Have you ever wondered where the 40B (low income) developments are in Falmouth. The list below was provided to real estate professionals recently. The list includes the developer/applicant, acreage, zoning information, number of units, etc. Some people don't want to be in or near a 40B subdivision. Their perception is that a 40B development is like the infamous "projects" so many cities have. But, this is not correct. A 40B project is known as a "low income" development. This is not the same as Section 8 income assistance.  In a 40B development, 25% of the properties for sale are made available to buyers who have an income below the average for the area. Those buyers still have to qualify for a loan, with good credit, an income, etc., but they are given a "break" on the purchase price o... 10/20/2009

(While this information is specific to Falmouth, MA, a smart investor will take note and include the information as they research property in other locations.) In the town of Falmouth, we occasionally have property for sale with "Accessory Apartments".  This means that besides the main residence there is an attached or detached "other" residence on the same property. While there are many Falmouth residences being used as accessory apartments, not all of them are approved by the town. What does approved have to do with anything? Approved is a protection for tenants, owners, and even lenders. Without town approval, a property may not be able to be insured correctly. This could be a problem for the owner if they need to repair something, it could also be a problem for a tenant if they have... 10/20/2009

Monday November 23rd 7PM the Falmouth High School faculty and staff will exchange their good reputations for your contributions for to the Falmouth Juniors' Class Fund.  It will be held in the FHS Auditorium and all seats are genera admission. Get there early to avoid standing in the back! Tickets will be available at the door. Admission is either $5 or $4 and a canned good for the Falmouth Service Center. While the Juniors like to support the Falmouth Service Center, they also hope you'll contribute to their class fund which helps with prom and graduation costs.  Come see teachers and staff dance, sing and generally make fools of themselves. All funds collected will go to support the Class of 2011.  Donations of food will go to the Falmouth Service Center. 10/19/2009

The traditional Powder Puff Football Game between the Junior and Senior girls will be held on Tuesday, November 24th.  It will begin at 6:30 PM at the FHS soccer field. There will also be a rally for the Clipper football team at half time of the traditional Senior Junior girls flag football game. Some students are planning a Tailgate Party to begin at 5PM in the faculty parking lot.  In order to hold this event, parent assistance will be needed. Parent volunteers are needed to cook and to oversee student set up and clean up. Donations of hamburgers, hot dogs, rolls, chips, soda, water, condiments and paper goods are being sought from parents of the kids involved. Gas grills will be needed as well. There will be a sign up in the field house lobby in the main entrance during the FHS Open ... 10/19/2009

Mercury is a naturally occurring element. It is used in many common items today. Proper disposal of mercury can help us all stay healthier.  While mercury is an element, our bodies don't break it down so it can build up and slowly poison humans. When you replace an old thermostat with a new, more efficient digital one, make sure that the mercury in the old thermostat goes to the proper recycler. When you replace the fluorescent bulbs in your home or office, whether the long tubes or the newer compact versions, make sure that the bulb goes to the proper recycler. Some batteries contain mercury, so put on your glasses and read the fine print before you just throw it in the trash can. Here in Falmouth, MA, our local recycling center (the dump) has a special place for things that contain ha... 10/06/2009

The days are getting shorter already! But today was a beautiful day on Cape Cod! There were leaf peepers here on the Cape, trying to see as much of New England as one trip would allow. I had some Italians (real ones, not just from the North End) in yesterday asking about how to get to the Vineyard. And there was a broker in from Colorado checking out the Cape. Today, others came from off Cape just to enjoy the off season on Cape Cod. One tourist told me that the Avis rental agent at Logan Airport said they are renting 1200 cars a day just at their locations.  Thats a lot of leaf lookers! 10/06/2009

$550,000,000! That is Five Hundred and Fifty MILLION Dollars! In A Down Economy! For Construction! Well it must be a good project! Plymouth Rock Studios announced today that it has secured a $550 million construction loan from a Florida company called Prosperity International. Now the Plymouth Rock Studios can close on the Waverly Oaks Golf Course and begin building! "Building what?," you ask. The high tech complex will consist of 14 sound stages, a 10-acre back lot, production and post-production facilities, a theater and amenity (shops/entertainment) village. Producers will now be able to make movies and television shows from start to finish at one site in southeastern MA!  If you haven't looked at MAss real estate lately, now is a good time to start!   09/25/2009

How often should you move the dryer and vacuum around the laundry room - even the walls? The professionals say twice a year. Maybe if you plan to do it twice a year you will get it done once. This is in addition to removing the vent hose to clean the lint build up in it. Electric dryers and gas dryers should be cleaned more often when there are a large number of loads being done.  Do you at least clean the lint screen when you put a new load in? That can reduce the time it takes to dry a load. Cleaning your dryer is not only a good for keeping you home safe from fire hazards, it can help with energy efficiency, too. Happy listing and selling real estate! 09/25/2009

Hollywood East, the brain child of some experienced movie executives from Californiahas secured their construction financing! What does this mean? JOBS JOBS JOBS!!! Not only are there construction jobs coming soon, but the 14 sound stages, 10 acre back lot, production facilities, offices, hotels, and shopping area will bring in more than 2000 jobs after construction. When you add the ancillary businesses and opportunities that will come to this area as supporting jobs, there could be as many a 20,000 new jobs. Coupled with the new interest from notable people who want to have a home to use while they are doing business at the new studios, it's a beautiful day on Cape Cod! See: http://bit.ly/19yNcZ for the video of the signing. http://bit.ly/3tLi3K to learn what Plymouth Rock Studios and... 09/24/2009

