The average price of a house in my town is $572,750 . If I was able to get a 30 year mortgage at 5.75%, my monthly payments would be $3,342. That's nearly my entire take home pay.
There are plenty of houses on Cape Cod that you can afford ,I'd be happy to show them to you. I am a Realtor as well as a photographer & videographer. I know of noone that starts with a half million dollar property. Its not easy, never was, but if you and your wife are smart about it, work hard and pay your bills, you can buy a comfortable year round home. As for the lack of entertainment options, I think that thats a myth as well. There are resturants, clubs & bars in virtually every town, lots of community theatre, there are things to do get out and live.
Kayelle
· 1 year ago
One of the problems with housing on Cape is that there is so little salary or career advancement, particularly as compared with the increase in real estate. I've heard several comments about the need for starter housing or rental housing, but what is the point? If you can't afford a home today, you certainly won't be able to afford it tomorrow. Entry level housing isn't an opportunity on cape as it is elsewhere, it's a roach motel. You may go in, but you'll never get out. (Unless you move off cape.)
With due respect allmedia, lecturing people about how all they need to do is buck up and work hard is not particularly helpful.
Ryan Schenk
· 11 months ago
Many people I know blame the high housing prices as the significant factor that is driving young people away from the Cape. I disagree. I think that high housing prices are a convenient (and intuitive on the surface level) scapegoat, but I do not think that they are the primary cause, or even significantly contribute to the deficit of young people on the Cape.
If low housing prices were all it took to attract young people to a region, then Pittsburgh, Detroit, and other rust belt cities would be attracting young people in droves. But in reality, the opposite is happening -- these areas are hemorrhaging young people to the point that Pittsburgh's mayor once joked that they used to export steel; now they export bright young people.
Where are they all going? They're moving to the Bay Area, Brooklyn, Cambridge. Where are the highest housing prices in the country? The Bay Area, NYC Metro, and Boston.
While there is certainly something to be said for affordable housing, any discussion about attracting young people to a certain region needs to be aware of, and honest about, current trends that show young people congregating in areas that have the highest housing prices in the country.
When looking through this lens, it is obvious that young people are willing to pay a premium if it is worth their while to live in a certain area.
Therefore, in future discussions about the Cape's young people, let us avoid wasting time discussing housing prices at length; they are insignificant at the macro scale and difficult for us to change. Rather, let's tackle the root cause -- what can we do to make the Cape worthwhile to young people, in spite of the high housing prices.
Gary Sheehan
· 11 months ago
Good point Ryan; it's actually the balance between housing prices and available economic opportunities - not simply housing prices - that seems to be the central problem. The social and economic opportunities available in places like NYC, Bay Area, Boston, etc. far exceed what is available via reasonable commute from the Cape. The challenge for us is how do we help create and foster an environment of economic development in the next 10 years? We're not going to attempt to depress housing prices, so we need to work at matching the economic opportunities to those prices...more small firms, entrepreneurial incubation, community collaboration, etc. The challenge is great, but the cost of not reacting is too much to ignore...
Kayelle
· 11 months ago
I think this is a vital comment. "Affordable Housing" is not an answer at all, mainly because the kind of young professionals the cape is losing don't qualify for it anyway.
Jobs and salaries are a huge one. But one job is not enough, you need a "Creative Class" community where spouses can find jobs, where the is a community of people with similar interests, where the jobs are challenging and interesting, and where there is an expectation that people are clever.
I have an excellent job on paper. We certainly can afford to live here, but we're deeply unhappy and looking at moving off once the recession is over and I have a chance at finding a job. My partner can't find a job that is challenging or pays her worth, not just because they aren't available, but also because as a younger woman she's tracked into secretarial work by older male supervisors. I work in IT and my job pays well, but I never work with anything new and I can feel my skills atrophying because technology needs to be dumbed down to the Cape workforce.
And honestly, being part of the Creative Class and living on Cape is to live in alienation. There is just no peer group here. I am so tired of the sniff and sneer if I pull out one of them newfangled blackberry phone thingies with a typewriter on it, mention a band that's not 30 years old, or God forbid mention a videogame that apparently you're not allowed to play on Cape if you're over 12. My God, even other IT people are like "Warcraft? What's that?"
genevate
· 11 months ago
Curious Kayelle, where you are planning on moving or looking to move to? I am not in your exact situation but totally agree where you are coming from and thank you for saying what I have been thinking for a while.
Kayelle
· 11 months ago
We have kicked around a lot of places. If it was staying in Mass, probably JP. We've considered SF, Boston, Vancouver, and Toronto for cities. Any small college town in a blue state would work as well. We're not city people. We like small towns, but the social aspects I think we don't want to repeat.
capecoder
· 10 months ago
Hi
capecoder
· 10 months ago
Hi Kayelle,
I'm not a young person, but very much relate to your comments; thank you for posting them.
I moved here 7+ years ago expecting to find a vital intellectual community that celebrates talent, individuality and eccentricity. This may be true among artists and craftspeople, but it certainly is not true of most of the businesses in my acquaintance, including (ironically) some mentioned specifically on this site.
