Living in Bayberry
Bayberry sits on a cul-de-sac off Bayshore Avenue in the upper thirties of Brigantine, built in 1986 and laid out so that the parking and the front doors face in rather than onto the avenue. The homes are two-bedroom, two-bath condominiums with the primary as an en suite, and what separates them from most attached housing on this island is the garage. Each home has a one-car attached garage plus a private storage room off it and driveway parking on top of that. On a barrier island, a place to put the bikes, the beach chairs, the surfboards and the fishing gear out of the weather is worth real money, and very little of the condo stock here offers it.
Inside, the layouts are open and bright — a living room and dining area running to an eat-in kitchen with a center island, and a door out to a back deck. Several units have had the decking rebuilt in Trex with new vinyl railings. Closet space is generous by 1980s standards and the washer and dryer are in the unit rather than down a hall in another building. Interiors vary, as they do in any community of this age: some are original and some have been fully repainted and updated. That variation is what you are shopping.
Two house rules decide the purchase here, and both cut the same way. Bayberry does not permit pets — service animals only. And rentals are restricted to yearly or winter terms; short-term rentals are not allowed at all. On an island where a great deal of the condo market is bought specifically for summer income, that single line removes Bayberry from the investor conversation entirely. If you want rental revenue in July, look at the beach-block buildings instead. If you want a quiet community of neighbors who are actually there, this is exactly why it feels the way it does.
One structural item belongs in your math up front. Following a state-mandated reserve study, the association put a special assessment in place that is billed once a year each July and runs for several more years, specifically to build the reserve fund. The current year is generally settled by the seller at closing, but the obligation continues for the next owner, so ask how many years remain and what the current figure is before you write an offer. It is routine for a community of this age and it is nothing to be alarmed by — it just needs to be in the column rather than discovered later. The monthly association fee covers insurance, maintenance and management.
The location is the quiet payoff. You are three blocks from the beach, and walking distance to the shopping center, the restaurants, the community center, the tennis and pickleball courts and the skate park. It is one of the few spots on the island where you can leave the car in the garage for a week and not miss it. If you want to be on the water instead, compare against Brigantine bayfront or the slips at Bay Club; for the ocean side, see beachfront. Or work through every building at once on the Brigantine condos page.
