[Suzet2262]

Hey All,

Ok can someone help me out here. I was so convinced I wanted to move to the Manchester/Bennington area of Vermont. But thanks to Chaz.., he sent me some real estate info on the Bennington area. I also looked at the homes that were for sale on his real estate company site.

My daughter wants to go to the Southern Vermont College, so I just assumed that we would be moving down to the southern part of the state. I did all my research for the towns down south that interested us. Well now after looking at some of the homes and places up by Burlington, wow it is beautiful up there too. I just fell in love with so many of the homes in Shelburne and Williston. There are some amazing homes in those two towns. As I am sure in other towns, but those were the 2 that stuck out to me. The Boulder Hill development in Shelburne looks beautiful.

So my question is....What are the benefits to living up in the NEK, as opposed to living down south?? I can see that Burlington is more city-like, where as the Manchester area seems to be a bit more rual. Isnt flooding more prevalent in the upper part of the state? I read on one of the posts on here that since Burlington is by the lake, that it doesnt get as cold as it does in other parts of the state. Is that true??. Is the winter more harsh in Burlington, compared to the likes of Bennington or Manchester? I dont mind rual, and the homes I have looked into in Manchester and Dorset and so on, have been gorgeous. But now that I have actually looked at a few towns up north, I see how beautiful it is too. Can you guys tell me what your thoughts are on Shelburne and Williston?

[68vette]

I have lived many parts of the state and Burlington is more mild in the winter, but many people can't really tell the difference. It's about a 5-10 degree diff. If you can tell the diff between 5 degrees and 5 degrees below zero or 20 below and thirty below zero than it will matter to you. We don't get close to the amount of snow the rest of the state sees. Most of this is due to the mountains the rest of the state has or what I mean is higher elevation. We are at sea level in Burlington. Burlington isn't the NEK, that is up in the Northeast part of the state. It's a small city of about 50,000 people that sits on the lake. I live right near the water in a town just noth of Burlington and there is very little flooding. There is more flooding on the rivers. Both of the areas you are intrested in are great. You need to choose by what your needs and wants are. There is a more rural or small town feel to Manchester and Dorset while Burlington and it's surrounding towns have a more small city/suburban feel. If you can, come up the Burlington for a weekend or better yet a week and drive around the area to see how you like it.

[cosmonewman]

Suzet,

The NEK is pretty far from Burlington and pretty rural. Are you sure you are ready for that kind of isolation?

Also, I don't know where you got the idea that flooding is a huge problem in Vermont. It is pretty rare.

[flu189]

Flooding is pretty rare, but torrential rains can cause problems anywhere in Vermont as the folks in Barre can attest to from the recent damage. Back in '98 a flash flood caused damage in the Mad River Valley, and of course the famous floods of 1927 caused widespread damage. Ice jams on the rivers like the one in '92 flooded downtown Montpelier and this spring there was concern that it would happen once again. As far as temperatures go an example would be tonight when I left work at 11:30 pm it was 75 in Burlington and when I got home 20 miles to the southeast it was 66. This in the summer makes living outside town at a higher elevation pleasant and of course in the winter our temps are also 5 to 15 degrees cooler, but to be quite honest who cares if it is 5 degrees or 15 degrees.

[Suzet2262]

Originally Posted by 68vette

I have lived many parts of the state and Burlington is more mild in the winter, but many people can't really tell the difference. It's about a 5-10 degree diff. If you can tell the diff between 5 degrees and 5 degrees below zero or 20 below and thirty below zero than it will matter to you. We don't get close to the amount of snow the rest of the state sees. Most of this is due to the mountains the rest of the state has or what I mean is higher elevation. We are at sea level in Burlington. Burlington isn't the NEK, that is up in the Northeast part of the state. It's a small city of about 50,000 people that sits on the lake. I live right near the water in a town just noth of Burlington and there is very little flooding. There is more flooding on the rivers. Both of the areas you are intrested in are great. You need to choose by what your needs and wants are. There is a more rural or small town feel to Manchester and Dorset while Burlington and it's surrounding towns have a more small city/suburban feel. If you can, come up the Burlington for a weekend or better yet a week and drive around the area to see how you like it.

Burlington isn't the NEK, that is up in the Northeast part of the state. Thank you for clarifing that for me. I thought Burlington was part of the NEK. Someone I had talked to in conversation had made a remark that oh you dont want to move to Vermont or New Hampshire, it floods there a lot. I am really terrified of floods, I guess as anyone would be. Where I live, it hardly ever rains, so flooding just isnt in the picture, ever.

