[absolutdata]

We are looking to retire in Vermont.

We chose southern Vermont because we still have family in NJ and will need the commute to be manageable.

Which towns and areas would work for us?

Criteria:

Looking for an area where we can get a few acre land with a small home that is 15-20 min from the downtown and close to major roads so that I wont get snowed in. Looking to get a few chickens and spend our time gardening or picking apples from the backyard.

Also that I can rent it out airbnb if I have to leave for an extended period of time.

Would love it if had a water source like a stream etc.

Not sure if there is even an area that exists - Just sharing our dream!

Thank you in advance!

[timberline742]

Why VT?

There aren't a lot of places in Southern VT with a "downtown", and the one I liked most (Brattleboro) hasn't been going in a good direction the past 10 or so years, I'm sorry to say.

[absolutdata]

Cheaper taxes, more in lined laws.

Was better than upstate NY.

And closer than Maine or New Hampshire.

When I meant downtown, I meant stores and groceries etc.

Any other recommendations?

Originally Posted by timberline742

Why VT?

There aren't a lot of places in Southern VT with a "downtown", and the one I liked most (Brattleboro) hasn't been going in a good direction the past 10 or so years, I'm sorry to say.

[timberline742]

Not in Southern VT, no. I'm not familiar with Bennington. There aren't many centers down there.

If middle works, then Norwich area and Montpelier could work.

[vter]

Bennington, Brattleboro, Manchester areas.

[Paul E Wannacracker]

Originally Posted by absolutdata

Cheaper taxes, more in lined laws.

Was better than upstate NY.

And closer than Maine or New Hampshire.

Not sure what you mean by in lined laws. Vermont has fairly high taxes, and some communities can have quite strict regulations on what you can/can 't do, though probably less so than N.J.

What about SW N.H., Cheshire county area? About the same accessibility to I-91, no sales or income tax. Property taxes can be high, but Vt's are no bargain either.

[timberline742]

VTs taxes wouldn't be high in retirement where your W2 income is going to be low to non existent, unless its a taxable pension income that is really high.

[Riley.]

Vermont taxes everything, including social security.
Yea, you get a break on the education portion of your property tax based on income, but you have to pencil out everything to make a determination if what you are going to pay is acceptable to you.

[GeoffD]

Originally Posted by timberline742

VTs taxes wouldn't be high in retirement where your W2 income is going to be low to non existent, unless its a taxable pension income that is really high.

I know retirees who hit required minimum distribution age on their tax deferred retirement portfolios who lost their Act 68 state school tax exemption. Their town tuitions out to Woodstock so there’s a big state surcharge on the school tax because Woodstock “spends too much” according to the state formula. Welcome to the shark pool.

Personally, for someone looking for semi-rural hills retirement with access to services and proximity to New Jersey, I’d look at the Berkshires. You have the economic engine of metro Boston subsidizing Western Massachusetts. If you’re close to the Massachusetts Turnpike, you have both Albany and Springfield as options for specialist medical care. With Proposition 2 1/2, the property taxes are moderate and are guaranteed to not spiral to tax you out of your home. Massachusetts doesn’t tax Social Security. By state law, every town has a Council on Aging with a long list of elder services. In poor towns, the state pays for it. If you’re trying to age in place, it can keep you in your house instead of forcing you into assisted living.

We use Tanglewood a lot to hear the Boston Symphony in the summer. It’s only ~ 2 hours from Mawah in North Jersey.

Northern New England has an age-related demographic problem. The three states are the oldest population in the country. They have a very low immigrant population that typically staffs senior-oriented services. Nursing homes, assisted living, EMT, etc. There is a massive labor shortage and COVID made it far worse. Vermont also has a Medicaid-related financial problem with hospitals outside of Chittenden County and the upper valley where the hospitals are having a tough time keeping the doors open. They don’t have the private health insurance patients to subsidize the Medicaid patients.

[OutdoorLover]

Re GeoffD's suggestion of the Berkshires - they actually have a pretty good hospital right in Pittsfield, with decent sized cardiology and neurology departments - to be able to cover the whole day 24hrs for life-threatening emergencies and bring a variety of skills to bear; a certified Primary Stroke Center and a Cardiac Catheterization Lab. For a rural hospital, that's pretty darned good. If you look at most hospitals in rural VT, NH, and ME - with the notable exception of Dartmouth-Hitchcock, the hospitals are very basic, and have a skeleton crew of specialists. You'd have a lot better chance of surviving and even retaining decent function after a heart attack or stroke if you were near Pittsfield. It's not impressive if you want to compare it to top hospitals of course, but compared to the typical rural hospital, surprisingly good.