A "Flatlander" moves to Vermont

I'm not from Vermont, but I got here as soon as I could.

Before you start hating us for personally causing the housing crisis, you should probably know that the housing crisis is exactly what brought us (particularly my wife) here. She has spent he entire career in Community Developement, specifically rehabilitating delapidated houses and buildings on a non-profit basis, and getting them into the hands of low income families. She is nationally recognised as someone who seriously gets things done and the state of Vermont brought her here to do exactly that.

First of all keep in mind that there is a housing crisis in every single state in the US, and this is not something that just popped up in the last couple of years like a bad rash. Its been in the making for days even weeks, and its going to take quite a few concerted hockey season long efforts to make a significant impact. For a host of reasons every state situation is somewhat unique. At the same time Vemont shares many things in common besides a healthy undercurrent of sheer contempt for outsiders with other states in a similar situation. To be sure, both Flatlanders buying up property and the whole short term rental circus are real problems that need to be addresed, they are but two of many problems that are of equal importance, and to discuss them all here is far more typing than I'm willing to do and far more than you would read. We should get together and talk over a maple flavored something-or-other.

Therefore I'm just going to relate our own experience.

My wife has always worked in the "non-profit" sector and Im a mechanic. Though we have a small house with a mortgage, We are one medical disaster away from ruin just like practically every other family in America. Not exactly the Conneticut lawyer type everyone seems to think is buying up Vermont one house at a time.

My advice to anyone thinking about moving here: If you are just average joes without deep pockets like us, you are going to have to be extreemly determined and pretty resourceful to make it happen.

I have lived a dozen years or more in Ohio, Virginia, Texas and Ohio again but never on purpose. Normally how this goes for most of us is, you find a sweet job somewhere, you find an appartment, you packup and move, in that order. Like in a growing number of areas of the US, every month an appartment is going to cost as much or more than a mortgage. But that doesnt really matter because you're probably going to have to wait a year or so to find one anywhere near that sweet job you found. So like just about everywhere else in the US, appartment dwellers are totally screwed. Long story short, you're pretty much going to have to buy a place to live, before you even pack that van, which is of course a very tall order if like me, you are descended from a long line of desperate huddled masses longing to be free.

How does one buy a house 500 miles away without selling the one you have in Ohio first? in Vermont, turn-key houses for under $250k are as rare as six fingered hands (yes that's a real thing). If you see a house selling for less than that, you are going to need a rehab loan which will push that price well into the affore mentioned $250k range. It may look like a cute little New England cottage but rest assured that house is probably built over the gates of hell or some such thing that (be forewarned in the state of Vermont the seller is in no way required to inform you of) requires divine intervention to render said house habitable by mortal humans.

Point in case: Clearly the house my current wife (she loves it when I refer to her that way) and I managed to purchase (by means of sheer dumb luck) was previously shared by a variety of drifters, carneys, comedy writers, serial killers and reptilian shape-shifters whos combined capacity for house maintenance is exceeded by the Jack Russle Terriers next door.

I literally had to drive 600 miles and spend $5000 of borrowed funds and a week and a half of my precious vacation days working 12 hr days repairing the roof, ceilings, walls, floors, siding, finish carpentry, plumbing and electrical.

One last thing, I just have to chuckle to myself when some Vermonters try to warn me about so-and-so town or neighborhood being a scary or dangerous place. Having lived in several very large cities for most of my life I can confidently state to any and all concerned that there are NO dangerous neighborhoods in the entire state of Vermont. If you disagree, you and I should take a drive up Union Ave in Cleveland. You won't even want to stop the car much less get out and look around.

We came here because we absolutly love Vermont. We have vacationed here, we even got married on vacation here. It took two years of planning, work, flexibility, skills, money, blood sweat and tears to get here and we consider ourselves very fortunate indeed. If we're still not welcome, then I'm not sure who ever would be.