With 35 years of real estate experience, Barrett & Company Real Estate today continues their legacy of innovation with the launch of a new website at www.barrettandco.com.

The website and blog, running on the latest versions of Thesis and WordPress, incorporate a new design with a fresh look and updated branding elements. Social media integration, including a YouTube video channel and Open Graph applications, also means a more dynamic experience for users.

“We are the only real estate agency in the Concord, Massachusetts area fully engaging with the consumer and our communities,” said Laurie Cadigan, owner and president of Barrett & Company. “The revamped site provides many new possibilities, and blends seamlessly with our Facebook and other online campaigns.”

The updated www.barrettandco.com focuses on data and is integrated with real-time market statistics for cities and towns North and West of Boston. Buyers and sellers alike can learn about the effects of price trends, supply and demand and other market indicators.

Sellers will benefit from an improved showcase of Barrett’s Greater Boston property listings, bringing increased traffic to their homes, both online and in real time. Buyers can access and manage their search for property more effectively with enhanced IDX integration.

And for all prospective buyers and sellers, the site will offer improved community information including augmented city and town resources and users can get to know the company’s agents and staff. Barrett’s blog is fully integrated in the new site and readers can learn about the process of buying and selling with Barrett, engage with Cadigan in the new “Ask the President” feature and discover all of Barrett’s 52 Favorite Things the Greater Boston area has to offer.

Abutting hundreds of acres of conservation land and trails, this exceptional home located at 179 Sandy Pond Road in Lincoln Massachusetts offers a fabulous floor plan, perfect for gracious entertaining and comfortable family living. The stunning kitchen is open to the fireplaced family room and accesses the large deck for outdoor entertaiing. Enjoy the spacious master suite. There is an expansive finished basement that includes a separate entrance which is perfect for a home office and there is also a 5th bedroom with a full bathroom, entertaining kitchen and game room. Energy saving solar panels for electric. Relax in the lap pool and Jacuzzi.

Buyer Walkthrough

Additional Listing Information and Photos

179 Sandy Pond Road, Lincoln, Massachusetts

Lincoln, MA Market Snapshot

90-day stats for Single Family properties in LINCOLN, MA as of February 17, 2012
Median List Price:	$1,361,073	Average List Price:	$1,682,306
Total Inventory:	30	Price per Square Foot:	$293
Average Home Size:	4,157	Median Lot Size:	78,789
Average # Beds:	4.13	Average # Baths:	3.07
Homes Absorbed:	2	Newly Listed:	1
Days on Market:	214	Average Age:	45

 

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I recently saw a TV commercial for EZ Moves® that hit home. EZ Moves® are little plastic cups that fit under furniture legs so a woman can single-handedly move an entire room of furniture on her own. A fast-action scene showed the woman gazing thoughtfully at a couch. She uses EZ Moves® to swiftly slide the couch across the room and once again places her hand under her chin for that thoughtful look. You have the sense that she is just beginning her furniture rearranging project.

“That’s you!” my husband laughed.

It made sense to me, but actually buying the product would mean admitting that I spend entirely too much time pushing furniture around. Besides, it would also be admitting that I have no able-bodied person in my family willing to help me. And that is just wrong.

I’ve developed a few of my own maneuvers over the years to single-handedly move furniture. Some have been passed down through the female line in my family. My mother swears by blankets. You simply lift the corner of, say, a bookcase onto an old blanket and then pull the blanket so that the bookcase surfs across the room without scratching the floor.

Wall-to-wall carpeting can be your friend or foe. Sometimes the smooth, soft surface makes for easy dragging of pieces. It becomes the devil when moving anything with legs.

My personal favorite technique for shoving really heavy furniture is to sit down on the floor and push against the piece with both legs. As an added bonus, no need to go to the gym.

Often I do meet my match and wonder why I don’t just draw out the new arrangement first. I become quite professional and whip out my tape measure and graph paper. I sharpen my pencil and perch in the corner of the room ready to act like a true interior designer.

I measure the couch and line up the ruler along the graph paper lines. Invariably, my rectangle representing the sofa goes crooked no matter how hard I try. I erase the pencil mark, discovering that the eraser only leaves black smudges. I throw the paper aside and go back to the fanny-and-leg push method once again. I just have to see the arrangement in real life.

