Moving to NH coast from CA Coast (Manchester, Rochester: sales, real estate)

[SunToSnow]

I'm relocating to the NH coast (dover, portsmouth, etc) from Southern California, and was hoping for some advice before my move:

1. I currently drive a prius. Anyone have experience driving a prius in this area, or in snowy climates?

2. When looking for a house (will be renting until a get a good handle on the area and where I want to place roots) I assume I want to make sure the house is set up for natural gas heat for best cost during winter (I don't want to pay 600 - 900 month as I've seen some posters reported!) Is this correct?

3. The schools all seem decent in portsmith and dover (the two areas I've researched) but the ratings seem to be all over the place. On greatschools.org, some schools show low test scores and high parent ratings, others show high test scores and lower parent ratings. Any insight on what I should look for (or look out for!) in the different school districts?

4. Any other general advice for moving to NH? My family has been in So Cal for 17 years, BUT we lived for many years in Alaska previously - so know what it is to live in the snow (may need to re-learn driving in it though!) Aside from the cold, anything else I may need to be aware of or know about the coastal towns of NH?

Thanks in advance for any help and advice!

Steve

[buck naked]

no problems with Prius. My sister lives way upstate NY and loves hers. She is on her second one.


Oil is the most common heat in NH. A lot of people supplement with wood stoves, pellet stoves and fireplaces. Oil right now is running around $3. per gallon so yes, a 200 gal. fill will cost around $600. Gas isn't any cheaper according to my FIL. He's paying the same amount in fuel costs.

All of the schools are pretty good - it's just a matter on how they report ratings. One thing to consider is some poorer towns get more federal funding and have newer books and equipment than 'richer' towns. Dover, Portsmouth would not be considered poor towns.

[SunToSnow]

Buck - thanks for the info. How long does a tank fill last typically in the winter? Is $600 a MONTHLY expectation? Wow, expensive!!

[stateofdenial]

Hi Steve,

I live in Dover NH and I just bought a Prius. The traction control on the new ones really makes driving in the snow easy. Next year I will probably buy some snow tires but the winter is almost over and it's really not too bad without them.

And yes heating costs are through the roof. Natural Gas or Oil depending on the size and condition of your home really... Our house is well insulated and 2600 sq feet. We spent about $1,600 on heating oil last year. This year we installed a wood stove in our fireplace and have spent about half that.

The good news is that there is no state income tax and no sales tax here. You will be shocked at what a huge difference that will make for you. NH is one of the best states to live in from a financial standpoint.

Truly, you will love it here and I guarantee you that the cost of living is far less that Southern CA. :-) OK, so we do have 4 months of brutal winter but other than that it's bliss.

[Sandi T]

You might also want to look into Newington .... next to Portsmouth. GREAT elementary school and after grade 5 the kids go to Portsmouth. Live in the country (with many town resident only ammenities) and be in down town Portsmouth for Concerts and plays in Prescott Park or dine in one of many wonderful restaurants/taverns. My house is going on the market in a couple of weeks...Cape Cod on 5 acres with huge decking in back yard with above ground pool. Check out Newington... where the real estate tax rate is one of the lowest in the state!!!!

[JukieF]

I see Priuses (is that the plural? looks funny) all over the place. I don't think that should be a problem.

When we moved here in July 2009, I wanted to find a house with natural gas, too, since that's what I've always had. We were buying, not renting, and I was surprised at how difficult that goal was. Most of the houses we saw used oil and a few propane. I felt happy when we found a house that had city water and sewer, let alone natural gas fuel! The funny thing is that we live on Huse Road, right in the middle of Manchester, but our house uses oil, and it's a relatively new house (10 years old). We couldn't understand why they put in oil tanks instead of using natural gas. We did some construction last year, and I had the utilities come out to check before we started digging. I learned then that, although the streets next to us have natural gas, this street doesn't. It seems to be hit or miss.

We have two 330-gallon oil tanks. I have to fill up only once a year, so I can do it in the summer when oil is (usually) cheaper. We only use about 3/4 of the 660 gallons each year. In the year between July 2009 and July 2010, we used about $1200 worth of oil (but oil was about $2.50/gallon when we filled the tanks both times). I was pretty happy about that! Our house is 1800sf on the main floor and about half the basement is finished and heated. We have an oil-fired water heater, too. But, like I said, the house is newer so it's well insulated, with quality windows. I imagine older houses probably use a lot more oil than ours does.

What I really wanted was a gas range. We were able to get one by having a propane tank installed, and the range runs on that. I've found that living in New England requires a few compromises. But we love it (well, except for all the snow this year).

[SunToSnow]

Thanks to everyone that responded, your information was very helpful! We did find a place on the outskirts of Rochester, and are very happy with the location. It's oil heat, so your info helped me understand what I was getting into. Thanks again!!