Boston vs. NH (Lynn, Saugus, Danvers: condos, crime, home)

[ontheroad]

One obscure but delightfully humorous law: walking a cow through the commons on a given day--very specific; I always wanted to try that one but I don't have enough hay

Originally Posted by NY'er lost in MA

I agree. MA has some obscure laws that date back very long ago. I have never lived in NH just for being to far off the beaten path. I also agree that many NH'ers commute to Boston and probably relocated there back 10 years ago when it was drastically cheaper.

[CityGirl52]

YES I go to that Marshall's & to TJ MAXX up in Portsmouth all the time. There's a TJ Maxx up in Somersworth too that's quite good and Marshall
in No. Hampton is extremely good these days as well as the TJ MAXX in Seabrook. Oh, I hit all of them, are you kidding! Every single one of them at least a few times a month. I can find them blind folded!!! That's how many times we're at them all! I meant to say previously that I shop online strictly at Talbot's; due to their incredibly fantastic sales they have every season. The other stores I mentioned are all right in our "back yards" around here now! They're all over the seacoast region and beyond. Well I'm certainly happy about that, can you tell??!! Gone are the days when we had to take trips down to Mass. to hit these type of stores. Now, we can shop right here and no sales tax. It's a deal to me!

Although we still like to shop in Mass. There's JUST something about that North Shore Mall that's SO much more funkier than Newington Mall up in Newington (NH.) Of course the Rockingham Mall is too far for the seacoast shoppers like me and all the rest of us because it's a pain from here to get over that way, it's a nightmare actually. The less we have to get over that way the better off we are. It's a real pain in the buttinski. That's why we hit the North Shore Mall so much AND of course Home Goods down in Danvers! That's another store that we NEED around here! People think we're crazy when they see us and our New Hampshire plates in all their parking lots down around Massachusetts! BUT that Mall is SO neat and SO isn't Home Goods, it's awesome! We love the one in Goffstown, but that's a pain too for us. Some day may be the seacoast region will get a SIMON Mall like that one and the others they own AND may be we'll even get a Home Goods around here! THEN we'd REALLY be in our GLORY! May be some Marketing staff they have will read this and hopefully "bring it on" for all of us that live up in the boonies around here!

[Valerie C]

Salem NH (rte 93, exit 1) has all the stores you could ever want (Target, Marshalls, Christmas Tree Shop) along with Rockingham Mall, Market Basket, Shaws, etc... Just a couple of exits up in Derry/Londonderry area there is Home Depot, Marshalls, TJ Maxx, Sears Essentials, plus Cinema 12 (stadium seating) Shaws, Market Basket, Hannafords, etc,,, Hooksett has BJ's and Target, Nashua also has EVERY store that you could want. All tax free shopping too (for now anyway... however Massachusetts style politics seems to have moved into this state, and along with that will probably come income taxes and taxes on purchases! Oh well...

[missionhill]

Wonderful post, CityGirl52!

[WinterWonder]

Originally Posted by puffle

My question to you then is when you figure taxes into it and the possibility of them getting higher in the next five years, does it make sense to buy in NH instead adding in quality of health care and costs, schools, recreation, culture, etc.? Would you live there?

I have the same questions as you. We are relocating up to the Southern NH / Northern MA area, from NJ. At first glance, NH looks better - no sales tax or state income tax. But property taxes - most homes we are looking at are between 5-8K per year. And while this is alot less than NJ's property taxes, when looking at northern MA / suburbs of Boston, we are seeing same size homes for 3-4K per year, literally half the taxes of MA. So what the house costs more? If you have a decent salary, you can pay the mortgage down and be done with it. But property taxes? You are stuck with them - FOREVER. And they keep going up .

So we are confused. I am a tax accountant in a busy season now. And as soon as that's done I'm going to sit down and try to do a detailed comparison of the 2 states, side by side. If anyone has any input for me, let me know. Thanks!

[pjscdn]

Originally Posted by puffle

I am from California so I would like someone to explain to me what the apparent rivalry is all about between Boston and New Hampshire? The two seem to despise each other, but why? How can one state over claim to be so much friendlier (NH from Ma.) than Ma? Is there some kind of underlying jeolousy? I would really like to know how this started and I have only come to this conclusion by reading the Ma. and NH posts. Is NH really that much more affordable than places just outside of Boston? Seems the taxes are pretty hefty and the choices of great schools is much less in NH, so what's the deal?

I think some of the previous posts explained it well. NH is generally considered conservative, typically votes Republican, does not have a sales or income tax, and resists large government, and the editorial pages of the state's largest newspaper in Manchester tend to lean to the right.

In recent years, southern NH has absorbed many transplants from MA escaping the state's high housing costs and taxes. But, if you work in MA, you will have to pay MA income tax. So, the key to this strategy is to be sure your place of employment is listed in NH. Generally speaking, the cost of living is lower in NH.

Like your state of California, we've seen shifts across the political spectrum. What is interesting about NH is that is seems to be inching towards the center. Democrats are running for office and winning elections in the state. There appears to be more flexibility in political viewpoints in NH.

And, in my eyes, MA seems to be inching towards the center as well (I'll explain that before I get flamed..!)

