Annie Hart Cool, Cape Cod Real Estate Specialist

Our mission is to optimize the home purchase or home sale experience for our clients and to professionally serve within our community.

Vision:Our vision is to employ industry best practices, personal accountability and professional standards in a competency culture to provide real estate services to our clients as trusted advisors and Realtors.

By building an operating environment that fosters teamwork, innovation and a passion for excellence, our team at Century 21 Shoreland delivers superior individualized service to optimize the client experience.

We achieve our vision by helping our clients realize their dreams of home ownership and establishing life long personal and professional relationships with honesty, loyalty and trust.

If you know of someone who would appreciate the level of service we provide, please contact us.

Areas of Expertise

Together with my synergistic team, we are able to professionally serve our clients as Trusted Advisors and Realtors in the following areas:

Primary Home Ownership Second Home Ownership

Sales of Primary & Second Homes First Time Home Buyers

Commercial Real Estate Luxury Homes

Vacation Real Estate Investment Properties

1031 Tax Exchange Rentals-Summer & Year Round

Bank Owned Properties Short Sales

Home & Equity Loss Prevention Real Estate Risk Mitigation

I don't know about you...but when I have 10 deals going at the same time the Check List... keeps me on track and moving forward. My internal computer is not what it used to be ...so a friendly reminder on paper and in my sellers/buyers file...keeps me organized and heading toward a successful close. I even share my check list with the sellers/buyers and invite them to help me with the process. This way... if I haven't checked the check list...I am not the only one paying attention.

CHECK LIST FOR SELLING YOUR PROPERTY

SELLER'S RESPONSIBILIES

________New Deed preparation

________Title V Certificate of Compliance

________Smoke Detector Inspection (schedule at your local Fire Department)

This certificate of compliance is required at the closing.

________ Schedule final water reading/final water bill amount

Schedule gas, electricity final readings.

If you heat with oil, have your oil tank topped off

________Picture Identification (e.g. Driver's License) Bring with you to closing.

________Social Security Number (tax I D number)

________Certificate of Occupancy and Certificate of Compliance (for new construction)

Must have 2 weeks before closing.

________Copy of Tax Bill and paid receipt for most recent tax period

________Name of Bank where mortgage is being held and phone number, account #

and name on account and give to the lawyer

_______ "Certificate of no assessment" from the Association in which your property is

located. This states that you have paid your Association dues in full prior to

transferring the property.

Every area is different. But maybe a check list is all you need to move you to a successful close.

A gift of my job is the wonderful people who I am likely to meet. I was referred to a man named Pat through my accountant. She warned me that he was in his late 80's, had been "through" a couple of other Realtors and was best described as cantankerous. Dear Pat.

He had reasons to be cantankerous. His younger wife was leaving him, divorcing in fact because she didn't sign on for "old age". The house he had built, enjoyed and was comforted by had to be sold as part of the settlement. He had been a "money man" all his life. Wall Street thrilled him. He spoke to me often of the Bull and The Bear and would quiz me on occasion as to which market we were in on any given day.

He was Italian at birth. He stood all of 5 feet. He had a limp in his left side from a bad hip. He would say ... "too much time on the planet, I guess". Because of his mobility he had rigged a system from the top floor (raised ranch) to the bottom floor of a paint bucket on a pulley to cart needed items up and down the stairs. He once offered me a ride which I willingly declined.

He would call on the phone and yell. Sometimes in his native language about the lack of showings, the infrequency of ads, the terrible photos... and then he would call back and say ..."Bubbles, I am an ass. You know I love you."

And I did. I did know he loved me.

He had a boat he loved and took care of like it was his child. Teak oil and polish in the spring after the shrink wrap was removed. It was a sad day when a young neighbor came and pulled it out of his drive way. I was there, to steady him and to salute the "old girl" as she left. He may have shed a tear but would not have let me see it. He said..."Damn my brothers for making me sell it. Damn them for thinking I am too old to be out on the open sea. Damn, Damn, Damn." He was the oldest of several boys....now old men themselves. I said a little prayer... "Bless them for making him sell it... Bless them."

