what is all the negativity about moving to cape cod? (Sandwich: 2009, unemployment)

[urbie]

Originally Posted by CoastalMaine

TOTAL crap!!!! There are 300,000 +/- year round residents here... are you suggesting we're all starving, trust fund babies, or living off of retirement funds??? Opining so negatively about the economy of a place because you made some assumptions while vacationing on some part of the Cape is really off base.

Lemme guess -- you're a real-estate agent?

Actually, the licensed-plumber angle changes the picture, for the couple from Phoenix (just as would be the case in Flagstaff -- tradesmen do well up there). A plumber can probably make a steady living on the Cape. What I'm talking about is that there isn't much in the way of professional, salaried jobs on the Cape itself. That is simple economics -- I'm not making it up. (I grew up in Mass., not Arizona.) Any resort area always -- without exception -- ends up having expensive real-estate and few professional jobs. In Flag, you either owned a hotel or changed the sheets in one -- the economy on Cape Cod is pretty similar.

But I'm willing to be proven wrong. How many corporations are headquartered on the Cape, with high-rise office buildings that employ thousands of white-collar professionals? How many Big 4 accounting firms have branches out there? Software companies of more than 250 employees? National banks and insurance companies that are headquartered out there? Didn't think so. It's a tourist economy. That's not a bad thing -- the Cape is a great place to go. But a great place to make a living?

Urb

[CoastalMaine]

Originally Posted by urbie

Lemme guess -- you're a real-estate agent? Dead flat wrong. Multiple small business owner. TYVM.

Actually, the licensed-plumber angle changes the picture, for the couple from Phoenix (just as would be the case in Flagstaff -- tradesmen do well up there). A plumber can probably make a steady living on the Cape. What I'm talking about is that there isn't much in the way of professional, salaried jobs on the Cape itself. That is simple economics -- I'm not making it up. (I grew up in Mass., not Arizona.) Any resort area always -- without exception -- ends up having expensive real-estate and few professional jobs. In Flag, you either owned a hotel or changed the sheets in one -- the economy on Cape Cod is pretty similar.

FYI, plumbers, electricians, arborists, and the like make $125 an hour here. Builders, construction managers, etc., do likewise. You can't get a laborer here for under $50 an hour unless he's an idiot.

We are NOT a resort area. That is where your premise is incorrect. We are a viable year round community. We are an extension at this point of the south shore. Nothing more, nothing less. I started businesses here 30 years ago when there were 125k year round people and back then, it was a tourist driven economy. A lot of things closed up from October/November/December through the end of March. That's NOT the case anymore. Because so many people from off Cape moved here, it's become a full time, year round community.


You do a disservice to all the town managers, store managers, restaurant managers, mall managers, small business owners who support the residential residents, nurseries, bank employees, paralegals, hospital employees, Wood Hole scientists and compatible staff, teachers, principals, dentists and techs/assistants, veternarians and their staff, doctors and their staffs, attorney's, police officers, educational administrators, firemen, YES, we actually DO have software companies in Hyannis - which is why I say - if you don't live here, but only come and vacay once in awhile and truly haven't studied the fabric of the Cape, you shouldn't opine-, and yes, real estate brokers, mortgage brokers, and fishermen, lobstermen, etc. Another asset we have for our economy is a large snowbird population. They own homes here, but winter elsewhere. They pay the full boat on taxes, but enjoy us only seasonally.


Our white collared employees are just far more low key than in and around the city. We don't have much of the foolish snobbery that comes with that. We'd all rather be out on our boats, or down the beach, or out riding a bike, or enjoying a walk in the woods, than running for the T!


It isn't necessary to have the thousands of white-collared professionals as you call them in order to have a viable year round economy. That's a ridiculous premise and only proves the point that you don't have stats to back up your discussion. You're making assumptions. There are literally thousands of New England towns WITHOUT thousands of white-collar professionals in HIGH RISE buildings and their towns are not resorts either.


We DO have a segment of our economic base that comes from tourist dollars, but by no means does it all come from that. With the influx of people in and around Boston who wanted to raise their kids in a place far from crime, far from the fast paced city life, that has some of the best school records in the state, this was the place to come. When that happened, we diversified to meet that influx. That's when the economic base here changed as well. Tourists are here from mid-June through Labor Day. That isn't enough to sustain this economy, but it does help the coffers. It's the extra family vacation you might not take otherwise.


Our median income for 2007 was $60,015. The average for the state was $62,365.


