BETHEL — On April 1, Beth and Frank Walker, sold their Bethel home and surrounding seven acres at 104 Skillings Road.

Shortly after the sale was final, Beth posted on social media, “if you are selling your home and love Bethel never forgot that the highest bidder doesn’t always have to win and that in order for our community to flourish and grow it does need housing for families, staff for businesses, and individuals to dream the big dreams that keep Bethel such a special place to be.”

The couple fended off several potential buyers and a possible bidding war to sell the home with its commercial kitchen for $495,000. There was a lot of interest in the property, said Beth Walker. “[But] I knew I wanted somebody local to have the house. Obviously the market in town is kind of crazy with out-of-towners and people just getting the top dollar,” she said.

The buyers, Meryl Kelly and Brian Lenberg, of Bethel haven’t disclosed exactly what they will do with the farm. But through tears, Walker said, “We’ve been here seven years and we have put a lot into the place. Everything about it feels right. Meryl, [a local farm advocate], is the person that is supposed to be here. Her dreams are going to be beautiful. It will beautiful for the community … it’s all right.”

Bethel area patrons will surely miss the Walkers’ popular business, La Ferme, where their homemade pop tarts were a favorite. The Walkers sold bagels, baguettes, salads, chili, burritos and more on the tidy porch of their home. Nearby in a picturesque pasture were their horses, goats and donkeys.

Like the Walkers, Kelly and Lenberg paid it forward by selling their home on Grover Hill Road for an under market price to young buyers, Becca Hoskins, of Bethel, and Kerri Cooper, of Auburn.

In work clothes and doing a deep clean on their first day of home ownership, Hoskins explained that the purchase has been very scary for them and they have complicated feelings as they make this big step to buy their first home.

“We knew that for Bethel this was a steal. [But] it is [also at] the top of our budget,” said Hoskins.

“[However] if not for this situation, we wouldn’t have had this opportunity,” added Cooper.

In December, When Hoskins was still renting an apartment in Bethel, she started a GoFundMe for a friend and her two children who lost their Bethel trailer home in the December floods. Said Hoskins, “the community also stepped up in a big way with funding and donations.”

The displaced family has been living at Gould Academy but will soon move into Hoskins’ former apartment above True North Adventureware on Walkers Mills Road.

“I feel great about her getting that apartment. That apartment might be one of the only affordable ones in Bethel,” Hoskins said, adding another link to this affordability chain.

Meryl Kelly said when she and Lenberg bought the Grover Hill Road property seven and a half years ago from Bonnie Pooley, of Bethel, it was at a discounted price and was when the market was starting to surge. “She set the tone,” said Kelly.

On April 15, the Walkers will head to Houlton to live in a 1920s farmhouse where they will build a barn and start a garden. “It makes moving away that much easier, because you know that [the Bethel property] will be loved and cared for. That was the most important thing to us,” said Walker.

“If you take care of Bethel, Bethel will take care of you back,” she said.

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