Depends.

Price range? Where are you from? Have you visited? What is important to you? What were thinking as far as employment? Where’s family?

I’d like to preface by saying that mortgage rates are extremely high right now, this is not a great time to buy a house. Sure if you’ve got good credit you could always refinance your mortgage later but the extremely high interest rates right now are going to be a limiting factor for most home buyers since so much more mortgage is going to interest these days than it was in 2019. Jobs also pay very little here so unless you’re bringing a remote job with you that’s going to make buying home difficult.

Be forewarned that the housing stock here is very limited, pretty much everything is a fixer upper and houses are routinely selling for over asking price. You’re competing against rich people buying vacation homes and assholes buying homes to rent out for Airbnb. We have high property taxes also so there that in mind. A lot of homes aren’t hooked up to city water, gas or sewer so that’s some thing else to factor in, none of that’s the end of the world bright having to maintain or worse replace a septic system, replace well pumps and stuff like that can pose unexpected expenses.

It’s a lovely place to live but you may be unpleasantly surprised by how little there is to do pretty much anywhere in the state, remember this is a very low population state so if you love the outdoors you’ll be fine but otherwise you might get really bored.

It’s never a good sign when you have to coax all of that information out of someone.

I'm originally from Portland, Oregon. I live in LA and I work remote. I've lived in New York and New Jersey before, etc. I want to spend around $300k max.

No problem with a fixer upper. I'm pre-approved for a mortgage and my loan officer knows I'm considering Vermont as my home.

I'll say only that Brattleboro has the highest property taxes in the state, or it did when I bought, and it's no joke. I regret buying in Brattleboro. Good luck in your purchase.

If you comparing to LA, all the places you mention are tiny. Brattleboro is close to western MA and Montpellier is about 30 min from Burlington (I think).

You don't mention what you want in a place so I think if you provide more details that would be helpful

If you want a city, Brattleboro is my choice: I like my cities a bit 'rough around the edges', and Bratt is that. It's not a college-party town like Burlington, it's not a white-wine-liberal-boring-ass-old-people town like Montpelier, and it's not in the middle of a goddamn race war disguised as a drug task force operation like Bennington.

Bratt is a place with some authenticity, a cool art scene, some decent restaurants, plenty of "Vermont weirdness" (don't bother moving here if you're not moving here because it's a bit weird - that's the point), good outdoor rec opportunities, and it's more convenient to cities than other places in VT. You're just a 2 hour drive from Boston (I used to go to boston for concerts adn drive back the same night), 45 min from Northampton, 60 min to Springfield, Mass (if you want to gamble or get cheaper heroin than you can get in VT).

Real estate prices in Bratt aren't as ridiculous as in other parts of the state. The schools are great. There's *great* small communities nearby if you want to be *near* Bratt, but not *in* Bratt (check out Putney, Marlboro, West Bratt, Newfane, etc...).

Also, since I'm talking about Bratt, it has to be said - RIP Ray McNeill and McNeill's. It's been a sad fucking few years and that was a fucking kick in the guts. The world is a way worse place because of that loss.

Thanks, that sounds actually pretty cool.

I want a house, a fixer upper, and I'm pretty open. I want a nice, friendly, artsy, small town. I have friends that have lived in Vermont and loved it. I'm coming to visit in May. Thanks for everyones advice its helpful.

I think you'll like Montpelier

Yeah, I agree. Or Middlebury, potentially?

Lol. Sorry bro, you're fucked.

Demographically, they are similar. If you have specific questions about Montpelier, I can probably help but I don't know Middlebury as well.

I don't know either that we'll but I'm just speculating. I'm only really familiar with eastern Vermont

Good luck with that price point.

r/NewToVermont

Don't listen to the people on here, most of which don't own houses. You can live in Rutland County, Bennington County (not Manchester) or the Northeast Kingdom for your price range. Rutland and Bennington will remind you of Portland. The parts where lots of people do heroin and near great skiing. I kid, but you're not going to find anything in Addison or Chittenden Counties for 300k.

Sure you can get a house in those areas but they’re gonna be awful far from things they want.

Jesus Christ, this beautiful. Bravo 👏

I would avoid Benningtucky and Pownal.

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We have enough out of staters relocating here at the moment.

Sounds to me like you should check out houses in Putney, Dummerston or Brattleboro,

Avoid Bennington and Springfield like the plague.

You should set up shop at a welcome center to help educate folks, /s

Huh.... So your tax rate is higher than all others?

Rutland, St Albans or Barre City.

Hands down the best places to buy a house in VT.

If you want to be accosted by people asking you for money all the time then Brattleboro is the place for you! Do some more research, Brattleboro is having problems and going downhill fast, lot of businesses closing.

What is "eastern Vermont"? I've never heard that phrase before, ever.

Sadly, this is only true in Vermont. Housing in the rest of the country isn't affected by our high interest rates and is super easy to find.

Each town sets its own rate for property taxes. When I bought my house, Brattleboro had the highest rate in Vermont. But when you're buying a house you tend to concentrate on the up-front cost, not the annual property taxes, so numbers indicating percentages as tax tend to blur in your head and not have a solid "so this is what it will cost me annually to live here" effect.

