Do you actually like it here, now that you have been here a while? Just wondering if it ended up being a place you want to actually throw down roots. Or is it just like everywhere else now?
it gets funnier every time the same joke is repeated. more popcorn gifs pls
I moved here in spring of 2022, which still felt like the pandemic to me, and I do feel like this is home now. I love the community of friends I've made here, I feel really comfortable with the size and pace of my town, and I even love the stupid broken-ass house I bought, which is finally starting to feel fixed up.
I don't think Vermont feels like everywhere else at all; it's got all these idiosyncratic habits that you just have to accept, like the way that everything runs on "oh, I know a guy for that." Or the way certain things open and close for the season at totally arbitrary times that everyone treats as totally obvious (you want to visit the historical museum in the winter? ridiculous, that's not what it's for), or the way the hiking trails just go straight up the side of the fucking mountain but the beer is literally called Switchback. It's an interesting kind of weird.
I really appreciate this response and I am so curious about your username. Apologies if I am yet one more obnoxious Twin Peaks fan who has to swoon over Snoqualmie.
We Vermonters ARE, indeed, an interesting people. There is a general kindness but a resolute reticence, at the same time. And "Vermont time" is its own dimension. LOL!! The informal network of connections, relations, and the zero degrees of separation here make for one lively, if sometimes confounding, culture. It requires acclimation. It sounds like you are finding your people and enjoying the greater community, which is great.
If you can believe it, I wasn't even aware that Snoqualmie had a Twin Peaks tie-in! An ex of mine who grew up in Washington once gave me an impromptu spelling quiz on strange Pacific Northwest place names, and when I got Snoqualmie right he pronounced me qualified to visit his fine state. I was so proud I had to celebrate by making it my username, apparently.
I was warned to expect Vermont reticence, but I think what I've encountered is more like... forthrightly grumpy friendliness. My partner and I first met our next-door neighbor while we were hauling the previous owner's trash out of our nightmare basement—the neighbor saw the accumulating pile of junk from his window and wandered over with three cold beers so we could all stand around in the driveway and talk about that sonofabitch who left all that stuff, who was also his good friend, but definitely a sonofabitch. It's probably the greatest way I've ever been welcomed to a neighborhood.
I bought at the end of 2020. Had been on the market since July 2019 so I got caught in the middle of the insanity for no good reason. It was highly traumatic to watch the prices sail. It seemed like I was up against hungry out of staters swarming properties waving cash in their hands. Getting outbid by 100k house after house, not knowing if we’d ever even get one. Then we finally did but the house has a lot of problems which is why the seller took the opportunity to sell it during the craze. He had tried to sell it in 2016 and no one bought it back then. I definitely would like to move again in a few years to a house that’s more manageable, better layout and with a better piece of land. By the time we bought this house, I only cared about 2 things- does it have a roof and does it have 4 walls. That was literally my wishlist by the time we finally won a house.
I was told by my landlord of 10+ years, on my birthday in February 2021, that he was offered way too much money for the house I lived in to turn it down. So, in the middle of the winter, in the middle of the pandemic, I needed a place to live. Long story short, I ended up being homeless for 8 months as my new home was constructed. I have a whopper of a mortgage payment, but it is less than the ANY 2 bedroom apartment I could find to rent.
Gah, that sounds miserable and panic-inducing. It seems like there's this awful sort of real estate wave happening, where one area gets so expensive that people get priced out and they bail to areas where their money goes further. So that drives up prices in the area they're moving to, so people there get priced out and bail to other places, continuing the cycle. I'm not sure how to fix it, but I do fantasize about Robin-Hood-ing the assets of the big real estate investment companies to people in the areas currently getting screwed.
For the out-of-staters who came here during that rush and do intend to make it home, is there anything you'd like to see us do or not do? Besides not bidding insane amounts of money for houses?
I’m screwed. I can’t afford to live in my 9th generation state home. Zelle Me your pity.
It’s always a #VermontAdventure 😉
Stop this bull shit “cute-tification” depiction already. We live here because you have more buying power but you’re not a person people will accept easily.
Love it. Moved in 2021 have no regrets and can’t imagine raising a family anywhere else.
A while ago husband said, “we don’t travel as much as we did before we moved.” We concurred it’s because we actually like where we live now.
What a lovely answer. <3
Same, I mean, we’d travel here.
What town did you end up in?
Rutland lol
I grew up in southeastern MA in a city….I laugh when people crap on Rutland. Its not perfect but man people do not understand perspective one bit.
I used to live there. I'm not just shitting on it just having a gas lol.
Born and raised in Rutland, it gets a really bad reputation but honestly I never had any issues. It’s certainly better than Burlington imo.
I’m in west Rutland and yup
This is so wildly true.
Fear & Loathing in Rut Vegas
We were a few miles outside of Brandon when the drugs began to take hold.
Username checks out (sorry, I'm even cringing over this pun, but I couldn't help it because I can't just tell you I love your username :/)
All good! You're awesome!
We’re in Burlington
Same!
Something that startles me having grown up in NJ, then living in NYC throughout my 20s, then starting a family back in NJ to migrate up here during Covid-
Socially, Vermont reminds me a lot more of NYC than the suburbs of Jersey, (which you couldn’t pay me to move back to.)
Living in NYC, you learn to respect others privacy due to the density. I lived next to neighbors I never said hello to out of respect. When something went wrong, though, the community banded together. In the suburbs, everyone is up everyone else’s ass, and it was suffocating and insufferable. A bunch of gilded nonsense.
I’m glad to live in VT where you have to earn the respect of your neighbors instead of feigning the airs of friendship. You live so much more locally/presently up here, and feel the shift of the seasons. I absolutely understand the mistrust of folks here who deal with transient neighbors and constant tourism (another notch that makes VT more similar to NYC than the suburbs).
