ASHFIELD — Singer-songwriter Ray LaMontagne and his wife, poet Sarah Sousa, have sold their 104-acre estate on Bullitt Road for $4.5 million, breaking a record for home sales in the region.

“They were a dream to work with,” said real estate agent Herb Butzke of William Pitt Sotheby’s International Realty in Great Barrington. “They were very, very kind folks. They took very high pride in what they’ve done to the house.”

Butzke shared that LaMontagne and Sousa have bought a house elsewhere in New England and will be moving in soon. 

According to the Franklin County Registry of Deeds, the property at 369 Bullitt Road, which was listed at $5.25 million, sold for $4.5 million to a Whately-based limited liability company, managed by Jenelle Wilkins, director of operations at Quonquont Farm in Whately.

The sale surpasses the Pioneer Valley record of $2.35 million for a property in Westhampton, and $2.34 for properties at 176 and 192 Burnt Hill Road in Charlemont, according to Butzke, who co-listed the property with Gladys Montgomery.

“We had several showings,” Butzke said. “Generally, for a house priced that high, the pool of folks looking at it is a lot lower, but given the quality of the house and how the house looks, we had a lot of interest.”

According to the property listing, the estate was originally built by a local farming family before being purchased in the early 1920s by William Bullitt, the U.S. ambassador to Russia and France, who used it as a summer retreat.

The property has since undergone several additions and improvements, and now comprises a circa 1811 Federal-style farmhouse; a renovated 40-by-80-foot three-story barn and garage from the mid-1800s; a new 22-by-44-foot,two-story post-and-beam carriage house; a 1920s-era three-car garage; a new stone cottage with a beamed interior and fireplace; and a small post-and-beam livestock barn with a pasture. The main residence has five bedrooms, five bathrooms and 10,747 square feet.

“It was a beautiful house, probably one of the nicest houses I’ve been in,” Butzke said.

Additionally, LaMontagne and Sousa had utility and building code renovations done between 2009 and 2012 after buying the property in 2008.

“When they purchased the house, it was pretty much down to the studs, so they renovated the entire thing,” Butzke said. “You could tell how much they cared for the house by the way they put it back together.”

Reporter Mary Byrne can be reached at mbyrne@recorder.com or 413-930-4429. Twitter (X): @MaryEByrne.