[motherandchild]

Hi there...

Just looking for some nuggets and words of wisdom... Watched the Today Show and it showcases Vermont in the way that I know it's special!

My husband and I are currently looking for job opportunities in tech industry in Vermont... We have spoken with a local headhunter...We are from Northern VA/DC area.... graduating a senior this year but have 3 kiddies left and are looking now for our oppotunity to move!

We grew up across the Lake in NY and bought property on the NY side a few years back on the Lake....but we don't get to use it too much... ... just a few weeks in the summer....The Lake is what we love most about the area.... Although looks to not be affordable if you are looking to find a "family home" on the Vermont side....

There are things about Metro DC that we love... and lots that we dislike... Tradeoffs.... AFTER READING YOUR THREAD ABOUT THE THINGS YOU DISLIKE ABOUT VERMONT.... IT HAS ME REALLY SCARED! I'm scared and discouraged.

I was sure that we wanted to move here to be a bit closer to all our family on the NY side... but mostly to enjoy quality of life in VT for our young kiddies... and SLOW DOWN... although I am concerned that I won't know how to do that. I imagine we'll learn to decompress over time..

I do see that housing is expensive... now that our market here in Metro VA has really taken the plunge into the toilet.... I have to say it doesn't look like Vermont is too much cheaper than around here.., really!.....Which is discouraging...

For me I really want a place that I can have our kids in a more normal life... Where they are not competing with the root of all evil.... (MONEY) at all times... The intense pressures of academia are overwhelming.... even in Elementary school... The pace here is fast and intense... BUT... I do need the schools in Vermont to be really good.... I feel that's important... It seems from past reviews I read... the schools there are pretty good...

I have one child with and IEP and special needs... His problems are not severe... but they are complex... and he will need people who are open minded and skilled. That is a big worry... I think the only option would be to meet with schools ahead of time and get a feel for the staff...

The recreation here in VA is great... The biking/mountain biking here is tremendous...We can ride for hundreds of miles right outside our door on safetrails.... Can someone please tell me what the biking is like in Vermont? I'm interested in both single track mountain biking but also family biking experiences... Also... I guess I don't consider biking on the "road" safe family biking... That's my fear.... Are there miles and miles of trails to ride in Vermont????? just wondering... This is a bit important to us.

I also don't want to be isolated... I kind of like suburbia (don't shoot me).. I like for my kids to have a neighborhood with friends.... I like good shopping... I love costco... I love great harvest... (yeah, burlington has this!!!)

I also want a place where my kids who are good athlethes can play sports in school.... Here you can only play sports if you are the cream of the crop or it's impossible to be part of the team.... I don't want the high school to be 35 minutes from our house... so communting back in forth is an all day affair.

I guess.... I worry about everything you said about business.... Executive tech jobs look spotty at best... which is worrisome... especially with the economy the way it is....... Gosh we're laden with FEAR... I hate that!

Gonna run and put the kiddies on the bus... Sorry to debrief on all of you... I feel better... FREE THERAPY! yea....

[quickdraw]

Ah yes the today show. Watching it now. Lots and lots of sunsine...people shopping at charming general stores...people tapping trees the old fashion way without ugly hoses.
That's the Vermont experience alright...at least what I thought it was before I got here.

Seriously, what great p.r. for Vermont. It did make me proud.

I sent in a video of me yelling at my wife as we were trying to push our car up the icy driveway in the middle of the night, but they haven't aired it yet

[GypsySoul22]

I would think they are trying to turn VT into another 'hotspot' for people to move.

It's not NC, it's not Florida...and I hope it never becomes that way. No cheap housing, no handouts for anyone. Low wages for a lot of people. It's kind of like upstate NY...nice and scenic, but keep your eyes open for reality.

[brattpowered]

Does anyone have a link to the video? Seems pretty interesting.

[seanpecor]

We're looking at moving into Middlebury from Southwest Virginia (Roanoke), which is about 45 minutes south of Burlington. I'm presuming you'd likely be finding an I.T. related position in Chittenden County or the Bennington or Brattleboro area. There is some I.T. in the Montpelier area but I understand it's pretty sparse. Brattleboro and Bennington on the southern side of the state benefit by being closer to NY/MA metro areas so even though local population is lower, the proximity to major metros creates some opportunity.

I guess I'd want to know how much/little you'd like to spend. The Vermont real estate market is slow and you're seeing some reductions. But since the market hasn't corrected as significantly as NoVA has, Vermont will seem more expensive than it did 2 years ago. In any event, your money can go a bit further if you look into the suburban fringes of Burlington, rather than the historic hill sections or lakeside. You'll still be close to the lake and Burlington has some great public beaches. South Burlington and Charlotte are two areas in the Burlington area with some very good public school systems.