‘You live so much more locally/presently up here and feel the shift of the seasons’
This.
100% great observation. I lived in NYC for many years (and during 9/11 and really saw the whole city come together) and the burbs and Vermont. I will never ever live in suburbs if I have any choice about it. Either city or country for me. The suburbs is all the bad parts of city and country combined IMO
It’s funny that you say this because I often find that my favorite transplants that I meet are front NYC and you saying this really makes sense to me
Based
Spouse and I moved here in Fall of 2020 for my job. I had been homesick for New England (MA flatlander here) well before the pandemic hit, and this job in VT just felt right. We started out renting, have since bought a house (the only one in the area we could afford) and we love it.
We miss a variety of food options, but it is what it is.
Raised in VT but living in a city now, the lack of dining options are tough compared to many other places
The snowball has begun. Right now, it’s just food. Next it’s grocery stores not being open late or having to drive far to one. Then it’s very little nightlife that isn’t college kids. This its zoning issues when you want to do something with land you own. Then its taxes.
Youve got like 5-7 years left here.
You must be fun at parties.
Reality. Theyll leave.
I love it so much here! Honestly Vermont is magical, and a part of me doesn’t want other people to figure out the secret 😆
I lost my dad to COVID about 6 weeks after moving, and I’m not sure I’d be here if it weren’t for my husband and Vermont. He made sure we were constantly outdoors even in the dead of winter. And I used to hate winter until we moved here.
I don’t feel at home or at peace anywhere else like I do here. Every day is a gift and Vermont sparkles no matter the weather! Sure it’s not the most convenient place, but I like it that way because it’s convenient enough for us. It’s definitely our forever home, and I hope to give back to the community more as time goes on.
You have a wonderful, bloom-where-you're-planted mindset that a lot of people don't have. I'm sorry for the loss of your father; that must have been very hard for you. Vermont does have a way of healing, if you let it. Don't listen to the assholes who warn of -490 degree Vermont weather (uphill, both ways . . .). Yes, it can get very cold. But given that the USDA has just changed us to a warmer planting zone (based on an average 30-year low temperature), it seems like we're not seeing as many of those hideously cold nights as we used to. And anyway, those cold nights are the best times to get cozy! Light a candle or a fire and snuggle under a blanket with a cup of tea and a good book or movie. Vermont is what you make it. It sounds like you're going to do just fine.
Thank you, you’re very kind ♥️
I love a good fire (especially from a burn pile!) in the winter, and I find the stars shine extra bright on those cold nights!
Sorry for your loss. What a beautiful sentiment, however. Vermont gives and takes. You have to enjoy what it gives because it is A LOT!
Oh my god. I had to check to make sure I hadn’t written this, even though my dad is still alive (sorry for your loss).
Vermont IS magical. I say it all the time. Every change of session is miraculous. It smells SO PRETTY here.
I too hated winter (MD) until we moved here. I could never live in a dark, grey/brown snowless place again.
And I’ll never ever live in the South again either. I’m done with pretentiousness.
You used to hate winter, until you moved here…lol. You haven’t had a Vermont winter in the last 3 years. So, when you get a real winter where it stays near zero for a week with a windchill of “do I still have a fucking face?” And then the “big warm up” is staying in the teens and 20’s, let us know
Love it. Never going back. I hope it never changes.
Well good luck hoping because it’s changed so much since I was a kid that parts are unrecognizable.
I grew up here, moved away and came back late last year.
What do you see that’s unrecognizable? I want to be clear, I am not challenging your position. Just curious what stands out.
Specifically South Burlington could be any suburb of Mass or NJ. It’s wildly different. You couldn’t drive anywhere in Chittenden County with out hearing a hammer swing. The traffic is just like I remember in “big cities” when I grew up here, it was nothing like it was today, the rest of the state is pretty much the same!
Everywhere changes. Nowhere is resistant to change
You could say that about just about anywhere. I grew up in the sleepy beach cities west of Los Angeles. sure they weren’t cheap but they weren’t prohibitively expensive either. Now a starter home is easy a million. Most of the locals got pushed out by folks with money. The cost of living crisis is what’s causing people to move all around trying to find a place they can afford. It’s not a new problem, the average price of a home went up 10 times in the same time when average wages only went up three times.
Most of the hard-working local folks got pushed out of Vermont once it flipped from red to blue. Rutland used to be a thriving city in the 80s and early 90s. Then Dean happened. Now it's RutVegas. Zero control over crime or drugs, and the taxes are through the roof. I'm a generational Vermonter. Very few of us are left
Lol tell me what Howard Dean did to Rutland. You probably mean what the feds did with opening up China in the 80s and 90s gutted industrial towns everywhere.
Guessing you weren't here when everything went down. Tell me about why the farms are all shutting down, tell me about the high taxes. Yea, downvote all you like. I'm from here, live here, and pay those high school taxes. Another rich flatlander trying.
Because the bottom fell out of milk prices nationwide, because federal supports dropped out hand in hand with Reaganomics, because healthcare eats the rest of the money left on the table. It's pretty simple.
We can bail out electric cars and banks, but we can't help farmers... bs
Farmers get a shitload of subsidy.
Oh, I'd love to see the actual proof of small vermont farms getting subsidies.
The socioeconomic problems you’re seeing in Vermont stem from national problems and are not unique to this state. The reason it’s so bad for Vermont is because the local economy is not diversified, and much of the economy is farms, tourism/ service industry. This is not the fault of people who move here.
It’s gentrification at the state level.
To be fair that’s probably everywhere.
