New England Landmark Realty covers the Vermont real estate market
from the inside — market data, buyer strategy, seller timing, land
use regulation, and the policy decisions shaping what homes cost and
who can afford them.
Tony Walton has been working Vermont real estate since 1978.
The analysis here reflects that depth.
Browse by topic below, or use the search to find what you need.
A Halloween story. Fiction, every word of it. Except the flood.
Every listing agent in Vermont knows the form. Seller's Property Information Report. Eight pages. Roof, septic, well, radon, the year somebody swore they replaced the furnace. And on the last page, the question nobody likes: Are there any other conditions a buyer should know about?
Most sellers write "No." Estates write "Unknown."
Unknown is the word the dead hide behind.
View MoreUpdated October 2026 by Tony Walton, Principal Broker, New England Landmark Realty
Yes, you can sell your own home in Vermont, and in a few situations it is the right call. Most sellers decide otherwise: in the National Association of Realtors' 2025 Profile of Home Buyers and Sellers, only 5% of sellers went it alone, a record low. A Vermont sale has five jobs no matter who does them: pricing, reaching buyers, the required flood and lead disclosures, negotiation, and closing. The table below shows who carries each one.
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Winter is not the wrong time to sell in Washington County, Vermont. It is the least crowded. Most sellers wait for spring, and last winter more homes sold in the county than came on the market. The tradeoff is patience: winter buyers take longer to commit, so the price and presentation have to be right on day one.
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Vermont heating oil is up 79% from a year ago, averaging $6.10 a gallon in late October 2026. For a typical oil-heated Vermont home, that is roughly $116 more a month this winter. It also changes how buyers judge a house: efficient heat and a clean fuel history now carry real weight in price.
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Fewer Americans signed contracts to buy homes in September 2026 than in any month since the National Association of Realtors began tracking in 2001. High mortgage rates are the reason. Prices are holding, and the Northeast slowed the least. For Central Vermont, that points to a winter with more room for buyers to negotiate and less patience for overpriced listings.
View MoreBy Tony Walton, Principal Broker, New England Landmark Realty. Updated October 2026.
If your Vermont house sits empty for part of the winter, three things matter most: keep the heat on (the American Red Cross says no lower than 55 degrees), make sure someone local checks the house on a schedule, and know what your insurance policy requires while you are away. Most policies expect you to keep the home heated or shut the water off, and a burst pipe in an empty house can be denied if you didn't. The checklist below takes about an hour to work through before you leave.
View More25 Gallagher Road is a 1916 Cape Cod in Middlesex village, listed at $155,000. It is ready for updating, and it is priced accordingly.
For context, none of the 13 homes sold in Middlesex over the past year was listed below $250,000. Statewide, the median sale price reached $379,000 in 2025, and Vermont prices have risen nearly 40 percent since 2019, according to the Vermont Housing Finance Agency.
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Freddie Mac's average 30-year fixed mortgage rate rose to 7.40% on October 8, 2026, up from 7.28% a week earlier and 6.30% a year ago, the highest since November 2023. On a $400,000 loan, principal and interest is about $2,770 a month, $294 more than a year ago. The Fed meets October 27-28.
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The National Flood Insurance Program (NFIP) is authorized through December 11, 2026. If Congress does not extend it, the NFIP cannot issue new or renewal policies until it is reauthorized. Existing policies stay in force, claims are paid while FEMA has funds, and private flood insurance is unaffected. Buyers and sellers with winter closings near rivers should line up coverage now.
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Washington County, Vermont sellers listed 111 homes in August 2026, up 52% from 73 a year earlier, while sales rose about 14%, from 80 to 91. Homes for sale rose 25%, nearly double the statewide pace. Prices are still up (median $409,878, +4.4%), but leverage is shifting toward buyers as mortgage rates reach 7.40%.
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