[isis297]

We are trying to decide where to plant our forever roots. We are originally from MD and have lived in the Capital District for the past 8 1/2 years. There is so much I love about here...our doctors are wonderful and do their own research rather than just following the FDA or APA, traffic is easy, people are generally nice and laid back and will gather as a community to help someone because most people know each other from the sports rec center or school. Our public school even taught about various holidays last year and NOBODY has a problem with it which I loved. As a Christian, I am thankful for my children to be able to have their religion touched on even in a public school and I had absolutely no problem that my son came home singing the dradel (SP?) song. I think it's great they learned about multiple religions and traditions.

Our wants: SAFETY, great schools, decent cost of living, no congestion, we want land/a farm/farmette but not NY taxes of course for it, and great medical is very important between my mom's chronic CHF and COPD and my husband's degenerative disc disease. It's important there is an IT industry for my husband to work in...something that is hard to come by here but a dime a dozen in MD.

While I LOVE small town, I don't want to be a half hour from a big store like Target or Lowes. A neighbor just moved here from Fairfax and kinda flipped when I said I was researching VT saying she was a half hour from those stores whereas here, we are a small down, but 15 - 20 mins in either direction to LOTS of shopping and restaurants.

I appreciate your help. We drive through often going to NH which I love too but the property taxes make me cringe. I think VT is gorgeous and was looking up real estate as we drove through the last time not knowing anything about the towns.

[FrugalYankee]

The property taxes in VT are almost as high as in NH PLUS you have the sales and income taxes. I have a house in VT assessed at about $150k and pay $3600/yr, hubby and I have a house in NH assessed at $200k and we pay about $5000/yr. The house in VT has almost no land and is surrounded by deteriorating homes rented by people on welfare, whereas our house in NH has 14 acres of woods and two clear acres of land as a front and back yard.

Shopping is not a consideration - if you want to shop you'll probably drive at least a half hour. Big box stores are there to sell low quality goods from China anyway. I would only buy building supplies from one of the small locally owned building supply stores.

[isis297]

That sounds like our property taxes here...house assessed at just under $200K with a small lot and our taxes are almost $5K/year. What part of NH and what are your thoughts on living there? My concern with the high property taxes are just as they are here...what do people do when they retire and are on a fixed income?? $10K/year for property taxes can turn into quite a chunk of change out of a social security check and savings wouldn't last long at that rate.

[FrugalYankee]

I'm in Sullivan County, which is not in the nicer part of NH by any means. I grew up in Vermont, and it took a while for me to adjust to living in NH but now I'm convinced the state is run much better. There is less government, it is less intrusive, and the state doesn't seem to be force feeding welfare benefits to people who can get along without them.

VT does have one option that will help with property taxes and that is that there is a cap based on income. So regardless of what your hosue is assessed at and what the tax rate is, if your incomce is low, you get a break.

[isis297]

Does NH do that? Thank you for your replies!!

[FrugalYankee]

NH does have a property tax relief program for low to moderate income homeowners.
Low & Moderate Tax Relief Forms | NH Department of Revenue Administration

I am not familiar with it though so all I can do is post the link.

[joe moving]

there is an education tax break for incomes below 90k or so in VT. I'm playing with this spreadsheet, and on a 200k house with 4k taxes ($2454 education taxes and $1500 municipal taxes) , if you make 50k, you take $1200 off. If you make 30k you take $1700 off.

google vermont tax adjustment worksheet, but you would need to know the education/municipal tax breakdown.

[68vette]

Originally Posted by isis297

We are trying to decide where to plant our forever roots. We are originally from MD and have lived in the Capital District for the past 8 1/2 years. There is so much I love about here...our doctors are wonderful and do their own research rather than just following the FDA or APA, traffic is easy, people are generally nice and laid back and will gather as a community to help someone because most people know each other from the sports rec center or school. Our public school even taught about various holidays last year and NOBODY has a problem with it which I loved. As a Christian, I am thankful for my children to be able to have their religion touched on even in a public school and I had absolutely no problem that my son came home singing the dradel (SP?) song. I think it's great they learned about multiple religions and traditions.

Our wants: SAFETY, great schools, decent cost of living, no congestion, we want land/a farm/farmette but not NY taxes of course for it, and great medical is very important between my mom's chronic CHF and COPD and my husband's degenerative disc disease. It's important there is an IT industry for my husband to work in...something that is hard to come by here but a dime a dozen in MD.

While I LOVE small town, I don't want to be a half hour from a big store like Target or Lowes. A neighbor just moved here from Fairfax and kinda flipped when I said I was researching VT saying she was a half hour from those stores whereas here, we are a small down, but 15 - 20 mins in either direction to LOTS of shopping and restaurants.

I appreciate your help. We drive through often going to NH which I love too but the property taxes make me cringe. I think VT is gorgeous and was looking up real estate as we drove through the last time not knowing anything about the towns.

In Vermont you will have limited options when it comes to your needs. The only town with an academic medical center is Burlington. The majority of the IT jobs (I think you will find the IT industry a little more sparse than the Capital District) would be in that area and the shopping needs you want are also in that area. Chittenden County also happens to be one of the most expensive places to live in the state. Your cost of living is really hard to predict. Your husband may find a well paying job here and things would be fine. You could also run into what you may consider low pay for the job performed. It's very hard to say. Typically/traditionally Vermont has a high cost of living. There are conservative areas of the state that would be great for you from a religious standpoint, but non that meet your other requirements. Vermont and NH were just listed as the least religious states in the country.

[zhugeliang1]

There are conservative areas of the state that would be great for you from a religious standpoint, but non that meet your other requirements. Vermont and NH were just listed as the least religious states in the country

Here's the report to back that up:

Most and Least Religious States in America

[isis297]

I figured our school was a diamond in the rough as far as even uttering any religious words. I know the schools back in MD would never do what ours did. I'm just not sure about VT now. Our area is too sparse on IT jobs as it is...we can't move to an area where they are even harder to find. Maybe I need to move my search over to NH...I know it would open doors to IT jobs in Boston and all. I just need to look into the property tax thing there though as they are high even taking into consideration what we save with other taxes. Thanks everybody.