Where in VT to build

[riverc0il]

It's confusing. Resort town tax rates are LOWER than poorer towns (usually), BUT, property assessments are much higher in those resort towns. Poorer towns have higher tax rates, but lower property assesments. It's supposed to all even out (note SUPPOSED). We have a small 3 bdrm cape on 5 acres and we pay a little less than $4k/year for taxes. We live in a non-resort town.
Edit: Here are the '06 rates: http://www.picketfencepreview.com/PropTaxRates.asp
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I noticed that in the Plymouth area as well. Town with the highest property taxes in this area? Plymouth... the town most likely to house lower income in the area. Lowest property taxes in the area? Some of the richer and resortier towns. Really bizarre how low the tax rate is in some of the richer areas around here.

Any ways, if I was ever going to settle down in VT, I would probably find someplace in the Waterbury area, maybe slightly closer than not to Burlington but not too close

 

[Geoff]

I thought the idea was that money form the wealthier towns works to help support schools in the poorer ones.

Sorry for thread hijack but this is info you'll want before buying/building anyway.

Vermont has the Act 68 statewide school tax. As long as your town doesn't pay more per pupil than the state block grant, the school part of your property tax bill (the biggest part) is the same statewide. The school tax is means tested so if you're low income, you can avoid a substantial slice of your property tax. I think the limit is two acres of land and you have to fill out a homestead declaration in April.

I'd think that if you're looking to buy land within 15 minutes of a ski resort, Smuggs and Jay would get you the cheapest land.

 

[ski_resort_observer]

Vermont has the Act 68 statewide school tax. As long as your town doesn't pay more per pupil than the state block grant, the school part of your property tax bill (the biggest part) is the same statewide. The school tax is means tested so if you're low income, you can avoid a substantial slice of your property tax. I think the limit is two acres of land and you have to fill out a homestead declaration in April.
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Bingo..in a nutshell Act 60 then Act 68 were enacted was to level the playing field regarding school spending across the state. Places like Stowe were spending $10-12000 per pupil while other towns were only able to spend $5-7,000 per pupil. It all started with the accessed valuation of the towns based on accessed vaulation of local property and a lawsuit by one of the lowered valued towns. That's the town part, the state part of the property tax is the same for every town.

People assume that that MRV is like places like Stowe real estatewise. Not at all. Prices are still very reasonable, much cheaper than places like Stowe, Manchester or Burlington.

some samples from Fayston, Waitsfield and Warren, an acre of land start at $60,000 and there are several around the valley.
http://www.nneren.com/find.php?land...price=1000000&imageField.x=62&imageField.y=10

 

[GrilledSteezeSandwich]

I read that the average new house in Stowe is now $700,000...When I go to VT I always read picket fences and the for sale by owner guide and north of Burlington towards St Albans is dirt cheap...Not much snowfall like the MRV/Stowe but that's good for commuting/shoveling..An hour from Montreal..short drives to Jay Peak/Smuggs..and fast section of I-89 into Burlington. Eventually I see that area growing more in population as prices continue to rise in the Burlington Commuter areas like Richmond, Waterbury, Stowe, and the MRV...

 

[Marc]

I have no doubt whatsoever that you can. I would however suggest that you enlist the help of a friend in the contracting business though, unless you have intricate knowledge of "code". It would suck to have all your framing done and have the BI come along and ask you where your sill gaskets are. I'm also not a big fan of A-Frames. They're difficult to build and require extremely well built and over designed foundations. I've yet to see a 20 year old A-Frame that doesn't have a foundation crack in the middle from the weight on the outside walls...some have cracks you can shove your whole arm thru. If you're hell bent on the A-Fram, make sure your foundation is ridiculously overbuilt on TERRA FIRMA with heaps of rebar. From a fellow handy guy who's built a couple buildings by himself...I really suggest you go with a contemorary design.....especially if you've never built a building before. :beer:

Not only that, but A frames don't make very good use of space, especially for the material required, they're a pain to insulate, they're a HUGE pain to put a roof on... and as with any type of cathedral ceiling, hard to keep heat where you want it.