I was honored to be invited to the 102nd Intelligence Wing Family Day last weekend at Otis Air Force Base. It is a time when the base awards service men and thanks friends and family of those serving. One of my good friends, Technical Sergeant Scott Manamon, received two awards from his commanders. The day was full of good music, proud families and friends, and recognition of those soldiers and airmen who are working hard to keep us safe. The personell at Otis have gone through a change from being a fighter wing to becoming an intelligence wing. I was glad to be present, and I know his family is very proud of him. 09/15/2009

I remember a friend running into my office asking if I had heard that New York was under attack. I remember wondering what else was being attacked. I remember going home and watching the reality on TV. I remember when the buildings fell.   I remember seeing the radar that showed no planes in the air. I remember that a local pilot was originally scheduled to fly one of the planes. I remembering wondering if my kids would be growing up in world at war. I remember stories of local muslims cheering the catastrophe.   I remember being angry at the comentators who had explained how to do this after the first bombing in NY. I remember the silence after the buildings fell. I remember hearing the local families that had relatives in the buildings. I remember meeting a local emergency responder w... 09/10/2009

We had the Falmouth MA Cape CodMLS tour this morning. One of the homes for sale is owned by Julia O'Malley-Keyes. The home is actually a good value, but the home is filled with her art! While the 4 bedroom 2 bath Cape style home is cozy, and the aparently buildable lot is an interesting added value, her paintings that look like photographs are very pleasantly distracting! She has the gift of being able to make her brush appear to be a photograph. I found her on the Internet, but the duplicates of her realistic paintings that are on her site, pale to the clarity of a personal viewing. She was actually there while we toured he home, and she had just received notice of 6 commissioned paintings for someone she called the CEO of of the Panama Canal. If you're in Falmouth looking for art, loo... 09/09/2009

There was a car show on the Falmouth Library Lawn last Saturday. I was in town opening the office and kept noticing an unusual stream of classic and collector cars driving by. Before long, they began to park on the library lawn across from my Main Street office. I took some pictures of the array. There was a Packard, many Corvettes, and various examples of other collectibles. It was quite a selection. 09/08/2009

On Wednesday, Trish Favuli from the Falmouth Assessor's office met with the MLS tour attendees and answered questions. Here are my notes: The fiscal values for 2010 will be based on sales in 2008.  But, the new tax rate won't be calculated until the town meeting members decide if there will be a newer higher meals and room tax.  New assessments will be based on sale values.  Foreclosures are not used when comparing properties in the assessor's office. Some betterments do not show up online (nor on telnet) - so beware when researching prospective listings. The New Silver Beach betterment will be spread over 20 years, but the interest rate hasn't been determined yet. That betterment is not assumable. When looking at assessor's info, the effective year is the last year that the building de... 09/03/2009

Now that summer is winding down, it's time to do all those things that you wanted to do but somehow didn't get to. Although many of the summer activities will soon give way to special fall events, there is still time to take advantage of some summer activites. Click here for information on Lobster on the Lawn Mondays in Falmouth, MA. There's still time. 08/27/2009

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Copyright photo by Kathleen Ann Pacheco-Corbett, all rights reserved and may not be reproduced without the written permission of Kathleen Ann Pacheco-Corbett, The Buyer's Choice, Lincoln, RI.  Permission granted with a link back to my website and/or blog providing site is appropriate for all ages.  Thank you.  We want to be your "Personal Realtors for Life"                                                                             http://www.thebuyerschoice.com                                                                                                        KATHLEEN ANN PACHECO-CORBETT                                Office 401-725-5608     Cell 401-556-6911   Fax 401-423-4377                                 ... 08/25/2009

                                                      Dec. 31, 2008     May 15, 2009     July 31, 2009 Units on the market                          56                         76                      68 Average sales per month                  4.5                         3                        4 Our absorption rate*                12.4 Months           25.3 Months    17 Months *Absorption Rate: The number of months that it would take for all condos presently on the market to be sold. A balanced market is around 5 months. Sales % of original list price                   85.3%            85.2%                  89.5% Sales % of list price (at time of sale)      92.7%            94.57%                94.1% Here are some statistics by price range:                                 0-299,000  ... 08/23/2009

  ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Copyright photo by Kathleen Ann Pacheco-Corbett, all rights reserved and may not be reproduced without the written permission of Kathleen Ann Pacheco-Corbett, The Buyer's Choice, Lincoln, RI.  Permission granted with a link back to my website and/or blog providing site is appropriate for all ages.  Thank you.                                                                     We want to be your "Personal Realtors for Life"                                                         http://www.thebuyerschoice.com                                                                                                        KATHLEEN ANN PACHECO-CORBETT                                Office 401-725-5608     Cell 401-556-6911   ... 08/09/2009

  ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Copyright photo by Kathleen Ann Pacheco-Corbett, all rights reserved and may not be reproduced without the written permission of Kathleen Ann Pacheco-Corbett, The Buyer's Choice, Lincoln, RI.  Permission granted with a link back to my website and/or blog providing site is appropriate for all ages.  Thank you.                                                                     We want to be your "Personal Realtors for Life"                                                         http://www.thebuyerschoice.com                                                                                                        KATHLEEN ANN PACHECO-CORBETT                                Office 401-725-5608     Cell 401-556-6911  ... 08/09/2009

  ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Copyright photo by Kathleen Ann Pacheco-Corbett, all rights reserved and may not be reproduced without the written permission of Kathleen Ann Pacheco-Corbett, The Buyer's Choice, Lincoln, RI.  Permission granted with a link back to my website and/or blog providing site is appropriate for all ages.  Thank you.                                                                     We want to be your "Personal Realtors for Life"                                                         http://www.thebuyerschoice.com                                                                                                        KATHLEEN ANN PACHECO-CORBETT                                Office 401-725-5608     Cell 401-556-6911   ... 08/06/2009