OK folks a general question for you (Providence, Woonsocket: real estate, house)
Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
My wife and I are coming down from crappy Vermont to Rhode Island next week to take a look at the state for the first time. Currently we are approximately 4 to 5 hours away from the beach and so anywhere in RI or western CT would do us fine as they are obviously a lot closer than we are now. I am hoping someone can give me some recommendations for places to visit apart from Providence. What we are looking for is a small town feel that is a stone's throw away from a big city such as Providence or Boston............unfortunately we live in a nice small town here in VT which is a planet away from anything. We are NOT looking to be in a town on the coast as we realise that would be just too expensive to buy or rent. I was thinking of looking at the northern part of the state around Woonsocket so I can still keep my options open with regards to finding work in Boston. We have 2 six year old children so of course school systems will also play a huge part in any decision we make.
I don't know if anyone could provide me any figures just to give me an idea of real estate taxes but currently I pay $17.50 per $1000 of home value here in vermont. We looked at NH and a lot of places had taxes at $24 per $1000!!!! I realize that this is all relative but any figures would at least give me some idea of what to expect to pay...........Oh I nearly forgot, If I worked in MA would I have to pay reprocity on my income taxes, ie pay MA as well RI income taxes?
I don't know anything about your tax questions, but for what you're looking for, I strongly recommend the Greenville area of Smithfield or Lincoln. Both are an easy commute into Providence or up 295 towards Boston, strong schools, and a small town setting with good access to stores and shopping. It's where I would choose to live if we moved back to RI (we moved to Austin, TX last June after being almost lifelong Rhode Islanders)
In northern RI, you would want to look in these towns: Cumberland, Lincoln, North Smithfield (Slatersville area); Greenville, Smithfield. Over the line in MA, you may like: Attleboro, North Attleboro, Mansfield, Norton, Plainville, Wrentham, Foxboro and not have to pay taxes in two states. You'd have to check with an accountant on the tax situation for two states however. Woonsocket is less desirable than the areas I've mentioned.
I started a subject in this RI forum entitled "Community Links in RI" from the newspaper, Providence Journal. It will give you good information. Also, go to the RI MLS public website www.RILiving.com and you can put in your housing criteria and gather as much information about the areas and their price ranges, property taxes and so forth. Also, on the top of that website, click "About Rhode Island" where you will get an entire list of taxes for every city and town in the state. I don't have the MLS website for MA, but if you would like a Realtor in either area, please PM me and I would be happy to send you some names.
Quote:
Originally Posted by leedspaddy
My wife and I are coming down from crappy Vermont to Rhode Island next week to take a look at the state for the first time. Currently we are approximately 4 to 5 hours away from the beach and so anywhere in RI or western CT would do us fine as they are obviously a lot closer than we are now. I am hoping someone can give me some recommendations for places to visit apart from Providence. What we are looking for is a small town feel that is a stone's throw away from a big city such as Providence or Boston............unfortunately we live in a nice small town here in VT which is a planet away from anything. We are NOT looking to be in a town on the coast as we realise that would be just too expensive to buy or rent. I was thinking of looking at the northern part of the state around Woonsocket so I can still keep my options open with regards to finding work in Boston. We have 2 six year old children so of course school systems will also play a huge part in any decision we make.
I don't know if anyone could provide me any figures just to give me an idea of real estate taxes but currently I pay $17.50 per $1000 of home value here in vermont. We looked at NH and a lot of places had taxes at $24 per $1000!!!! I realize that this is all relative but any figures would at least give me some idea of what to expect to pay...........Oh I nearly forgot, If I worked in MA would I have to pay reprocity on my income taxes, ie pay MA as well RI income taxes?
Hi leeds, just out of curiosity, why crappy VT? My wife and I visit every year and love VT very much...but we don't live there or try to make a living, we just go up and spend money and enjoy the intense beauty of VT. Living that difficult?
Hi leeds, just out of curiosity, why crappy VT? My wife and I visit every year and love VT very much...but we don't live there or try to make a living, we just go up and spend money and enjoy the intense beauty of VT. Living that difficult?
Hi Dockside, my family and I were exactly like you before we made the mistake of moving here. Prior to our move, we visited here a couple of times every year for 5 years and we fell in love with the beauty of the state. We moved here and the dream turned into a complete nightmare because of one simple fact.............................no jobs. We had jobs to come to when we got here but we soon realised that the cost of living was outrageous for the salaries we were getting. Then once we discovered that the state was dominated by a bunch of wacko eco-nutcases of the liberal persuasion that were stifling investment in the state thus leading to a lack of jobs.....we knew we had made a mistake. Any one thinking of moving here should read the ethan allen report because it points out a very bleak future for the state unless things change in Montpelier.
Hi Leeds. I was laughing reading your posting. I'm aware Montpelier has been hijacked by interest groups who will scream bigotry and homophobia and eco-racism the second you question you question their motives. It's a shame, because it's very effective at stifling honest discussion.
The jobs situation is dire. Last summer we made our annual pilgrimage to Ben & Jerry's in Waterbury, took the tour, and sat through a movie and brief lecture given by an older professor with a Ph.D in economics who teaches at UVM during the school year. He wasn't doing it out of love. He can't make ends meet with one job in VT.
Good luck looking in RI. We are too. It is a beautiful state...Naragansett Bay is breathtaking.
Hi Leeds. I was laughing reading your posting. I'm aware Montpelier has been hijacked by interest groups who will scream bigotry and homophobia and eco-racism the second you question you question their motives. It's a shame, because it's very effective at stifling honest discussion.