There was one time I did successfully “visualize.” That was when I decided that the living room needed a baby grand piano to be stylistically complete (even though no one in my family played the piano). I knew I couldn’t have a piano delivered, push it around the room and then decide it looked bad. So I made a mock piano. I took a round table and piled miscellaneous chairs around it to create the approximate diameter of a big, hulking piano. I covered the whole pile with a brown tablecloth and then squinted at it for a long time. I lived with the “piano pile” for a few days and periodically stopped to stare and squint. Thankfully, my husband simply refused to acknowledge what was going on. I finally decided that a piano would look nice in that corner. When the real piano arrived, it looked great!

Now my son is old enough and kind enough to help me move stuff. Recently I got him to rearrange the entire family room. A perfect case for using graph paper since my goal was to make the ping-pong table, air hockey table, fish aquarium, huge leather sectional sofa, and a prehistoric rear-projection TV all become a harmonious arrangement worthy of being featured in Architectural Digest. After three hours of moving, shifting, and sweeping up weird stuff found under the furniture, the resulting new arrangement was hideous and I moved everything back. My skilled mother gave wise counsel: “You are trying to make this room into a cozy den. You have a cozy den already. Let the kids’ room be a kids’ room.” I admitted defeat and forced my son to help me put everything back. At least the floors got cleaned.

Coming fresh out of college with a background in literature and philosophy, I am used to the task of trying to answer perplexing questions at an existential level, such as, “What is the meaning of life?” or “What is happiness?” The former, I am still working on, but the latter, due to my recent exploration of The Happy Chocolatier, has possibly been answered.

Located on Route 2A/119 in Acton, Massachusetts, The Happy Chocolatier is a shop owned and operated by Paul McMahon. “The Happy Chocolatier was born from a love of chocolate” and, as Paul genially admitted, “a few burnt pans.” Having a background in the chocolate business (as a former marketing director for Hebert Candies, now in Shrewsbury, Mass. and formerly in Bolton) and being an avid food addict, you could say Paul knows a thing or two… maybe three about chocolate. In pursuit of his own happiness in October 2011, Paul decided to leave his long time job and opened his briefcase full of ideas with a store soon to follow.

From malted milk balls to turtles, truffles to caramels—all the normal goodies of a chocolate store make their appearance; chocolate-covered espresso beans, pretzels, and Oreos, (which are not only amazing), but one of the stores top sellers. However, the main chocolate delight and attraction are Paul’s original creations, “Fudge Cubze™.”

What makes these cubes so special? Well, first off, they are smooth and rich just like fudge should be; plus, they come in all different flavors, including peanut butter, cookies and cream, cranberry walnut and more. Secondly, the way they are wrapped is pure genius. Circling back to our question “What is happiness?”, each individual Fudge Cubze™ tries to answer that very question. Upon unwrapping each Fudge Cubze™ there is a small quote inside that follows the store’s epithet; “Eat Chocolate, Be Happy.” Some of the notable quotes are, “Some pursue happiness—others create it” and “Be happy. It’s one way of being wise.” What makes some of the quotes even more special is that some were penned by local teens and pre-teens.

After getting the grand tour of the store from Paul, I started to realize that there is something much sweeter to his shop than just chocolate. As he points out, it’s more about the experience than anything else. At the end of the day, for Paul, it’s seeing the little nose smudges on the glass in front of viewing area where chocolate is assembled that makes everything worthwhile. Looking at it from this perspective, the chocolate is a means to a much greater end—happiness. Every time someone opens a box or wrapper from The Happy Chocolatier, they are getting something more than chocolate, they are getting something that will fill their bellies with joy and their hearts with happiness.

The Happy Chocolatier
509 Nagog Park, Acton, Massachusetts

The signature color of Barrett & Company Real Estate is red and agents and staff wear it often. We will be wearing it for a special reason on Friday, February 3rd, 2012, when we participate in National Wear Red Day in support of the American Heart Association and American Stroke Association’s Go Red for Women Campaign. In addition to the wearing of the red, we will be handing out red carnations to clients, neighboring business people and visitors to our office in Concord Center Massachusetts to help raise awareness.