My hometown looks nothing like it did when I was a kid…and that is not entirely bad….
Barre looks better than ever!
Barre’s nice! Got some family there.
My wife grew up here, she loves finally being back.
I get that. Places change. Just enjoying being apart of the wonderful community and want to do everything I can to contribute.
Moved at the butt end of the pandemic, not necessarily by choice. Husband and I got pregnant, and baby was diagnosed with an extremely complicated birth defect, so daycare would not be an option. Vermont was the only place we had family that could help, so up we went.
I can’t say I necessarily wanted to be here, so my answer is kinda .. complicated. It took a very long time to find any sort of meaningful connections and friends. I feel this is in large part to the importance placed on privacy, which I understood coming here and expected. I find myself pushing down parts of who I am in an effort to better assimilate. I know that most people in my town do not like people that came in from out of state, so I tend to put my head down and live quietly.
I miss fitting in, bc I know I don’t here. In the same breath, I love my neighborhood. I love my sweet next door neighbor that always brings us extra vegetables. I love my yard guy that brings cookies for my little one. I love watching the sunset over the mountains, and the sense of calm it gives me. I love the little farmers markets, my coffee shop knowing my name, and every single person I work with.
Is Vermont made for me? No, but I don’t need it to be. It’s a beautiful place to raise my beautiful daughter. It completely fits this season of my life, and, for that, I’m incredibly grateful.
🤷♀️
We have clay soil where I live in Addison County. It’s heavy, and digging into it or planting in it is a challenge, and most plants kinda just sit there for a few years…but if you leave them there long enough, the roots have pa chance to push through the density to access the inherent richness of the soil. It takes time, but the blooms on even my most exotic specimens eventually come around if they can handle the winters.
Hang in there. Raising a child here connects you to the community in a way that will eventually turn familiar faces into acquaintances and then sometimes to more. Once you get those roots down, you’ll be awfully hard to uproot.
Good luck, and welcome to you and your family. :)
Try raising your head up and saying "Hello" or "Hi" when you walk by people. You may be amazed at the results.
I didn’t move to VT during the pandemic but grew up in southern VT. What’s very ironic is the percentage of self identified “real” Vermonters that are themselves recent transplants from MA/CY/etc. hating on newer transplants.
VT has a very low gdp compared to other states. It relies very heavily on tourism and other out of state sources of revenue and that has always created a tension for full time people. I see the same thing in Maine but always felt VT was more welcoming.
Sadly the cost of living and housing prices in the northeast make a lot of people place blame on the wrong places. The reality is when these cities and towns were ghost towns and shops were boarded up, people were desperate for jobs and businesses to come back. Now when communities are full of people moving in and driving demand (which unfortunately drives up prices) some people are cursing the change. I’m not sure what the answer is but it is ironic to me.
As they say - “Vermonts number one export is its youth “
I read a little volume by Margaret Hard called Footloose in Vermont. It was written in 1939/40. Even then! Even then, Vermonters were mourning the loss of industries that once made up the booming prosperity of this state in the previous century. Lumber barons cut down all the trees. But lumber brought all attendant industries with it, and towns were booming. Everything was made here. Everything. Old growth forests are gone, and now what’s left and what’s grown in its place are protected.
The housing market has such low inventory that some of us who moved during the pandemic were looking for way longer than that.
That would be me! Except, I grew up here but we sold our condo end of February 2020. As you know a few weeks later, the pandemic started. The sellers of house we were under contract to buy decided to not move, leaving us without a house so we had to live with family while we searched. It was soul destroying to get outbid house after house for an entire year while out of staters bid wildly.
I’m sorry that’s absolutely awful! We moved before the prices changed, but had been watching the market for years prior and couldn’t believe what was happening after we moved. It’s like the market was in a time capsule for a long while compared to other states.
It is not, nor will it ever be, "just like everywhere else."
Chittenden County, particularly South Burlington could literally be anywhere in Mass or NJ but the rest of the state seems to have kept the charm.
There's a lot more "everywhere else" than just VT, MA, and NJ. There's an entire country to explore.
Moved here a little after the pandemic and loving it more and more as we get settled and are starting to make friends.
We had a 10 year plan to move here. I moved with my daughter and her husband.
This is our forever home.
Not once have we had a doubt about our decision.
Our home is a few miles from town.
It's on a beautifully maintained dirt road . It's blissfully quiet.
We joined a CSA. Our diets are better, no fast food. No pizza delivery. We put in a garden this year.
Our life is slower. We know our neighbors. I wake to a chorus of bird song. In the evening it's the peepers and the barn owls.
You can fall in love with a place. I am beyond grateful we found a home here.
Airbnbs now
Airbnb is on the decline, oversaturated with rentals & falling demand. It’s nicer & more affordable to stay in a hotel at this point. Though in certain parts of VT there’s a lack of hotels, and Airbnb still has some success when there’s a lack of alternatives. Anyways, hope it keeps falling off, it decimated the long-term housing market everywhere from Hudson Valley / Berkshires / VT and beyond…
Is it really in decline? Last I looked, there were over four hundred available BnBs listed in Chittenden County, between Air BnB and VRBO, and only some small percentage of them were overlapping listings. That just means units that were currently not rented.
It would be GREAT if they really were organically losing their hold. Good riddance to the horde of short-term rental units!! People from here and who actually live, work, and raise families here full-time could maybe find an apartment or house.
Well the popularity wouldn’t necessarily be indicated by available listings, of course, rather the # of rented properties would indicate popularity and success. Basically the huge fees associated w/ renting an Airbnb have made hotels more affordable in most cases, so with Covid fears diminished, hotels are regaining popularity.
