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Hi all,
This is my first posting. I need advice. I have a family of 4 with teens and we currently live in NYC (Harlem exactly). We have a nice life here but we want to move to reduce our overhead and better high schools. We can work anywhere in the northeast area. We really like Portsmouth but we aren't sure what to do. We have family near Manhattan but we aren't so hip on the areas. We want to be in a area we can walk and has some culture and nightlife. Someone also mentioned Newburyport, MA but we haven't been there. We need to decide soon as we want to be somewhere this summer. We like the outdoors and places that have a social and environmental consciousness - if that makes sense.
I would love any advice.
Newburyport will still be a lot of culture shock. Moving the teens to somewhere that is so different will be really difficult, they're going from one of the world's biggest cities to a bit of Podunk jumped-up town? You're asking for a lot of trouble. There's a reason NH has high rates of teen drug use; not much to do there. In addition, Portsmouth is suffering growing pains as there are some fights over how developed the downtown should be, and I hear more about it losing some of the small shops and restraints that made it fun.
Newburyport is a small kind of yuppie town, from what I've seen of it, walkable, but not exciting, and almost everywhere outside Boston city limits rolls up the sidewalk after 9, except bars.
Frankly, I don't know why you wouldn't consider southern VT, western Mass, that area, stay close to family and familiar places, and still get in more low-cost area. Unless your children are very unusual, they'll miss friends and neighborhood, and will need activities, which in most of New Hampshire is either activities you'll need to drive them to, help them with, and participate in every day, or partying.
Have you also considered all the driving you'll need to do? Portsmouth is nice, but not walking distance to everything you'll need, as you might be more used to in NYC, you'll need to drive to shop, attend museums, movies (unless they moved a theater there?), and definitely work. Also, we can work anywhere? Doing what? Read "how to get here", lower down on the NH page, finding work in NH is a struggle, and you may face pay cuts when you get here.
If you've got it all planned out, Portsmouth is nice enough, walkable, quiet, etc., but it's going to take your family a long time to get used to the radical downshift your life is going to take.
Portsmouth is a nice place and so is Newburyport. Both are similar in that they cater to a somewhat yuppie type and have lots of little restaurants, cafes, boutique shops. They are both set in rather rural areas with not much for teenagers to do. Compared to NYC, they are not cities but small towns.
It's not that easy to get to NYC from either one although from Newburyport there is a train to Boston and then to NYC. If you are driving, it's a long way.
I think maybe you should try CT unless you have some reason not to. Not necessarily Fairfield County, which is very wealthy, but almost anywhere else west of the CT River. There are some nice towns, the school systems in CT are usually good, and you have much better proximity to NYC. There are suburbs of New Haven, for instance, where there is direct train service to NYC and it's not that bad a drive either. You also have the CT shore, which is very nice. As long as you stay outside FF County, the home prices are about the same as either Portsmouth or Newburyport, or cheaper. I think you'd be in for less of a culture shock if you moved to CT.
Newburyport will still be a lot of culture shock. Moving the teens to somewhere that is so different will be really difficult, they're going from one of the world's biggest cities to a bit of Podunk jumped-up town? ...
Frankly, I don't know why you wouldn't consider southern VT, western Mass, that area, stay close to family and familiar places, and still get in more low-cost area.
Your initial point had some validity, but suggesting southern VT. as a step up is amusing. Newburyport or Porstmouth are smallish towns, but one can train/drive into Boston pretty readily, and there are a lot of events around the area. Particularly in the summer, kids with a car can hit a different beach every day along the mass/nh/maine coast.
But certainly if your kids love the city, anywhere north of Boston could be a shock for them.
But southern VT is way Podunkier than N'bport or Portsmouth year round. And while drug use can be an issue anywhere, most of populated VT is right off the I-89 corridor where a lot of more serious drugs flow. Vermont's Dirty Little Secret - the drug problem
Housing in and around Portsmouth is cheaper than NYC but more expensive than most of the rest of NH and Newburyport is even more expensive. You haven't mentioned anything about your housing plans or budget. Do a Zillow real estate search of homes for sale and apartments/homes for rent in both places.
As for Portsmouth High School, the NECAP test scores of 11th graders appear to be at or above the state average (Portsmouth H.S. in blue and NH average in gray), but not really outstanding.
Your initial point had some validity, but suggesting southern VT. as a step up is amusing. Newburyport or Porstmouth are smallish towns, but one can train/drive into Boston pretty readily, and there are a lot of events around the area. Particularly in the summer, kids with a car can hit a different beach every day along the mass/nh/maine coast.
But certainly if your kids love the city, anywhere north of Boston could be a shock for them.
But southern VT is way Podunkier than N'bport or Portsmouth year round. And while drug use can be an issue anywhere, most of populated VT is right off the I-89 corridor where a lot of more serious drugs flow. Vermont's Dirty Little Secret - the drug problem
I guess the thought was that it's going to be close to the city the kids are used to, at least. People I've known who lived in NYC and moved into eastern Mass generally agree it's no great shakes comparatively, and they'd rather make the 3-4 hour drive back than try to find things to do in Boston.
But they also were scared of bullfrogs and a raccoon, respectively, so maybe they were afraid of the Moose that got Loose in Massachusetts?
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