After four years of his stay Studio apartment in Brooklyn, Taylor and Tatum Barnes Decided it was time to leave New York City.
They were looking for an affordable place they could call their own: a house where they could put down more permanent roots, which ideally came with an acre or more of land where they could plant and start a garden. hometown project
It was around the time of the pandemic, so the couple decided to take advantage of it Remote work Arrangements for exploring different towns.
“Because our work was remote — we were both working at schools at the time, which were closed — we were able to travel a little bit on this kind of spring break trip,” Taylor, 34, told Business Insider.
During their road trip, the couple stumbled upon the Upper Valley area in Vermont and fell in love with the place.
With that, they decided to take the plunge and moved into a 350-square-foot studio apartment in Hartford, Vermont, near Dartmouth College outside of NYC, that they found online.
“It was probably intended for a person belonging to the college. But those listings of apartments, they’re public access, so it’s not necessarily a Dartmouth student living there,” Tatum, 30, told BI.
It was a temporary arrangement — and a way to keep an official address in Vermont — while they continued to search for suitable housing in the area.
A fixer-upper within their budget
When they found the opportunity to list for a one-bedroom, one-bathroom Fixer-upper In the small town of Pomfret, it was love at first sight.
“I thought it would be perfect for us,” said Taylor, who is an artist. “At the time, it wasn’t a house, so I didn’t see it set up residentially. It didn’t last for at least a decade or so, I’d say.
The 650-square-foot cottage was being used as an office for a local business, but Taylor still saw its potential.
“I saw the beauty of natural lighting, there was a lot of sunlight. There are a lot of neat details with the wood and cabinets that I thought were really beautiful. And then, mostly, the outdoor space was what we wanted,” she said.
The attractive house came with 2.6 acres of land. It was initially listed for $225,000, but the price kept dropping.
“Not as popular on the market as a one-bedroom house, but we wanted a smaller house and when the price was cut, it was perfect,” Taylor said.
The couple purchased the property in March 2021 for $160,000. It took them about three to four months to close on the house, and it felt good to move in.
“We packed up and moved a dozen or so times during the summer of 2020, so to be able to do that one last time and unpack the boxes — knowing we had no intention of packing them again — was a huge relief,” Tatum said. Those who work in parks and recreation, said.
Making a home a home
Although Tatum did some of the renovation work himself, the couple also hired a carpenter to help them with some projects.
The first thing the couple did was fix the sliding door that leads to their porch. The door was broken and the wood underneath was rotted.
“Winter is fast approaching, we needed to take care of that in the first month of being here,” Tatum said. At the time, the couple was also expecting their first child, and that served as another form of motivation to improve things around the house.
While they are still on the grid, the couple has also invested in solar panels for their home.
“I think it’s a good investment because we’ll save a lot of money over time. And I think that’s a sign that we intend to be here for the long term,” Tatum said.
In an effort to be more sustainable, most household items are either gifted, thrifted, or given away for free.
“I always encourage people to use what’s out there, whether it’s salvage or free stuff, rather than going out and trying to buy a bunch of things to set up your home and garden,” Taylor said.
The couple’s home is located on the main road of their town, which has about 1,000 people spread over mostly farmland. They are 20 minutes from the nearest hospital and about an hour and a half from the city of Burlington.
While they have neighbors across the street, the city has a low population density.
“So our neighbors are right across the street from us. For reference, they have about 75 acres, and their neighbors have 500. And we live here on about two and a half acres,” Tatum said.
What the couple love about their home is the amount of privacy it affords them, without being too secluded.
“Maybe they can hear through the walls in our Brooklyn apartment, but if we need help and we scream out here, our neighbors will hear us,” Tatum added.
The couple also manages it Small campsite On their land where people can come and enjoy the outdoors. There is a firepit where guests can start a campfire and composting toilets are available. Rates start at $24 a night for a maximum of four guests.
While the campsite is open year-round, Taylor says most people arrive between April and November.
City versus small-town living
Life in Vermont Totally different from NYC.
For example, they drive now, whereas they didn’t before.
“In New York City, I didn’t drive. I walked to work, I biked to work. If I wanted to visit a friend 90 minutes away, that meant I was on the train and we traveled 10 miles. And here, I drive 10 miles to work every day,” Tatum said.
The way they interact with their community is also very different.
“In New York City, we don’t wave at everyone who passes by because if you did, you’d go crazy. It’s a lot of people, and not everyone is your friend there,” Tatum said. “But here in Vermont, everyone Waves at you, and you learn to wave back. It’s very friendly and very welcoming.”
While it was hard to make friends in Vermont at first — because it was epidemic — meeting new people became easier, especially after they had their son.
“We met other parents and families through playgroups and things like that, and got to know our neighbors more,” Taylor said.
The slower pace of life in Vermont has been refreshing compared to the hustle and bustle of the city, added Taylor, who is originally from Pennsylvania.
“I lived in New York City for about four years, and it was something I knew I couldn’t sustain long-term in terms of the sensory load and the pace of life,” she said.
That said, with a two-year-old, young parents are “still exhausted,” said Tatum, who is originally from NYC.
“The pace here is slower, but that doesn’t mean we’re not running around, trying to get him from play dates to day care and back to work. I just can’t imagine how we’re going to pull it off in New York,” he added.
Getting used to life in the country
Barnes is not family Alone in his journey.
More and more Americans are becoming Price out of town. A person in NYC would earn about $140,000 Live comfortablyAnd this amount jumps to $318,000 for a family of four with two adults and two children.
It is not surprising that many come Low-income New Yorkers And also Young families Choosing to move to the suburbs or Leave the country Absolutely to enjoy the low cost of living. December 2023 report from Monetary Policy Institute 65,242 residents who earned between $32,000 and $65,000 left NYC in 2022, compared to 50,160 who earned more than $172,000.
However, the couple says things are not as straightforward as they seem.
“Compared to New York City, the mortgage is half of what we paid for rent,” Tatum said. “And while that sounds good on paper, the reality is that being a homeowner means that those savings go toward repairs and projects that allow us to increase our comfort in the space and our enjoyment of the home.”
At the end of the day, everything balances out, he said.
“We are not suddenly rich because we live in the country,” he added.
The couple has some advice for those looking to move out of the city and into the country: Learn to let your guard down.
Tatum said that living in cities can teach people to be careful and be wary of others, but things don’t necessarily work that way in the countryside.
“In small, rural towns, people often have good intentions – and you just need to reach out and ask for help to get it,” he added. “Your biggest threat isn’t your fellow human, but raccoons that will get into your attic or kill your chickens or bears that will get too weird around your bird feeder. Those are a different set of threats, and it will take some time for your brain to switch. .”
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Post They were priced out of NYC, so they bought a $160,000 house in Vermont — but the country life didn’t mean they were ‘suddenly rich’. appeared first Business Insider.