Ski Non-Bumming

[highpeaksdrifter]

Where do you think is a good place to live in the Northeast and be reasonably close to good skiing? There are career opportunities, good schools, health care, non-skiing activities you enjoy, etc.,etc.

I live in a suburban wasteland called Clifton Park, NY. It’s about half way between Albany and Saratoga. It has all of the above plus I can drive south and be in the Catskills in a little over an hour. Gore is a little over an hour north, Whiteface is 2 hours. I’m also pretty close to many Vt. resorts. ( I can be at Sugarbush in under 3 hours) Good night skiing can be had at both West Mt. and Jiminy in under an hour.

I guess it’s not too bad here. That said I’m looking forward to making Wilmington, NY (Whiteface) my permanent residence when I retire.

 

[GrilledSteezeSandwich]

Burlington Vermont..

 

[prisnah]

GSS hit it on the head. Burlington is absolutely perfect for that.. Woodstock VT is also a possibility. Stowe should get some mention as well as pretty much any town in mid NH.

 

[ctenidae]

Mid-NH? No sir. I'd much rather drive 2 hours north to ski 15-20 times a year than drive an hour+ to Boston and back every day.

NH really doesn't have the kind of job I do.

 

[JimG.]

Rutland, VT isn't a bad option, nor is Bennington, VT.

 

[GrilledSteezeSandwich]

Rutland, VT isn't a bad option, nor is Bennington, VT.

Burlington is better than both of those places..IMHO..In My Humble Opinion

 

[Vortex]

Nh has tech in the southern part of the state. Insurance in Dover as well as other towns. Fidelity is in Merrimack I think. Manchester and portsmouth have both tech and industry. 87 and 97 Nashua was the # 1 place in the us to live in

NH is the place to live that gives you the Bost option for work, but 2 hours to 2.5 to almost any ski resort in NH. 3 to Sunday River 2.to 2.5 to many VT locals. Best ballance I could find.

You can still have a back yard also and not pay income tax.

 

[prisnah]

see and that's a whole different issue...I guess picking someplace for that purpose it would depend a lot on what you do for work. I mean obviously if you're in biotech, you're gonna be in trouble anywhere north of 128. But if you're in say..retail or a restauranteur then you'll be in good shape. I mean it really all hinges on your specific skill set and how that will apply in certain places.

 

[mattchuck2]

Where do you think is a good place to live in the Northeast and be reasonably close to good skiing? There are career opportunities, good schools, health care, non-skiing activities you enjoy, etc.,etc.

I live in a suburban wasteland called Clifton Park, NY. It’s about half way between Albany and Saratoga. It has all of the above plus I can drive south and be in the Catskills in a little over an hour. Gore is a little over an hour north, Whiteface is 2 hours. I’m also pretty close to many Vt. resorts. ( I can be at Sugarbush in under 3 hours) Good night skiing can be had at both West Mt. and Jiminy in under an hour.

I guess it’s not too bad here. That said I’m looking forward to making Wilmington, NY (Whiteface) my permanent residence when I retire.

Easy on CP, man. I grew up in the 12065. Although it is kind of a suburban wasteland. Exit 9 has every single fast food and pseudo fast food (Applebee's, Friday's, Outback, etc.) place that I've ever heard of (except a Sonic, and I keep seeing those commercials). It is kind of lacking in "soul" but every place seems to be going that way now. Saratoga and Delmar used to be quirky little capital region towns, now they are consumed by the ever expanding box-store onslaught. Albany, for work, is in better shape than other upstate cities (Utica, Rome, Syracuse), but still doesn't have what I would call a booming economy.

I don't know, it seems like a cool town and plentiful job opportunities are mutally exclusive. As soon as people start moving in, the demand for Target, Home Depot, and Chili's comes right along with them.

I don't know what eastern city I'd rather live in. Burlington, maybe? That's only 40 minutes or so from great skiing. Portland, ME? That's a little further, and I'd probably want to drive up to Sugarloaf every weekend.

Nah, the way to go is to work in a big city, but somehow scrape together enough money to by some land in the mountains. I think you nailed it. If and When I move out west, I'm probably going to live in Denver and buy an acre near Silverton and put a yurt on it.

 

[GrilledSteezeSandwich]

I sometimes stop at the Chilis just north of Albany on my way to Vermont..

 

[snoseek]

concord n.h. or even laconia maybe.


m.w. valley continues to grow....

 

[L2RAFO]

.IMHO..In My Humble Opinion

Now we're talkin'!!!

 

[L2RAFO]

I live in a suburban wasteland called Clifton Park, NY. It’s about half way between Albany and Saratoga. It has all of the above plus I can drive south and be in the Catskills in a little over an hour. Gore is a little over an hour north, Whiteface is 2 hours. I’m also pretty close to many Vt. resorts. ( I can be at Sugarbush in under 3 hours) Good night skiing can be had at both West Mt. and Jiminy in under an hour.

I guess it’s not too bad here. That said I’m looking forward to making Wilmington, NY (Whiteface) my permanent residence when I retire.

Well, it's obvious you stepped in some four leaf clover filled cow pattie before leaving the Old Country, becasue, about the time you decide to jump ship to Paradise, some nano(sp)-tech hot shot will be paying you a gazillion bucks for your "razed" ranch in Clapdown Parks, and you can laugh all the way to Steinhof's to share some moonshine with all of the other ex-patriots.

 

[deadheadskier]

I have some input this having lived in Burlington for several years, Portland, ME for a couple and I have a brother that lives in Manchester, NH. I certainly contemplate this question when looking for a place to live, but in addition to the criteria of skiing and off season outdoors activities, dining and a live music scene is very important to me. I'll list the pros and cons of each of these three areas, which btw, I think are the best locations to live in NE.

