July Review: 

 The Cape Cod real estate market remains heavily seller favored with low inventory, high prices and quick sales.  However, as we noted last month, the furious buyer demand seems somewhat [...]

May and June Review -- Double Issue: 

 Well we're back after taking a brief hiatus last month.  So what's been going on in the Cape Cod real estate market for the past two months? Much the same as before but with some signs of change.  Let's jump [...]

April Review: 

   The Cape Cod real estate market remains crazy.  Median price continues to climb and metrics such as inventory and new listings remain low.  Don't be deceived by the bump in inventory between March and April either.  True enough there were 324 single family homes for sale at the end of April; however, fewer than 100 of those [...]

March Review: 

   The Cape Cod real estate market continues to languish in abysmally low inventory levels.  For comparison, the number of homes for sale in March in Barnstable county in the years before the pandemic were; 2017 : 2,412 --- 2018 : 1,971 --- 2019 : 2,288 --- 2020 : [...]

February Review: 

   We hate sounding like a broken record, but here goes anyway.  Inventory is as low as we have seen and continues to decline.  When drilling down into homes less than $650k, the dearth is even more concerning.  At the time of writing (3/15), there are 38 single family homes for sale in Barnstable County for less than [...]

We’ve spilled gallons of ink this year describing how difficult the market is for buyers and speculating about the policy and housing production solutions needed to turn things around. But what about buyers who need to buy something right now? Are they out of luck? Absolutely not!! The market may be crazy, but there is a method to the [...]

Cape Cod vacation rentals had another incredible year in 2021. After many months cooped up by the pandemic, we saw exceptional bookings and many happy returning tenants who did not rent in 2020.  There were a few points that we found very interesting after letting our heads clear from the heat of the [...]

Another annual newsletter, another moment of reckoning how much the pandemic has changed our lives. The only constant seems to be that rapid change and unpredictability will continue to waylay our plans….but it’s not all bad!

Based on polling data from the Cape & Islands Association of Realtors, a majority of people who purchased a home on Cape during the pandemic intend to stay full-time. While an increased year-round population poses some of its own challenges, having a new generation of ‘locals’ bringing fresh ideas, different perspectives, and tons of enthusiasm for their new home can only be a positive development! The strength of this community was one of the reasons I fell in love with this place. Now, I’m excited to pay it forward and welcome our newcomers into the fold – there’s plenty of work to be done!

Speaking of work to be done, the residents of Brewster have ours cut out for us: in a truly once-in-a-lifetime opportunity, the Town elected to purchase the former Cape Cod Sea Camps properties. With frontage on both the Bay (see picture below) and Long Pond, this is the largest purchase Brewster has ever made! After a record turnout at town meeting to vote in favor of the acquisition, we are now embarking on a public engagement process to figure out what to do with the 110-ish acres. In recent years, Brewster has determined several town-wide planning priorities for the future, so I’m excited to see those manifest as we decide how to use our latest and greatest public asset.

Collaboration is the name of the game over in Yarmouth, too! At the site of the former Riverway restaurant, something new is cooking. It’s now home to the Family Table Collaborative, a self-sustaining nonprofit aimed at eliminating food insecurity on Cape. They provided over 100,000 free meals during 2021, and recently expanded their services to include rentable commercial kitchen hours, a local maker’s market/cafe, and a group meeting space! Yours truly lent her (very mediocre) skills with a paintbrush ahead of the grand opening, and it’s been a joy to watch their innovative approach be so completely embraced by the community.

The start of a new year always renews optimism for better things to come. Being an individual in the midst of a global pandemic feels overwhelming and totally out of our control, but I am heartened by seeing our local community rally around the issues that matter most to us (and there are plenty of them). Our little sandbar faces some complex challenges, but Cape Codders have always been resilient. If anything, these last two years have made us more stubborn, more dedicated to finding solutions, and more willing to create a fuss to make things happen – I can only imagine what we’ll accomplish next!

January Review: 

   The Cape Cod real estate market continues its trends of high prices and low inventory, but there may be a change in the air...or not.  The graphic at right illustrates how the market compares to January 2021.  If you can remember that far back, January was the start of the true frenzy before "Percent of Original Price [...]

December Review: 

 December closed out 2021 much as expected, with low inventory and continued high prices; however, there are a few things worth pointing out.  First, the seasonal supply curve in 2021 followed the more typical trend seen before the pandemic. This seasonality sees more homes come on the market in the Spring, Summer and early [...]