Ignoring those numbers can make for a costly choice.

Looking to buy a house or looking to move?

The last thing Vermont needs is more people moving here with their remote jobs. Everywhere is understaffed, yet folks moving here will undoubtedly utilize resources, further impacting the staffing shortages.

I recently heard from my local Post Office that there are 3 open jobs for every 1 Vermonter. I can't find anything online that supports that stat, but I did find a Burlington Free Press article from March 2022 that states, "Vermont had 46,411 job postings per 100,000 people, the highest rate in the nation." Based on my experiences at work and in the community, I feel pretty confident numbers have not improved since then.

It wouldn't surprise me. I get laid off for a few months in the winter for my job and usually doing the required job search is just apply and forget. Not this year, everyone is requesting interviews. Kind of a pain for me as I have no intention of leaving my good paying job and no one in their right mind is going to hire me for a couple months.

There are several places above Brattleboro, but it is still on the higher end for homestead tax rates. https://joeshimkus.com/VT-Tax-Rates.aspx

Probably what the Eye on the Sky guys call "east of the Greens."

I bet you'd like Wolcott

🤣

Well said, Corey. You nailed it.

I was just surprised to hear that Brattleboro has a higher tax rate than other communities with similar services.

I get where you're coming from though, people always forget about paying taxes each year.

Taxes are typically higher in higher density areas with more services(to help pay for said services like waster water treatment, library, education etc).

I wish our education system actually educated folk on how our taxes actually work...

oh no! I cannot imagine Brattleboro without Ray and McNeill’s. Cue gone so long music.

Every grocery store in the state will hire you for a month or two.

Work is good for the soul.

Grew up in Bratt. I’ve lived in NYC, Berkeley, and SF, and none of them has nearly the density of weirdos doing awesome stuff that Brattleboro somehow achieves.

Sorry but I'm not driving 35 minutes to work at a grocery store for 2 months when I can get more sitting on my ass at home.

​

EDIT: lol go ahead and downvote, excuse me for wanting more money to ya know pay my bills and feed my kids then a grocery store would provide. I make way more than minimum wage, am certified and my employer pays into unemployment along with actively wanting us to go on unemployment so he doesn't have to hire, certify and train a new crew of people every year.

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You’ll probably run into some roadblocks with the condition of houses in your 300k price range. Are you capable of renovating the house by yourself?

It’s really hard to find any tradesmen here that aren’t booked out for a year at least and they are hesitant to take on anything but the largest most lucrative projects.Things have been slowing down a little, but it is still much more expensive to have anything renovated here than in other parts of the country. Contractors are still giving “go away” price quotes as they have more business than they need

You are what we call in the business a "wiseacre"

another advantage of Bratt is that it's close to great parts of Mass, which have wonderful restaurants, good stores, etc.

Mcneills was the place In Putney right by the college? Used to go there all the time.

Rutland

Don’t blame you for taking the freebies.
Just pointing out that short term jobs are open if someone wants one.

Oh there's tons of jobs open, many aren't even short term. I just absolutely love my job (organic tick and mosquito control) it pays well and I get to be alone and outside all day. I'd love to find something I could do while snows on the ground yearly but not in a great spot to work at a ski resort or something along those lines.

Go get those ticks!

Barre City - not Barre Town or Berlin would be in that price range. Similar with Northfield, Plainfield or Williamstown but those are a little bit farther out with not as many amenities.

We bought our house 7 years ago in Washington County for 175k. Zillow says it’s now valued around 270k not including all of the improvements we’ve done. The market truly is remarkable.

Depends. What kind of politics are you bringing?

Why people downvote comments like these is a mystery to me.

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Try New Hampshire or Maine instead

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Enjoy your locked %6.45 mortgage rate and record high property prices.

You're thinking of J D McCliments, now closed. Enjoyed it greatly when we lived in Putney.

I didn’t include Barre because OP was looking for livable places. JK

Yes!!!! That’s it ! Went to college at landmark.

I’m going to sound like an old man but I’ve noticed that the younger generations don’t know how to ask questions, makes me wonder if it’s not being taught in school or by their parents. I routinely have to coax information out of people because they’ll ask about a third of a question and do not understand why the details are important. Seems like a combination of assuming people know what’s going on in their head and either not knowing how to formulate a question or being too lazy to do so.

Combined with the excessive property taxes and buying a home in this state right now is a great way to stay poor.

This state has a severe lack of blue collar workers right now, skilled trades people and service industry workers are needed.

I know home prices are fucked everywhere but our property taxes are quite high and what you get for the money here ain’t great.

The state does need people to move here but it needs people to move here and work here. It’s going to be a problem a few years from now we’re all of these people who moved here as coronavirus refugees or full remote jobs decide to leave because they can’t get their kids in daycare, restaurants are barely open, they aren’t getting their mail etc, can’t find anybody to work on their house. He won’t realize that they created the problem by taking up housing without filling a useful position.