Here's the stats from City-Data:

http://www.city-data.com/county/Barn...County-MA.html

But I'm willing to be proven wrong. How many corporations are headquartered on the Cape, with high-rise office buildings that employ thousands of white-collar professionals? How many Big 4 accounting firms have branches out there? Software companies of more than 250 employees? National banks and insurance companies that are headquartered out there? Didn't think so. It's a tourist economy. That's not a bad thing -- the Cape is a great place to go. But a great place to make a living? YES, if you plan to make a living at something this spit of sand needs!!! You must adapt. No question or argument there. We don't need lots of semi-conductor testers, etc. And the trade off for not having to deal with the THOUSANDS of white-collar jerks racing to and from the city every day and sipping their tai-chi's, nor the traffic hassles inherent with that lifestyle, or the HIGH RISE office buildings that employ them, is SO, SO, SOOOOOOOOO worth changing your employment history for!!!!! I've lived and done both in my lifetime and I'll take Cape Cod over the 128 or 495 beltways any day of the week!!!!!! AND weekends included!!! -- Even though I have to plan my trips over the bridge both ways according to tourists in the summer. It's STILL all worth it.

Urb

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[AbsoluteFloors]

To the self employed Plumber.

I've lived a self employed contractor that has lived on The Cape twice and still have family that lives there. It may be somewhat difficult at first until you forge some new contacts. But you do see successful contractors that the community embraces and they do well for themselves. Of course the current housing market isn't looking so good overall.

Good luck to you!

[seldomseen]

The worst aspect about living on Cape Cod is the lack of decent/high paying jobs (there are a few other issues that come to mind too) The highest paying employer on the Cape is with Cape Cod Health Care. You can try your luck going into business yourself, but your billable worth depends on your service offerings of course. Cape Cod definitely isn't perfect and can give folks a dose of reality within months of moving there. lol

[sh45]

well from reading all the replies the positive and the negative,i feel more positive about moving there! my situation might be the opportunity to follow my hearts desire, if i can't make it on the cape i can always come back. oh just off the subject a little bit, i saw the statistics for wellfleet and the surrounding towns there are more women than men, whats up with that!? i'm hoping to find a man (an honest one) to journy through the rest of my life with, are there any 40 something men left on the cape or do i have to lure one from my area. yes i am a woman and no i'm not desperate, just curious.

[CoastalMaine]

Originally Posted by sh45

well from reading all the replies the positive and the negative,i feel more positive about moving there! my situation might be the opportunity to follow my hearts desire, if i can't make it on the cape i can always come back. oh just off the subject a little bit, i saw the statistics for wellfleet and the surrounding towns there are more women than men, whats up with that!? i'm hoping to find a man (an honest one) to journy through the rest of my life with, are there any 40 something men left on the cape or do i have to lure one from my area. yes i am a woman and no i'm not desperate, just curious.

The average age of Cape Codders is 47. The stats for Wellfleet, Truro, P'Town, and other lower Cape towns being mostly women reflect the larger gay population down that end of the Cape I suspect. You can't accuartely decipher those stats by reading them. It doesn't include snowbird people for instance or second homeowners who come down for weekends from the city, etc.

There's plenty of men here. lol

[Jamie86Bos]

does anyone work on the base? i would figure there are a lot of job opportunities there.

[capecodcathy]

It's quite amusing when people who've visited for a week or two in July or August consider themselves experts on year-round Cape Cod living. Or even those who did live here 25 years ago.
Coastal is correct. If this is where you want to live you have to adapt to the Cape. The Cape has adapted plenty to increased population and industry, but we'll only go so far. If I wanted to live in a steel jungle, I'd move there. If I want to work there, I'll commute. I prefer our little spit of sand, trees and wildlife.

[CoastalMaine]

Jamie, the base is now very small. I sincerely doubt anyone here would call it a place of opportunity for work.

[Jamie86Bos]

really coastalmaine? thats disappointing to hear. my fiance and i are currently living in san diego but are hoping to move to the cape next spring. im from the boston suburbs, and hes from texas. it will be very different for him, but i know hell love it. ive been out here for over 3 years now and ive wanted to get the heck out of here and come home for a solid year now.

he got out of the marines a couple of years ago and has been a civilian employee at camp pendleton (a marine base here) since then. were planning to move by march. but we can move as early as december. so were going to start looking for a job in dec at otis online in his field. im not familiar with that base at all. i didnt realize it was considered small. i just want to be home and live on the cape!