[JessicaB25]

Originally Posted by RunawayJim

I just wanna say WOW! The savings in car insurance and lack of a yearly car tax alone makes up for the higher cost of living, at least when compared with RI. My wife and I have an 08 Outback and it's the only car we have with full coverage and my premium is about $1600/year, which is why we only have 1 car. My yearly taxes on it are about $1000 in Providence.

We're paying $ 1560 a yr in florida for full coverage on a 2008 jeep that only has 30,000miles. I hate paying car insurance! It cost about 90 a yr to do our registration. In Hawaii we paid $70 a month for insurance and 25 a yr for its reg, b/c we were military.. the reg for civilians was about 350 for our car but it can go higher. Are car taxes up north the same as a registration?

[arctichomesteader]

Registration/inspections here are car taxes, whether honestly called such or not...though they're not as high as some other places evidently...

[momnh]

NH has very high car "fees" (heaven forbid they call it a tax in tax-free NH), so VT seems like a bargain. ALso, we paid $2100/yr for insurance for two cars in NH and pay about $600 in VT. I don't know why VT car insurance is so cheap, but I'm liking it!

[RunawayJim]

Originally Posted by arctichomesteader

Registration/inspections here are car taxes, whether honestly called such or not...though they're not as high as some other places evidently...

I have to pay a local yearly car tax to the city plus registration every 2 years ($60 for a normal plate, $120 for special or vanity plate), plus an inspection every 2 years ($40-50, can't remember, takes an hour because they throw it on the dyno, luckily I have a Subaru and no one has one for AWD vehicles).

Yeah... they're definitely not as expensive in VT as they are in RI...

[joe moving]

Originally Posted by RunawayJim

I just wanna say WOW! The savings in car insurance and lack of a yearly car tax alone makes up for the higher cost of living, at least when compared with RI. My wife and I have an 08 Outback and it's the only car we have with full coverage and my premium is about $1600/year, which is why we only have 1 car. My yearly taxes on it are about $1000 in Providence.

Guys my insurance is $600 a year for half a million dollars of liability, comprehensive (albeit with a $2000 deductible) and I have plenty of speeding tickets. I get the speeding ticket over in killington when it goes from a 50 to 25 or something and they see the idiot with Jersey plates.

Not sure what I am doing right.

Could be I am part of the Progressive "MyRate" program which tracks your driving habits and sends them info like how often you speed, WHEN you drive, how often you floor it or slam on the brakes. Turns out I drive like an old lady when i am not getting speeding tickets in Vermont. i think it is because i am so excited to get there.

[BickleTravis]

Originally Posted by JessicaB25

My husband was just offered a job in Vermont, and im still not sure the pay is enough. They offered 65K a year. We are a family of 5. I can't seem to find many rentals that accept large dogs either. I'm just frustrated b/c civilian life is so different than the military life i'm use too. I'd like to know about the state/fed taxes... umm electric/gas bills... anything that you may think is helpful to me. I'm from florida(live in Ga, Wa, Hi) so real snow/heating is/will be new to me.

Jess

You can get 3 squares (food stamps) and Dr. Dinosaur (insurance) for your kids. If the job is in Chittenden County, forget about feeding a family of 5 on $65k.

[68vette]

65,000 is cutting it close. Just looking at the 2008 data for Department of Energy Assistance, the qualification for a family of five is about $50,000. As you can see, you are not far off the mark of qualifying for assistance in Vermont. Southern state are at least $10,000 lower. This is why you can't compare your current location to Vermont. The cheaper car insurance no way makes up for the higher cost of living. You can get military insurance and save a boat load. With my military insurance I pay less than what everyone here pay for one car and I insure two new cars with zero deductions.
One of my incomes is from rentals. This can be where the issue with affording to live here falls. Most people who live here don't understand that you should not spend more than 30% of your income on housing. This thinking comes from the fact that most people in Vermont spend 50% or greater on housing. Someone who has rented or owned a home here for the past few years is not spending what someone who is just getting into the market or who is just moving here. Look at the VHFA data and you will see this. One thing to realize is that as property taxes increase, so do rental prices. My tenants are paying double what they paid ten years ago from this alone. The dog(s) are another issue. In the past it was common practice to take a pet deposit of $1000-$2000. In most cases this never covers the cost of the damage done. Most landloards never trust what people tell them. Everyone always states that their dog or cat never damages anything. The fact is, most do and thats why it's hard to find a place that accepts pets. What is becoming more common practice is to collect extra rent for each pet. You can still find places that take no deposit or who don't charge rent for a pets, but as you have found out, this is a difficult task.
Your grocery bill will be no where near the $150 you are paying. Vermont is one of the most expensive places in the country for groceries/produce. Many think that it's an farm state, but our growing season is very short. The expense comes from trucking most of what we eat and buy here. When fuel prices go up, so does your grocery bill.
Utilities such as heating oil, electric, cable, phone, internet, etc are also some of the most expensive in not only New England, but the country.
Add in what you may need for health insurance premiums, retirement, etc and the bills add up.
Do your own homework and price comparisons to find out if the move is possible. If the chips fall into place, it is possible to make a go of it for a family of five on a 65,000 income.

[JessicaB25]

Thank you everyone for the information. We have decided that the Vermont job is not right for us. Since we were quoted at 65K and now all of his paper work is A LOT less. 65 from my own research was cutting it close.

[BickleTravis]

Originally Posted by JessicaB25

Thank you everyone for the information. We have decided that the Vermont job is not right for us. Since we were quoted at 65K and now all of his paper work is A LOT less. 65 from my own research was cutting it close.

You made a good decision.
Good luck to you.

[Anon_vt1]

Originally Posted by 68vette

One of my incomes is from rentals. This can be where the issue with affording to live here falls. Most people who live here don't understand that you should not spend more than 30% of your income on housing. This thinking comes from the fact that most people in Vermont spend 50% or greater on housing. One thing to realize is that as property taxes increase, so do rental prices. My tenants are paying double what they paid ten years ago from this alone.

We are spending 50% of our income and that's one of the many reasons we're moving. I'm not happy about it because I love the place. This were I grew up, and this is where I had planned to be buried a long, long time from now. But I've made peace as best as I can and are looking forward to our new home.

And yes, rental (and house) prices have done nothing but creep or jump up in the last decade. They might flat line for a while with this recession, but I doubt that will improve the quality of the rental stock here.