty at Compass, the top-performing lakefront real estate team in New Hampshire's Lakes Region, and even early in her career she had a nose for what lakefront buyers were really looking for. She started reaching out, hoping to become the next listing agent. But while she worked to get ahold of the seller, she kept talking about the property to anyone who would listen, describing the site, the orientation, the pricing, and the potential.

Eventually, the people closest to her started paying attention. Her father and his business partner had been hearing her describe this lot for long enough that the vision stuck. They weren't builders by trade, but they knew the right builder, and they trusted Brie's read on the market.



Through persistent outreach, Brie finally reached the seller directly. Rather than simply relisting the property, she negotiated an off-market purchase on behalf of her father and his business partner at a fair market value price that worked for everyone involved. No bidding war. No public exposure. Just a well-timed conversation with the right people in the room.



Lake Life Realty specializes in luxury waterfront properties on Lake Winnipesaukee and throughout the NH Lakes Region, and this deal reflected exactly that expertise: understanding not just what a property is worth today, but what it can become.

What followed was a project Brie describes as a genuine passion project, though with serious money on the line. She collaborated with her father and his business partner on the design direction, helping guide the vision toward what lakefront buyers in this market actually want. The Adirondack aesthetic she had imagined for the property from the beginning took shape, and she stayed involved from the first conversation through the final closing.



They sold the finished home at full asking price.



The timing turned out to matter even more than they had anticipated. A neighboring property had been a question mark throughout the project, and uncertainty about its future development had the potential to impact value. Another buyer went under contract on that neighboring lot right around the time they were selling, which could have complicated things significantly. But the sale was already done, and to this day that neighboring property remains undeveloped.



Right timing. Right strategy. Right outcome.



Brie Stephens was named to NAR's 30 Under 30 and has closed over $128 million in lakefront property sales, and stories like this one help explain why. Seeing a property's full potential, connecting the right people to the right opportunity, and knowing when to move are skills that compound over time. This deal, early in her career, was a preview of the instincts that would define it.