Barnstable · Buying a Home
Buying a Home in Barnstable
Buying near the water with your eyes open, so the house you fall for is still the right house after the first nor'easter.
Seven villages, and the town name is the least useful fact
Barnstable is the largest town on Cape Cod and it contains seven villages: Hyannis, Barnstable Village, Centerville, Osterville, Cotuit, Marstons Mills and West Barnstable. They are not variations on a theme. They are different markets with different housing and very different prices.
Searching by town name here produces results that are impossible to compare against each other, which is why buyers find this town confusing until somebody breaks it into its parts.
Tell me what you are looking for
Two coasts, and they do not behave the same way
The north side runs along Route 6A toward Cape Cod Bay: older houses, the historic road, a quieter feel. The south side faces Nantucket Sound: warmer water, beaches, and the village centers most people picture when they picture this town.
A house on each side at the same price is two genuinely different purchases, and the right one depends on how you intend to use the water rather than on which number looks better.
Hyannis is the Cape's year-round center
Hyannis carries the hospital, the airport, the ferries, the transit and most of the Cape's year-round commercial life. That makes this town unusual: it does not go dark after Labor Day the way much of the Cape does.
For a buyer who wants to live here rather than visit, that is the argument for Barnstable over several prettier towns. Everything you need in February is already open.
What to check before you commit here
- Which village the house is in, which decides the price more than anything about the house itself.
- Septic or town sewer, because this town has both and the answer varies street by street.
- Flood zone, elevation and a real insurance quote on either coast.
- What water access actually transfers, deeded, association, town beach sticker, or nothing.
- Permit history, on any older house that has been added to over the decades.
Where to start
Tell me how you want to live and which water you actually want, and seven villages become two. As a Pricing Strategy Advisor I would rather show you why one village is worth more than another than hand you a town-wide average that describes nowhere.
Tell me what you are looking for, or if you are selling here as well, see what your Barnstable home is worth.
This describes my general process and is not legal, tax, or lending advice.
Frequently Asked Questions
Which Barnstable village should I be looking in?
It depends on which water you want and whether this is year-round or seasonal. The north side along 6A toward Cape Cod Bay is older and quieter. The south side toward Nantucket Sound has the warmer water and the village centers. Hyannis is where the year-round life is. Tell me how you want to live and I will narrow seven to two.
Is Barnstable a good place to live year-round?
It is one of the best on the Cape for it, because Hyannis carries the hospital, the airport, the ferries and most of the year-round commercial life. Much of the Cape goes quiet after Labor Day. This town does not.
Is the north side or the south side better?
Neither, and the question is really about how you intend to use the water. Cape Cod Bay on the north and Nantucket Sound on the south are different temperatures, different beaches and a different feel. Two houses at the same price on opposite sides are two different purchases.
Barnstable
What buying a home looks like in Barnstable
Seven villages in one town, from the harbor and the ferries at Hyannis to the quiet of Route 6A.
Barnstable is Hyannis, Centerville, Osterville, Cotuit, Marstons Mills, West Barnstable and Barnstable Village. It is the widest range of lifestyles available inside a single Cape town line, and the village name matters far more here than the town name.
Sandy Neck and the Route 6A corridor on the Bay side, Craigville and the Sound beaches on the south, and the busiest year-round downtown on the Cape in between. A town-level price figure averages seven places that have very little to do with each other.
The method
How I do it in Barnstable
Buying a Home: keep exploring
Ready to make your move with Susan Gorden Ryan?