 

[Marc]

So Ive now graduated college, and while Im heading to Jackson in 2 weeks for a season, the time has come to start thinking about the real world and where Id like to end up in life. Ive grown up in NH and cant ever picture myself living outside of NE. Sure the riding is better out west, but theres just something about NE I cant seem to leave. Maybe its the water or something....

Anyways, Ive always wanted to live in the Whites, but the job market there just plain sucks, so its looking like Northern VT is the ticket. Somewhere within 45 minutes of Burlington. Im looking at renting for a year or two but the ultimate goal is to buy a couple secluded acres in the woods and build an A-frame myself. Im a competent woodworker and extremely mechanically inclinded (Ive rebuilt my car from the ground up as well as built two 20+ foot sailboats). Im thinking up north towards Jay would be ideal, but if it is affordable to buy land down in the MRV Id love to make Sugarbush my home mtn as well. I had been thinking about Lake Placid, but Im not sure there would be many jobs available for an econ major round those parts. Anyone know of any cool, laid back towns in the Northern VT (or anywhere really) where I could pick up a couple wooded acres relatively cheap? Ive got a good chunk of savings lined up for a down payment already, but Im not planning on rushing into anything. Thanks for the input.

I'm guessing the boats you built were wood?

 

[Marc]

Make sure you get someone REALLY GOOD on the foundation, that's all I have to say. If they're not on really solid ground and the foundation isn't top notch they split up the middle because the load on the outside walls is far greater than a contemporay home. A newb foundation guy will not understand this and will build your foundation to contemporary spec. I would go as far as to have an engineer spec it. If you get on solid ground, the foundation guy knows what he's doing, and use a lot of rebar you should be fine.

Not only is probably more load transferred to the walls in an A-frame (rather than down partitions, beams and lally columns) but if the roof sides are not rigidly attached at the tops, the load will start to develop a lateral component, pushing the walls out as well as down. That probably exacerbates the problem with splitting in the middle.

 

[Marc]

Im not planning on building everything myself. Ill admit I know very little about excavation, septics, plumbing, and foundation work. Those will all most likely be contracted out. Good to know though on the foundation concerns as I was planning on having a fully done basement with a game room and an extra bedroom.

Plumbing is really not hard. If you can do your own wiring, you should be able to do your own plumbing. I'd definitely find out what building, electrical and fire codes are used by your town first though. Plumbing is not only easy (especially the new PEX lines, if you have the tool to put fittings on the hoses) but it's the kind of thing I'd want to do myself to customize my heating system and my domestic water delivery. Even good old copper, solder and flux is straight forward once you get the hang of it.

 

[MRGisevil]

One recommendation I'd make is to find the cheapest apartment possible and continue to rent while you pay down the lot before you start building. Even if you're planning on doing alot of the work yourself, construction costs these days are ridiculously high, and you never know what "hidden fees" or white-hot items your contractors might "forget" to mention until last minute that leave your wallet empty and you living off Yoohoo and Mars bars for the next fours years because your construction loan just got bumped up 15% due to the fact that someone didn't tell you you that you're 20 ft. into a fire-zone and need xxx rated windows @ $400 a pop and 90 minutes doors, or some other as-such.

 

[Marc]

you living off Yoohoo and Mars bars for the next fours years

So what's the bad part exactly?

 

[snowman]

Not only is probably more load transferred to the walls in an A-frame (rather than down partitions, beams and lally columns) but if the roof sides are not rigidly attached at the tops, the load will start to develop a lateral component, pushing the walls out as well as down. That probably exacerbates the problem with splitting in the middle.

Marc had a bunch of good points in all 4 of his posts that I agree with 100%. I think the bottom line here is that if you know anything about construction, you HATE A-frames. I love PEX too marc..lol :beer: