Cape Cod (Boston, Plymouth, Eastham: low income, to rent, house insurance)

[Pearltea]

I'm considering moving to Cape Cod, MA. Pro's and Con's?

[maggiekate]

expensive, hard to get house insurance, not many good paying jobs.

nice beach, quiet living-may tend to get boring.

[Pearltea]

This is your perspective as a Cape Codder?

[RichCapeCod]

The Cape is made up of 15 towns. Each is a bit different, several have large areas of federal property (National Seashore Park -- Lower Cape area, Eastham, Wellfleet, Truro and Provincetown). House prices vary from town to town. Barnstable (Hyannis) is a city, with all that entails. If you could ask a more specific question perhaps I could be of additional assiatance.

Rich

[capecodcathy]

Depends on what you're looking for. I've lived here for 10 years and Rich has great info too but you do need to be more specific. Be glad to help!

[Ronniec78]

I lived there for 8 years and loved it at the beginning. For a young professional it's terrible. For someone with a family or older and doesn't want the hustle & bustle it's great.

[Boomerang]

Cape Cod is

- in summer, beautiful but ungodly traffic and crowds everywhere. I vaguely remember a joking comment on the radio about not being able to make a left turn between Memorial Day and Columbus Day.

- ticks almost year-round; not important unless you own pets or enjoy the outdoors

- in winter, still beautiful with much reduced traffic and no crowds....a lot of places shuttered til summer, which is rather bleak. Some towns stay more 'alive' than others

- almost no regular folk can afford to live there anymore. Housing costs and insurances are through the roof, jobs are few and not terribly well paid, and it's not a commutable distance to Boston for work. Oh sure, you can drive to Plymouth and grab commuter rail, but....

Overall I'd rather live in Plymouth and enjoy proximity to better employment AND visiting the Cape.

[astroline95]

pearltea, this is exactly the type of response you'll get from most people on the cape. it's drowning with townies & locals that all look the same, all have the same FAKE boston accent, and think "culture" is fish & small sand dunes. some of them think it's a big deal to cross the bourne bridge!

basically, it's an okay place for a vacation (as many people do), but to live here year-round is just a bad decision if you want somewhere vibrant, teeming with life and culture, and isn't just filled with retirees, townies & wholesome, boring families that all look the same. it's honestly not as good of a place as people make it out to be.

sorry this post is so negative lol, but it's impossible to NOT be negative when discussing the cape.

[Ronniec78]

I grew up on the South Shore and was excited when I moved to the Cape. I thought it was so beautiful and that I would never want to leave. However, after about 6 years living there I began realizing so many people who lived on the Cape had attitudes, were posers, and that the place just totally sucked. Having been all over the country I now realize Cape Cod is one of the last places in the country I would ever want to live. Even if I was retired there is no way I would want to live there. People have the impression it's some mecca of wealth, when in reality it really isn't. It's mostly low income and middle income people who live there year round. I am so excited to be off of Cape Cod and out of the Northeast for that matter. It's a place I never want to live in again.

[arbucle]

My wife is in the coast guard and will be moving to beautiful cape cod this june;Due to highschoolers complaining about the move she may come by herself for two years until retirement.Can you reccomend a safe cheap place to rent?600 to 850 amonth near coast guard base.prefer apt.condo can be very small no animals