Even in the rain, Burlington's Church Street Marketplace is beautiful

Burlington Vermont makes it to the ultimate bucket list: Forbes.com’s America’s Prettiest Towns. Judged on natural beauty (think Lake Champlain and Camels Hump) and unique identity (think UVM, Ben & Jerry’s and Jim Jeffords), Burlington takes the cake with a generous helping of both.

According to Sarah Tuff Dunn (co-author of 101 Best Outdoor Towns) in her interview with Forbes, “Burlington has it all”. Beauty and uniqueness all centered on the pedestrian mall, the  Church Street Marketplace.

Burlington has a great Walkable Score

Once the supreme place for high school kids in convertibles to “see and be seen”, Church Street was converted into a beautiful pedestrian marketplace more than 27 years ago. The combination of historic buildings and penultimate boutique shopping changed not only the landscape, but the perception of Burlington.

Vermont’s biggest City became a place where families and friends could enjoy themselves outdoors and walk to everything they need. As “Walkability” becomes part of the home-buying consciousness, this pedestrian friendliness is part of the attraction of downtown Burlington real estate.

Stage your property like a pro. Martha Stewart can even make the Laundry Room look good.

We know that you have to keep living your life even while you are trying to sell your property. Here in Burlington we face a unique real estate staging challenge: Mud Season.

Take a look at your home in bright morning sunshine and take note of what you see and where. Have the dust bunnies become dust buffaloes? Are the windows a myth of fingerprints?

Here are Five Things that can make a difference in the sale of your property:

1. Leave your shoes outside. The mud room is a uniquely New England part of the home. Use it.

2. De-clutter. Schedule regular de-clutter sessions. Clutter doesn’t happen over night; eliminating it takes time, too. If you have kids, introduce them to the Saturday box. The Saturday box is emptied every week, on, you guessed it, Saturdays. Throw anything your kids leave lying around into the Saturday box. Anything left in the box at week’s end gets tossed. (more…)

Some Vermont home buyers are worried that there isn’t enough time to get deals done before the deadline, but Realtors disagree. If you are diligent and able to make good decisions fast, agreements can be reached fairly quickly.

While the tax credit alone is not reason enough to buy, combine it with great interest rates, and you’ll see why homes in the Burlington Area are on the move. The motivated sellers behind these Vermont homes make the prospects even better:

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In November, the tax credit was extended to April 2010. To get the credit, the taxpayer has to enter a binding agreement to buy a residence by April 30th 2010, and close by June 30th.

From the IRS website:

Under the new law, an eligible taxpayer must buy, or enter into a binding contract to buy, a principal residence on or before April 30, 2010 and close on the home by June 30, 2010. For qualifying purchases in 2010, taxpayers have the option of claiming the credit on either their 2009 or 2010 return.