Regarding VT's high cost of living... (Brattleboro, Essex Junction: real estate, property taxes, insurance)

[vtmetsfan]

Originally Posted by vermont08

vtmetsfan- Have you tried Gagan in South Burlington? I am not sure if they carry any Korean foods or not. We did not make it there during our trip in June because we got caught up in going to all the parks and north beach. We are hoping it sells some things we use from a specialty store here, mainly Japanese things like aburage packets and nori. If you have been to Gagan can you tell me about there offerings. Thanks!

To tell you the truth, I have not heard of Gagan Asian Market before. I do know that there is an Indian market very close to this location. I wonder if Gagan is the Indian market? The name certainly doesn't imply Indian though. I'll have to check it out. Thanks for the pointer.

There are other places where you can get Japanese groceries. You can try Healthy Market which is a food co-op in South Burlington. The prices are sort of steep though. You can also try Sakura restaurant in Williston. I wouldn't dine there, but they do sell some basic Japanese groceries.

[tkln]

Yup, Alley Pond - and I went to Cardozo. Walked from my house. Graduated in 1990.

Yeah, Stowe taxes are crazy...we bought the condo as an investment a few years back and I have family who have places up there as well...but I liked it a lot better back when i was a kid, and it wasn't the crazy resort area it is now. I think when we first move up there we will stay at the condo til we figure out exactly where we want to be...I like the Stowe/Waterbury/Waitsfield area, so I'm hoping we can stay around there, but we'll see how things pan out!

[vermont08]

Originally Posted by vtmetsfan

To tell you the truth, I have not heard of Gagan Asian Market before. I do know that there is an Indian market very close to this location. I wonder if Gagan is the Indian market? The name certainly doesn't imply Indian though. I'll have to check it out. Thanks for the pointer.

There are other places where you can get Japanese groceries. You can try Healthy Market which is a food co-op in South Burlington. The prices are sort of steep though. You can also try Sakura restaurant in Williston. I wouldn't dine there, but they do sell some basic Japanese groceries.

Oh thank you for the info. If you go check out Gagan let me know what kind of offerings they have.

[flu189]

It is amazing how many ex NYers exist throughout the country from recent transplants to those who left decades ago. I recently read from a migration study that NYS is the only state in the country to have had more people leave than move in in every year since 1976 (the year I left). Vermont without question has more pros than cons, but it is the nagging cons that can weigh heavily on making the decision to leave. Cost of living especially from taxation, health insurance, and energy costs in my case will be the prime factors in eventually relocating. My main interests here involve outdoor pursuits in a four season climate. Low crime and traffic are fringe benefits. I have been doing quite a bit of research into the SW Virginia region. Cost of living, housing, healthcare, taxes, utilities, are much lower and the area has great recreational opportunities. The winters are milder, but you still access to snow recreation areas. Another aspect which is quite similar to Vt is that you can live a rural lifestyle, yet be in proximity to medical and shopping needs. While it true that there is really no perfect place it is quite possible to find places more fiscal friendly than Vermont while still being able to have many of the quality of life attributes which many of us enjoy here in Vt. Before moving to Vermont two years ago I visited in almost every year since 1974 to include having done three end to end hikes of the Long Trail. My wife works in the lodging industry and has noted that a substantial number of guests are actually former Vt residents who come back to visit and the vast majority of them when engaged in conversation cite economic and employment issues as the reason for having left.

[arel]

I like the idea that there are areas with Vermont-style amenities but with a more reasonable cost of living and a milder climate.

The only problem with that for me is that my friends and the places I like to visit are in the Northeast. I think I would feel isolated and out of place in SW Virginia. Of course, I could fly, make new friends and find new favorite places, but......You know what I mean.

In terms of employment, I might be in a better position as a mental health professional than a lot of others, but if the pay is poor and the cost of living is high, that doesn't mean a whole lot.

What is important, though, is to be able to earn enough to pay for living expenses without having to borrow or dig into retirement money.

I have sticker shock about property taxes in Brattleboro. The real estate taxes are much, much higher than in NYC.

[flu189]

Arel, you are very correct in not wanting to tap into retirement assets and surplus savings like CDs to fund day to day expenses. With the recent instability of the markets draining the value of funds it is more important than ever not to tap into them and further erode growth potential when the markets rebound. Regarding Vermont it looks like the legislature is willing to take the initial step in tweaking taxes, namely researching the option of shifting the bulk of education funding from property tax to income tax instead. An argument against this is of course is it merely just shifts the burden from one to the other without addressing the issue of cost and after following the performance of the legislature for two years I very much doubt that a timely and cost effective solution will happen. Property taxes are already adjusted to income sensitivity. After reading the proposal for shifting from property to income tax an area of concern would be that it would not apply to businesses or out of state home owners, hence an important segment of our economy would see no benefit. Anyway, fasten your seatbelts because an already complex system with flaws is about to be tinkered with again.

[68vette]

Originally Posted by Sporin

I had friends who retired to the Raleigh, NC area from Milford NH, and while they LOVE the weather and low costs, they are appalled at the school system (1 is a teacher) and said they would NEVER live their if they had kids in school still.

I think we'd love CO but the CoL is worse then New England. We're very intrigued by the PacNW as well. We have friends in Portland, OR.

I I won the lottery today I'd live on the coast of Maine.

If you do your research well you can find many good places to live. For example the state of Florida gets a bad rap about their education system(and much of it is poor), but if schools are important there are a large number of top 100 schools(national ranking) in the state. If you like mountains and the southern states, many of these states have mountain ranges that will rival the green mountains in the fall. They have more mild summers as well as winters(they get snow also).

[vtmetsfan]

Originally Posted by tkln

Yup, Alley Pond - and I went to Cardozo. Walked from my house. Graduated in 1990.

Yeah, Stowe taxes are crazy...we bought the condo as an investment a few years back and I have family who have places up there as well...but I liked it a lot better back when i was a kid, and it wasn't the crazy resort area it is now. I think when we first move up there we will stay at the condo til we figure out exactly where we want to be...I like the Stowe/Waterbury/Waitsfield area, so I'm hoping we can stay around there, but we'll see how things pan out!

I lived on the other side of Northern Blvd, so I went to Bayside HS in my senior year. Graduated in 1992.

It's great that you can chill out for a bit while you're here before you finalize on your location. I'm sure you can find more affordable places nearby like Cambridge, Jeffersonville, etc... Not exactly keen on the real estate market there, but it's probably cheaper than Stowe. Nonetheless, good luck in your search and hope you take a leap of faith.

[vtmetsfan]

Originally Posted by vermont08

Oh thank you for the info. If you go check out Gagan let me know what kind of offerings they have.

I'll probably get a chance to stop by in the next week or so. I'll keep you informed.

[arel]

Originally Posted by vtmetsfan

I lived on the other side of Northern Blvd, so I went to Bayside HS in my senior year. Graduated in 1992.

I went to James Madison High School in Brooklyn, where Bernie Sanders went.