Moving To VT!!!! (Soon, I hope)

[riverc0il]

:-? pardon my confusion, did you not just type:

In our Boston suburb, houses that needed work were going for no less than $500,000. In VT, the same house might go for $300K or so in Chittenden County.

who really cares? suffice to say burlington isn't cheap by any stretch of the imagination and many homes in burlington proper are on par with many homes outside the 128 belt.

 

[thetrailboss]

Riv, you made this broad generalization:

a lot of the land values in burlington area are higher than many typical suberb neighborhoods of boston, unreal.

As someone who knows these two areas, there is no support for this kind of statement. Apples to apples the prices in the "suburb areas of Boston" are much higher than those in the "Burlington Area."

 

[deadheadskier]

Riv, you made this broad generalization:



As someone who knows these two areas, there is no support for this kind of statement. Apples to apples the prices in the "suburb areas of Boston" are much higher than those in the "Burlington Area."

absolutely, but the gap is shortening when you factor in wages. The cost of homes in subarban Boston is on average probably 100% higher than those in Chittenden County, but at the same time, the salaries one can negotiate in Boston are significantly higher too. Probably not 100%, but quite a bit, making the cost of living for these two areas much closer than one would think.

 

[thetrailboss]

absolutely, but the gap is shortening when you factor in wages. The cost of homes in subarban Boston is on average probably 100% higher than those in Chittenden County, but at the same time, the salaries one can negotiate in Boston are significantly higher too. Probably not 100%, but quite a bit, making the cost of living for these two areas much closer than one would think.

Yep. I agree.

 

[nelsapbm]

Condos

A co-worker who is on a real estate list-serve just go the following statistics in her email. Condos are selling like hotcakes in Chittenden County. Probably because they are cheaper??? Or empty nesters buying them who don't want to have to deal with maintenance?

There are 414 single family homes in Chittenden County available on May 1st

There are 240 single family homes Sold in Chittenden County for 2006 as of May 1st


There are 159 condominiums available in Chittenden County as of May 1st

There are 157 condominiums in Chittenden County Sold as of May 1st


We are no longer seeing the 100% sale rate of available single family homes (well at least as many sold as are available)

 

[LisaBatt]

House prices....

No matter what all the others on this board are saying,regarding house prices...you haven't seen nothing......till you check out home prices in my town of Ridgefield CT. For example, I'm glad I'm not a newlywed or young just married, because it would be impossible to buy a "starter house" at some of the prices here. Glad I moved here when I did and remodeled... just my thoughts on this Good luck with your move to the Beautiful, state of Vermont...One of my FAVORITE STATES in the Northeast!!!!

 

[skibum1321]

No matter what all the others on this board are saying,regarding house prices...you haven't seen nothing......till you check out home prices in my town of Ridgefield CT. For example, I'm glad I'm not a newlywed or young just married, because it would be impossible to buy a "starter house" at some of the prices here. Glad I moved here when I did and remodeled... just my thoughts on this Good luck with your move to the Beautiful, state of Vermont...One of my FAVORITE STATES in the Northeast!!!!

It's pretty much impossible to buy a starter home in many of the towns around Boston too. That is a task that is coming up way too quickly for me .

 

[hammer]

It's pretty much impossible to buy a starter home in many of the towns around Boston too. That is a task that is coming up way too quickly for me .

That's what gets me...how can you call a house a "starter house" if you need to have a six-figure income in order to afford it?

I'd rather move away from the Boston area, but you gotta be where the jobs are...:???:

 

[ski_resort_observer]

Real estate prices in the Boston area and Conn is very high. According to the latest stats regarding home values by state shows nothing surprising. CA was tops with Mass at #3 and Conn at #7.

If you look at counties in the US you will see Marin(SF) #1, Pitkin(Aspen), Teton County(JH) and Palm Beach in the top 5.

Getting back to Vermont, compared to the above Vermont is VERY reasonable and Waitsfield/Warren is VERY reasonable when compared to other places in New England and the US. As you might expect wages/jobs present an overall challenge to living in Vermont vs the other places everyone has mentioned.

Moving to Vermont is a wonderful aspiration but not for everyone.

 

[Tyrolean_skier]

Well, we finally did it -- we put our house in PA on the market, and as soon as it sells, we'll be moving to Vermont full time. As it stands now, we're there Sunday through Wednesday throughout the winter . But this'll be ALL VERMONT, ALL THE TIME!!!!

I'm so excited. Wish us luck!!

Best of luck in your endeavour. I don't follow this forum enough to be familiar with all that you posted in the past so forgive me if I ask some questions that have already been answered elsewhere. Are you retired? If not, do you think you will be able to secure a job up there? Do you already own a place in VT or will you be renting?

Edit: Forget answering my questions. I finally read the whole thread and saw your answers. Will you post the title of your huband's novel just in case some of us might want to read it?

 

[Ski Diva]

Thanks for asking for the book's title! I guarantee -- it's better than a discount lift ticket! Hey, it's even better than a free lift ticket!

It's called FINN, and it won't be out til February 2007. This is the description from the Random House catalog:

"Wicked Meets Cormac McCarthy

In this resonant, remarkable novel, Jon Clinch tells the story of Finn, Huckleberry Finn's brutal and mysterious father. Finn begins and ends with a lifeless body, the mirror of a corpse glimpsed but unnamed in Mark Twain's The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, drifting down the Mississippi. The circumstances of the murder and the secret of the victim's identity comprise Finn's story. Finn is a novel about race, about the stain of slavery, and about the burdens of paternity. Written in a style both precise and thunderous, understated and violently elemental, it draws from our literary heritage to create something original and new. Finn is a hypnotic, completely original, distinctly American story."

I'm very proud of Jon. He's a great guy, a terrific writer, and a fine skier -- and he worked really, really hard on this. The folks at Random House say it's going to be their lead title next spring -- and the better it does, the more I can ski! So keep your fingers crossed! And look for it in your favorite book store next February!