Relocating to Burlington, VT. Need advice
 

Hi

My wife and I are about to relocate to Burlington, VT. I checked it out last year and it has all of the signs of a booming city, Home Depots, Best Buys etc.

The reason we are moving is to get away from suburban sprawl. We'd prefer to live in a smaller more laid back New England type town and would be willing to commute up to 30 min.
Can anyone reccomend outlaying towns with character, we love older homes.Would love to avoid towns made up of new houses and townhomes. Downtown Montpelier seemed pretty nice, but also very congested during the day.

Is the Burlington area expansion moving in one particular direction?

Thanks. Any advice is appreciated.

"all of the signs of a booming city, Home Depots, Best Buys etc. . . The reason we are moving is to get away from suburban sprawl."

ROFLMAO

Hope you have jobs lined up. The job market up here is not the greatest!
The Burlington area is growing fast and suburban sprawl is setting in. A big part of it is demand for new housing because of the influx of new residents, many of whom are trying to get away from the sprawl. Demand for retail has also grown over the years hence all the new retail developement (especially Williston).
Homes in the greater Burlington area are expensive for Vermont standards. Salaries generally are lower than those in other parts of New England.
As for towns to look into, Vergennes and Bristol are both "towns on the rise" with reasonably priced homes and decent commutes to either Burlington or Middlebury. Waterbury has a good location halfway between Montpelier and Burlington. I like the Jericho/Underhilla area just northwest of Burlington, and Hinesburg is a nice community as well.
Also, be prepared for LONG, COLD (only going to be 0 today)and snowy winters. Lots of folks who move up here underestimate how long winter really does last up here.
I grew up here and chose to settle here afer a 5 year stint away. It's a wonderful place to live. If you do end up moving, Welcome!

Sorry...just re-read my message. Underhill and Jericho are NorthEAST of Burlington. As far as suburban expansion...it's radiating in all directions.

Thanks BM, I'll look into the areas you mentioned. I just recently startled looking into real estate in your area. Salaries are fairly low and houses are pretty expensive. I suspect a lot of people are living on a tight budget up there.

Thanks for the welcome, I'm hoping this works.

No problem Dan.
Definately lots of folks living on tight budgets!
I actually live near Vergennes and work in Burlington. My commute is exactly 30 minutes. What kind of work will you be looking for?
Please post if you any further questions!

Well, this is going to make this move sound insane.I've worked in the Chicago Commodities business for 17 years and will be leaving it for good, so I'm starting over. I'm not even sure what I'll be doing but I have a few ideas. My wife has a job offer in Burlington for $20,000 less than she's making here. Unfortunately, your houses are similarly priced.

There isn't a financial or career counselor who would encourage us to make this move, but we're going to anyway.
It's a risk, but we'll make it work. Short term may be a hassle, small house tight budget etc., but we won't starve.

We've been wanting to leave this area for a while so its time to stop talking about it and do it. Luckily, we live in a town that has also boomed so we'll get a lot for our house. A very charming town with lots of character when we moved in 8 years ago. There were no stores between us and the town 3 miles to the south then, today there are over 200.

I would probably prefer to move to another area of vermont that isn't growing as fast as Burlington, but jobs in those areas are really tough to find.

You know, after writing this, I realized that I'm just the type of person that is responsible for your out of control growth. Sorry.

Again, thanks for the great advice.

Dan...growth is inevitable. Don't worry 'bout it! I think you'll find that the quality of life here is worth the cut in pay!
Here are some websites that may be helpful:
www.burlingtonfreepress.com
www.sevendaysvt.com
www.northcountryhelpwanted.com
www.wcax.com
www.thechamplainchannel.com
www.addisonindependent.com
www.timesargus.com

Be sure to check out taxes, too. Real estate, sales, personal income...quite high. Have you considered New Hampshire?

Here's a recommendation for securing employment first, then deciding where to live.

You have a good attitude, Dan. It's always been in the back of my mind to leave the craziness that is Manhattan and do the "B&B" thing up in Vermont but I find it difficult to muster the courage. Best of luck to you and your wife.

Michelle, just do it. We have friends who are thinking about selling their farmhouse in the Adirondacks, This is an ideal place for B$B. They have many acres too.

My husband and I are in the same situation. We want so badly to relocate to the West Coast of Florida but are afraid to give up our jobs in the DC area until he gets something there.

