729 Old Merry Hill Rd

A 1902 farmhouse listed at 3,620 square feet on 2.69 acres for $349,000, which works out to about $96 a square foot, with a wrap-around porch, a metal roof, and farm fields on every side. It sits in Bertie County near the Albemarle Sound and the town of Edenton. The listing is honest that it has been a seasonal hunting camp and needs a few updates to be a full-time home, and the numbers behind the square footage need a careful look before anyone gets attached to the price per foot.

The land and setting

The lot is 2.69 acres. The aerials show the house in a stand of mature trees with open, worked farmland on all sides, and the listing includes an aerial with the parcel outlined: a long rectangle running back from the road with the house near the front. On the ground there is a mown field behind the house with a tree line at the back, a metal carport with a storage outbuilding, and a dirt drive coming in between the trees.

The listing describes the setting as tucked away but within reach of the waterfront, the Albemarle Sound, and Edenton, and the surroundings as natural beauty and farmland. Road frontage is listed as city street and state road, with the frontage type given only as “see remarks.” Zoning is listed as n/a. Water is public and the house is on a septic tank.

The house

The house was built in 1902 and public records show a renovation year of 1952. It is a two-story frame house with wood siding, a metal roof, a crawl space, and a wrap-around front and side porch. The listing gives it four bedrooms, or five depending on how you use the rooms, with two full baths and one half bath, and a primary suite on the main level. The photos show wood floors through most of the first floor, a fireplace in the entry hall, a family room with a wood stove on a brick hearth under exposed beams, a kitchen with wood cabinets, a gas range, and a stainless refrigerator, and a game room with a pool table. Upstairs the bedrooms are a mix of painted wood floors and carpet, and one has a window air unit.

Heat is propane and a wood stove. Cooling is central air plus ceiling fans, and here the listing adds a note that matters: 2,069 square feet has central HVAC, and 1,453 square feet is “conditioned with portable methods,” which the photos suggest means window units. The water heater is electric. The listing describes the house as recently used seasonally as a hunting camp, and says a few updates would make it a full-time home. The photos back that up: it reads clean and cared for, but furnished as a camp, with several rooms set up as bunk rooms.

Now the square footage. The MLS listing says 3,620 square feet. The two HVAC figures in the same listing add up to 3,522. Public records on the same page show 1,120 finished square feet and 3 baths where the listing says 2.5. That is a very large gap, and the listing does not explain it. Before an appraisal, get the county’s current record and the measurement the agent is using, and expect the appraiser to measure it themselves.

The facts

Price	$349,000 (listed May 4, 2026, went contingent May 22, relisted August 18)
Acreage	2.69 acres
Beds / baths / sqft	4 (or 5, per the listing) / 2 full, 1 half / 3,620 listed (public record: 1,120 finished, 3 baths)
Year built	1902 (public record renovation year 1952)
Property taxes	$1,425 (2025), on a $147,219 assessment
HOA	None listed
Financing	Not listed
Water	Public
Sewer	Septic tank
Power	Electric service (electric water heater and window units shown), propane for heat and range
Internet	Not listed
Heating / cooling	Propane and wood stove heat. Central air on 2,069 sq ft, portable cooling on 1,453 sq ft
Road access	City street and state road frontage per the listing, frontage type “see remarks”
Zoning	Not listed (MLS shows n/a)
Flood zone	FEMA zone not listed. First Street Flood Factor 1 of 10 per the listing page
Days on market	25 since the August 18 relist, first listed May 4, 2026
Listing agent	MaryScott Perry Haigler, 252-333-2741
Brokerage	Perry & Co Sotheby’s International Realty, 252-482-4785
Agent email	maryscott@pacsir.com
MLS	Hive MLS #100571659

What to know before you call

This suits someone who wants a lot of old house and a few acres of open ground for the money, is comfortable with propane, wood heat, and a septic system, and has a budget for updates. As a camp or a country second home it is close to ready. As a full-time house it needs the work the listing itself points to.

The catches, in order of size. First, the square footage: the listing’s 3,620 and the public record’s 1,120 cannot both be right, and the price per foot that makes this look cheap depends entirely on which one is. Second, the cooling: only 2,069 square feet has central air, and the rest relies on window units, which also says something about the insulation and wiring of a 1902 house. Third, the market history: the property went under contract eighteen days after listing in May and came back on the market in August, and the listing does not say why. Ask. Fourth, the unknowns: financing terms, internet, the FEMA flood zone, and the ages of the roof, septic system, and electrical service are not stated anywhere in the listing.

Taxes are modest at $1,425 for 2025 on a $147,219 assessment, but note that the assessment has not moved since 2020 and the sale will likely trigger a new one. The last recorded sale was $156,100 in March 2015.

For the same money, the four-bedroom on 0.99 acres in Waynesboro, Tennessee is a fully updated house with public sewer and less land, which is the opposite trade. Everything we are spotlighting right now is on the properties page.

Showings go through the listing agent, MaryScott Perry Haigler at Perry & Co Sotheby’s International Realty, at 252-333-2741 or maryscott@pacsir.com, or the office at 252-482-4785. If you want the next one like this before it goes out on the channels, the Monday email is where it lands first.