Go Red For Women celebrates the energy, passion and power women have to band together to wipe out heart disease and stroke. In 2004, the American Heart Association (AHA) faced a challenge. Cardiovascular disease claimed the lives of nearly 500,000 American women each year, yet women were not paying attention. In fact, many even dismissed it as an “older man’s disease.” To dispel the myths and raise awareness of heart disease as the number one killer of women, the American Heart Association created Go Red For Women – a passionate, emotional, social initiative designed to empower women to take charge of their heart health.

Last June, Barrett & Company Broker/Owner Laurie Cadigan and her husband John participated in the American Stroke and American Heart Association challenge…Train to End Stroke and ran a half marathon in honor of Laurie’s mother.

Please join us in bringing attention to this important cause by wearing red on National Wear Red Day and click here to make a pledge in honor of all the women in your life.

In recent weeks there has been a caucus in Iowa and a primary in New Hampshire to decide who the best Republican candidate for the 2012 Presidential elections will be. If, like me, you have been thinking that some, if not all, of the candidates are looking a little flat and have left you feeling bloated, then there is one summit on the way that will surely bring some hope. The summit I speak of is the 2012 Beer Summit Winter Jubilee held at the Park Plaza Castle in Boston, Massachusetts on Friday, January 20th and Saturday, January 21st, 2012.

Since 2002, this event has been host to the brewers that not only serve, but are located in the greater Boston area, as well as New England and worldwide. Promoted as a “craft beer tasting”, you will have the opportunity to taste from over 60 brewers and sample from over 200 of their well-known year round brews and their less common winter brews…what was that about feeling bloated?

Personal favorites on the list include the Berkshire Brewing Company, Gardner Ale House, Sam Adams, Ommegang, Magic Hat, Shipyard and Harpoon, just to name a few. So, go to the only summit in the coming months where none of the candidates will be flat (hopefully) and try to decide which beer candidate is the best choice for you.

And since the summit is a special event, here are some local pubs, beer gardens, breweries and restaurants to help you get your fill for the rest of the year.

• Sunset Grill & Tap in Allston–112 taps and 380 microbrews and exotic imports

• Beer Works in Lowell, Boston, Hingham and Salem–12 to 16 hand-crafted beers on tap every day

• British Beer Company (BBC) in Westford (and 9 other locations in Massachusetts)–18 bottled domestic craft brews and 36 beers on tap

• Horseshoe Pub in Hudson–80 beers on tap

• Nashoba Valley Winery, Orchard and Restaurant in Bolton–10 flagship and seasonal microbrew beers brewed and packaged onsite

• Clown Shoes in Lexington–11 varieties, with names like Hoppy Feet and Muffin Top

We would love to hear about your favorites, too.

Recently the Wall Street Journal published an article about home values and the numerous websites available to consumers that provide estimates of a property’s value. Numbers can vary widely among the various sites such as Zillow.com, Homes.com or Realtor.com. The article states that “valuations that are 20% or even 50% higher or lower than a property’s eventual sale price are not uncommon, as the sites themselves acknowledge. The estimates frequently change, too—sometimes by hundreds of thousands of dollars—as sites plug new data into their algorithms.”

A recent search of properties in our local area showed these disparities do indeed exist. Here are some examples:

• A 4 bedroom 2.5 bathroom multi-level style property in Concord, was listed at $649,000 in September 2011. It is currently under agreement to close in the first quarter of this year. Zillow’s “Zestimate” is $691,500 and Homes.com estimates its value at $751,000.
• 8 Edmonds Road, a 3 bedroom 3.5 bathroom Colonial style house that sold just this week in Concord was listed for $749,000 and sold for $720,000. Zillow’s “Zestimate” is $613,600. Homes.com estimates this house’s value to be $660,000.
• 3 York Road in Wayland, a 4 bedroom, 2 and 2/2 bath Colonial listed at $859,900 in June 2011 and sold this week at a price of $685,000. Zillow’s “Zestimate” is $771,200, Homes.com estimates the house’s value at $812,000.