He's an IT manager with 18 years of experience. He has had his resume out on all the sites but no bites yet...

Any advice?

Floridabound,

My wife and I have been sending out resumes too. We are getting quite a few bites locally and from Wisconsin (which we also like), but almost nothing from the east coast.

I think human resource departments know a lot of us dream about moving, but when it comes time to sell the house and move,
many of us chicken out at the last minute. Unless you're a really hot prospect, I think they prefer to go local.

As for the New Hampshire reccomendation,
my cousin on the east coast said the same things. I was surprised to see that a $195,000 home in Montpelier had a tax bill of almost $5,000. Thats what I'm paying here for a house worth quite a bit more.

Moves like this seem risky to some, but if you're stuck in a job or area that
you're tired of, a year or two of scraping and hustling isn't that big of a deal. You're trading one headache for another then eventually be where you want. We don't have kid, so that really helps. It'll be tough at first, but we won't starve and we won't die.

And just as I finished writing about VT and NH taxes, I came across a story of a vt town wanting to secede to NH because of taxes.

http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmp...town_secession

I'll jump into this discussion because I took the plunge 20 years ago relocating from suburban NJ to rural New Hampshire. We bought a small farm on a dirt road for about the same price as we sold our small ranch house in Jersey. We love it here, and going back would be a nightmare - BUT some caveats:
- You have to really like winter to live in rural northern New England. We're talking snow from mid November to late May. Right now (2:00 in the afternoon) it's about zero farenheit outside.
- It's a lot more expensive to live here than many imagine. You need very reliable cars, snow removal equipment, lots of heating fuel, etc, etc.
- Living in NH and Vermont is not that much different as far as taxes. New Hampshire property taxes are VERY high, more so than Vermont. However, NH has no sales tax or income tax, so it usally comes out a little ahead of Vt in the tax department.
- Each little town has it's own 'feel' to it - some are a nice mix of professionals, loggers, factory workers, etc. Others are very yuppified, others are very rural or blue collar. Get the feel of the community before you buy a house.
- I could write a book about the mishaps, hardships, financial problems, etc we've exprienced up here.

If you like the outdoors, close knit communities, and being somewhat self sufficient, you could be very happy in a north country rural setting.

Yikes! Not late May, I meant late March before we see the ground!

To Dan B> I'm a former Bostonian (over 30 years). We would sell our home in a second her in northern Virginia if my husband got a job in Florida. We will make a killing here in Real Estate.

Maybe he needs to change his resume to let them know, we are available ASAP. Or he needs a good headhunter down.

Thanks for writing back.

Hey, New Hampster has a 8% meals & lodging tax and high local school taxes that can get levied any time they see a need.

xxx30, the New Hampshire system of government is quite unique - nearly everything is done at the town level. This includes setting the tax rates, funding the schools, etc, etc. It's true democracy at the individual level. Everyone in town has a say as to what the budget should include, and how the taxes will be affected. The drawback is there is very little state funding given to education, the towns have to pay most of the bill. If a small town suddenly has a large influx of school age children, or special needs children, the property tax rate can spike tremendously. This school funding issue has been in the courts for years in NH, and is still unresolved.

Dan, did you ever visit Vermont? I mean not in October when is so beautiful here that many visitors wish they could live here. We live in the Adirondacks across Champlain Lake and not long ago we wanted to move to Burlington area to be closer to the airport and better medical faclities. We asked our accountant to figure out our taxes as we were living in Vermont. It was about $75.00 saving. So don't move to Vermont if you think your taxes will be lower. Also Burlington area is growing fast and it became popular for retirement. Burlington has more traffic than Montpelier. UVM is the most expensive public university in the nation.
My husband and I went to look properties South of Burlington. We were surprised how much 20 acres in Bristol could go for. And it was nothing special on the roads with many trailer housing. We were not impressed with Bristol. I suggest you come to Burlington area and find out if this is a place you would consider to move to. Don't come in October when every one of us is in love with this area because of foliage. Come in February, April, November, drive around, see what is on the back road, check real estate market, talk to people, stop in town's hospital, supermarket, landfill, local high school, find out about school budget, town taxes. We decided not to move to Burlington. This morning we got up to 20 degrees below zero. It is a beautiful area but make sure to spend first a week or two to check everything before making your move. Good luck