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Good advice about having a job lined up before you move.
When I move up to Vermont, my plan is to diversify my income as much as possible. I want to buy property with some rental units. That way I will cover my housing costs, which are reportedly substantial in Vermont (in Brattleboro everything seems pretty expensive, but I'm sure insurance costs are lower than in Brooklyn) and, hopefully, provide income if, for whatever reason, I can't work at a job. Or if I retire. If I want to leave the area and can't or don't want to sell, I can rent out my own unit and have a little more income from the building. So I won't be trapped in an area I don't want to be in.
As you can see, freedom to leave an obnoxious situation is very important to me. I absolutely do not want to be one of those people who move to Vermont for the beauty and the fantasy of Vermont and then find themselves miserable and trapped. From experience to start making money you need minimum six apt.units , plus VT has few great rules and regulations like Winter Law ( You cannot evict non-paying tenant during Winter months it is six month period ) plus if you have to many section 8 tenants ( State of VT pays their rent) you shall have a hard time to rent a place to non section 8 tenant , Insurance for rental property is high plus tax plus town/ city tax . Just few things to consider .
If you move to Springfield, that is what will happen!
Hi there,
Any thoughts about Springfield, VT? I'm hearing (from realtors & such) that ofo the Vermont towns, its one of the least desirable due to crime, schools and...?? Not too worried about schools as don't have any kids.
I'm also hearing that there are plans in the works to improve the town, but wonder how much of that is hearsay or if its really going to happen.
Anyone on this forum live in Springfield? Seems like a good location for work - e.g: reasonable size and commutable to Lebanon.
Thanks!
born and raised there, good luck with that! they should rename it to homer simpson town, it is the only worthwhile thing that has happened there for at least 30 years!
Wow, Zipperhead! I just finished reading your recent spate of responses and all I can say is that I am sorry you have such a sense of bitterness and resentment.
I lived in Springfield for over 50 years and it has changed a lot over the past 30 years as the industry in the town closed leaving few good paying jobs. Vermont is a beautiful state but that doesn't put bread on the table or buy fuel to heat your house. The winters are long, the taxes some of the highest in the country along with the utilities and good jobs hard to find. The major industries are the hospital, school and prison, all service industry. You can commute the forty miles to the Lebanon NH area for work and drive the twenty miles to Claremont to shop. Vermont is a rural state so you'll get used to driving an hour for work or two hours to get to a mall to shop for back to school clothes, or to watch a concert or catch a ball game and with the price of gas that's not a good thing. The property in Springfield is cheaper for a reason, few people want to live there, mainly due to the local economy, so while you can buy property cheaper it will also be worth less when you go to sell it. As for crime I don't think Springfield is worse then other small towns, it has it's share of drug issues and the associated crime that goes with it. The schools are good, they should be as they have some of the highest cost per student in the state and even though they receive half the cost of the schools from the state the taxes are still very high. I don't know what the person was writing about who mentioned hearing sireens all day, that's not so. Springfields population is less then it was thirty years ago and if it weren't for all the low income housing built in Springfield the population would be a lot smaller then it is. There a lots of nice places to live in the country, as I said I lived there for over 50 years and raised my family there, none of my children stayed in Springfield and I will never move back, not because it's a bad place, simply because it has little to offer.
Wow, Zipperhead! I just finished reading your recent spate of responses and all I can say is that I am sorry you have such a sense of bitterness and resentment.
You would be resentful also if you had the experience of living it! If Springfield was such a good place to live and work, I'd still be there. I most resent the fact that my grandfather, a decent hard working man, who put his brothers and sisters through college, had to sell property to pay his taxes? Get a grip!
I lived in Springfield for over 50 years and it has changed a lot over the past 30 years as the industry in the town closed leaving few good paying jobs. Vermont is a beautiful state but that doesn't put bread on the table or buy fuel to heat your house. The winters are long, the taxes some of the highest in the country along with the utilities and good jobs hard to find. The major industries are the hospital, school and prison, all service industry. You can commute the forty miles to the Lebanon NH area for work and drive the twenty miles to Claremont to shop. Vermont is a rural state so you'll get used to driving an hour for work or two hours to get to a mall to shop for back to school clothes, or to watch a concert or catch a ball game and with the price of gas that's not a good thing. The property in Springfield is cheaper for a reason, few people want to live there, mainly due to the local economy, so while you can buy property cheaper it will also be worth less when you go to sell it. As for crime I don't think Springfield is worse then other small towns, it has it's share of drug issues and the associated crime that goes with it. The schools are good, they should be as they have some of the highest cost per student in the state and even though they receive half the cost of the schools from the state the taxes are still very high. I don't know what the person was writing about who mentioned hearing sireens all day, that's not so. Springfields population is less then it was thirty years ago and if it weren't for all the low income housing built in Springfield the population would be a lot smaller then it is. There a lots of nice places to live in the country, as I said I lived there for over 50 years and raised my family there, none of my children stayed in Springfield and I will never move back, not because it's a bad place, simply because it has little to offer.
