From Salt We Have Come and to Salt We Will Return

CAPE COD AND THE ISLANDS of Martha’s Vineyard & Nantucket are by far one of the most popular summer destinations in America. There is no doubt we are mesmerized by the ocean’s edge and drawn to it like it is part of our being. John F. Kennedy once said, “All of us have in our veins the exact same percentage of salt in our blood that exists in the ocean, and therefore, we have salt in our blood, in our sweat, in our tears. We are tied to the ocean. And when we go back to the sea - whether it is to sail or to watch it - we are going back from whence we came.” Joseph P. Kennedy, John’s dad, originally rented a summer home in Hyannis Port in the 1920s. In 1926, he purchased the property consisting of 3 homes known today as the Kennedy Compound.

The small beachside communities are connected by the eclectic backroads of route

6A, or as some know it, “The Old Kings Highway,” which was used by Native Americans and settlers to transport goods along the bay. Each year over 5 million tourist flock to the Cape to experience just a small piece of life in this spectacular place. There is only one thing better than a visit to your favorite place, and that is making it your home or your home away from home. Droves of visitors find their special place for summer excursions or full-year residency. The Cape & Islands offers so much in the amazing summers here, but locals will tell you, it is the serenity of all the seasons that make living here so very special The laidback lifestyle, sweeping beaches, and lush landscapes make the Cape a paradise to live in for zesty summers and laid-back winters. Courtesy of Kinlin Grover Real Estate, “If you could travel back in time to 1950, chances are you would not recognize the communities of Cape Cod. Only 47,000 people lived here then, and almost everyone who had a home on the Cape was a fulltime resident. The local economy was still dependent on a robust fishing industry and fast-growing summer tourism. Today, the year-round population has grown by over 350 percent to 250,000 year-round residents in Cape & Islands towns.” According to the Cape Cod Commission, roughly 41% of all Cape Cod homes are seasonal. The majority of these are empty in the winter. This means that the homes are generally easy to show, even on short notice.

Kinlin Grover also noted, “Among the wealthiest second-home owners, more than 60 percent have their primary residences elsewhere in Massachusetts, mostly in the Boston metro area. Another 10 percent come from Connecticut and Rhode Island. About 5 percent of second-home owners have their primary residence in New Jersey, while nearly 6 percent live in New York”. As a result, for so many second-home owners, their Cape residence really is their ‘other’ home, enjoyed year-round. Many will leave work Thursday night and spend a long weekend on the

Cape”. The Cape has so much to offer, to so many, looking for a life by the sea. From quiet beaches to winding bike & recreation paths, to parks and quaint small villages for shopping and dining. By all standards, it is vacation home living that is relatively close to major metro markets and transportation hubs in the affluent Northeast.

CAPE COD, A GOLFER’S DREAM

With more than three dozen golf courses, Cape Cod, Massachusetts is a golfer’s delight. Whether you’re an avid golfer who prefers the amenities of a private golf resort or someone who enjoys playing a variety of public courses, the perfect golf experience awaits you on Cape Cod. Near every great golf course are fabulous options for living your dream. Fairway Pointe near the recently revamped Cape Club in Falmouth is a great choice. If resort-style living near the ocean is more your style, then Willowbend, New Seabury, or Brewster’s Ocean Edge Resort is a great fit. Cummaquid Golf Club in the quaint town of Yarmouth Port is enveloped by the tight-knit neighborhood of Cummaquid Heights, the perfect spot for settling in and making friends. The Cape has so many options for golf communities, it’s hard to know where to begin.

THE ISLANDS OF MARTHA’S VINEYARD & NANTUCKET REAL ESTATE MARKET

Real estate sales on Martha’s Vineyard soared well past the $1 billion threshold from 2020-2022, shattering previous records as an unprecedented bull market for homes, buoyed by the pandemic, drove the market. According to year-end data compiled from the Dukes County Registry of Deeds, the Island finished 2020 with a total sales volume of $1.09 billion. The median home sale price on Martha’s Vineyard jumped from $875,000 in 2019, the previous Island record, to $1,035,000 in 2020, an 18 percent increase. And in 2021 and 2022 sharp increases in prices of sought-after properties were recorded. The Vineyard’s sister island of Nantucket has seen an even more dramatic increase in its real estate market.

Traditionally about twice as expensive as the Vineyard, Nantucket surpassed the $2 billion threshold for the first time in 2020, with median home prices hovering around $2 million. The typical home value in Nantucket is $1,716,533. This value is seasonally adjusted and only includes the middle price tier of homes. Nantucket home values have gone up 4.9% over the past year.

Cape Cod and The Islands are broken into 6 distinct regions, let’s explore each of them a bit and what each has to offer for living “The Cape & Islands Life,” in a primary or co-primary second home.

The Upper Cape

The Upper Cape is the first area you reach after crossing the Cape Cod Canal, which is the longest sea-level canal in the world, boasting 7 miles of bike and footpaths on each bank. This region alone is home to 10 beautiful beaches and 10 great golf courses. The Upper Cape is an area of Cape Cod that includes the towns of Bourne, Falmouth, Mashpee, Sandwich, and the village of Woods Hole. The Upper Cape offers beaches on both Nantucket Sound as well as Cape Cod Bay and is home to several Cape Cod Kettle Ponds. The region features both year-round and seasonal neighborhoods and offers convenient off Cape access for commuters to both Boston, MA, Providence, RI, and Hartford, CT. Sandwich is a delightful little town with gorgeous public gardens and a famous boardwalk that lofts across a wide salt marsh from a parking area to the beach. Woods Hole is the home of the famous oceanographic institute. Beaches of the Upper Cape touch upon the calmer, protected waters of Cape Cod Bay and the rougher waters of Buzzards Bay and Nantucket Sound.

