"As I token of appreciation for your business, I am pleased to present you with a brand new SEGWAY."
...Jay Burnham, Coldwell Banker, Beverly, MA

A what?

That was likely the reaction of many homeowners when told they would receive a Segway if they sold a home with Realtor Jay Burnham.

A Segway is an electrically powered, two-wheel, single-person vehicle in which the riders stands and steers via handle bars.

The first home sellers to complete a sale as part of the promotion went home with their new Segway - worth $5,850 - on Friday.

David and Sheila Eddison sold their Topsfield home with Burnham, a Realtor at Coldwell Banker in Beverly.

The couple moved to Mount Desert Island, Maine because David took a job at Jackson Laboratories, a nonprofit genetic research company, as an information technology manager.

Sheila Eddison was an active community volunteer and the couple had lived in their Topsfield home for 26 years.

They received the Segway, adorned with a red bow, on Friday afternoon, two hours after they closed on the sale of their house at 28 Stagecoach Road, selling to Jackie and Eddie White.

The couple's new Maine home is on 40 acres and also includes several summer cottages the couple will rent. Sheila Eddison said she can envision going from cottage to cottage on the Segway, which is the X2 model, that comes with larger, off-road type tires.

"I'm glad we have this one," Sheila Eddison said. "Given the terrain we have to go over," David Eddison said, completing her sentence.

The couple received a quick lesson on using the Segway from Burnham and MaryBeth Alosa of Segway of Northern New England. She showed them how to get on, turn it and how the "key" works.

After a few minutes the Eddisons were zooming around the back parking lot of the Coldwell Banker office on Dodge Street, with Sheila Eddison even maneuvering over a bumpy grassy area and a downed stick.

"You make a lot of friends when you are riding because you have a lot of people wanting to talk to you,' Alosa said.

The top speed of the X2 model is 12.5 miles per hour and goes 15 miles after a 6-8 hour charge.

Burnham said he was introduced to the Segway when his wife took a tour on one in Washington, D.C. in 2001.

Burnham has had his - a milder version that the Eddisons received that's more appropriate for use just on pavement - for 16 months and said he typically rides it to work several days a week in the spring, summer and fall.

The typical 10 minute car ride from his Hamilton home to his Beverly office can be done in about 15 minutes at top speed, but Burnham said it usually takes him about 20 minutes because he enjoys the scenery.

He recently began the Segway promotion, which will go "indefinitely" Burnham said. A new Segway goes to the seller of a home that's closing price is $500,000 or more.

"I want to get as many people on these as possible...it's a clean, green eco-friendly machine" he said.

...Reported in Wicked Local/Beverly, with News from the Beverly Citizen by Bobby Gates

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