We love our moonlight even in Vermont

By Robert Liebman

November 4, 2007

Closer to Britain than New York or Florida, New England is a haven for four-season second homes. It consists of five coastal states with excellent beaches and resorts and one landlocked state – Vermont – with excellent skiing. Golf courses are abundant, lakes and rivers numerous, and there’s the fabled Fall.

Holiday homes throughout the United Sates are doubly tempting for British buyers now, with the pound strong and the US property market in freefall. But don’t wait too long, cautions Burlington Vermont Homes’ Mike Gannett.

“ America’s real estate market in general is down, but property markets are always regional and local. In mine, prices may rise by as much as three percent this year.”

Holiday homes hold their value relatively well, Gannett believes. “This market is not flagging. Bargain aggressively but don’t expect a deal – many sellers of this kind of house do not have to sell.”

In the popular resort of Bar Harbor Maine , near Bangor International Airport, homes with deepwater anchorages start at about £1 million. If you have a small boat or no boat, bayfront three-bedroom homes on large plots of five acres or more sell for less than £200,000.

On Cape Cod, south of Boston, Massachusetts, Hyannisport is the superwealthy enclave where several members of the Kennedy family still have holiday homes. Nearby Hyannis is more reasonable, with four and five-bedroom homes costing less than £100,000.

The Quechee Lakes Development in Vermont, near the New Hampshire border, is a planned private community of more than 600 family homes in a vast river valley. Many houses have farm-sized plots, and the community has two 18-hole golf courses, a ski area, and tennis and squash courts.

Short-term rentals are available for those who want to try before they buy.

Management consultants Bill and Sarah Dwyer were living in Clapham, South London, but decided to emigrate to the US with children Ossia, 12, Jackson, 11, Sam, nine, and Alice, six.

“We could not afford to remain in London, and as Bill is originally from Boston we decided to try our luck in Quechee, where Bill’s relatives have homes,” says Sarah, 42.

“We bought a three-bedroom house on three acres for less than £100,000. It was small by American standards, so we extended to six bedrooms,” says Bill, 43.

“There is so much open space and we really enjoy an outdoor lifestyle which the kids would never have had in London,” he says.

Dozens of homes are for sale at Quechee, many three and four-bedroom homes on large plots selling for £250,000 to £300,000. Three-bedroom homes with an acre are available for £90,000.

www.quecheelakes.com,   www.burlingtonvermonthomes.com

© 2008 Associated Newspapers Ltd