Williston does looks like a really nice place or Shelburne. I am concerned though about living so far away from my daughter, if it turns out she does go to Southern Vermont College. This will be a big move for the whole family, and I guess me being the "mom", I want to be near to her within reason. We are coming out there in Oct for a week. We are going to be taking the train from Los Angeles to Albany. I cant wait, but we are staying in the Manchester area. We are going to be looking for homes and checking out the towns, and looking into the College. But now I am thinking we are going to have to drive up to the Burlington area also. We want to move out of So Cali and in to Vermont early into the new year...hopfully it will play out that way.

So what you are saying is that Burlington might not get as much snow as Manchester or Dorset? I agree about the weather temp. Here it is just the reverse, the heat. Once it gets to 95, it really doesnt matter if it goes to 100 or a little higher, it all sucks!! Lol. I am so not a heat person.

[Suzet2262]

Originally Posted by cosmonewman

Suzet,

The NEK is pretty far from Burlington and pretty rural. Are you sure you are ready for that kind of isolation?

Also, I don't know where you got the idea that flooding is a huge problem in Vermont. It is pretty rare.

No, I dont think I am ready for big time isolation.

[Suzet2262]

Originally Posted by flu189

Flooding is pretty rare, but torrential rains can cause problems anywhere in Vermont as the folks in Barre can attest to from the recent damage. Back in '98 a flash flood caused damage in the Mad River Valley, and of course the famous floods of 1927 caused widespread damage. Ice jams on the rivers like the one in '92 flooded downtown Montpelier and this spring there was concern that it would happen once again. As far as temperatures go an example would be tonight when I left work at 11:30 pm it was 75 in Burlington and when I got home 20 miles to the southeast it was 66. This in the summer makes living outside town at a higher elevation pleasant and of course in the winter our temps are also 5 to 15 degrees cooler, but to be quite honest who cares if it is 5 degrees or 15 degrees.

I did read about that famous flood. What happend in Barre this year? Can I ask you flu, is the humdity really bad there? For some reason in So Cali, the humdity has been pretty bad for the last 3 or so summers. It has been really bad for the last week, to where you just sweat and feel nauseated(I know I spelt that way wrong..lol) Something we arent used to out here. We have the "dry" heat. I just want to be in a cooler climate. I cant wait for my family to move out there.

[Dwatted Wabbit]

It can flood anywhere it rains a lot. Like Texas currently, and just about any state in the last 200 years.
You might want to examine the tactical situation of the houses you're looking at. Are they on high enough ground to avoid even a 1000 year flood? Is there good drainage and solid ground above so a storm-induced landslide is unlikely?
People in river valleys and flat lands usually suffer more from floods. Enough rain can cause trouble anywhere, but a solid house in the right location can improve your odds enormously.

[flu189]

It does get humid here, but it is not as bad here as in Southern New England. We find where we live we don't need AC, but I run a dehumidifier in the cellar to prevent musty and dank odors. As far as snowfall goes it really depends on what kind of storm is coming through and how it is tracking. Keeping this mind it is possible for Manchester to get more or less snow than the Burlington area depending on the nature of the storm. Higher elevations will usually get more snow, but once the plows go through I actually prefer to have a good deep snow cover. Flooding is more of a risk in valleys and streams can easily rise over their banks during heavy downpours. Ice jams in late winter or early spring can be a problem as the water has to flow somewhere. One feature of Vt is that the soils are shallow and water runoff down slopes combined with poor absorption can leave many places wet. Just for this reason I have two swales upslope from my house and a fairly deep curtain drain to route water away from my foundation. However, some folks have problems with seeps and springs and require sump pumps. The geography and geology is really quite variable so what may be true for your neighbor may not be for you. Overall, when comparing us to the rest of the country we really don't have natural hazards of any significant magnitude.

[LRUA]

Everywhere in Vermont has a cold winter ...not brutally cold like northern Minnesota or North Dakota but definitely cold ....which is not really a bad thing because you can go out and enjoy the winter ...go skiing ...ice skating...etc ....Vermont has some of the best skiing in the east ....differences between north and south are minimal ....southern Vermont is generally milder ....here is a comparison between Burlington and Vernon ....(Vernon is south of Brattleboro in extreme southeast Vermont)

BURLINGTON, VT

MO JA FE MR AP MA JU JL AU SE OC NO DE

HI's 27 29 40 53 68 77 81 79 69 57 44 32
LO's 10 12 22 34 45 55 60 58 50 39 30 17

VERNON, VT
MO JA FE MR AP MA JU JL AU SE OC NO DE
HI's 32 36 45 57 70 79 84 82 73 62 49 37
LO's 11 13 24 34 45 54 59 57 49 37 29 18

Not a big difference ...both Burlington and Vernon are at low elevations, other places in Vermont are at higher elevations and are somewhat colder ...I like Burlington alot ...it is nicely situated on Lake Champlain with the Green Mountains just to the east ...sure it snows but it wouldn't be Vermont without snow