Laurie Cadigan, Broker/Owner of Barrett & Company Real Estate and 2011 president of the Massachusetts Association of Realtors says,

“When it comes to properly pricing and positioning your home for the market, nothing compares to the value a Real Estate Professional brings. A Realtor who has seen the property and all comparable properties, can add a quantitative assessment that is invaluable and unmatched by any algorithm; based on location, condition and the current buyers’ expectations. Consult a local Realtor for a real property opinion of value!”

The full article from WSJ.com is included below:

Jason Gonsalves worked hard to turn his 6,500-square-foot stucco-and-stone home in the suburbs of Sacramento into the ultimate grown-up party pad, complete with game room, custom wine cellar and an infinity-edge pool overlooking Folsom Lake. When interest rates fell recently, Mr. Gonsalves, who runs a lobbying firm, looked into refinancing his $750,000 mortgage. That’s when he got startling news—the home had dropped more than $200,000 in value while he was renovating.

Or at least, that’s what one real-estate website told him. Another valued the house at only $640,500. And these online estimates left him all the more confused when a real-life appraiser, assessing the house for the refinancing loan, pinned its value at $1.5 million. “I have no idea how those numbers could be so different,” Mr. Gonsalves says.

Right or wrong, they’re the numbers millions of consumers are clamoring for. After years of real-estate pros holding all the informational cards in the home-sale game, Web-driven companies like Zillow, Homes.com and Realtor.com are reshuffling the deck, giving home shoppers and owners estimates of what almost any home is worth. People have flocked to the data in startling numbers: Together, four of the biggest sites that offer home-value estimates get 100 million visits a month, with web surfers using them to determine what to ask or bid for a home, or whether to refinance.

But for figures that can carry such weight, critics say, the estimates can be far rougher than most people realize. Valuations that are 20% or even 50% higher or lower than a property’s eventual sale price are not uncommon, as the sites themselves acknowledge. The estimates frequently change, too—sometimes by hundreds of thousands of dollars—as sites plug new data into their algorithms.

All of the competitors make it clear their numbers are guesstimates, not gospel. “A Trulia estimate is just that—an estimate,” says a disclaimer on that site’s new home-value tool. Zillow goes a step further, publishing precise numbers about how imprecise its estimates can be. And every major site urges home-price hunters to consult appraisers or real-estate agents to refine their results.

But despite the disclaimers, homeowners and real-estate agents say, many Web surfers put enough faith in the estimates to sway the way they shop and sell.

After Frank and Sue Parks put their manor-style house in Louisville, Ky., on the market, they watched as Zillow put a $331,000 value on the dwelling in May; by July it had climbed to $1.5 million. (Zillow says the lower estimate reflected errors in its statistical model.) The couple got potential buyer referrals from the site, but they fended off a stream of lowball offers before they sold this fall. Mrs. Parks says the estimate roller coaster “really affected our ability to move the place.”

Determining a home’s value has traditionally been the job of an appraiser, who gathers data on recently sold homes and compares them with the “subject property” to arrive at an estimate.

In the late 1980s, economists started developing automated valuation models, or AVMs, computer models that could analyze data about comparable sales, square footage, number of bedrooms and the like, in a matter of seconds. For years, these tools were mostly reserved for in-house analysts at lending banks.

It wasn’t until 2006 that Zillow took them to the masses, with its Zestimates, which now offer values for more than 100 million homes based on the company’s own algorithms. “Humans don’t make these decisions,” says Stan Humphries, chief economist at Zillow.

Numbers like these have become weapons in the arsenal of consumers like Simms Jenkins, an Atlanta marketing executive, who has recently relied on online estimates to help him both buy and sell homes. “I can’t imagine 25 years ago, when people would just go out and spend their entire Saturday looking at homes,” he says. “You don’t have to do that now.”

But appraisers and real-estate consultants say the online models can veer off target with alarming frequency. Most data for the models come from two sources: records from tax assessors and listing data for recent sales. Collection is a challenge, however, because not every county tracks properties the same way—some calculate home size by number of bedrooms, others by overall square footage. And automated models aren’t designed to account for the unique construction details that often make or break a deal, or for intangible factors like a neighborhood’s gentrification. “You cannot use a computer model in certain areas and expect the value to come out right,” says John May, the former assessor of Jefferson County, Ky., which includes the state’s largest city, Louisville.

