All-in cost first, always. Estimate only — not a loan quote or pre-approval.
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Tell us your income and savings instead, and we'll work out the max home price and a qualification signal for Vermont.
How much house can I afford in Vermont? →Vermont Housing Finance Agency's primary fixed-rate first mortgage, typically VHFA's lowest interest rate, available through VHFA Participating Lenders statewide; first-time-homebuyer status required in certain counties. Can be paired with ASSIST down payment assistance or the First Generation Homebuyer Grant. Subject to county-grouped income and purchase price limits.
Second mortgage of up to $10,000 for down payment and/or closing costs, structured as a 0%-interest deferred loan with no monthly payments, repaid at sale, refinance, or payoff of the first mortgage. Must be paired with a VHFA first mortgage (e.g. MOVE or Advantage).
Fewer listings, fewer buyers, and sellers who have a reason to be on the market in December. Here is what a winter discount is actually worth on a $400,000 house — in monthly payment, in lifetime interest, and in the seller concessions a quiet market makes possible — and the three ways a winter purchase goes wrong.
Vermont's property transfer tax is tiered and the buyer is the one legally liable for it — about $4,288 on the state's $423,700 median-priced home.
The operational guide to buying property with a partner, friend, sibling, or parent — credit and DTI mechanics, title vesting, a clause-by-clause co-ownership agreement, and how the exit actually works.
A month-by-month plan for the year before you buy: what to do in each phase, what never to touch, how to document every dollar, and how to survive closing day.
Vermont guide
In much of the country, the tax on transferring a deed is the seller's problem or something the two sides split. Vermont does it the other way around: the Department of Taxes makes the transferee — the buyer — legally liable for the Property Transfer Tax. Move here from a seller-pays state and that's a new line item on your side of the settlement statement.
The second surprise is that Vermont doesn't really have a transfer tax rate. It has a staircase. On a principal residence, the first $200,000 of the price is taxed at 0.5%, and everything above that at 1.25% plus a 0.22% Clean Water Surcharge, for 1.47%. On the statewide median sale price of $423,700, that's $1,000 on the first tier plus $3,288 on the rest: $4,288.
Add the attorney-run closing Vermont expects and the state's above-average fee load, and a median-priced purchase here lands between $12,711 and $21,185 in closing costs. Below is where that money goes. For how the fees themselves work, start with our full line-by-line breakdown of closing costs.
A note before you start: this is general education, not financial, legal, or tax advice. Every figure here is a statewide number from CalculatorByState's sourced dataset, and your town, lender, attorney, and contract will all move the total. Vermont's transfer tax in particular depends on how the property is classified and financed — a question about your deal, not the state. Your Loan Estimate and Closing Disclosure are authoritative; use this to sanity-check them, not to replace them.
A 3-5% range against Vermont's $423,700 median sale price gives you roughly $12,711 to $21,185, with a midpoint near $16,948. On a $350,000 purchase the same range is about $10,500 to $17,500.
The narrower sourced average for Vermont buyers is 4.31% of the purchase price, or $18,261 at the median — above the midpoint, and above the national picture, excluding agent commissions.
Read the full Vermont guide →9 min read · Updated 2026-08-24