[MassHistPres] Subject: Re: Buying a Home with Historical Significance

[James Kossuth]

In Medford, where the assessor's default date (1910), is often wrong, we
found that (a) setting up a simple email alert via Redfin or Zillow to
alert the commission to any house being put on the market and (b) writing a
letter to the seller's agent whenever a house that is possibly pre-1900 (by
confirming with maps) is listed as a tear-down, handyman's special,
contractor's dream, etc., forestalls 11th-hour complaints from developers
who are all set to tear down that 1870s Second Empire home listed with a
1910 date.

The letter would simply say that the commission had reason to believe that
the date given on the listing sheet was incorrect, and that if the house
was in fact pre-1900, any demo would have to come before the commission.
We would also include a packet of information about the demo delay.

Best,
James Kossuth
(formerly Medford Historical Commission)
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