For all these reasons, models that banks use often add a “confidence score” to their estimates. Consumer-oriented sites, meanwhile, rely on disclaimers, some of which are eye-opening. Zillow surfers who read the “About Zestimates” page find out that the site’s overall error rate—the amount its estimates vary from a homes’ actual value—is 8.5%, and that about one-fourth of the estimates are at least 20% off the eventual sale price. In some places, the numbers are far more dramatic: In Hamilton County, Ohio, which includes Cincinnati, it’s 82%.

The sites argue that, over time, edits and corrections will help them perfect their numbers—with many fixes coming from their customers.

On Homes.com, anyone who knows a homeowner’s surname and the year the home was last purchased, can edit the details of a property listing in ways that can eventually change the estimated value.

Zillow has accepted revisions on 25 million homes—perhaps the strongest testament to how seriously consumers take its estimates. Today, the site says its figures are accurate enough to give consumers a good sense of any home’s value. In the meantime, says Mr. Humphries, its economist, “We’re always tweaking the algorithm or building a new one.”

One of the expenses that Homeownership in America brings with it are property taxes on residential real estate. The property taxes that cities and towns collect represent a major part of the revenue needed to keep the municipality running. The money is used for bridge and road work, building new schools or upgrading existing ones, ice and snow removal and other municipal services.

Each local city or town government sets the property tax rate as part of its budget plan. In Massachusetts, towns and cities operate on a “Fiscal Year” basis that runs from July 1st through June 30th, rather than on a the calendar year. The budgetary requirements for that Fiscal Year determine whether there will be an increase or decrease in property tax rates. As an example, if the budget increases by 5%, the tax increase will be reflected by approximately 5% for that city or town.

Property tax rates for Barrett & Company Real Estate’s communities for fiscal years 2012, 2011, 2010 and 2009 are shown below for easy comparison.

Massachusetts Residential Real Estate Tax Rates per Thousand

This week on our Facebook page we started a new “game” of sorts. After putting our heads together and dividing up a bunch of different categories, we came up with the top 52 things we like about living in the Greater Boston area.

My category is Arts which I immediately associated with music, so for our first week we revealed our #1 top spot for Jazz North of Boston. Which is (insert drumroll)…..

The Regattabar Jazz Club at The Charles Hotel! Located in Harvard Square, deep in the heart of the “People’s Republic of Cambridge”, for 25 years this place has brought us the finest Jazz musicians. The two times I saw McCoy Tyner at Regattabar were two of the best nights of my life, for sure. If you’re a lover of Jazz and haven’t been there yet, the Ron Carter Trio is on their schedule for the end of January. I caught Mr. Carter there a few years ago, and wouldn’t miss it this time around.

The runners-up – other Jazz spots in Boston and the ‘burbs worth checking out!

• Acton Jazz Cafe in Acton
• Back Page in Lowell
• Colonial Inn, Concord (Music in the Village Forge Tavern)
• Ryles Jazz Club in Cambridge (Inman Square)
• Scullers Jazz Club in Boston

As the saying goes ”you can never be too rich or too thin”. Add to that, you can never be too well-informed. Let’s face it…the same old, same old gets, well, old, real quick. To start the year off in a new direction, we are taking a little bit of the old and giving it a new twist. Each week on the Barrett Northwest Boston Homes Facebook page, we play ”Where Are We Wednesday?” and share a picture taken somewhere in and around the Greater Boston area. We then ask you to identify the landmark, building, whatever it may be and tell us what it is and the town where it is located.

Starting this week, we want to share some of our favorites with you, be it an art show, a restaurant, a great outdoor activity spot or much more, a new favorite every week. We will still have a picture for you and we will offer up clues, a riddle perhaps to jumpstart your mind. Find out about upcoming events and get some ideas for different ways to enjoy everything our Massachusetts towns have to offer. Then tell us what your own favorites are in that week’s category.

