Rochester · Relocation
Relocating to Rochester
Learning the South Coast and the Cape from someone who lives here, before you commit to a town you have only seen in August.
The inland town of the three, and the only one with no coast
Rochester has no waterfront, and that single fact explains most of what is different about it. Land costs less here, lots are larger, the roads are quiet, and the town stays rural in a way its neighbors gave up decades ago.
People relocate here for space. Cranberry bogs, woods, stone walls, room for animals, room for a workshop, room for the thing there was never room for before. Anyone arriving expecting a village to walk into will be disappointed, because the town does not have one in that sense.
Ask me what living in Rochester is actually like
You are buying infrastructure, not only a house
Nearly everything in Rochester is on a private well and a private septic system. Heat is usually oil or propane bought and stored on the property. Some roads are private, which means the people who live on them arrange their own plowing and repairs.
None of that is a problem and all of it is a change if you are arriving from a city or a town with sewer and gas. It becomes a line in the monthly budget rather than a bill that shows up from a utility, and it is one of the first things I check on any Rochester house.
Everything is a drive, and the drives are pleasant
Groceries, a pharmacy, a coffee, a hospital: all of that is out of town, generally toward Wareham, Fairhaven or Middleborough. The highway is a real consideration here, because Route 495 and Route 195 are both reachable and the route you take depends on which end of town you land in.
Ask about the specific road before you fall for a house. A ten-minute difference at the start of a commute repeats every working day for as long as you own the place.
If there is a barn, we look at the barn
Rochester is where the horse properties on this coast mostly are. I own a horse, so when we walk a barn I am looking at footing, water, turnout, drainage, hay storage and how a truck and trailer actually get in and out, rather than at a photograph of a stall.
Zoning and the number of animals a parcel can carry are town questions with real answers, and we get them answered before an offer rather than after you have moved in with a horse and a problem.
Where to start
Tell me how much land you actually want to look after, which is usually a smaller number than the one people start with. Then tell me where you need to be on a weekday. Those two answers narrow Rochester quickly.
When you are ready, get in touch, or read about buying a home in Rochester.
This describes my general process and is not legal, tax, or lending advice.
Frequently Asked Questions
Does Rochester have a village center?
Not in the way Mattapoisett or Marion do. Rochester is a rural town with no coastline and no walkable center, and people move here for land and quiet rather than for a village. Groceries and errands are in Wareham, Fairhaven or Middleborough.
Is everything in Rochester on a well and septic?
Nearly everything, yes, along with oil or propane heat bought and stored on the property. It is a real change if you are arriving from somewhere with town water, sewer and gas, and it becomes a maintenance item rather than a monthly utility bill.
Can I keep horses in Rochester?
Often, and this is where most of the horse property on the South Coast sits. The number of animals a parcel can carry is a town question with a real answer, and we get it answered before an offer. I own a horse, so I look at footing, turnout, water and trailer access rather than at photographs.
Rochester
What relocation looks like in Rochester
Farm country and open land inland from the harbor, where lot size is the headline rather than the footnote.
Rochester keeps its agricultural character out in the open. Working farms, cranberry bogs, conservation land, and a good deal more space for the money than the coastal towns five miles away.
Acreage, outbuildings, frontage, well and septic carry more weight in a valuation here than square footage does. A house on five acres does not sell the way a house on a quarter acre sells.
The method
How I do it in Rochester
Relocation: keep exploring
Ready to make your move with Susan Gorden Ryan?