Step 1 :We are given that the proportion of homes in Vermont owned by investors rather than homeowners is 17%, which is 0.17 in decimal form. This is represented as p in our calculations.
Step 2 :We are also given that the standard deviation of the sampling distribution can be no more than 0.01. This is represented as \(\sigma\) in our calculations.
Step 3 :The standard deviation of the sampling distribution (also known as the standard error) can be calculated using the formula: \[\sigma = \sqrt{\frac{p(1-p)}{n}}\] where p is the proportion of success (in this case, the proportion of homes owned by investors), and n is the sample size.
Step 4 :We need to find the minimum sample size n, so we can rearrange the formula to solve for n: \[n = \frac{p(1-p)}{\sigma^2}\]
Step 5 :Substituting the given values into the formula, we get: \[n = \frac{0.17(1-0.17)}{0.01^2}\]
Step 6 :Solving the above expression, we find that the minimum sample size for the sampling distribution is \(\boxed{1411}\).