The local paper had a special insert this week, a report on the FY 2005 property valuations in Mashpee. This provoked a lively discussion at work, with joy on the part of homeowners not on fixed incomes, and consternation from those not yet in the housing market.
Since the last valuation at 100% market, done 3 years ago, property in Mashpee has increased overall about 60%.
My property at #11 went up 64%. My friend Ed’s did even better, a whopping 70% for the two houses he bought at rock bottom some years ago.
The Assessing Department says that it based its valuation on fair market as of January 2004.
According to the Barnstable County Registry of Deeds, sales were down, but individual property sale values were up 16.1% last month from November 2003, which sounds about right: 16.1% compounded for 3 years is a little under 60%.
We are waiting to see what’s going to happen to the vacant lot across from #11. It’s not quite raw land, someone put in a well some weeks ago, but it hasn’t been graded or made generally construction-ready, and it’s a peculiar, pie-shaped, barely 1/3 of an acre lot.
Still, it was valued at $114,600, a fair chunk of change for what is essentially a place for local kids to ride their dirt bikes and build impromptu forts.