You would be resentful also if you had the experience of living it! If Springfield was such a good place to live and work, I'd still be there. I most resent the fact that my grandfather, a decent hard working man, who put his brothers and sisters through college, had to sell property to pay his taxes? Get a grip!
I have a grip, but choose not to let it consume me.
My parents had to sell their home on LI and move south because of 1) their health and 2) the fact that the taxes rose so meteorically (VT looks like a bargain) that they wouldn't be able to afford their home on a retiree's salary.
Yes, I know resentment. I resent that my parents are over 1,000 miles away and that economics drove them off. (Sounds vaguely familiar?) I don't go back and slam the place they had to leave, though. It might not be perfect, but the people remaining might care about it -- just like some people in Springfield do.
Your grandfather was probably everything wonderful you've written and more. People sometimes have financial problems. Your resentment is with the end result -- grandfather selling his property -- do you really know how this came to be? (Answer yourself privately as it isn't my business and I do not want to know.) You can't take back the past nor can you live in it. You have to get past the anger and resentment and move forward.
Lose that white knuckle tight grip you have on your resentment. Resentment is poison. It won't change anything, won't get you back what you miss.
I speak the truth, for I have lived it. I don't believe you have ever lived in Springfield! You should not speak of circumstances you know nothing about. My feelings about Springfield are mine, and everyone else who has lived there. I don't need to hear your diatribe about resentment. And just because you don't do something like slam your parents town or whatever, does not mean someone else can't do the same. Just because you don't do something that someone else does, doesn't make you holier than thou, and the last time I checked we have free speech. So, I don't need lectures from you about resentment. As you said you have felt resentment. Telling me not to feel that way makes you sound like a hipocrite. In comparison, places like Russia, Cuba, and China tell people what to think, feel, and do. Just like you are doing to me. I guess Vermont needs more people like you. Flatlanders telling the natives what to do.
I speak the truth, for I have lived it. I don't believe you have ever lived in Springfield! You should not speak of circumstances you know nothing about. My feelings about Springfield are mine, and everyone else who has lived there. I don't need to hear your diatribe about resentment. And just because you don't do something like slam your parents town or whatever, does not mean someone else can't do the same. Just because you don't do something that someone else does, doesn't make you holier than thou, and the last time I checked we have free speech. So, I don't need lectures from you about resentment. As you said you have felt resentment. Telling me not to feel that way makes you sound like a hipocrite. In comparison, places like Russia, Cuba, and China tell people what to think, feel, and do. Just like you are doing to me. I guess Vermont needs more people like you. Flatlanders telling the natives what to do.
Dude, I was trying to sympathize with you. I have been in a similar spot, not the same, but one that left me feeling really bummed out. Those are the circumstances I spoke from. Not whether I lived or didn't live in Springfield, but rather losing what was dear to me. My parents and the home I was raised in are dear to me, your grandfather's land was dear to you. We can agree that the way both things ended was lousy.
No one is trying to come off holier than thou, but it is rather hippocritical that what you accuse me of (allegedly lecturing about resentment) is the very same thing you just did. I held in my resentment for a long time, and it got me nowhere. Stuff happens which sometimes we have no control over and it hurts. I was trying to explain that I found it cathartic to let go. We all need some inner peace; I tried to share that. No matter where one lives: Montana, VT, NY, China, Cuba, or Russia, people want peace in their lives.
You aren't ready for that. That's fine. Fight the system. Fight the man. Fight Montana and their Hemp growing cards limiting your harvest. Start the revolution you feel is overdue.
Not knocking someplace is a matter of having respect for the people who choose to live there or for people who can't afford to move from there. Places can have their downsides, I won't sugar coat it, but places can have their good points, too.
If you wish to slam a place you once lived, that's your choice. No one is going to stop you. But the more you do it, the more people realize it's not about hate, anger or resentment. They can tell it's all sour grapes.
Calling me a flatlander is rather amusing. What you don't realize is this flatlander doesn't want to see VT turned into a Yuppie Playground. I see long time natives who are being forced to sell their homes (like your grandfather) because they can't afford the taxes (like my parents.)
I'm here trying to do the right thing like supporting local farmers buying their produce and meat, replying to surveys that I believe keeping affordable housing in the forefront of my town's planning for the future. I bought existing housing stock, employ local tradesmen whenever needed as opposed to bringing in guys from back home. I am an avid recycler, pick up litter left behind by careless people (natives and flatlanders) donate to many local food pantries and charities, support my local library. I am not looking for a pat on the back -- that's not why I am here. My life has been spent trying to do the right thing no matter where I live.
What are you doing to help Vermont?
Last edited by OhBeeHave; 08-07-2008 at 09:28 PM..
Reason: punctuation
OhBee did your parents use the star program in Brookhaven? Afte my dad retired his taxes were halved under the program.
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been there, done that