Some Cape employers have a plantation mentality because of the perception that theirs is a captive work force. Your observation that you can afford to live here but may choose not to for reasons unrelated to housing and salaries rings true and points to deeper issues.
I'm planning to submit an application to serve on the new Commission on the Status of Cape Cod Women. I am hoping that this group will focus on working conditions and experiences of Cape women. I would certainly be interested in your ideas for what needs to change to attract and retain bright, creative people. Please feel free to email me at capecoder AT capecoder.com.
Meanwhile, you would be welcome as a fellow IT professional to join the Cape Cod .NET User Group, which has a Microsoft focus, or Refresh Cape Cod, which tends to be more open source-oriented. The websites are http://www.capecoddotnet.org and http://www.refreshcapecod.org If you manage to get to one of the meetings, please introduce yourself....Marcia
Kayelle
· 11 months ago
Good article here about the kind of issues I feel are really big in the Cape's problems.
Great article and thank you for posting your thoughts - I got a few great laughs as you describe the situation on the Cape particularly "sniff and sneer if I pull out one of them newfangled blackberry phone thingies with a typewriter on it" - good stuff! We need to do a better job at making the changes necessary to attract the creative class, and the kind of companies that employ creative class workers...BackOffice Associates is a great example of a larger firm doing so, and there are plenty of small firms doing so as well - we need more and we need to spark interest in making the Cape a home, for entrepreneurs and the jobs that follow their ideas. Best of luck - Cape Cod will miss you if you leave, but your ideas can help us work to make things better and hopefully attract and retain more residents like you in the future...Gary
All Comments
With due respect allmedia, lecturing people about how all they need to do is buck up and work hard is not particularly helpful.
If low housing prices were all it took to attract young people to a region, then Pittsburgh, Detroit, and other rust belt cities would be attracting young people in droves. But in reality, the opposite is happening -- these areas are hemorrhaging young people to the point that Pittsburgh's mayor once joked that they used to export steel; now they export bright young people.
Where are they all going? They're moving to the Bay Area, Brooklyn, Cambridge. Where are the highest housing prices in the country? The Bay Area, NYC Metro, and Boston.
While there is certainly something to be said for affordable housing, any discussion about attracting young people to a certain region needs to be aware of, and honest about, current trends that show young people congregating in areas that have the highest housing prices in the country.
When looking through this lens, it is obvious that young people are willing to pay a premium if it is worth their while to live in a certain area.
Therefore, in future discussions about the Cape's young people, let us avoid wasting time discussing housing prices at length; they are insignificant at the macro scale and difficult for us to change. Rather, let's tackle the root cause -- what can we do to make the Cape worthwhile to young people, in spite of the high housing prices.
Jobs and salaries are a huge one. But one job is not enough, you need a "Creative Class" community where spouses can find jobs, where the is a community of people with similar interests, where the jobs are challenging and interesting, and where there is an expectation that people are clever.
I have an excellent job on paper. We certainly can afford to live here, but we're deeply unhappy and looking at moving off once the recession is over and I have a chance at finding a job. My partner can't find a job that is challenging or pays her worth, not just because they aren't available, but also because as a younger woman she's tracked into secretarial work by older male supervisors. I work in IT and my job pays well, but I never work with anything new and I can feel my skills atrophying because technology needs to be dumbed down to the Cape workforce.
And honestly, being part of the Creative Class and living on Cape is to live in alienation. There is just no peer group here. I am so tired of the sniff and sneer if I pull out one of them newfangled blackberry phone thingies with a typewriter on it, mention a band that's not 30 years old, or God forbid mention a videogame that apparently you're not allowed to play on Cape if you're over 12. My God, even other IT people are like "Warcraft? What's that?"
I'm not a young person, but very much relate to your comments; thank you for posting them.
I moved here 7+ years ago expecting to find a vital intellectual community that celebrates talent, individuality and eccentricity. This may be true among artists and craftspeople, but it certainly is not true of most of the businesses in my acquaintance, including (ironically) some mentioned specifically on this site.
Some Cape employers have a plantation mentality because of the perception that theirs is a captive work force. Your observation that you can afford to live here but may choose not to for reasons unrelated to housing and salaries rings true and points to deeper issues.
I'm planning to submit an application to serve on the new Commission on the Status of Cape Cod Women. I am hoping that this group will focus on working conditions and experiences of Cape women. I would certainly be interested in your ideas for what needs to change to attract and retain bright, creative people. Please feel free to email me at capecoder AT capecoder.com.
Meanwhile, you would be welcome as a fellow IT professional to join the Cape Cod .NET User Group, which has a Microsoft focus, or Refresh Cape Cod, which tends to be more open source-oriented. The websites are http://www.capecoddotnet.org and http://www.refreshcapecod.org If you manage to get to one of the meetings, please introduce yourself....Marcia
http://www.washingtonmonthly.com/features/2001/...
Best of luck - Cape Cod will miss you if you leave, but your ideas can help us work to make things better and hopefully attract and retain more residents like you in the future...Gary