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I've found Vermonters very welcoming. We moved to Windsor almost 9 years ago and have really enjoyed this town's mini-Renaissance as it blossomed from run-down ex-mill town to thriving DHMC bedroom community.
I work in Norwich VT and my wife works in Hanover, NH. The properties up there are ridiculous, I don't know how any person affords them especially once you factor in the insane tax rates. The salaries certainly don't support it.
Though houses here in Windsor have gone up in price, they are still reasonable. Let's face it, New England will never have the low cost of living the midwest enjoys. New England has one of the largest cost of living to salary ratios in the country.
Anyway, that's my thoughts on the matter. I just discovered this forum and am fascinated by the discussion topicss, I think you'll be seeing my screen name a lot.
When we moved here two years ago and started house hunting I checked in with a popular real estate agents office which was recomended. I was very surprised to find out that they could not answer some very basic questions concerning the market and related services. Also, the information that they did have was dated. Anyway, their attitude and lack of a positive and professional image lost them a potential client. Switched to another realtor and they did a fair to good job, but the recommendations they provided for contractors and landscapers fell very short of quality and reliability standards. I am still trying to get work lined up to have certain improvements and repairs made. It seems many are very happy to come out and give you an estimate, but then that will be the last you hear of them or you will get multiple promises that they will get back to you with a "firm" date to accomplish the task. Then it is very frustrating paying for services and then finding out that work performed was substandard. Another example was using a real estate attorney who overlooked the fact that the seller filed their homestead declaration late, hence triggering a penalty fee which I questioned when it came time to pay my property taxes. Of course the town clerk could not do anything about it and when I contacted the attorney the most I got was a weak apology with no offer to refund the excess which should have been caught prior to closing. Another example involves the home inspector who for an extra fee had a heating technician inpect the oil burning furnace. The result was reported as being maintained and in operating order. Four months later in December I needed a callout for the burner and the technician found that the five year old furnace had never been maintained and basically needed a good cleanout and replacement of basic parts. The point I hope to get across here is to have folks ensure they are smart and aware consumers. Moving here with no prior knowledge of reputations and reliability of service providers puts anyone at risk. I am sure that there are many fair and reliable folks doing business in the community, but the many who are not taint the reputations of the repective businesses they are involved with. I have to say overall that in all the places I have lived I have not anywhere near experienced the rate of frustration I have had here in getting quality work performed in a fair and timely fashion. I hope to have better luck this season.
HI I am new here, I was moved to register to post about some of the places I have lived, and Vermont is a place I have lived 3 times.
The saying is: the local vermonters can't afford to buy real vt syrup or ski in vt. It is for the wealthy tourists.
Vermont is so very beautiful and it sounds like a dream to have a vermont house in the country, but it is tough to do. Taxes are very high, jobs are scarce, jobs don't pay well, groceries are ridiculous money, heating costs are high, the roads are not well kept, traffic is a nightmare on one lane roads, you can't see the sexual offenders online due to "their rights of privacy" so for all you know your neighbor is a level 3 pervert, there is a very high poverty level and lots of drugs everywhere. Also there is a lot more crime than they report, not the fairy tale you would believe.
My husband has family in Vermont, the Rutland/Bomoseen area. That is a pretty place but there is not much to do. Manchester is nice for shopping but expensive to live. Rutland has a major drug problem especially in the schools. Jobs are tight and do not pay much. My husband is the GM in a car dealership, so whenever we move to an area he can see the credit scores of the locals and their income, and in Vermont, you either make lots of money or very little.
We lived in Burlington/Essex Junction area, where a split level rance with 1800 SF from the 1970's will cost you $300,000!!
We lived in Newport Vermont where you can find more house for your money but there is NOTHING to do, no mall, no shopping, drive a hour to NH for a walmart, drive 45 min in canada for a mall or 2 hours to burlington. No jobs, lots of domestic violence, drinking and drugs, uneducated and impovershed people or wealthy homeowners that are only around for a couple weeks a year.
And the vermonters do NOT like flatlanders or outsiders. If you do not have a parent that was born in vermont or you were not born there, you will NEVER be seen as a local vermonter. EVER. You could live there for 50 years and you are just an outsider. We had many local friends who would tell us this. We have been all over vermont and it doesn't change.
We love the IDEA of vermont but when we move back it doesn't feel as wonderful as it sounded. We still visit friends there and love it now as visitors. So unless you make loads of money or like living very basic for a lot of money, don't move there. And also, lock your doors and look out for yourselves, it is not the utopia people think it is, crime is alive and well there.
we tried to live the vermont life 3 times and struggled. My husband makes great money but so much went out in just life expenses, too much.
I agree! VT is a great place to visit, wouldn't want to live there for all these reasons and more...
I so enjoy reading all of these threads. I've posted on one or two, but mostly have been a reader.
We're looking to move to the Burlington area in about 3 years, when our son finishes HS, and my husband is more established in his job that he started 6 weeks ago. His job allows him to live anywhere, and we've always wanted to live in Northern VT, so we figure now's the time! (It's a very well paying job, which certainly helps).
I've literally read everything about Vermont and Burlington, and despite having not been to the Burlington area itself I am 99.9% certain (nothing's 100% is it?) that it is the place for us. We ski in VT every year, and occasionaly visit other times. We've stayed in Stowe, Waitsfield, Chester, Killington, Rutland, Quechee, Ludlow, Londonderry, Brattleboro, Bennington, and it feels like 'coming home' every time, can't explain it, just feels like a big hug. I wanted to go to college in Vermont, the ONLY place I wanted to go (well outside of CO but my parents vetoed that right away) but silly me fell in love and chose location of college close to then boyfriend over my true wants! My husband and I met in Vermont (skiing) and would have married there if his parent's weren't such winter weenies (we married end of December). So there's definitely something there, as my husband feels the same way about 'coming home'.
