Addison County - an island onto itself

October 30th, 2007 Media, economics, taxesTags: Addison County, real estate, taxes, Vermont

According to the Addison Independent, the real estate market is doing just fine in the county. A little weakness here and there, but that seems to be mostly due to the “doom and gloom” media.

Now let me see if I got this straight:

Addison County is particularly attractive to mortgage lenders, so that mortgages here are just as easy to qualify for as in the past – the sub prime crisis is something that is a problem for everyone else except Vermont – and particularly Addison County. So the demand for houses is unaffected. (?)

The sub-prime mortgage for other people apparently is the cause of the little blip in an otherwise hot market here; the $500k plus houses ain’t selling – those deep pocket out of state people who can afford a $500,000 second home are the ones most affected by the sub-prime crunch. Yup. That’s why the big expensive places aren’t selling. But the average house (at $220,000) is doing just fine. So many jobs waiting to be filled, those houses are being gobbled up as soon as they come on the market. And between gas and heating oil about to head back up over $3 a gallon, the housing market should really get hot. Add to that a carbon tax in the future and some extra taxes for some more schoolin’… and that is apparently why Addison real estate is “weathering the storm”!

I get it. Now I understand why Joey Tribbiani (Friends) thinks Vermont has its own type of money.