Fall River, Massachusetts · Tiverton, Rhode Island
A directory of the condominium associations on Mount Hope Bay — what each one is, what it costs to live there, and how they differ. Fall River, Massachusetts and Tiverton, Rhode Island.
Built decades apart, to different rules, for different buyers. Each one has its own page with the fees, the amenities and the documents.
Fall River · on the water at South Park
700 Shore Drive, Fall River, MA
The largest of the three and the oldest, with the fullest amenity package: a saltwater pool on the water, a clubhouse, a gym and a sauna. Around a hundred and forty homes on Shore Drive, steps from Borden Light Marina.
Tiverton · gated, 55 and over
120 Schooner Drive, Tiverton, RI
The largest and the most amenity-rich: a gated 55-and-over community of around two hundred and thirty homes on the Rhode Island shore, built around a ten-thousand-square-foot clubhouse, with a pool, tennis and pickleball, and a full year of organised social life.
Photographs to come
Fall River · gated townhouses on Bay Street
919 Bay Street, Fall River, MA
The smallest and newest: around sixty gated townhouses on the Fall River shore, each with its own front door and garage underneath, and much the lowest monthly fee of the three.
The monthly fee is the number everyone compares, and on its own it tells you almost nothing.
The fee is not the cost
The Landing's fee looks like double Mount Hope's until you notice it includes water and sewer. Put every association on the same basis before comparing, and add the utilities you would pay separately.
Amenities have a bill attached
A ten-thousand-square-foot clubhouse, a gym and tennis courts are wonderful and they are not free. A low fee usually means fewer shared facilities, not better management.
Age matters twice
The age of the buildings drives the capital work ahead. The age restriction, where there is one, drives who can buy from you later.
Reserves, not the monthly number
An association with thin reserves and a roof coming due will collect the difference eventually. The reserve study tells you more about the next five years than the fee does.
Two states, two processes
Tiverton is Rhode Island. Different taxes, different closing practice, a different resale certificate. Budget for a different attorney than you would use in Fall River.
Format before community
A single-level mid-rise condominium and a two-car-garage townhome are different homes even inside the same association. Compare within the format first.
Mount Hope Bay is a tidal estuary of about thirteen square miles at the mouth of the Taunton River — the arm of Narragansett Bay that separates southeastern Massachusetts from the East Bay of Rhode Island. Warren, Swansea and Somerset sit at its head; Fall River and Tiverton run down its eastern shore; Bristol faces from the west and Portsmouth closes it at the south.
Three bridges cross it. The Braga carries Route 195 across the north end; the Mount Hope crosses to Bristol in the south-west; the Sakonnet leaves to the south-east. That geography is why this stretch of water reads as open and quiet while still being minutes from a highway.