Viewing a single comment thread. View all comments

jakefrommyspace t1_j8jsjta wrote

For reference, I am a transplant. In every single state in the country this is happening. Economically speaking from a macro POV, it's not wealthy people moving here that is a death knell. It's short-term rentals owned by longtime property owners. This might shock you but wealthy longtime Vermont landowners are reaping the rewards of this right now. It's not necessarily an out-of-towner issue.

IMHO it's not an instant solution but press legislators to ban Airbnb from the state and watch housing open up again (albeit slightly).

The catch-22 of out of towners moving here is while it will drive the prices of homes up, it will create a wealthier tax bracket and create greater opportunity to fund housing initiatives.

Without economic growth, it's incumbent on Vermont's current tax revenue to create affordable housing, which is a tall task given the current numbers.

It is simply impossible to not service out of towners moving here, or simply ban them from moving here.

Press legislators to subsidize housing with newly acquired tax revenue and ban short term rentals immediately.

Goes for everywhere.

38

thisoneisnotasbad t1_j8kf80n wrote

STR make up slightly less than 2.5% of total housing stock in the state. That includes summer camps and rooms in homes. STR is the distraction you are being sold to not get you to look at the real problem which is endemic multigenerational rural poverty and state regulations which make owing a business and employing people in this state more difficult then most places.

Our schools are near that top in spending but educational testing for basic math and reading puts our state at about the middle of the country. VT tax burden puts it at number 47 in the country (1 being the best). The answer is not banning STR the answer is changing the laws and tax structure to not hate the middle class so much.

VT is great if you are poor and great if you are rich. Those of us in the middle are generally fucked.

https://taxfoundation.org/publications/state-local-tax-burden-rankings/

18

10hastings66 t1_j8tacem wrote

Smart post. From VT, living now in NH. Vermont is curiously easy on the passively rich—Current Use and all that. And services for the poor are decent for a rural state. But Vermont crushes folks with any sort of higher earned income (even if you have little actual wealth). That’s why we took our careers east of the Connecticut River.

I still own a small home in Vermont where my elderly mother lives rent free. She raised me and put me through college and I owe her a dignified old age. Should I get a crushing property tax assessment for this ‘vacation home’ she lives in? Not all property situations fit the current narrative.

1

serenity450 t1_j8kmmv4 wrote

I’m a Vermonter, and I agree with you, @jakefrommyspace. Plus, for about as long as I can remember, people have been saying some—though not all—of what OP is saying. Our state is getting old, people. We need young families to settle here. Of course, we also need actual mass transit, but that’s another post.

12

justreadthearticle t1_j8mrle8 wrote

Who do they think out of staters are buying these houses from? All that money that people are paying when they buy houses at these inflated rates is going to...Vermonters.

6

Trajikbpm t1_j8o81h3 wrote

Shhhh don't tell them that.

But for real it's easy to sell a house.

My house is worth double right now. If I was to sell I'd have a lot of cash but it would be impossible to buy another one with the rates and people with even more cash and most likely I would be denied a loan. Maybe I would get lucky but I doubt it. I don't think I even have it in me to to try. Not that I want to anyway.

1