Another possibility is "lucking" into a job in Vermont's college towns where the quality of public schools is very high. Middlebury is such a town. Brattleboro and Bennington are two others. In Middlebury you've got some of the best elementary, middle and high schools in the state. There are in-town neighborhoods walkable to many things. Middlebury has miles and miles of walking/bike paths around the town, through the college's country club, through conserved areas, around state forests, the UVM Morgan Horse Farm, etc. We're focusing on Weybridge or Cornwall, both are semi-rural, but 3-5 miles from downtown Middlebury via paved state roads so you're not at all isolated. We're horse people and anyway I'd develop hives when living in the suburbs I'd sooner give up horses and just live in town!

Anyway, Vermont real estate is an odd thing. Prices are all over the map. In Cornwall, we've looked at a 200 year old house w/ 18 acres with an asking price of $865K (needing about $100K in work) and about 0.5 miles away a 5 year old house twice it's size needing no work at all with 12.6 acres for $699K. The best thing to do is shop around, you'll find some bargains hiding amongst the bad deals.

Sean

[anniebleu]

I watched the Today show presentation of Vermont, and have to say that it was close to how I remember the state, in various ways, at various times. One of my parents is a native, and during my childhood we visited my grandparents a couple weeks a year, rented a cottage for another couple weeks, and during the years that our children were growing up, we rented, camped, and visited during all seasons.

You will be thinking, but they never were employed there, lived there through winter and mud season. You're right--and our situation is different now. My husband took early retirement; I'm still working--self-employed--and we have, and will have for a while, a relative living with us. We would like to leave central Delaware, and Vermont is our dream state in many ways--and, yes, we've spent time in quite a few states.

We know about expensive housing and property taxes. I think, though, that given the fact that we're advancing toward our senior years, one of my main questions would be about doctors and hospitals. We'd like to be near really good ones, and I think that would place the search quite near Burlington, wouldn't it? What about across the river from Hanover? Might that work? By the way, we love the Middlebury area, but is there even a hospital there? (And how might housing costs compare to Burlington?)

All right, I'll ask a question that's probably been asked a hundred times on this forum: why Vermont rather than New Hampshire? Think I'll be asking the same question on the NH forum.

Ideas, opinions, suggestions appreciated.

[mustmove]

I know of two recent IT jobs. One big Burlington company; Salary 40-50k: One small pharma in N. CT salary 140k. Both were jobs were looking for identical skills. Guess where housing is cheaper. Be afraid of VT, be very afraid.

[seanpecor]

Anniebleu, the hospital in Middlebury is Porter Medical Center and while it's not as large as Fletcher Allen in Burlington it is very, very good. They have some great specialists. The ortho surgeon there is top shelf; he put my son's arm back together when it had a horrific break at the elbow. Eight years later his arm is 100% and it is perfectly symmetrical with the other arm.

Overall real estate in Middlebury is more affordable than Burlington. You've got a variety of choices in the Middlebury area. If you wanted a little bit country you have great choices a few miles from town. If you want to live in-town there are beautiful older homes as well as masterful new condos at the Marbleworks. The sense of a cohesive community in Middlebury is very pleasant and you feel you have a voice that can be heard because the community isn't overly large.

New Hampshire is Vermont except with alot more Republicans and much less environmental regulation. The exception being the Dartmouth area in my experience. Also, billboards are illegal in Vermont. In New Hampshire, billboards grow like rampant weeds. New Hampshire's tax burden is lower, but not enough to put up with everything I've just outlined. Still, New Hampshire is a pleasant enough place provided you weren't raised in Vermont

Sean

[Alexia319]

My husband looked for a job in Vermont for years. He works in IT and has a wonderful resume but could not find anything. Housing in the Burlington area (and Vermont in general) is unbelievably expensive - and there's not much of it either. After several years of looking, he finally received a job offer but it was less than a third of what he was already making. Vermont is beautiful but we had to turn it down because we couldn't find any housing we could have lived in for what they wanted to pay him. Be very wary (and I speak from sad experience) of rural New England. Layoffs are frequent and there are few possibilities. And since you mention IT, I can tell you that your skills will decline in New England because the technology is years behind and they just don't keep up. The result of that is that you may become unemployable anywhere but where you are. Please be very wary. Pay is lower than you can imagine, layoffs are common, you can get in serious trouble. There are lots of wonderful places that aren't as expensive or as dangerous.

[68vette]

I work in at Fletcher Allen in Burlington. I work primarily in neonatal, pediatric and adult critical care. If health care is very important to you or you need a specialist I would recommend living near Burlington or Hanover. As seanpecor stated the smaller hospitals are fine hospitals, but they are also limited due to their size and resources. I have worked in health care for over twenty years and have worked at Fletcher Allen for over ten years now. I'm just stating this because of my own experiences and some of the horrific tragedies I have witnessed over the years. I will never live outside of 5-10 min from a hospital. My personal feeling is if you have major health issues, you should follow the same rule. When something bad happens, every minute counts. I don't want to sound negative but many people who move, especially to a rural state like Vermont, don't think about how close they should live to good health care. For example the survival rate for a myocardial infarction(heart attack) is very low when you are over ten minutes away from a hospital or a defibrillator.