[iheartgardening]

Hi folks-

Doing some long distance house searching & see that the housing prices are very low in Barre, compared to what appears to be other similar areas. As an "outsider", it is hard to find out information about why this would be- are the schools bad? Is there some large business that has caused a lot of people to leave town? Crime?

Obviously, much of what I find through internet searches is merely stylized Chamber of Commerce type PR- they don't cover what the locals may know.

Can anyone give me a head's up or any ideas?
Thank you so much for your advice!

[arctichomesteader]

Visit and you'll see. It's not the best town. There are some crime issues.

[iheartgardening]

Right, as I said, I am searching long distance. While I was up last week, I didn't get over there, because it wasn't in our targeted area to search (we only had so many hours to be able to check towns out), so basically, I was asking for details, as the next time I am up, I will be doing so to visit houses, etc, and I don't want to waste my time.
Could you please elaborate at all about "crime"? I am coming from Philadelphia, where people are murdered daily, often within blocks of where I live & work... according to city data, there haven't been many murders in Barre. If it is about people getting their iPods stolen from unlocked cars (which is what people in the local suburbs consider "crime"), it isn't a big deal to me. If it is the state's heroin or prostitution capital, or similar, that's another story.

[AmILost]

Assuming you're talking about Barre City and not Barre Town - it's not the nicest looking place, but it's not overrun with rampant crime either. It's a bit of a low-income area and I think that tends to bring down home prices because people can't (or don't) maintain their homes.

Barre Town on the other hand is quite nice and doesn't have the same problems as Barre City.

[AmILost]

Compared to Philadelphia, it's a cakewalk. But relative to other areas around here, Barre is the seedy place. Everything's relative, I guess.

[iheartgardening]

Thanks everyone! I really appreciate the insights.

[joe moving]

I didn't realize there is a difference between Barre city and Barre town. Either way to me Barre seems more of an industrial commercial kind of city. There's strip malls and car dealerships and some light industry and somewhere I think is still a granite quarry. I'm sure it changes very quickly outside of the city.

[Hatless Wonder]

My husband and I moved to Burlington from Boston in 2009. Since then my husband has gotten a job in Montpelier and we've had 2 kids. Between Hubby's commute and our need for more space (my son and daughter currently share a bedroom), we're looking to move next year. From what I've seen online, Barre has a lot of affordable housing. I've heard bad things about the town and the school system, but I've lived in Boston and worked in the Winooski school system, so I'm skeptical. Just how bad is Barre?

[naadarien]

Originally Posted by Hatless Wonder

My husband and I moved to Burlington from Boston in 2009. Since then my husband has gotten a job in Montpelier and we've had 2 kids. Between Hubby's commute and our need for more space (my son and daughter currently share a bedroom), we're looking to move next year. From what I've seen online, Barre has a lot of affordable housing. I've heard bad things about the town and the school system, but I've lived in Boston and worked in the Winooski school system, so I'm skeptical. Just how bad is Barre?

Barre's ok. I wouldn't live downtown along route 302/Barre-Montpelier Rd, but up in the hills near East Montpelier or South Barre or East Barre you can find nice neighborhoods.

Barre is definitely the step-child to Montpelier, the latter having the better restaurants, shopping, arts scene, etc.

I would suggest Northfield, Washington or Berlin. They are cheaper than Montpelier, but way less seedy than Barre. They are more rural, but that's Vermont. You don't come here if quaint rural towns isn't what you want.