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$250,000 is a lot of money if you're only making 50K a year, though. As with every discussion on this topic, it's all relative.
Relatively speaking, median income vs. median income the 250K home is far more affordable then the LI home. Taxes, oil, electric, state income tax, insurance, etc add up.
And yes Clark, shadow inventory is a vain attempt by the realtors and the banks to stop the decline in home sale prices. Between the Feds changing foreclosure rules and the banks granting leinency to help people can stay in their homes up to a year without paying a dime. My wife and I were discussing it yesterday. Buy a big home you want to redo but could never afford, never pay a penny towards mortgage, gut the home, wait for a foreclosure, then buy it for pennies on the dollar. $3,000/month x 12 months is 36,000 on top of a home whos price would be reduced by half due to gutting and your saving a couple of hundred dollars when you look at the life of a loan.
I never liked Long Island. It was ok in the winter, but the summers were terrible. I could not wait to get out of there. I left after high school and only went back to visit family. It's been about 6 years since I've been there. There is nothing I like about LI.
Hey gypsysoul! how would you like to be stuck in union co., tennessee? I left my beautiful long island for the army in 1970. Lived in massapequa from birth '52-1960: then lindenhurst. been everywhere 15yrs. of army can take you. now i feel too old to move again. go back gypsysoul; and take a piece of me with you!
There are different tax rates for commercial, first and second home owners. I have family who run a business near a ski town. Their property (commercial) is taxed like crazy. This falling down shack that is next door (1st home) is taxed at a much lower rate. The big ski houses are all taxed at a rate that I think is even higher than the commercial rate. Makes it very, very hard to run a successful business there. Plus despite the lack of jobs, it is really hard to find people to work up there, especially in skilled trades. If you need a plumber, you're screwed. You can call someone. They might show up.
Another part of the problem is that the taxes collected in ski towns don't stay in ski towns. For example, if you own a slopeside home on Stratton or Okemo, your taxes go into a central pool which funds all schools in the state. These ski towns are like "Gold Towns" and it helps to allow the rest of the small towns in the state to have local schools. Which in some cases are almost empty!
Anyway, this is getting OT, but I feel for you GypsySoul. VT can be a real pain with the whole flatlander BS. It's a lovely state but I could never live there.
I am a non resident homeowner in a gold town. Non resident homeowners are taxed at a rate higher than residents, but it is not hugely significant percentage (works out to a few hundred a year.) Everyone's taxes (not just those of the slopeside owners) go into the state pool for redistribution.
With regard to higher taxes on luxury ski homes, I am not certain they are paying higher than those with second homes, but know for certain that non residents are certainly paying more. I will have to backtrack through several years of the VPOR to look into this.
Here's the crazy thing Crooks, at this point by not living on the Island we're actually in a better financial position to move back if we wanted to. In some cases I could even keep Short Pump Acres. My friends who stayed are just scraping by making ends meet, and a few are worried about the decrease in housing prices. A few others are hunkering down for a long haul before they can either move up or out.
First off, thanks to anyone reading this thread.
Thank you for your comments Bee. Being in VT part time you do understand how things work here.
You guys in Long Island--we wound up here because we HAD to move. We were having issues with finding a place (we looked in several areas of NH for a few years and wound up here because we were desperate to get our son into a school before the new year). If we didn't move, and try it, we would have always wondered..
I had NO IDEA how tough the job market was in Vermont. Unlike a lot of people, we never had summer vacations or trips to this area. We moved here because it looked like a nice place to raise our son. I was sick of the crime, the break ins and 'home invasions' on LI. I got totally fed up with a lot of things and after looking ALL OVER the USA, we decided to go for it up in New England.
I didn't have any delusions about 'snow covered bridges' or what-have-you. I just wanted a simple place to raise our child and enjoy life. We never had the $$ to keep up with people on Long Island, so we thought Vermont would be better.
Stupidly I thought some small town would be 'more welcoming' and 'we'd have no trouble getting jobs' being from savvy NY. My husband was lucky to hook up something pretty quickly but it was very hard for me. I eventually landed a temp job but that ended in six months.
Any good jobs here are hard to dig up. Jobs you guys would laugh at are considered 'great' here. (supermarkets/gas stations). Part time jobs get snapped up (paying $8/hr). You see ADULTS over 60-70 years old working in the supermarket bagging. It's depressing. Is Long Island like that?
People are either professors and doctors and do VERY well (thus being big fish in small ponds, going on about 'how great it is here') or live on the edges, sucking tourist dollars and waiting for their disability or state aid checks.
There is a big under current of 'rip off' the tourists. Thus prices are jacked up far higher than they should be for a town no where in the middle of no place, USA. People get by simply running scams or knowing someone who knows someone.
Mentally I can't be around this sort of environment anymore. If I hear about 'diversity' one more time (there is none) I will scream.
I don't wish to run down Vermont. It's got some fine points and I wish it would have worked out. I would have dealt with the negatives if we could have made it financially, but I know I am not alone. Plenty of people DO leave here because of money issues.
If you move anywhere without secure employment or cash in the bank, you're probably making a mistake. New England is no exception, and in fact unless you are near Boston, it's been a bad place to find employment for a very long time. Not putting anyone's decision down, if I came upon 500K I could probably get by buying a 200K house in the middle of nowhere and living off the rest while working odd jobs. But going anywhere with nothing is a bad idea.
We had cash but after 3 years and me unable to find steady work, it is drained. The fact we have ANYTHING after being here is miraculous. Let is also be known this area is on par for food prices with my old town in NY. And we haven't the healthy competition of four supermarkets. We have 2 and if you don't like it, you drive to the nearest Walmart 40 minute away.
I just feel like we payed our dues here and after review, it's not the place for us. Where is, I don't know, but I am cured of rural living.
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