He owned a restaurant for years and loved to ‘hold court'. He sold it when his young wife wanted out of the business. "Biggest mistake I ever made" he would say ... and I wondered if he meant the young wife (now divorcing him) or the selling of the restaurant. The Restaurant was his retirement job. He was a remarkable cook.

I would arrive to his home for a showing and the scent of clove or basil or coriander would be overpowering. A plate wrapped in saran wrap sitting on the chopping block table with a note: "Bubbles, I know you are trying to lose weight but you must try this... and besides, there is more of you to love."

The clients would think "how cute, the old man has a girlfriend".

He invited me shooting one day. How could I refuse? We went to Centerville down some dirt road to a club set with different ranges of paper people with rings around their torso. He took from his trunk 15 boxes of guns. Each gun had a story. Each had its own personal meaning. I used to love to shoot. As a girl I would earn badges in Girl Scouts for various talents with guns... I was a country girl. Pat handed me a pistol that felt so good in my hand. It is hard to explain. Like a pen that writes well or a leather wallet that makes you happy when you touch it. This gun fit. This Parabellum-Pistole was easy to shoot, very little kick and truly my favorite. Soon the men at the shooting range came over to review Pat's cache of guns and learn more about the woman with the pistol. With a beam in his eye he said "Bubbles is using a 1908 Luger I took off a German who was trying to steal your freedom boys. I was 18 and at war." He wouldn't let anyone else hold it that day. Just me. He told of the other guns he had and where they had come from like a grandfather raving about his grand children. I was glad I had on sun glasses so he couldn't see my tears.

A man at the end of his life.

He moved into an Assisted Living facility before the house was sold. So I would go on Thursday night when he held "Casino Night" for his peers. All 5 feet of him dressed in a vest with a straw hat, white shirt and red arm band.... Pat was running the show like a charlatan selling snake oil. He always had a full house and always had crazy gifts for the winners...Like dinner in his apartment, homemade stew, cookies for a week. I did note most of the players were women...which didn't hurt his ego one bit.

His brother has a home on the water in Falmouth and he called to invite me to a St Patrick's Day feast. I said but Pat you are Italian... and he said..."Bubbles, both countries start with an "I", come to dinner I want you to meet my daughters." Like every other meal he'd ever indulged me in... the Corned Beef was delightful. The home made wine a treat and meeting his grown (older than me) daughters a trip. His eldest daughter pulled me in the kitchen and told me to stop "leading him on". I laughed. She was hurt. I invited Pat to explain our relationship and he said... "I'd rather not". I decided a battle not worth fighting.

I learned that day of the wounds of his family. I learned of the distance between him and his girls. The miles of unspoken hurt. He was not an easy man. We never know the sins of our parents. Do we?

My husband never met Pat. But loved the food I would bring home to him from Pat's Kitchen. My husband went to battle for me when he thought I was being yelled at too much by the "little Italian" and loved that Pat called me Bubbles. My husband saw my treatment of Pat the same as my treatment of all my trusted clients. And I think, was a smidge jealous that I got to shoot a Luger.

The house sold finally. Pat's brother the attorney called and yelled. I yelled back. Pat called and yelled. I yelled back. His ex wife called and said ...do you see why I left him? I agreed. The house closed. The money was deposited and I got the call...

"Bubbles, will you come for dinner?"

He made me the most amazing beef I have ever had. He sat me on the couch with a TV tray, his home made wine and a meal I will never forget. He brought out the photos and paintings of a younger man who was Gary Grant gorgeous, although still 5 foot tall. He told me of his first wife and apologized for his daughter's behavior. He spoke of his ‘philandering" as a young man and his propensity to flirt (no secret there). He was proud to announce he had put in a bocce court at the assisted living residence and had been getting people out of their wheel chairs to play. He felt more alive there with people around then he did in the old house. Opera played in the background and he would stop and explain what Verdi meant by the passage being sung. His eyes closed his face toward the sky his wine glass moving with the cadence of the music as he told me of the tragic love or funny mischief in the song. He was a character. A true character.