Head on over to our Barrett Facebook page and join in. If you don’t “like” us already, what are you waiting for? We’re giving you 52 good reasons all year long!

For over 20 years the agents and staff of Barrett & Company Real Estate in Concord Massachusetts have built or renovated a dollhouse for the holidays. Raffle tickets are sold to benefit a local charity. In 2011, for the second year in a row, the money raised went to the Massachusetts Coalition for the Homeless.

The dollhouse serves a number of purposes. The first being a donation of all raffle ticket sales to a worthwhile cause. And it is fun to participate in the creation of the dollhouse and watch its evolution. All materials and time are donated, so this year, starting in about July, one would hear snippets of conversation throughout the office “has the roof been shingled?”, “what color are we painting the shutters?” It also makes a pretty display in the front window of our office in Concord Center. It goes up right after Thanksgiving and gets “snowed”, which is when the evergreen trees and street lamps go up and twinkling lights are laid under the blanket of snow around the outside. It is spotlighted in the window and makes for a pretty sight when you drive down Walden Street at night. It is always ready for the night of the Christmas parade and tree lighting in Concord. A good number of raffle tickets are always purchased at the open house Barrett holds that night.

This year, we did something a little bit different, as well. We held a Barrett & Company Shopping Night. A number of local vendors brought their wares in to our office, jewelry, food items, handcrafted stationery, to name a few. We invited friends, family, clients and more their shopping done and to share in some holiday cheer. All of the vendors at the event donated a portion of their proceeds to the Mass. Coalition for the Homeless. Our 2011 total donation to the Massachusetts Coalition for the Homeless was over $2,300!

This year the drawing was scheduled for 3:30 pm on December 22nd. All afternoon the phone lines in Concord were ringing with people wondering if the winning ticket had been drawn yet. About a dozen agents and staff gathered in the front lobby for the drawing. Hundreds of tickets were collected in a trash bag, the only thing big enough to handle them all!

The winning ticket was drawn and Robert Chartener of Concord was the lucky winner. He arrived the next day to pick up the dollhouse to bring home for his 6 year old daughter Matilda.

Casual sophistication and sunlight shower the pristine eight room Contemporary style home located at 151 Tower Road in Lincoln, Massachusetts. The interior has been freshly painted and hardwood floors have recently been refinished. The numerous skylights and glass doors highlight the welcoming and gracious interior. The living room with its pretty fireplace and cathedral ceiling is open to the study/play loft on the second floor. The kitchen and dining room access the south facing deck and yard, perfect for outdoor entertaining. Upstairs you will find the sun-streamed master suite and two family bedrooms. The private and serene setting feels far removed from the hustle and bustle but has deceptively convenient access to commuting routes.

Buyer Walkthrough

Additional Listing Information and Photos

151 Tower Road, Lincoln, Massachusetts

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This newly built Colonial style home at 2 Morning Glory Circle is located in the Hawthorne Estates neighborhood of Westford Massachusetts. Enter into the 2 story grand foyer with its turned hardwood staircase. The first floor features 9 foot ceilings and hardwood floors throughout. The formal living room with French doors opens to the formal dining room, both with tray ceilings and detailed moldings. The kitchen, with cherry cabinets, granite countertops and stainless steel appliances, is open to the fireplaced family room. The large master suite, on the second floor, has a large walk in closet and master bath with his and hers sinks, jetted tub and separate shower. The three family bedrooms are also located on the second floor. The walk up attic is perfect for storage or ready to be finished for additional living space. The large, flat backyard offers plenty of room for outdoor activities. Great commuter location for both Routes 3 and 495.

Buyer Walkthrough

Additional Listing Information and Photos

2 Morning Glory Circle, Westford, Massachusetts

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Why does the “weaker” sex have the primordial urge to move heavy furniture? I know that I love it. It is the thrill of getting instant results. It is the thrill of getting something “new” for nothing. When I am in a shopping mood, the best way to overcome the buying bug is to go home and move my existing furniture. Home stagers know there is a lot of potential in shopping your own house.

Men hate moving furniture. My husband takes it one step further, he hates to see furniture moved. So I drag stuff around on my own, and he comes home from work and has a nervous breakdown. It is as if his retreat has been invaded by a warring clan. “Did you have Betty over?” he asks suspiciously. He knows two women moving furniture get really big results.

