[Asta]

Maybe you should also consider looking in the western part of the state. Bennington is a really "flat town."

[Rakin]

Originally Posted by vter

Honestly? This is Vermont. It's hilly here. You'll be hard pressed to find a completely level lot. It's something that people here just deal with. I wouldnt buy the property if its going to worry you that much. Don't settle until you find what you are looking for.

This is why people in Arkansas are born with one leg longer than the other.

[68vette]

When I first moved to Vermont I looked for a home in central Vermont with about ten to fifteen acres. You could find plenty of properties filling that requirement, but most of them the land was so steep it was worthless. I wasn't going to pay property taxes for land I couldn't use.

[arel]

Originally Posted by looking4home

That stands to reason, since early settlers would have gone for the route of least resistance and convenience. It's only fairly recently that people have had the ability and luxury of venturing out into the countryside, wanting to purchase larger tracts of land without any neighbors nearby. arel, why don't you look at homes that are closer to town centers? I don't know how much land you want or need, but living in town seems to be a good compromise. As for Rhode Island...what? That's so different from Vermont. My good friend is originally from Pawtucket, and I have another aquaintance who attended Brown University, but that is where my knowledge of RI begins and ends! Good luck with your final decision!

I have friends in Rhode Island and I lived there for a year or two in the late 1980's

In Rhode Island I had a car with a bad oil leak. I had to police the leak and replenish the oil, but at least I had a working car. When I moved to Vermont for a while, the inclines caused the oil to flood the clutch plate. I had to get rid of the car. I left it in Vermont, and an acquaintance agreed to sell it. No one would buy it and he had to have it hauled away. It was really a pathetic car, but it did have good pickup.

Rhode Island is very different from Vermont. As mountains are to Vermont culture, the ocean is to Rhode Island culture. There are beautiful beaches and fishing villages, and there is Narragansett Bay. If Vermont does not work out for me, I could conceivably move back to Rhode Island, as I know it and I have friends there. I lived in southern Rhode Island. It is less urban than it is in and near Providence, but, unfortunately, it is getting more and more developed. An acquaintance once wondered how I would want to live in a place that was in the middle of nowhere, but I lived about 45 minutes from Providence, about 90 minutes from Boston, about 90 minutes from New Haven and about 3 1/2 to 4 hours from New York (actually from Brooklyn, but maybe it is a shorter distance from Manhattan.).

Anyway, this is the Vermont thread, not the Rhode Island thread. I love much of Vermont culture. I have always loved the mountains. I love looking at the mountains, but I never thought of their inconvenience and danger.

Yes, there are properties in Brattleboro that are level, and not near steep drop-offs. Also, living in town is much more convenient. I am looking at in-town properties, as well as West Brattleboro properties. I am not really looking at isolated rural properties, as I prefer the convenience, security and social interaction of town. There was one house I really liked online, but it went off the market before I was ready to think about buying.

[arctichomesteader]

Originally Posted by 68vette

When I first moved to Vermont I looked for a home in central Vermont with about ten to fifteen acres. You could find plenty of properties filling that requirement, but most of them the land was so steep it was worthless. I wasn't going to pay property taxes for land I couldn't use.

Often times you get more land than what it says on paper when you buy hilly/mountainous land. The calculations are often based off a flat map of the parcel, but there's in fact more surface area because of the steep inclines and such. Obviously it creates perhaps more problems (depending on your plans) than the little extra land surface would be worth, but you could terrace on hills and such to make them more useful. Just something interesting I found while looking into various states and what land would be like...and perhaps it will become less and less common as computers and such are used to calculate land area (as they make calculating the real area much easier).

[flu189]

If you do buy property here with the intent of so to speak "reengineering it" meaning excavation and landscaping to level out sections and add drainage to prevent erosion and slides, then you really need to get some price quotes first. Even before fuel went up the prices for excavation and landscaping were eyepopping, unless of course you have been here a while and have a relative in the business. Buying raw land here with the intent of building also will require caution in terms of making sure you will have a viable well and are able to meet some of the most stringent septic codes to be found anywhere. In any case, it' Vt so best have the checking account charged up with plenty of $$$$.

[arctichomesteader]

Originally Posted by flu189

If you do buy property here with the intent of so to speak "reengineering it" meaning excavation and landscaping to level out sections and add drainage to prevent erosion and slides, then you really need to get some price quotes first. Even before fuel went up the prices for excavation and landscaping were eyepopping, unless of course you have been here a while and have a relative in the business. Buying raw land here with the intent of building also will require caution in terms of making sure you will have a viable well and are able to meet some of the most stringent septic codes to be found anywhere. In any case, it' Vt so best have the checking account charged up with plenty of $$$$.

No kidding. I generally do all my own work on pretty much anything I can, whether it's construction or gunsmithing. Even so, if I'd chosen to stay in VT and buy a piece of property here, I'd spend more before even starting construction than I probably will spend total on my cabin in Alaska (in both cases using logs from the site for walls, etc., doing all work myself, making the structure itself fairly cheap). All spent on permits, well and septic, etc. in VT, none of which I need on my AK property. What's allowed in AK on my property could never fly in VT without a major hassle and multiple permits and approvals. They just have to squeeze every penny they can out of you in VT for all the different permits and fees and such they cook up.