We're going up this weekend to ski Killington and Friday can't come soon enough.
We've rented a cottage on Lake Champlain this summer for 2 weeks, to explore the area and this is the first time I've ever wished for summer to show up (we're not hot weather lovers), as I really can't wait to explore the area. I know my view seems very 'pollyannaish" but I am an extremely optomistic person, who is happy 99.9% of the time (really- people hate me for it ,) and everything I read about the area just fits with what we are looking for. We're very laid back, easy going people, who do not 'keep up with the Jones' on anything. We're quite the oddballs in our area as we don't have our kids in a gazillion activities, leaving no time for just plain play time or family dinners, which we do everynight.
We're looking for a place where the pace is slower, outdoor recreation is common and a part of life and there are real winters. A woman I know told me she used to go to Burlington/Lake Champlain every summer as a kid and she told me how much she loved it and how much I'll love it. I told her about our plan to move there and she said "Oh, I could NEVER live there.' I asked why and she said because "it's too laid back for me, I need things now!" I told her..."it sounds perfect for us!!"
Not sure my reason for posting, just so happy to have found this forum. I read the negative things too, but the majority of complaints are not much different than the area where I live in (suburb of Philly), where our property taxes are very high, because our school systems are very good. Job/Income won't be a problem, so I think that will solve a lot of the complaints. We live simply, but nicely, find the bargains where we can, drive cars till they die.
We love where we live now (both of us grew up here!) but time for a change.
Oh and skiing can be done on the cheap, I'm the queen of finding deals. Last winter our 5 day ski trip (skied Mon-Fri) cost us ......$375, which included a 5 bedroom house and lift tickets for all of us for 5 days! All thanks to ebay!! The year before we did it for $500 and thought we'd never beat that price.
It takes some time to find the deals, but if they are important (they are too us as skiing is our #1 favorite thing) it's worth it. While our $39 gallon of maple syrup isn't the bargain some have posted it was less than we'd pay down here!
Anyway, thanks to all you Vermonters, native or not, for your wonderful posts, keep them coming. Looking forward to the day when we call VT home.
Essex is one of those places that has some wonderful things about it, and some problems -- like anywhere else. It is typical of Chittenden County, in many ways, because it costs a great deal to live here, but this area is pretty good to raise kids, in my opinion. Because it's so close to Burlington, there is a lot of culture going on. Burlington has become a really interesting place. For example, every day of the week, there are African dance classes, plays, seminars, art classes, etc. It's a liberal town, but to me, that's a plus.
Essex is far less liberal, but once you've been here awhile, people warm up to you. The sports programs at the schools are very strong, and incredibly competitive. This can be both a good and a bad thing. The schools themselves are okay, but not as good as one might expect, given the extraordinarily high school taxes. (most Essex Junction residents pay between $6000 and $8000 a year!)
My theory about the "coldness" that people talk about with respect to VTers not being friendly, is that we spend the majority of every year (from Nov-Apr) in our homes. There is no real way to get friendly with your neighbors, because you are cocooning inside. During winter, it's pitch black by 4:30. But when spring comes, people start coming outside again and being friendly with their neighbors. I think we would have very different personalities if we were outdoors more often. The perceived unfriendliness is just part and parcel of living in an area where you are forced to remain indoors half the year.
This is a place that gets under your skin. Every single winter I think, "I can't be here another week." Then spring comes, and everything is green again, and I start figuring out ways to make it work. If you can afford to live here, it's probably worth it.
My family has been vacationing in VT for over 30 years (since I was 2) and it's been my dream to live there...I try to take all sides to the story and while I know it's expensive, some of these posts make me laugh. Not because they are not true, but coming from NYC, a $300K 1700 square foot ranch is a BARGAIN. My 1300 square foot ranch can be sold for $750K, no problem. And taxes out in LI? $6K is a bargain as well...we had friends who were paying $14K a year in taxes...and that's not THAT BAD.
While we've looked into other places to live (even Virginia, care of Sean Pecor!), my heart belongs to Vermont...
After having lived many years in the Canadian system (34 years) people in VT or anywhere in the US have not seen a tax burden. But that is another story for another time.
I currently live in MI but it looks pretty good that the job I interviewed for will come through. With that in mind my wife and I have been looking at property and VT has nothing on those costs compared to any decent places in MI. The reason property taxes and housing prices in MI and many other states appear lower on the national scale is that the larger cities with their poverty and crime bring the average done. Get into the suburban areas where we are at and you will wish for VT taxes.
As for gasoline when I was in the Burlington and Johnson areas a couple of weeks ago the prices were exactly on with what we were paying in MI.
Wish me luck as my wife and I would both love to relocate to VT. I grew up in rural New Brunswick (Canada) and love the rural life. My wife grew up in rural MI, so I hope that we would fit in.
With politics I am left on some items and hard right on others....sounds like it might work after all. Thanks for listening.
vter - totally agree...but while NY has an abundance of jobs, and many that pay well, the middle and lower class is being completely pushed out. How can anyone making $50K or even $75K with a family afford a house for $700K? And we're not talking amazing ranch either...
Sadly, I guess this isn't just in NY or VT...it's all over the country. The divide between the haves and have nots is just getting bigger.
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