Often the furniture-moving urge comes on when I make a small home decorating purchase. Mike groans at the sight of a Home Goods bag at the door because he knows the pillow or lamp is an accurate predictor of a coming seismic shift in the living room or den. A new table lamp doesn’t just fit into a room. It becomes the room’s “inspiration.” The room has to live up to the new lamp so everything must be rethought and reshuffled.

Did women have time to rearrange things in the old days? Maybe they were too tired after boiling lard into soap all day. But I think they did make the time. I can imagine my great-grandmother saying in a wheedling tone, “Stosh, can you just move the potbelly stove a little to the right? It will really open up the flow of the room.”

My mother tells a story of being eight months pregnant and working on her hands and knees to unroll a huge new living room rug because she was tired of waiting for my father to do it. I see that this moving proclivity runs in the family.

Coming soon: Clever ways to single-handedly move an entire room of furniture

Barrett & Company Real Estate agents and staff recently spent an evening at The Concord Museum in historic Concord, Massachusetts, enjoying the Museum’s 16th annual Christmas tree exhibition. The theme this year is Family Trees: A Celebration of Children’s Literature and it gives Concord’s renowned literary tradition a creative twist. The Museum’s galleries are filled with 36 fanciful trees of all shapes and sizes, decorated with original ornaments inspired by acclaimed children’s storybooks and contemporary picture book favorites.

Each tree serves as a canvas for the artistic creations of a dedicated team of volunteer decorators. Inspired by the storyline, the illustrations, the characters or setting of a particular book, the decorators let their imaginations take flight.

Some of the books selected for this year include: Ladybug Girl, by Jacky Davis and David Soman; The Snow Queen, retold by Sarah Lowes, illustrated by Miss Clara; Bats at the Ballgame, by Brian Lies; Little Women, by Louisa May Alcott ; Strega Nona’s Gift, by Tomie dePaola; The Polar Express, by Chris Van Allsburg; and many other favorites. Click here for a full list of this year’s books.

Concord Museum is located at 53 Cambridge Turnpike, Concord, Massachusetts 01742. The exhibit runs from November 23, 2011 through January 1, 2012.

Over the past year, Barrett & Company Real Estate has posted video walkthrough tours of a number of our unique properties. We try to give you a feel for features and details that may not be captured in a still photograph or virtual tour (those same still photographs, just stitched together to “move”). Of all the properties, none is as unique and special as the dollhouse built by Barrett agents and staff each year to benefit a local charity. Raffle tickets are sold and since all labor and materials are donated, all the money collected goes to the selected organization, and for the second year in a row, the recipient is the Massachusetts Coalition for the Homeless.

Please take the video tour and then contact us at 978.369.6453 to purchase raffle tickets. More information is available here.

We, at Barrett & Company Real Estate, are so pleased to welcome Lincoln, MA resident Barbara Rhines as Exclusive Staff Writer for our Massachusetts Real Estate blog.

Rhines writes on architectural history and interior design as well as real-estate issues. Her articles have appeared in Old-House Journal, Old-House Interiors, Wayside Magazine, Style 1900, Arts & Crafts Homes & the Revival, and Antiques & the Arts Weekly. Prior to turning to freelance writing full-time, Rhines worked for over 15 years in public relations promoting affordable-housing initiatives at the Massachusetts Housing Finance Agency and the Federal Home Loan Bank of Boston, with articles appearing in Banker & Tradesman, Bay State Realtor, and various Federal Reserve Bank publications.

“Her writing skills bring a thoughtful appreciation of the region’s architectural variety to our marketing materials,” says Barrett Executive Director of Business Development, Jacob Clayton. “She holds a license in real estate, as well, which just adds to the level of information she can convey to our readers”.

Rhines is a founding board member of Friends of Modern Architecture/Lincoln (FoMA), and a past board member for the Lincoln Historical Society. In 2004, she presented a talk on restoring her Bauhaus-era home after a fire, for a FoMA symposium on renovating mid-century modern homes. She is currently the head of the Lincoln, MA Girl Scouts.