The Mid Cape

The Mid Cape includes the city of Barnstable and the towns of Dennis and Yarmouth. There are seven villages in Barnstable: Barnstable Village, Centerville, out-of-the-way location have kept generations of summer residents coming back each year. With its old Cape Cod quaintness, vast pristine beaches, and surrounding ocean, Chatham is in high demand. Visit the famous fish pier to purchase fish and lobsters right off the boat!

Cotuit, Hyannis, Marstons Mills, Osterville, and West Barnstable. Barnstable is the county seat, and Hyannis is known as Cape Cod’s one and only metropolis. The Mid Cape runs from Cape Cod Bay on the north to Nantucket Sound on the south. There are 100 miles of public beaches in Barnstable, and 20 public & private golf courses in the Mid-Cape area. Hyannis is considered the “hub” of the Cape, with nearly 70% of the population in this area, and is also home to most of Cape Cod’s industry. The downtown area of Hyannis is busy most of the year with many shops, restaurants, and attractions such as the Melody Tent and the Cape Cod Railroad. The John F. Kennedy Hyannis Museum is a multimedia exhibit designed to open a window into the days JFK spent on Cape Cod at the family compound in Hyannis Port. From the Ocean Street Docks, ferries and tour boats depart to the islands of Nantucket and Martha’s Vineyard.

The Outer Cape

LIVING IN the cape & the islands

the vacationers return home and the island again takes on a small-town community feel.

The Lower Cape

The Lower Cape is located at the “elbow” area of the Cape and includes the upscale towns of Chatham, Harwich, Orleans, and Brewster. The Lower Cape has much to offer including a large variety of year-round and second homes to choose from, many bay and ocean side beaches, extensive boating, fishing, water sports, a large variety of restaurants, art galleries, and shopping choices and once again great golf courses. No matter where you live in the Lower Cape, you are not far from water. With the Atlantic Ocean on one side and the Bay on the other, along with rivers, saltwater ponds, kettle ponds, coves, and inlets, a significant concentration of homes are waterfront, water view, or within reasonable walking distance to water. Chatham has developed over the years into a highly desirable place to live in or visit. Today its small-town qualities are well-suited for families and retired residents. A spectacular coastline and

The Outer Cape region extends northwards starting from Eastham and continuing through Wellfleet, Truro, and then Provincetown. This beautiful, narrow land area in places only a mile wide, is bordered by Cape Cod Bay to the west and the Atlantic Ocean to the east side. The Outer Cape has most of the Cape Cod National Seashore and offers miles of pristine beaches, sea grasses, and sand dunes. This in part is why the area is known for being the most rural and least commercialized on the Cape. Here you will find little distraction from the natural beauty that Patti Page sang about back in the 1950s. This strip of land is so narrow that in some areas, the distance from the ocean to the bay is only a mile. After taking a 30-mile walk along Cape Cod’s outer shore in 1849, Henry David Thoreau predicted that the wild and beautiful place he saw would be “A place of resort for those New Englanders who really wish to visit the seaside.” And in fact, all of Cape Cod, the famed Massachusetts peninsula wrapped with more than 500 miles of coastline, is today a seaside hot spot for travelers from New England and around the world.

MARTHA’S VINEYARD

Many are surprised to learn that around 63% of all homes in Martha’s Vineyard are strictly seasonal. When the tourists leave, the houses stand empty for 6-8 Months. Those who call Martha’s Vineyard home year-round, thrive in the solitude after

Martha’s Vineyard is an island that sits approximately 7 miles from Cape Cod. There are no bridges or tunnels to the mainland, the only way to reach the island is via boat or plane. Many people are drawn to the isolation and serenity this offers. On less than 100 square miles, you’ll find the 6 adorable small towns of Tisbury (Vineyard Haven), Oak Bluffs, Edgartown, West Tisbury, Chilmark, and Aquinnah. Yearround there are barely 17,000 residents but summertime brings that number closer to 200,000. Owning a home on the Vineyard means you should expect company – Often! It is truly a very special place to live!

Nantucket Island

Nantucket is an elbow-shaped island located 26 miles off Cape Cod in Massachusetts. It is a favorite summer vacation destination prized for its seaside charm, great restaurants, and lively shopping scene. Nantucket is not exclusively for the wealthy. Much of its 82 miles of prime coastline is open to the public. At the height of summer, downtown brings out a mix of classes and backgrounds, heritages, and a host of wealthy summer residents and celebrities. For those living year-round on Nantucket, the pace of life changes with the seasons. Be prepared for a flurry of visitors, summer folks, and tourists from May through October, with a quieter pace in the winter months. The year-round population has almost doubled in the last 20 years to now, 14,500 residents. In the summertime, the population swells to over 80,000. Despite the challenges that come with living year-round on Nantucket, there’s a lot to love here!

Cape Cod and the islands of Martha’s Vineyard & Nantucket are simply some of the most pristine parts of America. Each year over 5 million tourists flock to the region to experience just a small piece of life in this spectacular region. They are amazing, such small and precious places. They can capture so much of our hearts and minds that we just keep going back, time after time. Living in Cape Cod is a dream that can be made a reality. The laid-back lifestyle, sweeping beaches, and lush landscapes make the Cape a paradise to live in for zesty summers and laid-back winters.