Burlington

Pros: Easily the best access for a small city to skiing on the east coast. Next to Boston and NYC, easily the best live music town in the North East. Restaurants are good, but not spectacular. Summers are great with the lake right there and area hiking.

Cons: Very low wages, especially considering the cost of living. High taxes and winters are brutally cold. Cold is great for skiing, but 15 below for two weeks in a row in January gets tough to deal with.

Portland:

Pros: Exceptional restaurants, exceptional ocean activities for the summer and Maine has the best whitewater in NE for those enthusiasts. Live music scene isn't at the Burlington level, but is still darn good. Wages compared to cost of living is FAR better than Burlington. Just moving here basically equaled a 15% raise for me.

Cons: Taxes are terrible, skiing access is fair - 1:45 to SR, 2.5 to Sugarloaf and Saddleback.

Southern NH:

Pros: Best overall access to three states for skiing. Cannon/Loon are an hour or so and VT and Maine areas are three hours tops, excpet Sugarloaf. Best tax situation of the three. Best Job situation of the three with easy access to Boston Metro. Some decent restaurants, but none clustered densely anywhere, though the scene in Nashua is improving. Summer activities you need to somewhat drive for. The beach, mountains and Lake Winni are considerable drives from Manchvegas though.

Cons: Live music scene SUCKS outside of the Stonechurch in New Market and the Hampton Beach Casino Ballroom. Both of those are excellent, BUT, I'm someone who wants to be within walking distance or a reasonable cab ride of live music. I'd never live in Hampton, though I would consider Newmarket.


So, depending on what you're looking for, I think all three of these locations are the best in the Northeast for a skier looking to not be a ski bum and have some balance in life. For me, Portland has been the best situation. I would live in Burlington in a heart beat, but for most, it's extremely difficult to make a living and the cost of living is rather high. The spring there is absolutely horrendous also. I'm sticking to Portland, but I'm seriously considering New Market, NH as the tax situation is so much better in NH and from there, my access to Vermont and NH skiing is much improved while still keeping the drive to Maine areas reasonable.


I've also spent plenty of time in the Albany area and I think that it is the best large city for non-ski bumming life.

 

[ccskier]

Burlington Vermont..

Agree 95%, look just down the road in Richmond, Vermont area either east of west of 89, you are just outside the big city of Burlington, closer to the mountains, still near the lake and right off the highway. Bolton Valley is right there, Stowe, Sugarbush, Smuggs, MRG are probably the same distance from there. Maybe a 20 minute drive to Burlington. As deadhead said taxes to suck. I look at what I pay here on the Cape and what my mother in law pays up there, about twice as much for probably the same value. Pay is getting better, Burlington has a decent economy depending what you are looking to get into. You can still find a decent house in the $250-$300 range with a decent piece of land. Believe me I have been looking. You are still about 3 hours from Boston, Albany, etc... NYC is a quick hundred+ dollar flight. Good luck in your search.

 

[deadheadskier]

You can still find a decent house in the $250-$300 range with a decent piece of land.

True, but jobs that will allow someone to afford a mortgage on a piece of property in that range are limited. Realistically, you would need either 1 income or 2 incomes combined exceeding 100K to have hopes of getting a mortgage in that price range with the current lending climate. That is not easy to find in Burlington.

The reason why I'm sticking around here is that you can get the same house for 50-100K less within a half hour of Portland as you can in Burlington, plus expect to make 10 to 20% more in income. Then again, skiing quality isn't as good and the access is no where near as good.

The economics in Burlington are improving, but are still not exactly great. I think a large reason for that is the number of second home owners in Northern, VT. There are a lot of second home owners in this part of Maine too, but not to the same extent, so the real estate hasn't jumped so much.

 

[GrilledSteezeSandwich]

You really need to make 100gs a year to qualify for a 250k mortgage??? I miss my college days in Burlington..I'll probably never live there again..

 

[ccskier]

True, but jobs that will allow someone to afford a mortgage on a piece of property in that range are limited. Realistically, you would need either 1 income or 2 incomes combined exceeding 100K to have hopes of getting a mortgage in that price range with the current lending climate. That is not easy to find in Burlington.

The reason why I'm sticking around here is that you can get the same house for 50-100K less within a half hour of Portland as you can in Burlington, plus expect to make 10 to 20% more in income. Then again, skiing quality isn't as good and the access is no where near as good.

The economics in Burlington are improving, but are still not exactly great. I think a large reason for that is the number of second home owners in Northern, VT. There are a lot of second home owners in this part of Maine too, but not to the same extent, so the real estate hasn't jumped so much.

True, I bought and sold a house here on the Cape last year. I still have the easy life of mortgages on the brain. I have buddy whose combined income with his wife exceeds probably 225k and they are selling their house now and buying a new one, they can't believe how much of a pain in the arse mortgages are now. Damn it!!

 

[deadheadskier]

You really need to make 100gs a year to qualify for a 250k mortgage??? I miss my college days in Burlington..I'll probably never live there again..

unless you've got a decent down payment, then yes, about that. I've slightly exagerated things some, but during the height of the ARM mortgage period a year or two ago, you could get a loan for roughly 4x your gross income or 3x your net. Obviously credit and other outstanding debt have a lot to do with it to, but the industry has tightened up quite a bit.

Right now, I could afford to buy, but I've decided to rent another year and wait for the anticipated 10-15% drop in house values in the area and for the mortgage industry to settle itself out. Things are a mess right now.

 

[Kerovick]

If and When I move out west, I'm probably going to live in Denver and buy an acre near Silverton and put a yurt on it.

Yurts ROCK!!!