[vter]

I'll throw Middlebury into the mix. Fantastic community with good schools. About a 45 minute commute IN GOOD WEATHER. During a snow storm? All bets are off.

[Gemini1963]

Originally Posted by vter

I'll throw Middlebury into the mix. Fantastic community with good schools. About a 45 minute commute IN GOOD WEATHER. During a snow storm? All bets are off.

I agree with all of this, but Middlebury was the "nice town" where we had our recent eye-opening real estate experience. (And this was the 4th attempt, by the way -- though to be fair, the previous three had not been quite so assertive on our part- but at the time, they felt like "stretch" offers, and still they weren't enough.)

[GeoffD]

Originally Posted by vter

I'll throw Middlebury into the mix. Fantastic community with good schools. About a 45 minute commute IN GOOD WEATHER. During a snow storm? All bets are off.

If you’re going to throw in 45 minute commutes, then Woodstock is an option. Good schools. A local ski hill. The Killington Skyeship gondola is 20 minutes. The big box stores in tax-free New Hampshire are 20-ish minutes. It gets a lot of socioeconomic envy calling it VermontLand here but it’s a nice town and plenty of transplants so it’s not insular.

[arctichomesteader]

Any winter commute going over Sherburne Pass on route 4 could be pretty bad at times. As in there are times you might not make it. Especially if you are commuting early before the road gets plowed or salted. I'd stay west of the pass.

[Riley.]

Originally Posted by GeoffD

If you’re going to throw in 45 minute commutes, then Woodstock is an option. Good schools. A local ski hill. The Killington Skyeship gondola is 20 minutes. The big box stores in tax-free New Hampshire are 20-ish minutes. It gets a lot of socioeconomic envy calling it VermontLand here but it’s a nice town and plenty of transplants so it’s not insular.

hmmmmm...I'm not sure about 45 mins to Woodstock, unless you drive 80 MPH, and in the winter? forget it.

[jackmccullough]

We don't know where Dan is moving from and how familiar he is with winter weather. I have driven from Woodstock to Rutland in the winter many times, sometimes in extremely ugly weather, but it's not necessarily an easy drive.

I know that years ago a friend of mine moved to Woodstock for a job in Rutland. The first snowstorm she called in and said she wouldn't be at the office because of the snow. She was quickly informed that here in Vermont we drive in the snow.

Of course, after a couple of years of remote work it may be possible that the new employer will accept the idea of working from home on a bad snow day, which would make it more feasible.

[GeoffD]

Originally Posted by Riley.

hmmmmm...I'm not sure about 45 mins to Woodstock, unless you drive 80 MPH, and in the winter? forget it.

Google Maps says the high school to Rutland Hospital is 39 minutes. The town green in front of the Woodstock Inn is 42 minutes. Route 4 has some of the best snow removal in the state. It’s the only east-west route across central Vermont. There is a state plow barn with a mountain of road salt just west of Pico on the pass. There are a few days in the winter where the pass is a mess because some touron has a head-on collision but that’s pretty unusual.

[Ulysses61]

If you're not overly concerned about price, buy in Woodstock. It's very expensive, but a good school district and it's beautiful.

[Phorlan]

Originally Posted by Gemini1963

Please proceed with caution on the housing price / housing AVAILABILITY factor. The Vermont housing market (for sales) is very difficult for buyers right now. The inventory is very low, and when a house does come on the market, the list price is just a conversation-starter -- it has nothing to do with reality. We recently lost out on a house in a very nice location in a nice town. We bid 11% over asking, cash, no inspection (this is expected now, in the area we were trying for). (By the way, we know how reckless "no inspection" sounds, and in fact IS. But the house was clearly livable and had been lived in nonstop since 1830, and we knew we could fix anything that was found -- the location and general condition made it a safe bet.)

ANYWAY, in spite of all that, we lost the house to other buyers who did all of what we did, but with an offer of "quite a bit more." (That is all the listing agent would divulge.) From what I've heard from a realtor there and a mortgage broker there, it is off the charts, and feels ... INSANE. I suspect that the "winning" bid was at least 20% over asking, also cash/no inspection.

It's miserable for people who really need a house to live in.

Perhaps your experience will be nothing like this. I do hope so, but I thought it would not hurt to throw in a word of caution.

Good luck!

I have a friend who's had a floodable house for years in Coventry. It used to belong to his mother, now deceased. He loved the house and I must say the house was lovely. Once every 5-8 years the river at the foot of the house, about 200 yards away used to flood the house. In the past 5 years it's been happening twice a year and the house was getting ruined. He never thought he could sell it, until Covid helped him sell it. He sold it, for more money he was asking, no question asked, the flooding situation told to the new acquirer who paid cash. That's how crazy it is!

[squarpeg]

Originally Posted by Dan850

Yup, I am. Granted, if there are good areas to check out that are closer, that'd be great. I just figured casting as wide a net as possible made sense. I'm moving from a part of the country where an hour commute is the norm, so it really wouldn't bother me too much.

Some more details, if they help:
-I'm hoping to find a nice community that is relatively easy to integrate into (aka, I would rather not live on an isolated piece of land)
-My wife and I have a young child, and we're planning to stay here for a while. A good school district would be great.
-Not overly concerned about cost of living/ housing prices
-My wife is an avid skier, albeit Killington appears to be pretty transient? Or, at best, where folks don't primarily live, but have their vacation homes?

Thanks again.

My father has just moved into an assisted living facility. He lives in Woodstock. The house will be going up for sale once we have it cleaned out. It is located within walking distance to downtown. It is a 3 bedroom house. 2 1/2 bath. small attached garage. Sort of an odd floor plan, lot of little rooms. Updated kitchen and master bath, new furnace, new oil tank, new standing seam roof. Some of the house is a bit dated like the upstairs. It is on a small lot. I really don't know what it will access for. Somewhere between 400k-500k would be my guess. It is solid but nothing special, place across the street was up for 1.5 mill so there is a lot of money on that road. If you have any interest let me know I will make sure you are in the loop.