Cape Cod National Seashore’s Effect on Housing

CapeCodOnline.com’s Real Estate article – Seashore Transformed Housing Market – says that the creation of Cape Cod National Seashore did not only “protect the Outer Cape’s natural environment, it raised property values by preserving the quality of life and reducing the housing stock. The downside is that the increased values make the area less affordable for working families.”

The article states “the nearly 600 homes built before Sept. 1, 1959, whose ownership could be verified, were allowed to remain in the park. Owners could even sell properties or pass them on to their heirs.” And restrictions include “3-acre minimum lot sizes, and the stipulation that homes only can be expanded by up to 50 percent of their original footprint.”

CapeCodOnline.com spoke to Robert Paul Properties co-owner, Paul Grover, who along with his partner Robert Kinlin are leaders in the sale of waterfront properties across Cape Cod and South Coast of Massachusetts. “It’s supply and demand, and the Seashore has reduced supply,” Paul said. “We really try to educate people about how fortunate we are to have the Seashore there, to know it’s protected forever. As the Cape gets built up, as we’ve seen throughout the years, to be able to go to the Outer Cape and know the Seashore is in our backyard – to have that is a pretty nice thing.”

outercapeCape Cod National Seashore under the National Park Service has 44,000 acres includes the great Outer Beach which in the last line of his book Cape Cod, Henry David Thoreau said it is where “A man may stand there and put all America behind him.”

Read the complete article by Sean Corcoran at http://www.capecodonline.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=http://realestate.robertpaul.com/20110805/NEWS/110809880/-1/SPECIAL36
on www.capecodonline.com

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