People who bought investment properties w/ an Airbnb scheme in mind would of course still be trying to rent them, but I’ve seen a lot of former Airbnbs flooding the for-sale housing market in the Hudson Valley as of late, people want out lol…
I hope they lose money on their shitty “hipster-ized” double wide trailers, painted black w/ white white subway tile kitchens, that they are trying to sell for 500% + of what they bought them for…
2023 saw a decline in Airbnb popularity after massive growth in 2020-2022. But short term rentals continue to be popular for groups and in areas w/ a lack of hotels. IMO the real solution is legislation and banning / severely limiting short-term rentals to save the long-term rental market and lower COL in areas w/ Airbnb over-saturation
There are hundreds of thousands of houses in and around chittenden. Short term rentals are a bogeyman with very little impact on housing prices outside of resort towns.
That is objectively untrue.
It’s kind of a bummer tho that tech bros get to do their damage before things swing back tho
True. My last place in VT got turned into an airbnb as soon as we moved out. It was one of those rare-as-hens-teeth affordable single family home rentals in a tight housing market too. It’s a real shame.
Friend was kicked out of his 17-year rental, it was turned into an airbnb as well.
A lot of people have mentioned that people seem cold here, but I don’t get that. I moved from NC, which is known for social warmth, but it doesn’t feel that way to me there and it does more so here. For me, it feels like whenever I speak to somebody new here, it feels like I’m continuing a conversation from before somehow, but in NC, I was in “stranger mode,” which was to say all the right things and to stay on-guard. NC was very congenial, but it was much more fake. That’s not warmth to me. VT social interactions feel familiar and easy/casual—much more real.
I’ve lived in Texas and Florida. Texans are friendly but you never want to peel back the facade. Florida’s full of transplants and I never got close to neighbors, even though it was a nice community with porch parties. Maryland? The only person who waved in our spacious neighborhood came from Virginia.
Here in VT I haven’t yet reconstructed the community net I had after 6 years in FL.
But when I do speak to people, it’s like everyone is a bunch of introverts who like solitude and privacy, but are happy to chat far and wide when encountering each other in public. This is totally my style. Vermont is like the Finland of New England.
All comments in this thread are valid. I’ve lived here my whole life, raised in Wallingford, been in Chittenden county since 2004.
Vermont is beautiful, peaceful, and generally friendly, it also has legitimate issues with the housing market, drugs, climate change, wokeness, and homelessness, in that order.
Chittenden county living is totally different than the rest of the Vermont. You have the good schools, the lake, the stores….the homeless, the outrageous prices, the constant construction of new hoa neighborhoods of cookie cutter homes and condos. The rest of the state hasn’t changed in my lifetime and is a joy to drive through.
That is an understatement. I live in Chittenden County and over the last 20 years I have watched it transform from Vermont to its own state. Driving around here, is exactly like anywhere, Mass or NJ. And most everyone living in Chittenden Co. not from here because people from VT cannot afford the COL in Chittenden County. I don’t know how I can even compete as a Vermonter who went to a state school with only a BA in Social Work. They pay close to minimum wage for that work.
Moved during the pandemic, but planning was already in the works before the pandemic started. Was somewhat depressing to see all the housing inventory go up $100k from when I started looking, ha.
Definitely moved here to stay the rest of my life. It is definitely not like anywhere else that I have ever lived.
Did the same. Was planning prior to the pandemic, purchased raw land. Was finally able to move into a rental nearby the land in ‘21 and then built my forever home in ‘22. Love it here and the next time I move is when they put me in the old age home.
I moved here from Brooklyn in 2022 after a brutal divorce. I love it. I miss having a ton of food options and it’s tough being far away from my support system, but nothing compares to the beauty you can see in VT just driving down the street. I found peace here.
I moved here in 2020. Bought a house right before the boom at a 3% interest rate, so I'm pretty much locked in now. Good thing I love it here! It took a while to make friends, but people have warmed up since Covid.
Wow nice going getting in before the boom
I love it. My anxiety has gone away. I’m way more active and outdoors almost everyday. I feel truly at peace here. I actually never planned on leaving where I previously lived but my boyfriend (now husband) moved up in November 2019 and once the pandemic hit I kind of just stayed up here and I’m so happy I did. I had my baby here and plan to raise her as a Vermont country baby. She loves it here in can’t ever imagine bringing her back to the suburbs.
Wow, this is my experience as well. Both my son and I suffer from major anxiety. Moving to Vermont from a CO metro city really helped us.
I moved to the Burlington area in like 2005, which I felt was way more dangerous back then and I had my apartment and car broken into a few times. There’s more mental health and addiction issues but truthfully I don’t feel the area is as dangerous as it was. Then I left after college for a few years and came back in like 2015 and have moved a couple times around the state. I also travel a lot now and get to go all over the country. Vermont is amazing, it’s even more amazing when you get out of the state and can appreciate it. Our last move was just before the housing blew up in 2020 and we have a sub 3% interest so we’re here for the long haul. What we need is a real city to be an economic engine and a real population center. That’s how you can preserve life elsewhere and provide all the services Vermont offers at an affordable rate. We also need yimby residents on development review boards and planning commissions to start to invest in town cores that are walkable and have enough local business to sustain the area. This seems like it’s starting to happen but for most of my life in the state, people complained about their lack of everything in one breath and voting no for everything in their next. I’m excited for Vermont and love all the new people who have moved in because I find they bring a much better outlook. It’s really depressing to hear how the lifelong locals talk about our community. I love change and I think there’s a way to do it balancing the way things were while opening up Vermont to more people and business. Williston seems like maybe the wrong way but they have a ton of housing, St Albans, rutland, and Barre seem like the right way with restoring a historical downtown and building up around it. Brattleboro could be that way but it’s conveniently near where most of the drugs come from in Mass so they’re stuck with that but I have hope that it will get better.
