Location, location ...

By ELISA CAMPBELL

Published on March 14, 2008

When I drive home on Belchertown Road and glance up at the Pelham Hills, I can see - especially in the winter, when leaves aren't on the trees and snow accentuates bare ground - the houses on Arnold Road in Pelham, overlooking the Valley. So I wasn't surprised when I read that real estate assessments for those houses with million dollar sunset views across the Connecticut River Valley toward the Berkshires are high. What surprised me was that apparently those high assessments are new.

I read in the newspaper that some Pelham residents were very upset at recent property re-evaluations.

The focus seemed to be on those houses with great views. Curious whether similar things are happening in other towns, I called the assessors of Amherst and several of our neighbors - Pelham, Leverett, Shutesbury, Sunderland and Hadley - to talk with them about assessments and reactions to them.

The law requires assessors to do their best to value all properties based on sales prices, not other factors (such as how long the owner has been there or what her or his income is). Also, assessments are a couple of years behind prices; for fiscal year 2008, the assessments are based on sales in 2006.

To us property owners, that feels outrageous when prices are dropping drastically, but great when they are rising rapidly. (So far, by the way, prices in our area have not been dropping a lot, even though the nation is in a crisis about real estate values; it is taking longer to sell than it did a couple of years ago.)

On the whole, except in Pelham, things are pretty quiet. In Hadley, Assistant Assessor Daniel Zdonek told me that assessments are up throughout town about 7 percent. The tax rate for FY 2008 went down 2.5 percent, so there was an increase in actual taxes of about 3 percent. Sunderland's experience is similarly nondramatic; in fact, the assessor, Mary Ann Kowaleck, expressed some disappointment in the lack of growth in residential real estate, because it means no increased revenues.

Steve Schmidt, the assessor for Leverett, said there have been so few sales that it is hard to see any trends. Properties with views or waterfront - such as on Laurel Hill Drive or around Leverett Pond - have higher values than comparable houses elsewhere in town, but that has always been true. Similarly, Shutesbury's Ken Holmberg said that houses at Lake Wyola have maintained their value. Prices for desirable locations are higher, and have been for years. In general, assessed values in Shutesbury have been close to actual sale prices. That's what assessors strive to achieve.

In Amherst, last year saw a big increase in the value of condominiums, but no dramatic changes this year.

So why is Pelham different? Prices in Pelham have been moving up. A decade or so ago, land and houses in Pelham were noticeably lower in Pelham than in Amherst. Now, land prices area about the same. In fact, according to David Burgess, assessor for both towns, the median sales price in Pelham is now the highest in Hampshire County.

The assessments seem generally fair to me; given the McMansions I've seen in South Amherst, I can readily imagine someone paying $800,000 for a lot with a fabulous view, excellent local schools and the amenities of Amherst and Northampton so close by.

The real world has hit Pelham, just as it has the rest of the "Happy Valley." We have seen it coming for years - more traffic, higher costs of living, Walmarts and similar manifestations of consumerism.

It hits each of us in different ways; maybe it's seeing houses or condos built on your or your child's favorite field or in your favorite woods. Or realizing that you never go to Northampton any more because you can't stand to deal with Route 9. And recognizing that there is no way we could buy our current home at today's prices.

We live in a country committed to growth in a finite world. In this area, we've been lucky enough to enjoy many of the benefits with relatively few of the costs; but that magic period is coming to an end.

We need to change direction.

Elisa Campbell was chairwoman on the Planning Board in the 1980s and the Select Board in the 1990s.