"cities" - your elsewhere is showing

Burlington

Vermont is turning into what Maine on the coast has become. Impossible to afford for locals. We are becoming service personnel for the rich.

Vermont was better before Starbucks.

This is why I can't buy a house in my own god damned state because rich assholes from out of state are buying everything. So many people in vermont are struggling to find apartments or houses it's unreal.

I think our property taxes are pretty reasonable. I have family members in the NYC area who pay $30,000 in property taxes for very average homes. Sure the schools are better, but you pay a lot more.

That’s because they live in New York City, one of the very highest priced housing markets in the country. I don’t get much for my about $6500 in taxes a year here since I work and don’t have kids but I understand that those taxes are necessary.

Very much so. I came here about four years ago but I’m blue collar and bought a house that had sat on the market. I’m giving serious consideration to moving to Maine myself for lower property taxes and less expensive land. The plan was to buy my house here, fix it up in a year then flip it and get something in the country where I can homestead properly. Plan a huge garden, get fruit and nut trees in the ground, harvest timber, raise animals and all that good stuff. Coronavirus screwed up my plans but I’m working on it. The state is lovely but it’s become unaffordable.

Cheaper than NH

Wait til you try renting.

gatekeeping

I’m lucky, bought before rona.

Same. My old 2 bedroom costs more than my mortgage+taxes now.

Does anyone like wolcott? It’s only saving grace is it’s not hardwick, but it’s still wolcott

Towns along 91. Not saying it's a cohesive region, just the parts of VT I've lived/worked in

thanks for the snark

Not for $300k. They mentioned that somewhere

I wonder when all the demand for housing will actually turn into supply of housing? Right now I feel like home builders would make a killing. There’s huge demand for reasonably priced homes and apartments but I don’t see any new houses going up.

A bit of a catch-22- workers needed but no place to live. If you’re in the building trades, you need high wages to compete for housing but that drives rates, making construction of houses more expensive. Rinse and repeat. There are solutions to this but it’s a matter of political priorities.

It’s been reopened as the Mockingbird Tavern.

It’s crazy how xenophobic this sub can be. Vermont desperately needs people to move here and contribute to the economy.

The only place better than Wolcott is north wolcott

thanks for the update

Oh I understand what you’re saying, skilled trades pay terrible here.

I understand why the locals don’t like a lot of transplants because those transplants try to turn this state into where they came from without caring about the needs of the locals. I’m friendly with my neighbors and most of them have been excessively kind to the point. I’ve come home super late from work more than a few times to find my driveway plowed by a random neighbor just being kind because they noticed I got stuck at work and wouldn’t be home until midnight. I bought a house in the country expecting that my neighbors would target shoot, hunt, keep animals, make a little noise at odd hours because they got to go to work and that’s fine by me. Then you’ve got transplants that treat the state like a theme park and expect to be worshiped for bringing their remote job here, I get why they wouldn’t be popular.

The price of raw materials is still high and wages have gone up because of significant inflation so buildings homes is expensive. Combine that with all the regulation iand redtape and building homes is not cheap here. Sure mobile and modular homes can be cheaper but A lot of available land is not connected to city utilities due to distance and cost. you’ll need a septic system, drill a well, have gas bottles, all that adds up.

It’s a terrible situation. VT needs workers, but the infrastructure isn’t there to support increased density of housing. I have seen nothing about making things easier for affordable housing at either the state or federal levels. The invisible hand of commerce seems to not be working.

Statistically it’s the opposite - VT has been a leader in falling population for at least the last two census counts. Younger people especially are leaving the state in droves - we need any and all people who want to come here to grow the state.

I understand it to a point, but that’s also only one side of the equation. Even the mythical “rich out of stater working remote moving here” is still bringing their dollars here to spend at our businesses.

I’m not sure why you’re being downvoted. I was born in Springfield and it’s a terrible town to be from. I visit Vermont again yearly to see family and friends, but I stay well away from that town.

What are you looking for in a town? Just know that when someone asks this question on this sub the early onset grumpiness is activated for many. Don’t take it personally. And everyone is nice in real life.

Just don’t. Vermonters can’t even buy VT homes. Go to New Hampshire.

Remote workers living in Vermont pay taxes. So I think they’ve earned the right to use resources.

The whole country has a severe lack of blue collar workers.

At least hardwick has a downtown.

Barre

Some folks live in denial. Both Springfield and Bennington are racist AF, though Bennington is much worse since it’s pretty much a sundown town. Springfield possibly has the most violent crime in the state and has a large number of active Far Right extremists.

Hailing from Portland, OR, I now call Southern California home for work. I prefer towns that possess an artistic vibe, down to earth, friendly, and progressive outlook. I have had a few friends that lived in Vermont and loved it. I want to check it out in May.

Okay, I just moved here last June. Love it. We live in the NEK area. Check out St. Johnsbury and surrounding. It’s revitalizing itself. It might be an option for your budget and what you are looking for.

Funny listening to all the poor people complain about people with money and trying to convince them the mortgage rates are extremely high. Lol

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Portsmith