They's still on the New York and Massachusets forums, might want to ask there.
Their heart and mind still lies in Mass and NY forums, how sweet.
Moved here in October of 2020 and had our first kid in early 2022. We love it here and plan to stay. But to add some color to the thread, I’ll share some of the challenges we have since moving here:
We both work remote and that feels like it is getting old. I’ve always done that but it was new for my wife. We actually weren’t married and didn’t even live together before coming here so remote work in the same house is probably the biggest challenge for us. We’d both love to do work in person but might necessitate a career change for both of us and would probably mean a huge pay cut.
Honestly, the biggest frustration for us is probably the housing market. It might be crass for me to say that because we got our place before things went nuts and we totally lucked out. But the lack of housing (not just affordable housing… any housing!) obviously has a huge impact on how things can grow and evolve. It seems like limiting factor on so many things and it’s a bummer.
It seems like there probably would be 20 more couples our age with young children in our town if there were any housing available and it would be nice to have some younger people.
All that said, we love it. We visit the city we came from every now and then and it’s nice but we’re like, “it’s nice to come here a few times a year but live in Vermont.” It’s a pretty dreamy place to live and I regularly comment on how lucky we are to be here.
We looked for three years before finding the right spot in 2020. Now some four decades into our lives we finally live in a real community, as quirky and remote as it may be. We don’t have to be best friends (although friends abound), but we are all we have to an extent and we act accordingly. I wouldn’t change a thing.
We love Vermont! We followed our daughter here who moved her after college. We just lived the place when we would visit her. We are retired and live lakeside living in Georgia. I love looking at the lake in all seasons and all the activities lake living brings. I love not dealing with crowds, traffic and rude people. Speaking of people, it is such a friendly place where it is easy to make new friends. I love all the tiny towns that look like they should be on Christmas cards. The tales of the Notch. Creamees. A billion places to hike. The breath taking mountains. Although we have only been here a short time, it feels more like home than Pennsylvania ever did
Reading all these comments makes me homesick and proud of my home state. Seeing how much people enjoy the life in beautiful Vermont also reassures me that it will be preserved, because people moving in value what makes Vermont unique. I haven't been able to live in Vermont for years but dream of returning some day. Luckily I still have roots there and I visit several times a year.
I bought my house here sight unseen. We came up for the inspection, and I cried when it was time to leave. This state and its beauty fill my heart to bursting. I’ve never felt such love for a place. I just want to protect her, keep her beautiful and safe from the ravages most other places endure.
Not long after I bought the house on 3/4 acre I felt the need to buy 15 acres a few miles away.
I see the mountains on drives, and literally just want to hug them. I want Vermont, all of her. I love this magical place.
Same, we bought our house sight unseen. Just curious, where did you move from?
Oh hi! Sorry I missed your comment. We moved up from Florida, but Maryland before that and have lived many other places both north and south, and across the pond. What about you?
Unfortunately, no. Desperately wanted it to be where we laid down roots as that was the intent. Moved to Mont-P in April 2021. Found it incredibly difficult to life in VT with kids, being in the middle class, anyway. Food was expensive, going out was disappointment more often than not. Incredibly long wait lists for even basic medical care, lack of specialists in central VT, daycare waitlists are years long, so much so that your child ages out of what you originally signed up for…the list goes on. Practically had to beg contractors to work with us. That said, I think living closer to Burlington might be easier as far as resources versus say central VT. If we were wealthier and didn’t have a child with allergies (of which there isn’t a pediatric immunologist in the region or wasn’t when we left in April this year) then I would do it all again. People were nice enough, slightly colder than anywhere I’ve lived previously. It’s fucking beautiful and I respect the locals and wanting to preserve what they have as there really isn’t a state like it.
I moved here in 2020 with my wife, who grew up in VT. I love it here. I wouldnt want to live anywhere else.
Moved or bought homes?
I came here regularly as a child - camping, skiing, etc.
So there's no surprise for me. It's exactly where I've wanted to be my entire life and I'm so happy I finally made it.
I moved here in early 2019, things have absolutely changed (I don’t know what it was like prior) but, I can’t wait to get the fuck out of Burlington
they took all the apartments and left the people that became homeless, stayed homless. also drove the rent sky high. born and raised here i used to be a proud native being born in the first state out of the only 2 to be an independent republic before swallowed by the US. but since the cost of living is damn near the ceiling and minimum wage barely moves im honestly considering moving to Ohio to restart my life. my slumlord landlord sold the building we stay in and since there arent any apartments affordable with 3 incomes around here well become homeless with jobs. vermont doesnt take care of people like us. sorry to burst your bubble but vermont aint that great....least not anymore
I have been bouncing around most of my adult life; VT is where my soul feels at home. The stars finally aligned and I found my dream apartment in the NEK in 2022, and a job that was 100% remote.
I grew up in the suburbs of NJ, and lived overseas for 5 years. The type of community that exists in remote VT is rare. You have to earn acceptance, but if you slide off the road, anyone with the means will pull you out of the ditch. There are no fake niceties, not a lot of small talk, but we all have each other's backs.
I'm just waiting for the day that I can afford to buy/build a house.
Moved here a few months ago, so I’m far from fresh, but Vermont is like nowhere else. I mean, it’s not radically different in every way, but it is unique in how much it conserves the natural element of the state and doesn’t conform to the urban landscape of the rest of the U.S.
I live in the border to New Hampshire and it’s still amazing how different it feels crossing the border when the land itself is so similar. Even though N.H. isn’t heavily urban or anything, every town still feels very copy-paste to the rest of the U.S. in all their chain stores and strip malls.