The jobs situation is dire. Last summer we made our annual pilgrimage to Ben & Jerry's in Waterbury, took the tour, and sat through a movie and brief lecture given by an older professor with a Ph.D in economics who teaches at UVM during the school year. He wasn't doing it out of love. He can't make ends meet with one job in VT.
Good luck looking in RI. We are too. It is a beautiful state...Naragansett Bay is breathtaking.
Hi Dockside, I work at UVM in a good job as well and I can't make ends meet, even moreso now with my wife looking like she will have to go on disability because of her debilitating disease. Its a sad thing to say but given the housing market and how crap the job market is, the only people we will likely attract to buy our house is suckers from out-of-state.......just like we were!!!!! We made a terrible mistake jumping to VT because we based everything on all the many trips we made to the state before moving here.
When it comes to Rhode Island, I have never set foot in the state before and I am really looking forward to seeing Providence and the coast. Even though I don't know the state or the surrounding area, I intend to do as much research as possible before we jump( plus there is a little matter of selling the house and getting a new job!!)..............However I have to say that before I even begin, RI has one major thing going for it that VT has never had or ever will have (whilst the Al-Gore fan club rule Montpelier) and that is a decent job market. As has been proven, if you lose your job in VT you are pretty much screwed whereas living in RI at least you have the markets of Providence,Boston and perhaps some of CT too, to find work.
One thing I will say is I hope the culture of VT does not transcend to the rest of New England. My wife is originally from Baltimore, MD and I am originally from Leeds, England. Now, my wife has been treated terrible by the companies she worked for here in VT and she puts some of it down to being continuously looked down upon because she was an "outsider". To me there is a paradox here because I'm am the ultimate "outsider" being that I am a foreigner..........but I have been treated very well. Anyway, she has had 4 jobs in the last 2 years since we moved to VT. Prior to that, she had been at her last job in Baltimore for 14 years, so you can imagine changing jobs so many times in such a short space of time was unsettling.................but talk about bad luck........she was a human resources manager for all 4 companies which so happened to be all manufacturing firms.............which what a surprise.........are in decline in VT. The first company was run by a bunch of raving lesbians(now I mean no insult to lesbos............but these were VT lesbos and they are on a planet to themselves).....let me correct that.....her 2 bosses in the HR department were the lesbos. Her second company was run by a snort nosed immature git, who had no clue how to run the company(which subsequently went bankrupt a year after she left). The third company was run by a CEO who was competing with the paint drying on a wall in his toilet for the prize of best personality of 2006. I have never met a man in my life before who was supposed to be a CEO and who was such a whimp. She was ultimately laid off from that job. Her final company had it's share of nutcases as well...........the CEO spent more time playing golf or hunting or meeting with his accountant than actually running the company..........and his second in command was a wife beater yet because the CEO didn't do a background check, he never knew and still doesn't to this day.......Well she lost that job because I think she was sick too much. Now that she has been out of that job for a month, her blood disease has got worse which makes it very hard for her to walk or lift things.
Hey folks, I am sorry for going on especially when I should be talking about the great state of RI............but I hope you don't mind me getting it off my chest. Dockside, I hope you and I can share any opinions, or information regarding RI in the future as well as using this great resource here...........isn't Apple Annie a great wee lass full of useful info?
cheers,
One thing I will say is I hope the culture of VT does not transcend to the rest of New England. My wife is originally from Baltimore, MD and I am originally from Leeds, England. Now, my wife has been treated terrible by the companies she worked for here in VT and she puts some of it down to being continuously looked down upon because she was an "outsider". To me there is a paradox here because I'm am the ultimate "outsider" being that I am a foreigner..........but I have been treated very well.
Ouch! That's VT...political correctness turned inside out. And they are smug about it too. And no, that particular silliness hasn't entirely infected the rest of NE. In fact, I think RI is wonderfully normal.
Apple has been very helpful. The link Rhode Island 2006/2007 Tax Rates (http://www.riliving.com/TaxRates.asp - broken link) is very useful for tax considerations. Moderator cut: linking to competitors sites is not allowed
Good luck, I hope we run into each other poking around RI someday.
Why is that being conservative or Christian is interpreted as being a homophobe? This is second or third post I've read that references that. A lot of liberals and homosexuals don't realize that acceptance is not the same thing as approval. Two totally different concepts. Do you center your other morals around your own convenience? Why stop at sexuality? Then there's the ol, "it's not hurting anyone", who decides that? Pornography almost killed our marriage. I don't mean to preach, I can go on and on. People don't think so lightly of things. Seek understanding before being understood.
Taxes on the East Side of Providence are the highest in the state - approx $36 per $1000 valuation of your home. However, there is what is called a Homestead exemption which can cut your tax bill by 50% if the home is owner occupied and you have filed for the exemption.
I moved a half hour south and the taxes are slightly lower but my home is worth more and there is no exemption in my town so I'm actually paying more.
Overall, taxes in the Northeast are horrendous. RI is a great place to live but I have a hard time paying the city/state all this money when it could be going to my children's college funds. Time will tell but I'm looking to move further south for the warmer year round temps, lower taxes, and lower cost of living.
Please register to post and access all features of our very popular forum. It is free and quick. Over $68,000 in prizes has already been given out to active posters on our forum. Additional giveaways are planned.
Detailed information about all U.S. cities, counties, and zip codes on our site: City-data.com.
Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
