[morningbecomeseclectic]

My family has an opportunity to move to Milton, and I'd like a little information about it. Is it a nice place to raise young children? How's the cost of living? Does it have a downtown? We've heard good things about Vermont as a whole, but would like just a little information specific to Milton. Is it a town on its own, or is it more like a satellite of Burlington?

Thanks in advance for your help!

[vter]

There are a couple people who post here that live in Milton and/or nearby, so hopefully they'll chime in.
Milton does not really have a downtown. Most people commute to nearby Burlington for work (unless they work at Husky ). Milton is a fast growing town with lots of potential. I like it.

[Mary77]

Hello-

I have lived in Milton for over six years now and I highly recommend it. We don't have a "downtown" but I consider that to be a good thing. From what I've read in our local paper (The Milton Independent) Milton is getting ready to explode with growth. Our grocery store, Hannafords is planning to expand this summer and part of the expansion plans include another bank, a restaurant and more space for retail shops. We also have heard that a few other businesses are planning to expand here soon. Because of this, I think Milton is one of the smartest places in Chittenden county to invest in real estate right now. Apparently one of the big local developers feels the same because I noticed that a large tract of land is being cleared to develop another neighborhood nearby.

We originally chose Milton because were able to buy "a lot more house for the money" here with lower property taxes than the other towns. We also love the small town atmosphere here. We have three sons in the Milton schools and they are very happy and doing well. It's easy to get to know people in this town because everyone shops at the same grocery store, goes to the same library and participates in the local activities. We have our own beautiful beach here, Sandbar State Park. We also have a place called Cobble Hill where you can hike in the Summer and go sliding in the Winter. You can ride your bike to almost anywhere around town and there are always kids, families and retired couples out walking in the evenings. We have a local Ice Cream stand (Vermonters call it a Creamee stand) that a lot of people like to walk up to.

I have been meaning to upload some pictures of Milton for our city-data page. The ones on there right now kind of make us look like a very rural farm town. That's not really the case.

I'd love to tell you more about the town if you have more questions. I could also send you a copy of our local newspaper if your interested.

[Ann Alison]

Not to mention Arrowhead Lake. My brother is raising his family in Milton because it hasn't started to decline like our home town of Essex. Milton is a very nice place to raise a family (like Essex WAS), is more affordable for the area, and has good schools. Having grown up in Essex Jct, I'd have a hard time adjusting to Milton simply because there is no really walkable downtown. There is at least one beautiful old main street with lovely houses, and the outskirts seem to be made more for driving rather than walking. I do believe it's approaching its "prime" and I would recommend you check it out.

Check out Colchester, too.

[VTeratheart]

I would look into the schools THOROUGHLY before moving there with young children. Real estate is reasonable now, but is climbing. Personally, I'd never move there with young kids, but that's JMO. Sorry to be a downer on the previous posts.

[Mary77]

And your opinion is based on......? Have you lived in Milton? Do you have kids in the Milton school system? Sorry if I sound touchy but I'm tired of hearing people say things like that when most likely they don't really know anything about Milton firsthand.

[morningbecomeseclectic]

We're actually planning to home school, so schools won't be an issue for us. We're really just looking for a nice small town to raise our kids in. It sounds as if Milton could very well be the place for us!

[Mary77]

Well, I don't know how close you are but the 4th of July is a great time to come visit Milton. We have a parade and BBQ at the firestation with a lot of other activities going on all day. Then at night we have fireworks at the park.

[morningbecomeseclectic]

Unfortunately, we're not that close...yet. Right now, we're just trying to research and see if the town seems right for us. We've just been so disappointed--every time we get close to somewhere that sounds good--wham! they're set to put up a nuclear power plant right outside town or it turns out to have some of the worst air pollution in the entire country (oh, no, wait--that's where we live now!).

Anyway, nothing we've been able to find out about Milton sounds bad--it actually sounds great. We thought we wanted the southeast (we grew up with northeast winters and thought we were done with them), but everything we've been finding out about VT just seems right to us--so back to the snow we go!

I guess I do have two more questions if you're willing to answer them. The first is about cost of living in Milton--can you afford a decent (not luxurious by any means) house on around $60,000 a year? One of our priorities is that we can make it on a single salary, so that I can stay home with our kids. Also, is Milton really spread out or is it relatively small in area? My husband has this dream that he might be able to walk or bike to work in nice weather--is that possible in Milton?

Thanks Mary77 and enjoy your 4th--wish we were going to be there!

[Mary77]

Yes, $60,000 is enough. My husband doesn't make much more than that and I only work during tax season and we have three kids. You would probably have to live in a small house--maybe a 1200 sf ranch. That's what we have. But living in a smaller house in the Northeast is smarter anyways because you pay less for heat & electricity that way. Most people here don't live in large homes. Even our nicest, most expensive neighborhoods have smaller houses relative to what you would live in if you lived in the South.

To answer your second question, Milton is both small and spread out. The main part of Milton is grouped together in a smaller area but then there is a lot of land around that area that is spread out and very rural. Depending on where you lived, your husband could definitely ride or walk to work. My neighbor has walked to work for the last 20 years, even in the dead of Winter (Vermonters are die hard!). A lot of the middle school and high schoolers walk to school. If I knew where your husband was thinking of accepting a job, I could be more helpful with that question. He must be in either education, or manufacturing, right? There's not a lot of industry here. If it's not too confidential, maybe you could send me direct message on that.

We have a lot of home daycare's here that women run so that they can make money while staying home with their kids. If that's too much, you could just be an "after-care" provider for the kids who just need a place to stay after school for a couple hours until their parents get off work. I think the people who do this make pretty good money because there seems to be one of these on every block. It's also a great way to get to know people.

I know this might be premature but, one thing you really need to consider is the type of heating you will have in the house you buy or rent. We have owned our house for two years and used fuel oil for heat. This has cost us about $200/month for at least 10 months out of the year, so that's $2000/per year. But now, as you know, the oil prices have gone out of control and the price for fuel oil has more than doubled. The company we get our fuel oil from sent me our budget payment plan for next Winter and it requires that I pay $400/month! That's FOUR THOUSAND DOLLARS per year. Thank God we had the option of converting over to Natural Gas this Summer and the gas company has given us a budgeted payment plan of $200/month. Not all neighborhoods have gas lines run, so some people are just going to pay double or maybe invest in a wood stove--which probably won't be cheap, especially after purchasing the wood. So my point is, you really need to find a house that has been converted over to Natural Gas or has a wood stove. Propane is a byproduct of fuel oil so it's not a good option either. Anyway, if you get to that point, keep in touch and I can give you some names of good real estate agents and places to find houses for sale by owner.