I moved here Oct 2019 and theres no logical reason to stay. When i muster up the capital to move i will do so.
Curious, why is there “no logical reason to stay?” Work, social, too remote?
Convenience is absent here.
The work here is limited and pay is so so for how expensive this state is.
Socially i am an outsider when it comes to politics and sometimes culture.
Overall the cost of living and taxes are far too high for what this state has to offer IMO.
The best thing about Vermont is how remote places can be.
Convenience is absent here 🤝The best thing about Vermont is how remote places can be
Indeed. But even the cities lack normal convience compared to where i am from. For reference, the county of the state i am from has the same population as the state of Vermont.
Thanks, reasonable.
Are you more city/town or in the sticks based?
Tax burden is high here, no argument there.
I’m close to 15 minutes away from the capital.
I much rather be elsewhere in the state.
But living closer to work is a have to for me especially in the winter months.
We would love to see you go
Exactly the type of person that makes me want to leave.
Perfect
You sound like the exact sort of person we don’t want here. Need bus money?
Chill. They didn’t say anything horrible about Vermont. I, unfortunately, am currently living in the Deep South and you are sounding like the people here. I know someone from New England is better than that, come on.
No. Id rather not take a ride to the methadone clinic.
Interesting. I can’t think of which of these factors would be a surprise after moving here
Considering i had never heard of VT before moving. All
Ok? So you didn’t read the Wikipedia page or look up the general reputation/make up of the state before deciding to move here?
Nope.
Why did you come to Vermont? I'm genuinely curious.
My girlfriend at the time now wife has family here. She was not Vermont born and has actually spent most of her life overseas. She wanted to be close to her elderly family. I followed. Neither of us had much knowledge of Vermont.
If you are a conservative who likes being near conveniences, Vermont was maybe not the best choice for you.
I know. I didnt choose it for me.
Moved here during the pandemic for a hospital job, and got off on a bad foot over how seriously people took COVID — you know, the whole “rat on your parents” thing at my kid’s school. I was an innner city paramedic prior to moving here. I got exposed hundreds of times, and my perspective was, well, different.
Once that all passed, though, I began to love how beautiful it is here and also to love the community that my child has found for himself in school and activities. Makes the move worth it.
As for me, I would like to find a reason to not move away when he goes off to college. It’s difficult to make friends here, and I’ve never had that problem before in life. It’s difficult to find people to work with, too. Everyone here seems either retired or really angry about capitalism for reasons I can’t seem to fully understand. Finally, I have to stay away from the news for the sake of my sanity. Half of the issues that Vermonters complain about are a result of hating change. This state seems to be the way people like it, and there doesn’t seem to be real support for solving problems if it means changing people’s ways of life.
Moved 2 years now and I have many thoughts. I’ve bounced around the best states in New England after I came from the Midwest chasing a girl living down near Keene. The girl didn’t work out, but as we all know, I came through what I believe to be the best parts of vermont, the drive between Albany and Bennington, Bennington, Molly stark trail, and Brattleboro. I immediately fell in love and my midwestern mind fell in love with the mountains. After bouncing around and traveling New England I ended up here in chittenden county for work. Something as a transplant I’ve noticed is how fast Burlington has changed. Even in a couple years Burlington has rapidly changed, I brought my mom downtown a couple months ago and she was taken aback by how much graffiti and drug usage happens downtown. I used to sit near cherry street and listen to football on cool Sundays, now I’m not sure id do that due to the large rowdy groups hanging around at all times of the day. Now with a fiancé from a different country we’ve discussed where we want to put down roots. For so many reasons chittenden county would never be a place I would ever make a permanent residence. For anyone else scouring reddit seeing if Vermont will be a place they’d like to end up, I’d advise the same thought process. However, after careful consideration on both my finance and I’s part we’ve kinda come to a conclusion. We’re either looking to live in southern Vermont where we’d commute to Albany for work, or a distant part of the Portland Maine metropolitan area. I feel Maine does everything Vermont does, but better. But, that does not take away the love I have for the shires. The hidden gems, the shopping, the community, the serenity. We all know why it’s great. After visiting large swaths of New England, I haven’t found a part that I truly detest, where ever I end up, I’ve decided it has to be New England. Whether ending up in Vermont, Maine, as long as it’s New England. I don’t for one minute regret being a new englander or a Vermonter. There’s just nowhere like it that feels like home like New England
was living in SE Utah.
saw that the real estate market where we lived (WAY out in the desert--very scenic) was HOT af with everyone from the big cities trying to move OUT of the big cities. I always wanted to live here and saw my chance.
sold our house for a great profit in 2021 and bought a house in northern VT. (there were no other buyers on this house because it was technically a triplex, the downpayment was MASSIVE and I have been lucky/blessed in my creative pursuits).
love it here. 10/10. no plans to ever leave.
even with the black flies and the mosquitos and hot summer days (we hit the pond, obvs)--zero regrets.
wasn't too delusional about moving here, but DAMN I love it in vermont. :)
I went to college in Vermont 40 years ago, and it was the first place I truly felt at home. I participated in the Big Brother program, and was welcomed warmly into my adopted brothers’ family, so much so that I spent more time off campus than on!
Life took me to Texas, California and DC for those 40 years, but Vermont was always where my heart was. When the pandemic hit, and retirement loomed this was the only place we considered living. I already had a built-in network of friends, so that was a big advantage.
Bought a 1795 farmhouse on a back country road with two acres. Yeah, it’s a bit isolated, but it is quiet, beautiful and peaceful. The neighbors are friendly (in a standoffish way), and yet are there to help if needed.
Art, culture, shopping and more are a bit of a drive, and that’s okay considering everything else.