He was a curmudgeon. He was cantankerous. He was a flirt. He had a temper. He was opinionated and stubborn. He had "time on Planet".

When I was riding my bike through Tuscany with my friend Alyse, my husband called me to tell me Pat had died. I would miss the funeral.

My husband, with out my asking, took the day off from work to represent me at the church. When he emailed me of the event he said Pat would have liked to have had me there. My husband was shook by the awful things said about Pat by his daughter from the pulpit. So this story, this recollection is my eulogy. To a man I will never forget.

With much love....Bubbles.

WOW. Sometimes you just have to say it...WOW!

When the Haiti Earthquake rocked our world, literally. The World responded. The Falmouth Rotary made headlines by taking a Shelter Boxand holding a 24 hour vigil on the Common in downtown Falmouth. Brave Rotarian's and Young Professionals slept in the tent 'City' while the temperatures sunk to 12 degrees. The goal was to raise enough money to send as many Shelter Boxes to Haiti as possible from our small Cape Cod Community.

That effort raised 8,000 dollars which meant 8 shelter boxeswould be sent from Falmouth Rotary to Haiti which translates into 80 people would have shelter and supplies from the Shelter Boxes.

Well, the local 4th grade class decided to join in the effort and held a book sale with all proceeds to go to the Shelter Box effort. Unbelievable. The Falmouth Rotary supported with some of our members purchasing books, installing a shelter box at the book sale and showing up to help with the press for the event.

Those 4th Graders raised over $2,000 dollars to add to the Falmouth Rotary's efforts. Amazing.

Two more boxes... off to Haiti... Over 30,000 boxes to date have gone from USA via Rotary International to Haiti to provide much needed Shelter. Thank you 4th Graders!

Sure we all have on some occasion have thought Real Estate is a pain in the neck...but I have taken this to new heights. Having always had a flare for the dramatic, in early fall I managed to break my neck. It's true! Not selling houses, not falling down some basement stairs, not by being in a car wreck no... I chose an easier softer way to change my life...YOGA! Upward dog can really screw you up if you have lived an "extreme life" and have degenerating discs! Yes it is true.

So after major surgery and the installation of a mechanical neck and three cadaver discs (thank you donors) I have my head securely on my shoulders attached by titanium. Aside from the inconvenience of setting off every metal detector for the rest of my life... And let me tell you... all the other agents, buyers, sellers and attorneys know when I have arrived at the registry of deeds because... all the alarms go off. Now, I think I mentioned I have a flair for the dramatic...but these kinds of entrances I could have lived without!

I have not yet received permission to fly but I am certain my air travel from here on in will be equally noisey and raise suspicion. oh, yippee.

So Real Estate and the new neck. I was given permission to go back to work part time and handed the keys to my car on February 1st. I thought, a nice slow reentry into the business would be great...

But with glee and anticipation... I have 9 listings 4 contracts and three offers pending! Hello it is day 22 of my reentry. The Real Estate Gods are challenging the NEW NECK!

So things I can not yet do... Don't ask me to check the spot on the ceiling ...I can't look up. Don't ask me to duck going into the basement... that won't be happening for at least 6 months. Oh, you need your smoke detector changed out... Honey, I can't even look up to see you smoke detector.

Did you need me to carry the sign? Sorry... can't lift anything more than 3 pounds...Gravity is my biggest Nemesis... at the end of the day, even titanium is heavy.

Neurosurgeon says by June I should be able to dance, by August I may be able to play tennis...but my sky diving and skiing days are over.

So when I say Real Estate is a pain in the neck... I am not even kidding. The other consolation: The rest of me will droop but the neck will always be erect. (Is that a good thing?)