Rethinking Vermont- Cost of Living? (Burlington, Montpelier: apartment complexes, for rent, mortgage) - Burlington, VT - (VT) - Page 3 - City-Data Forum

darky · 12-15-2013, 11:42 PM

Haha funny you must say that because my husband was talking about St. Albans (I don't know WHERE he heard about it!!) I guess with a car "everything" is possible. We'll have to work on that! Keep y'all posted! Thx. Any other ideas are welcomed!

Any idea what the music scene is like? Any little bar that plays local bands? What about Plattsburg?

cmix · 01-16-2014, 09:45 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by darky

Haha funny you must say that because my husband was talking about St. Albans (I don't know WHERE he heard about it!!) I guess with a car "everything" is possible. We'll have to work on that! Keep y'all posted! Thx. Any other ideas are welcomed!

Any idea what the music scene is like? Any little bar that plays local bands? What about Plattsburg?

Darkly
My wife and I are in our late 20's and have lived in St.Albans for 5 years now and enjoy it. The city is improving as is the overall quality of life. It is much more affordable than Burlington and surrounding areas and DOES have public transportation as well as a commuter bus which goes to and from Burlington during the week. If you live in the heart of the city you can walk to many places as well.

As for the music scene I cant say exactly but I know there is some activity (concerts in the park in the summer, local restaurants have live bands, etc). There are plenty of shops both on the Main Street as well as shopping centers located not far. It is worth mentioning Wal-Mart opened up here. Vermont does not have many box stores so it is worth mentioning. There is also a great farmers market during the summer.

darky · 01-16-2014, 12:56 PM

Cool thanks a lot!!!!!

workitoutnow · 03-07-2014, 01:29 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by cmix

Darkly
My wife and I are in our late 20's and have lived in St.Albans for 5 years now and enjoy it. The city is improving as is the overall quality of life. It is much more affordable than Burlington and surrounding areas and DOES have public transportation as well as a commuter bus which goes to and from Burlington during the week. If you live in the heart of the city you can walk to many places as well.

As for the music scene I cant say exactly but I know there is some activity (concerts in the park in the summer, local restaurants have live bands, etc). There are plenty of shops both on the Main Street as well as shopping centers located not far. It is worth mentioning Wal-Mart opened up here. Vermont does not have many box stores so it is worth mentioning. There is also a great farmers market during the summer.

I agree with cmix. You are going to pay far more heading towards Waterbury / Montpelier, than you would heading a little north on I-89 to Franklin County.

I would recommend staying on the lake side of the interstate while you're looking for a place to live (Swanton / Georgia / Saint Albans.)

Plattsburgh is a dump. It always has been, and since the military left, it's only gotten worse. Don't let anyone convince you any differently. The prices are lower over there for a good reason. In addition, you'll want to leave there for Vermont a lot, and that's going to cost you a ferry ride, unless you go up and around, which costs you time and money.

68vette · 03-11-2014, 11:30 AM

Cost of living is going to be a huge issue in the next few years. There was a discussion on the radio this morning about the implications of what is going to happen in the next couple of years. The single payer system will probably go into effect. The estimates are sticking closer to the 2.1 billion price range and they were stating the numbers could even be higher. The reason is government always go with conservative numbers when it comes to estimates. They never role anything out at a lower price than expected. The example was that businesses were only going to have to pay 7% for the current system and it's actually 11% now.
The latest news is they are going to try and pull the cost of the system with a payroll tax. My personal feeling is the governor has his eyes on something bigger. He is trying to get all these programs passed for his resume. From yesterday, he was demanding a bill on his desk to pass a new minimum wage, but on the same breath stated property tax reform wasn't a concern until after elections. I don't understand his thinking. Raising the minimum wage will not accomplish much. If you raise the minimum wage, everyone else will need a raise or demand a raise, and we will be in the same spot a couple years down the road. On the other hand 68% of Vermonters need a property tax prebate to survive and 34 or 35 towns rejected school budgets because of property tax costs. I guess the Gov. is right we don't have a property tax reform issue.