The state as a whole has its problems, just like everywhere else in this broken world. You can’t just sit back, bitch about how it used to be, complain about the newbies, and then expect someone else to fix it. If you talk to your neighbors and find out what they think, you’ll be surprised to find that solutions are attainable - without massive upheaval. It’s part of what makes Vermont a great small state: community, shared values, and conversation.
Funny reading this post, having lived here most of my life after being born here , it's rougher than when crack was still going on in the 80's now, and it's exponentially more expensive. When I came back from my brief time living elsewhere for college, I couldn't imagine living anywhere else, the relative safety and aesthetic beauty of this place really was my reason for coming back, that being said it's just a husk of what it once was. We need to drastically cut spending on social issues, develop a backbone against crime and criminals and it'd be worth it to continue raising a family here, it's been since covid, so much worse that I'm constantly considering leaving again.
For sanity’s sake, I have the same general life circumstances and feel the opposite.
I also was born here, grew up here, moved away largely out of boredom and ambition (professional and cultural), loved it elsewhere, came back reluctantly, and still love it. Most of the places that felt “on the decline” now appear better than they were and improving still. Everything still feels very safe to me, especially compared to any larger city, and the beauty is still abundant
Costs are way higher, drugs are more pervasive, homelessness as well, but that is everrrrywhere - wealth inequality trickles down hard
Sure places like enosburg are gentrified to be nice now, but also now you gotta look out for needles in the woods in rural communities like Charlotte, Lincoln and Bristol because junkies have spread like the plague. Also those same places where never was a theft recorded, it's now a lock your doors even when home mantra.
Sadly this is the same case in Brattleboro and windham county, first stop off of 91 has its pros and cons
Best comment in this whole thread.
Still getting down voted, but thanks, I'm just honest.
I liked it better when it was safe and we didn’t have an out of control homeless population. I like it better when the drug problems were contained and you could try all you wanted but finding hard drugs was practically impossible. But I hear people who are homeless like coming here for our extreme liberal views, the nice people always am willing to spare change and overlook the problem behavior such as public shooting up and aggressive panhandlers.
Where will you go that's better?
Been thinking about lots of places, it's mostly looking for places where crime isn't left completely unchecked. Burlington used to be a town where you couldn't listen to your car stereo too loud on Main Street or you were getting a ticket, now people are known opiate trafficking trash from NYC with multiple exchanges with the police as well as gunfire from their residence above Manhattan pizza 5+ times and they are free to continue criminal enterprise. When places like West Virginia and Georgia are looking considerably more appealing, to someone that is pretty open minded and very Yankee outwardly, it should be apparent Vermont needs to get some zero tolerance laws on the books and make people accountable for their actions. Also I'd gladly pay more taxes to have mandatory internment of the mentally ill, not free places for them to camp/create cesspits in our parks and wooded areas.
sounds like your views are too conservative for Vermont. In the 2020’s, Vermonters are no longer folks of law and order and out-of-state folks have caught onto this and take full advantage.
I've been the same person the whole time, views haven't changed, other people's willingness to let their kids take a dirty heroin needle to the leg on the playground, or get robbed is what changed. That's why people from here will forever shit talk "Flatlanders" because this is not better than what it was.
I didn’t exactly move here during the pandemic, but I did move up here in 2015. Compared to other states I’ve lived, Vermont is beautiful and I love everything about it here.
Personally, I find “native” Vermonters being upset that there are people moving in and “disrupting” the local community and their way of life to be quite ironic considering the history of how exactly these places came to be in the first place and what the first settlers did to the actual native Vermonters
Yep - Masshole here born and bread and lived there in an Uber suburb for 52 years. Been here since 2021 and love it all - won’t go back to visit unless forced. The state has a great opportunity to bring in great jobs with an incredibly smart population and needs to figure that out.
Ignore the downvotes, your right. VT is going to chance regardless of what long time and recent Vermonters feel. How they handle this opportunity/ Problem (depending how you frame it) will determine if the change is good or bad for the state
I moved here right before the pandemic because my wife wanted to live somewhere different and had been through Vermont when she lived in canada. We divorced about a year ago and I came back because my entire family is on the West Coast in california, but it's definitely a place I could see people wanting to stay. I remember so many things fondly about vermont.
Moved here in the 90s from the west coast (though I lived in Mass for college so not totally new to New England), but I can relate to many of the comments. It's beautiful, peaceful, love the people, etc. Married a 6th gen Vermonter and our kids were all born here.
This is home. Love it here.
I am and am not a Vermonter. My great grand father emigrated to Vermont in the 1800s and married. Family lived in Rutland and my dad left for Massachusetts to work. I spent most holidays and vacations here, always a stop at stewards for a meal.
We had a ski house, not in Stowe as you might assume from my username, that we moved into after pandemic. Worked out as we were empty nesters.
We dig it here. Quiet mornings, good internet service and awesome people. Connections to people improved and we are invoked in the community.
I wish there were more places to eat out, Indian food is scarce and a good Tex mex would be nice. Doctors are hard to get into and everything is measured in seasons.
Someone previously said they don't travel as much and it occurred to me that we don't either but when you live in the destination it's pretty damn nice.
I am a Vermonter and I'm not, but I like this middle a lot.
Moved here during the tail end of the pandemic from "out west" to be closer to our east coast family. The people, small towns, agriculture/ respect for food systems, focus on sustainability, politics, and unique funkiness are all great in my book!
I do really miss tall mountains, public land (big chunks of it) sunshine/ more than 4 days without rain, less bugs, big dumps of snow, and views. Also, after the last few years, notions of VT as a climate change sanctuary seem misguided.
Just my take. No place is perfect. But no, VT doesn't just seem like everywhere else.
