Moving to Cape Cod year-round?

[capecod55]

I have jut bought a house in centerville/hyannis area and am thinking of living there year round. however i work in the greater boston area. has anyone done the commute 3 to 4 times a week

[GeoffD]

Originally Posted by capecod55

I have jut bought a house in centerville/hyannis area and am thinking of living there year round. however i work in the greater boston area. has anyone done the commute 3 to 4 times a week

It really depends on what "greater Boston area" is. If you can walk to an office from South Station, it's painful but possible since you have public transportation options. If you need to drive to a job inside the 128-belt that isn't somewhere like Quincy, you're going to be working flex hours where you show up by 7am and are out the door before 3pm. A 9 to 5 job would be impossible if it wasn't close to South Station or a minor T ride from South Station.

I'm a telecommuter. I'm from South Dartmouth and bought a house there a half-dozen years ago as my 6-month summer home where I intend to retire in 8 years. I'm a bit closer to metro-Boston then Hyannis and have Providence 30 minutes away. I do high tech and spent most of my 35 year career on the upper 495-belt in MA and NH where all the tech jobs are. I live in mortal terror that my telecommuting job will vaporize and I'm stuck doing some hell commute. My quality of life would go in the toilet for the next 8 years I plan on working. Out the door before 5:30, "don't you dare schedule me in a meeting after 2pm", and begging as many work from home days as I can get. If I can't be rolling for the drive home before 2:30, I'm stuck there until 7:30 when the traffic jam clears and only home to sleep. I could get as far as Quincy, Needham, or Marlboro without needing drastic flex time. I'd be F'ed if I had to go to Burlington/Bedford every day.

Every place has its pros and cons. South Dartmouth has a bit more of a pulse in the winter than anywhere on the Cape since UMass-Dartmouth is in town. New Bedford has a lot going on if you can overlook the failed local economy and all the problems that causes. There is a real hospital 30 minutes away in Providence and the local one is a bit bigger than anything on the cape. Real medical services with world class specialists means Boston just like in Hyannis. The best beaches in South Dartmouth are private but the town beach is adequate. My boat floats in the harbor and the sailing is far better than anywhere on the Cape. It's summer homes rather than hotels so it doesn't have the Cape summer mayhem. Dartmouth public schools used to be outstanding but aren't what they used to be. If I had school aged children who tested top-20% or better, I'd be shelling out for private schools to mimic what they would get in a top-25 town public school. With the enormous labor pool in New Bedford, the cost of living is a bit cheaper than on the Cape. I can get to Green Airport in Providence in 40 minutes if I'm really pushing, 45 minutes at speed limit + 9, and the worst "rush hour" delay the last 3 miles to the I-195/I-95 split in downtown Providence is rarely more than 10 minutes. Logan airport is an hour at 2am and completely non-deterministic otherwise. I lived in Portsmouth, NH for a decade. I loved the place but it became obvious that I couldn't retire there with the standard of living I wanted because the housing costs and services costs were so much higher. I opted to move back to my home town. If I weren't from here, I'd be looking at Marion and Falmouth. Falmouth has a bit of a winter pulse because of WHOI. Most other Cape towns are stuffed full of service sector people struggling to survive the winter until the tourists show back up.