Living in Nantucket
Nantucket sits on the bay side of Ocean City off Bay Avenue, a low-rise community of two-story buildings arranged around a set of courts named for the island it borrowed its own name from — Sconset, Madaket, Folger and Tonkin. It went up in the mid-1980s and it is one of the larger condo communities on this side of town, which matters when you are shopping: there is almost always something available here, and because the units are so similar to each other you can actually compare one to the next instead of guessing.
The typical unit is a two-bedroom, two-bath running roughly 860 to 900 square feet, many with cathedral ceilings in the living area. First-floor units get patios, second-floor units get the views and the ceiling height. Two assigned parking spaces come with each condo, which on this island is not a small thing. Kitchens and baths vary widely because owners have updated on their own schedule over four decades, so two listings at the same price can be very different homes inside.
What you are buying here is the west-facing view. Nantucket looks out over the bay, the Intracoastal Waterway, the Ocean City Airport and the protected bird sanctuary on Bay Avenue — which means sunsets, marsh, small planes coming and going, and no possibility of anyone building in front of you. Units facing the pool trade differently from units facing the water, and it is worth being specific about which one you want before you start driving down.
The association is one of the more active ones on the island. The pool complex was rebuilt recently — heated saltwater pool, hot tub, pool house and bath house, a clubhouse with a fitness room and bike racks — and there is on-site property management, which is unusual for a community this size and is the reason the grounds look the way they do. The monthly fee here covers flood and hazard insurance, which on a bayside property is a meaningful piece of the carrying cost and not something every Ocean City community does. There is also a capital contribution paid at settlement when you buy in.
Rentals run on a seven-day minimum, so weekly summer rentals are permitted and a good number of owners here do exactly that. Pets are allowed for owners with association approval, but not for seasonal or weekly tenants. That combination — weekly rental income allowed, low-rise, off the boardwalk, two parking spots — is why this community draws both investors and people who just want a quiet place with a bike ride to the Gold Coast beaches. For the other bayside communities look at Bluewater, Ocean Reef and Marina Mews, or start with the full Ocean City condo market.