The Gov. claims to be a businessman, I would love to know how he operates his business. There was a gentleman who is a business owner who has 65 employees. He is about to move his business out of state because he is getting to the point where he can no longer compete in state. He has to contribute 11% towards health coverage (which he doesn't mind doing), the recent 11% increase in property taxes in his town have increased his monthly business expenses $2000. The Gov. wants to increase the minimum wage which will have a slight impact on his business. He pays all his employees a minimum of $10/hr, but an increase will force him to increase everyones wage, because he can't have an entry level worker make close to what a skilled worker makes. Then in a couple of years, the single payer system will kick in and drastically effect costs. At this point he is having trouble being competative with big chain stores. In a couple years, that will be impossible, because the chain stores won't have the same costs because of where they are headquartered. I would love to know what GMC or Dealer.com decide to do in a couple years.

arctichomesteader · 03-11-2014, 03:45 PM

The governor is using his office as a stepping stone to something national. It's clear to me given the time he's spent out of state, not fixing these problems. Town meeting day, the people sent a message to Montpelier. Montpelier is hoping if they ignore it long enough it will go away. Cost of living will skyrocket here if the school spending and funding isn't changed, and if single payer is implemented.

yoggerman · 04-26-2014, 12:57 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Melmo

My husband and I have both accepted jobs in Williston, we are supposed to be moving up there in November. We currently live in the DC/Baltimore area (husband works in DC, I work in B'more). We have young children, and decided we wanted to move to a more laid back, family friendly environment with less crime and more outdoor opportunities. With our new jobs, we will be making almost exactly HALF what we have been making in the DC/Baltimore area.

I thought I was prepared and willing to sacrifice the $$ for the improved quality of life, but now I'm starting to worry. A big part of this is that we are having an IMPOSSIBLE time finding a place to rent. Our house here is on the market, but hasn't sold yet, so we will need to rent until it sells. We also don't know the Burlington area that well, so we'd prefer to rent for a while until we decide where we want to buy. We have 2 children, 2 dogs and 6 chickens (which we'd like to bring, but don't HAVE to bring), and it just seems like any place that would work for us to rent is more than $2500 a month! Our mortgage payment here is a lot less than that, and as I mentioned, we are going to be making HALF the amount of money. I am starting to wonder if we can even AFFORD to move to Vermont?

Does anyone have any suggestions for where to find affordable rentals that allow dogs and possibly other animals? Or does some place like this exist? My husband has said he is fine with living up to an hour from Williston (he currently commutes more than an hour to his job in DC), but I'd like to live closer, as I'm worried about being too far away from daycare (one of our children is in school, the other in daycare, and I've been at my job long enough that if the school or daycare calls me to pick up a kid, I can leave at the drop of a hat and be there in 20 minutes).

Thanks for any suggestions!

Have you tried trailer parks? or you could buy some cheap land and put a lean-to or some sech thing on it.

Robert Frost is my hero. He's dead now though - he took the road always taken.

darky · 11-07-2014, 06:01 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by workitoutnow

I agree with cmix. You are going to pay far more heading towards Waterbury / Montpelier, than you would heading a little north on I-89 to Franklin County.

I would recommend staying on the lake side of the interstate while you're looking for a place to live (Swanton / Georgia / Saint Albans.)

Plattsburgh is a dump. It always has been, and since the military left, it's only gotten worse. Don't let anyone convince you any differently. The prices are lower over there for a good reason. In addition, you'll want to leave there for Vermont a lot, and that's going to cost you a ferry ride, unless you go up and around, which costs you time and money.

Thanks for the Plattsburgh heads-up lol!! I've been looking and there's nothing to rent on Craigslist anyway!!! We're definitely going for Burlington (at first anyway), moving from New Orleans will already be a shock, I think we need to stay in the city for a while! We've decided not to spend another dreadful summer in the slums of New Orleans, so Vermont here we come!!!!

I hear a lot of bad things about Burlington (high rent, bad quality, no jobs, etc) but from what I've seen on Craigslist, there's lots of good-looking places that are really not that high (and jobs that seem fine, for me anyway.) Unless it's all a scam? Anyway, we will probably live with my parents for a few weeks, enough to find a decent apartment (probably a one bedroom, our 2 year old still sleeps with us and his room is just a toy dumpster) and job for me! Having good experience in retail management, I should fit right in in the outlet malls lol. Although I'd like something more "natural" but oh well. Got to do what you got to do!

We're excited but there's lots to do in little time.

Shadi Manuel · 03-21-2017, 05:22 PM

Hi guys,

The more I read these comment, the more I get concerned about moving up to Burlington! We are a family of three moving from New Zealand and I'm gonna start working at Vermont University with the salary of 45,000. Just wonder how the quality of life will be over there considering my husband has not found a job yet and we have a one year old child. Are we gonna be fine with this salary?

Oriz · 03-21-2017, 07:45 PM

I would think you would be OK, no more, no less, considering you're only 3. If you were to say 4 or up that would be a bigger problem. Still, I wouldn't waste any time with finding hubby a job. I'd say for the 3 of you to be comfortable $70,000 and up would probably be better.