Marietta's Seventy-one Reasons To Live on Cape Cod

I have lived in Harwich all my life except for college and a few years in New York and Washington. Here are 71 reasons I love living on Cape Cod . . .

1. Close to nature in every direction. 2. Beautiful Cape Cod house architecture 3. Historic references to many important things in our present-day culture 4. Interesting people live here. 5. Cape Cod Restaurants=sport 6. Many of the things that make Cape Cod so physically beautiful are also environmentally appropriate 7. Town meeting form of government 8. Many volunteer opportunities 9. Each Cape Cod town has a distinct character and look. 10. 365 ponds 11. Lifelong learning classes through several institutions 12. Golf year round on Cape Cod 14. Glass 15. 15 Cape Cod towns=15 solutions to governmental matters 16. Back roads 17. Cape Cod's summer League baseball (where many baseball stars have started out) 18. W.H.A.T. 19. Slower pace of life 20. Lighthouses 21. Rail Trail 22. Rosa Rugosa 23. Shellfishing 24. Sandy Neck 25. Stargazing: less light pollution 26. Watching the full moon rise over the outer beach at Chatham Light 27. Mild Cape Cod winters 28. Indian Summer 29. Worldwide recognition of the Cape Cod name and shape 30. Cranberries 31. Atlantic Flyway for birders 32. Thacher Shore Road, Yarmouthport 33. Jag 34. Heritage Plantation in Sandwich 35. Ferries to Nantucket 36. Cape Cod Air's colorful planes 37. Whale watching 38. Cape Cod National Seashore 39. Lobster bisque at the Brewster Fish House 40. Cape Symphony Orchestra 41. Window boxes 42. Chatham's walking Main Street 43. Barnstable Harbor 44. Cape Cod Photo Workshops 45. Ross' Grille in P'town 46. Art's Dune Buggy Rides 47. Cape Cod summer camps for kids 48. Cat boats 49. Fog 50. Cape Cod Lavender Farm 51. Art galleries 52. Antique auctions 53. Harwich Junior Theater 54. First night in Chatham 55. Brewster in Bloom parade 56. Seashell driveways 57. Birdwatchers' General Store in Orleans 58. Breakfast at Jack's Outback in Yarmouth 59. Cape Cod striper Fishing 60. Cape Cod Cinema season tickets 61. Cape Cod Bay and Nantucket Sound water = ideal temps for swimmers 62. 90 minutes to Providence or Boston 63. Bus service direct to Logan Airport 64. No big box stores 65. Lectures at Fine Arts Work Center, Provincetown 66. Wellfleet Flea Market 67. Camping 68. Kayaking on Pleasant Bay 69. Televised selectmen meetings 70. WOMR in Provincetown 71. Jay Allison's soundbites on WCAI


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New Ideas for Old Spaces

Man Cave

While the earliest citation appears to be in 1992 by a Canadian journalist, I became aware of this new dimension of cocooning last year when my son and his wife finished their basement so he could have office space for his telecommuting job.

His cave is painted a rich dark green. On the walls are prints of men, horses, ships, and the blade from a broken oar from his days as college rower. To the right of his desk where his three computers show his development environment and the output of his code, a muted television shows the golf channel.

What I love about this word is that the minute you say it, everyone knows what it is.

Snoring Room

This is a subordinate sleeping area solely for isolating a loud sleeper. Once called "captive rooms," a snoring room might have been an extra bedroom, dressing area, walk-in closet or former nursery, but it was never called a snoring room. In this era of ever-fresh marketing concepts, the term snoring room has arisen.

Watch for it in ad copy for upscale retirement communities. "Each home features two bedrooms, a study, and a snoring room . . . "

Real Transparency in Property Data and Transactions

A recent story in Inman News speaks to how demanding the public is for real information. The article mentions, "real transparency in property data and transactions."

I feel the public is entitled to know how long houses are actually taking to sell and to rely on REALTORS for a true telling of this info and for info on general sales trends. If our MLS doesn't rise to this higher level of service, we are betraying our values and image with the public.

I also see this as an ethical dilemma and we are an industry that is needs to be constantly vigilant on this point. What can be done to change the present situation so that DOM is a true reflection of the real time a listing has been offered for sale?

Six Reasons a Cape Cod Listing Is Taken off the Market

1. Refinancing rules
2. Travel plans of occupants
3. Failure to sell at a certain price point
4. Motivation of owner
5. Change of listing agent/broker
6. Marketing strategy by a listing agent trying to make the listing look new to the market

Really, How Many Days Has a House Been on the Market on Cape Cod?

In the Cape Cod & Islands Association of REALTORS(r), Inc., it is common practice to mask the true days on market for listings. The software authorized by our MLS is oblivious to the connection between street address and days on market. Several agents can handle a listing consecutively, and at each change of agency the days-on-market counter is reset to zero. When a neighboring MLS (MLS PIN) corrected its software to prohibit this, a 30 percent discrepancy was noted. Since our MLS data is represented to the public as a true mirror of the market and a reflection of the local and state economy, such an error has major implications.

A variation of the falsification of days on market is when the listing agent himself/herself suggests to the owner that the listing be withdrawn and then re-listed as a new listing. Of course these agents will claim that the owner suggested this ploy and they are only doing what the owner wants. ("Just following orders" -- where have we heard that defense before?) Whatever shortsighted gain might accrue to the individual, the wider effect is to mislead other people and corrupt an important database.

This situation is not addressed in any of our continuing education or ethics training. We want the public to look to us as experts and some of us can't even count right!