[squarpeg]

Well southern by is a relatively small area. Brattleboro Bennington Manchester as mentioned anchor it. Beyond those you get into smaller towns like bellows falls , ludlow , Wilmington those are small towns but all will have a decent grocery store, hardware store, bank and some type of health clinic. Listing a criteria of a few acres chickens and a garden can be had anywhere in VT in my town of Newfane you can’t even build a house on less than two acres. The big issue will be finding some place for sale. Listing are sparse these days. My advice is to look closely at the towns and what you require. They are all radically different. Brattleboro which I consider my town is very liberal. Probably left of Bernie sanders. It is a bit gritty a bit hippie and has issues with drugs and homelessness. On the plus side it is a vibrant downtown. Bennington is sort of a struggling old mill town. Manchester is a wealthy and attractive town although I have always thought of it as a fake Vermont town. Full of designer outlet shops it caters to all the New York people who have homes at Stratton mountain which is about 25 minutes up the road. As others have stated I wouldn’t dismiss other areas. I like the town of Keene NH I also like the Williams town MA area. You could also live in Vermont but just over the boarder from north adams MA which used to be a complete dump but has had a bit of a renaissance

[dcfas]

The Berkshires are somewhat known for their celebrity denizens and artsy vibe. It is a beautiful place, to be sure. I’m not knowledgeable on the cost of real estate there but I would think it may be pricey if that may be of priority concern. It’s in Massachusetts, of course. In Vermont, I believe that mountain range is the Green Mountains.

Bennington is a beautiful place in south western Vermont. It’s very sad, but I believe it has had an ongoing problem with drug use, as a surprising number of rural communities have.

Your best bet of course is to take a week driving through, staying at some B and Bs. We went to a wedding in a small town near a locally “famous” ski mountain called Mad River Glen (up north). To this day I don’t recall the name of the B and B there, but it was so beautiful I have to say the place was stunning. Vermont has incredible natural beauty.

[atypicalLIer]

Originally Posted by squarpeg

Well southern by is a relatively small area. Brattleboro Bennington Manchester as mentioned anchor it. Beyond those you get into smaller towns like bellows falls , ludlow , Wilmington those are small towns but all will have a decent grocery store, hardware store, bank and some type of health clinic. Listing a criteria of a few acres chickens and a garden can be had anywhere in VT in my town of Newfane you can’t even build a house on less than two acres. The big issue will be finding some place for sale. Listing are sparse these days. My advice is to look closely at the towns and what you require. They are all radically different. Brattleboro which I consider my town is very liberal. Probably left of Bernie sanders. It is a bit gritty a bit hippie and has issues with drugs and homelessness. On the plus side it is a vibrant downtown. Bennington is sort of a struggling old mill town. Manchester is a wealthy and attractive town although I have always thought of it as a fake Vermont town. Full of designer outlet shops it caters to all the New York people who have homes at Stratton mountain which is about 25 minutes up the road. As others have stated I wouldn’t dismiss other areas. I like the town of Keene NH I also like the Williams town MA area. You could also live in Vermont but just over the boarder from north adams MA which used to be a complete dump but has had a bit of a renaissance

Ludlow is ridiculously expensive with high taxes to boot. Bellows Falls is more reasonable, but a little tired.

[squarpeg]

Originally Posted by atypicalLIer

Ludlow is ridiculously expensive with high taxes to boot. Bellows Falls is more reasonable, but a little tired.

Well whether a place is expensive is in the eye of the beholder. My son lives in DC to him ludlow is going to be cheaper. I agree Bellows Falls is more reasonable. Of course the person that thinks a ski town is great may have zero interest in a place like Bellows Falls.

[atypicalLIer]

Originally Posted by squarpeg

Well whether a place is expensive is in the eye of the beholder. My son lives in DC to him ludlow is going to be cheaper. I agree Bellows Falls is more reasonable. Of course the person that thinks a ski town is great may have zero interest in a place like Bellows Falls.

Yes, it is all relative to the OP's desired price point -- which they have not revealed. I was trying to be helpful by giving them some idea as to what is high or reasonably priced. People have been complaining about taxes in Ludlow for a while. We steered clear for that reason.

[Phorlan]

I would advise anybody NOT to buy anything right now. If you buy now you're buying at the apex and a bubble. I understand, that bubble hasn't been identified yet, but it's there. If for some reason you buy now and must sell in 5 years you will deeply regret it. Just wait.

[Buitenzorg]

No one knows the future of the real estate market, but we all have our guesses. I would be very surprised indeed if prices in Vermont go down in any significant manner over the next few years. I don’t see any changes on the horizon that would meaningfully increase new housing starts and I expect interest in the state only to rise as the climate warms. In my little ski town, merchants say business in the summer months is growing rapidly as people seek cooler mountain air. And I believe many city folk with money in their pockets watched friends and neighbors depart to country homes in the pandemic and said to themselves, next time, we will have a place to go….

[GeoffD]

Originally Posted by Buitenzorg

No one knows the future of the real estate market, but we all have our guesses. I would be very surprised indeed if prices in Vermont go down in any significant manner over the next few years. I don’t see any changes on the horizon that would meaningfully increase new housing starts and I expect interest in the state only to rise as the climate warms. In my little ski town, merchants say business in the summer months is growing rapidly as people seek cooler mountain air. And I believe many city folk with money in their pockets watched friends and neighbors depart to country homes in the pandemic and said to themselves, next time, we will have a place to go….

My place dropped 40% at the Great Recession. I bought it a jillion years ago after the S&L Meltdown in 1993. The previous owner lost 25%. Vacation homes are very far from being recession-proof. I owned my place for 26 years. It didn’t quite track inflation. That’s my life experience buying at the bottom of the market. You buy real estate because it improves your quality of life.

[Boston_Burbs]

I would go for the towns off or Rt 2 in MA, west of Greenfield vs Southern, VT.

[Buitenzorg]

Originally Posted by GeoffD

My place dropped 40% at the Great Recession. I bought it a jillion years ago after the S&L Meltdown in 1993. The previous owner lost 25%. Vacation homes are very far from being recession-proof. I owned my place for 26 years. It didn’t quite track inflation. That’s my life experience buying at the bottom of the market. You buy real estate because it improves your quality of life.

You didn’t do well with that property, sorry to hear it, though I am sure you enjoyed it in other ways. Many other long term Vermont owners sold their places in 2022 for unexpectedly large profits, many are continuing to do so today. My parents sold their home in the Boston suburbs in the early 1980s, missing a rise in prices in the mid 1980s that has continued nearly non-stop since that time (meaning of course, the inner suburbs, not beyond 128). We could say they didn’t do that well with that property either, given what followed it’s sale. Structural changes can indeed happen in real estate markers but they cannot be predicted with any real accuracy. Risk is involved in real estate, just as with any other investment. But real estate is not only for those looking for solely for a quality of life improvement.