Falmouth MA Assessing Notes

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 department has records of improvements. Those records are updated in October.

Happy listing and selling!