A custom home Carol and Alan J. Bernon built on Everglades Island has sold for $9.7 million to part-time Palm Beachers Jeffrey A. and Martha Brown Libert and a trust, according to the deed recorded Monday by the Palm Beach County Clerk’s office.

Carol Bernon owned 575 Island Drive — a five-bedroom house completed in 2010 with nearly 6,900 square feet of living space, inside and out — individually and through a revocable trust in her name, property records show. The Bernons bought the property for about $6.28 million in 2005, using another trust named after the address, according to public records. They demolished a house there and built the one that just sold. The sale was handled on both sides by Fite Shavell Associates.

Martha Brown Libert, a licensed psychologist, is retired from a private practice in Boston. Her husband has spent his career in real estate development and financing, and is today chairman of Forest Properties Management, a company he owns in Newton, Mass. The company is described on its website as a “full-service property management and asset-repositioning firm, specializing in personalized management of residential properties.”

Alan Bernon is a founding investor and advisory board member of Sequel Holdings L.P., a private-equity firm in Dallas, where the Bernons also have a residence. He is a senior adviser and president of the affiliate division of Dairy Farmers of America. He is also a former executive and director at Dallas-based Dean Foods Co.

Sold quickly

Agents Paula Wittmann and Dorita Barrett had co-listed the Island Drive property in March for $11.9 million. Wittmann said the Liberts were the first house-hunters to tour the property.

“It went under contract in four days,” said Wittmann, adding that the sale was marked “pending” in the Palm Beach Board of Realtors Multiple Listing Service on April 2.

Wittmann’s husband is builder Paul Wittmann of Wittmann Building Corp., the firm that built the house for the Bernons. Architect Harold Smith of Smith and Moore Architects in West Palm Beach designed it in an eclectic style with French-style detailing.

The house stands on the west side of the island on a lot four houses north of the Island Road bridge. Fite Shavell’s sales listing mentioned the home’s “refined finishes and custom millwork,” as well as its sunset views. A new deepwater dock was installed in 2010.

Agents Gary Little and Lynn Warren represented the Liberts, described by Warren as longtime clients. Since 2004, the Liberts have owned a four-bedroom home at 4 Windsor Court on the North End, property records show, and Little and Warren have listed that house for sale at about $4.5 million.

Two years ago, the Liberts began shopping for a waterfront house, Warren said. But they had trouble finding what they were looking for, Warren said, because better-quality and newer waterfront homes have been in short supply in the years since the recession began. Many homeowners simply haven’t put them on the market, fearing that the prices they would fetch would be too low. Likewise, many developers of custom and “spec” homes — also deterred by the recession — have only lately returned to the island’s market to begin building anew.

The Island Drive house, however, easily met his clients’ expectations, Warren said, thanks to its waterfront location, logically arranged floor plan, first-floor master bedroom and plentiful guest rooms.

“They were very educated about the market, and they knew pretty much what they wanted,” she said. “Walking into this house, it just felt good. They were there only 45 minutes.”

With interiors decorated by William R. Eubanks Interior Design, the house was in “pristine condition,” Paula Wittmann said. “It was like a model home in every way.”

Dated June 29, the deed lists the Liberts as “tenants by the entirety” who share 50 percent of the ownership of the house with a descendants trust linked to a grantor attained annuity trust in Martha Libert’s name. Her husband and Boston attorney Robert A. Vigoda serve as trustees of that entity.

Mortgage satisfied

The Bernons had signed a $5 million, 30-year mortgage on the house with JPMorgan Chase Bank in February 2011 and paid the note off in April of this year, property records show. The Bernons’ family office and foundation are based in Franklin, Mass., where Alan Bernon spent much of his early career expanding his family’s regional dairy business, Garelick Farms. That business was sold in 1997 to a company that acquired Dean Foods Co. but retained its name.

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ISLAND HOT SPOT

In addition to the just-closed deal for 575 Island Drive, Everglades Island and nearby Island Road have seen several other sales this year.

* A house at 320 Island Road, on the street connecting the island to Palm Beach, sold for $9.7 million in February; Sotheby’s International Realty handled both sides of the transaction.

* A vacant lot at 657 Island Drive sold in March for $5 million in a deal put together by Sotheby’s International Real Estate.

* A house at 757 Island Drive changed hands in April for a recorded $13.5 million in a deal brokered by Linda A. Gary Real Estate.

* A house at 670 Island Drive sold in May for a recorded $5.72 million. Corcoran Group had the listing, and Christian Angle Real Estate represented the buyer.