Moved here in the spring of 2021. No regerts baby!
Moved here in 2012 and bought my first house in concord in 2021. Like it here but I wish there was a little less reactive politics. Especially with our second ammendment
Rooting. The season changes are big wins.
I moved here in 2005 and I love it. Almost downsized in 2016 for same price I paid for house. Decided not to and was glad I had space and a yard and sunset views during the pandemic. And now my house is worth double what I paid for it so that’s not bad (but I’m not moving so no difference). It’s going to be hard for my kids to buy a place though…..
Did love it here, but taxes, school and state, seem very high.
Moved back before the pandemic, and yes. Burlington? Definitely no.
After two years in Burlington, I had enough. I think it would have been different if I had (or had met while there) a partner.
However, it’s definitely not “just like everywhere else.” Vermont is a great place to visit.
Loving it. Somehow managed to get a better job here than i had in RI. Skied 30 times this winter. Spending my summers mountain biking, golfing, and hitting swimming holes in my area. The house i bought was foreclosed and is a dump but I’m slowly working on it. Going to try to raise some beef next summer. I bought a dirtbike to commute to work on. I miss my friends but the 4 hour drive isn’t bad for the occasional weekend back to visit.
We moved here in the summer of 2021 but had been planning since early 2019. My only regret is not buying sooner. Some of the houses we turned down have now doubled in value! We bought a "temporary" house way under budget, but now can't afford what we were originally looking for :) Still very happy where we are now.
I bought a beat up house December 2021. We moved here for specific school related reasons for some of my children and that has worked out well. I kept my house out of state which has been rented out the last 2 years. Overall I find Vermont to be a very pretty state but holy hell is it boring. I am ready to go back. My family wants to stay. We are staying one more year and then headed back. I think. I hope.
Move back to where you were from. Chow!
Just because it's written down, it doesn't mean a damn thing. Explain the 15 to 20k farms that just went up in smoke in the last decade or 2. Explain the blaming of farms for lake champlains pollution. Naa, never mind, you have an excuse for everything. But but but but but but.. it's on paper, and I can only cite 1 or 2 farms while dozens go out. Do you even farm bro. Doubtful. Just another guy who read about it. Even most of Vermonts Grange halls are being repurposed.
Love my home but recognize I will always be an outsider. Lots to do, but do it alone. Everyone is kind and helpful, but not friendly to outsiders. I wouldn't recommend moving to VT unless that's acceptable to you.
Love the beauty. Hate the plumbers and electricians and roofers charging sky high prices and not showing up for anything that doesn’t bring them a lot of money. Not everyone, I have one loyal honest person that I love dealing with. But, never been ripped off before like I have here. A lot of dishonest people who don’t pay taxes and give you a different price than your local born neighbors. The town is gleeful about raising taxes. No one waves to you on the road anymore. Lots of great things in Vermont, but not enough to make up for what I’ve experienced here. Came up full time March 2020. You asked. Happy Father’s Day!
Yes that’s very true. It’s called the Out of Stater tax. I have laughed my ass off hearing some of the stories. A tree guy charged these new neighbors $500 an hour. But then when they said well I make $1000 an hour so I guess it’s fair…Us Vermonters never had the chance to earn money like the pit of staters that came here, wages have always been extremely low here.
Definitely not what I thought it would be. I imagined how it used to be. I don't regret it but it's not our forever state
Overall I do love it here. I roll my eyes at some of the things, like people thinking Rutland is extremely dangerous. The crackheads have mostly been kinder to me than the average person in the state I grew up in. That's mostly personal experience I think as the born and bred multi generational people have no other comparison. Some of the political things are frustrating, like the lack of stand your ground and castle laws and legislators making laws to create committees for a study, but at least I know my healthcare rights are not in jeopardy.
Unfortunately this will not be my forever place. I don't know where I'll retire, but the super high taxes and utilities are making it difficult, even though my spouse makes almost as much as both of our salaries were in our previous state.
I love the overall feel, have a lot less desire to travel (used to constantly check travel prices, now I don't), and my social anxiety is a lot better.
Moved late 2020. While I don’t mind Vermont; I miss snow, these winters are warm and wet of rain. Unfortunately seems like you can’t get a Vermonter out of Vermont. The husband doesn’t want to move.
Food sucks, weather is nice tho, no complaints about traffic since there isn’t any, parking is good, Everything is expensive here still, I’m coming from Brooklyn in 2020, no real sports teams here which is a downer but I go to Montreal to watch a sport team, it’s ehhh to me, I’ll probably leave eventually
In early 2020 we drove cross country from California with 2 dogs, 2 cats, and three humans. We did it in 4 days. My 80 years old Mom needed the help. It's been hard but it's worth it.
This is an intertwined and interesting thread:-) I am a ‘flat lander’ but have been hanging out in Whitingham for about twenty years. My friend Matt bought some land a while back and we slowly built a cabin. Then years later 2016, when I was done west coasting and sold my Seattle house. I had money enough to buy some land (also in Whitingham)I slowly built a cabin, pre and during scamdemic.
So technically I’m not a resident but I’ve got bills and taxes and thoroughly enjoy buying goods and services in Vt.
I will be selling my house in Rhode Island this year (hopefully) and will be heading in lighthouse plates for my green plates😍
Moved here from NYC about a month after the pandemic started to get away from all of the infected poors roaming around. I liked it at first because it was a tranquil setting for my Instagram followers to be jealous about, but I hate it now. The people who have lived here for a long time seem so aloof and half brained from eating too much wallpaper paste in the 70s or whatever they were up to.
Hopefully more people move here and drive up rents more causing all of the locals who get by selling rain sticks and beads to have to move out.
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