I'm sure you're aware of the MA's political climate. I know you read these posts every day! The delegation we send to Washington is almost always Democratic, as well as most of our state representatives. But, since Governor Michael Dukakis lost to George Bush the Original for president in he 1988, a Republican has been in the governor's seat until this last election of Deval Patrick. I think one of the main reasons for this was simply balance. When Dukakis was governor, he has the support of the heads of the state senate and house, the supreme judicial court, and the state's largest and most outspoken newspaper (Boston Globe) - pretty much no opposing voices for his agenda or anything he wanted to do. In the next gubernatorial election, there were changes. The Globe's endorsed candidates, Democrat Belotti and the Republican cannon-fodder (I forget his name) lost in the primaries. The 2 winners were a moderate Republican (Bill Weld) and a moderate Democrat (John Silber). Weld won the election, but then appointed Silber, who was then President of Boston University, to architect the framework and standards for the state's schools. Weld served 2 terms, and made a run at John Kerry's Senate seat, and lost. His successor, Paul Celluci, became ambassodor to Canada. After a short stint with Jane Swift, Mitt Romney, now running for President, served 2 terms as governor.

During that time, the Globe, which was family-owned, was sold to the New York Times. The word is Times management is much different than the Winship family, and isn't tolerant of the paper's liberal leanings. I've subscribed to the paper for decades, and there has been a noticeable shift and more balanced. I haven't seen the word 'liberaldom', a popular term used to describe MA on the Globe's pages, in many years. And, if you look at presidential primaries and election results closely, you'll see the voting patterns here clearly do not always lean to the left.

I should stop before I get carried away, but hopefully you get the picture. Interestingly, you may even see some parallels between here and what's occurred in CA with Wilson, Davis & the Terminator.

[Valerie C]

While reading back through this thread, this post hit a nerve (and yes, I know I responded to it more positively the first time around)

You mention that you grew up in Mass, and moved to NH 15 years ago, and "live in the boonies". Reading that your family moved up here to get away from the problems in Massachusetts while you were still living "at home" I can see why you might want all of the stores, etc that you had around you. But once you became an adult, what kept you in NH instead of moving back to Massachusetts, where all the stores you love are already built?

I see this all the time in my profession, and it just boggles my mind when people tell me they love our "way of life" but then are surprised when they find that every national chain store and restaurant isn't 10 minutes away like it was back in Mass. And our towns don't offer trash pickup. And we have to deal with wells and septic systems. Need I go on? Do we really want our towns to be identical to Route 1 in Saugus or 114 in Danvers? Where will the people who are looking for a simpler way of life go to then? Where will the Mass. people go to look at foliage? Open space.. once it's gone, it's gone... Just some food for thought...

<stepping off my soapbox...>

Originally Posted by CityGirl52

YES I go to that Marshall's & to TJ MAXX up in Portsmouth all the time. There's a TJ Maxx up in Somersworth too that's quite good and Marshall
in No. Hampton is extremely good these days as well as the TJ MAXX in Seabrook. Oh, I hit all of them, are you kidding! Every single one of them at least a few times a month. I can find them blind folded!!! That's how many times we're at them all! I meant to say previously that I shop online strictly at Talbot's; due to their incredibly fantastic sales they have every season. The other stores I mentioned are all right in our "back yards" around here now! They're all over the seacoast region and beyond. Well I'm certainly happy about that, can you tell??!! Gone are the days when we had to take trips down to Mass. to hit these type of stores. Now, we can shop right here and no sales tax. It's a deal to me!

Although we still like to shop in Mass. There's JUST something about that North Shore Mall that's SO much more funkier than Newington Mall up in Newington (NH.) Of course the Rockingham Mall is too far for the seacoast shoppers like me and all the rest of us because it's a pain from here to get over that way, it's a nightmare actually. The less we have to get over that way the better off we are. It's a real pain in the buttinski. That's why we hit the North Shore Mall so much AND of course Home Goods down in Danvers! That's another store that we NEED around here! People think we're crazy when they see us and our New Hampshire plates in all their parking lots down around Massachusetts! BUT that Mall is SO neat and SO isn't Home Goods, it's awesome! We love the one in Goffstown, but that's a pain too for us. Some day may be the seacoast region will get a SIMON Mall like that one and the others they own AND may be we'll even get a Home Goods around here! THEN we'd REALLY be in our GLORY! May be some Marketing staff they have will read this and hopefully "bring it on" for all of us that live up in the boonies around here!

[imagine]

Puffle,

I moved up here to The Seacoast NH from Manhattan Beach. I see tons of CA plates up here! I\'ve seen two cars with Torrance license plate frames, saw a Lexus last week in York, Maine with \"Santa Monica\" and I saw a Lamorghini with Newport Beach license plate frame in Portsmouth, NH.


As far as, Californian-type places-Newburyport (and surrounds) and Portsmouth, NH (and surrounds) are excellent. Portsmouth just got a major makeover of it\'s downtown and is really upscale. You may want to look into New Castle, NH and Rye, NH... .. Very educated, high standards, very active, and beautiful.


Best Regards.

[OCCASparky]

Originally Posted by Parsec

?? No, MA is the most liberal state. That's the first time I've ever heard anyone call MA conservative. Although now that you mention it, we do have some pretty conservative liquor laws and Western Mass is still pretty conservative. Overall MA is still one of the largest democratic strongholds in the nation, while NH is predominantly republican.

There's a good laugh...state went for Kerry in 2004 and it's "predominantly Republican"?

Seriously though, it's about 50/50 and going more blue every day. It's not anywhere close to any of its neighbors yet--not by a longshot.

[Valerie C]

IMO, New Hampshire IS still predominantly Republican... Many NH residents are scared of the changes they've seen with Dems in charge, and feel that the problems of MA are creeping in... I consider the huge Democratic victory (nationwide) more of a response to Bush & Co. than wanting to change their local political scene.