Sick of "Southern Hospitality": New England Bound (Concord: apartment, for rent)

[sunnyandcloudydays]

Originally Posted by mdamien

Any place is what you make of it ... but yes, it is. :-)

to a degree i agree with you but sometimes your own upbringing and what your used to is what makes you happy and smile
sure you can find good people everyplace but home is home if that is what makes her happy then she should be able to find peace in her desire to leave fla

i have been miserable in diff places too and fla was one of them , couldnt wait to get out of that place

people were nice but i can relate to you with the extreme heat . and the being cooped up all the time and lack of a full season change

yes good poeple from coast to coast and yes home will always be home go to where you are happy life is way too short

[loveautumn]

I subscribe to Yankee Magazine, so I get my little bit of New England every other month....reading it just transports me there. There is also a Yankee website with lots of beautiful photos, etc.

[JBtwinz]

We live in the farthest Norteast corner of Florida, having moved here for work 22+ years ago. Do we like it? Yes we have a great quality of life living on a really nice barrier island, great schools and convinient to everything. Are we happy yes? Do we miss New England? Wicked much. We are originally from RI and things in that state are not really going well and have not been for a while. My wife and daughters spend the summers back in RI each year visiting family and friends. We hit Boston and visit friends in NH and make the most of, last year we were able to spend December in RI, blizzard and all! Right now we could not have what we have in Fl in RI. We bought right at the bottom and never refied. It will continue to be our home for the foreseeable future. Like most posters here there is something in our hearts and souls about New England that will never leave us, from the fall colors to the first frost on the leaves, snow flakes falling in the dead of night and the list goes on. It's crazy but I guess some of us crave the seasons and the character of small town New England life. I hope everyone gets to experience this at one point in their lives

[3DogNight]

Originally Posted by loveautumn

I subscribe to Yankee Magazine, so I get my little bit of New England every other month....reading it just transports me there. There is also a Yankee website with lots of beautiful photos, etc.

Oh my...I subscribe to this too and I find myself flinging it across the room more often than not. I don't know about anyone else but the desire to be back home in NE is so intense that visiting for 4 days or looking at a magazine filled with images is akin to whacking a hornet's nest with a stick. I've decided to let that subscription lapse and skip my trips home...it's making me vicious and pissed off at a couple of my anchors (indecisive mother and apathetic husband).

[cowbell76]

Good luck! Just be aware of a couple things. Generalities about quality of life (great schools, etc.) aren't all that helpful. Quality of things like that can vary DRAMATICALLY. I live in a town with one of the highest property tax rates in NH (which on the whole has high property taxes) and one of the worst school systems. (Fortunately, I do not have kids, but if I did, I would send them to private school or move.) So, if you plan to relocate, just look very carefully at each town.

Right now there are oodles of RN jobs available - I am in another field in which hospitals employ people, and I routinely check hospital websites just to see what's available. There are always long lists of RN jobs. There had been some talk of the need drying up due to saturation (everybody flocked to nursing when the shortage was publicized) but there still seems to be a need here. Just remember some differences between Florida and New England - real estate, even now, is much more expensive. Property taxes in NH are extremely high - we pay almost $7,000 a year for a house now, in the depressed market, assessed around $200,000. That said, there are no state income taxes, but that is also true of Florida.

Winters are also harsher than in PA, although at least you're not a Florida native, so you do have some experience with winter.

I live in NH now, and am a native of Maine and have also lived in Boston and Canada. Personally, I could not see living in Florida, and I love New England... but it's sort of a love/hate relationship. I hate the winter, especially winter driving and the very short days. New Englanders seem to have developed a sort of patience... delayed gratification... we suffer all winter (more or less) in order to experience gorgeous summer and fall weather. (Spring is largely non-existent, so I lump it in with winter.) It's a cycle with which I am so familiar that anything else would seem odd, but for those not used to living the north, it could be a shock.

I have to say, though, New England is NOT always beautiful. A photograph taken in the dead of winter can be beautiful, but trust me, when ALL you see, day in and day out is grey, grey, more grey, white and brown, it's not beautiful. It gets old and you long to see color. It might be beautiful if you don't have to work and you can stay inside curled up by a fire with hot apple cider, and view the scene from this warm interior setting, but when you're out driving in it, and seeing it every day, it gets tiring. I would say fall is absolutely gorgeous - summer and fall are by far the best seasons - but don't consider moving here without visiting in January and February and driving all around (not just "scenic" routes.) Even then you won't get a feel for what it is like living here, but it's better than falling in love with the fleeting New England autumn.

Yankee magazine is great, although it's gone a bit more mainstream than it used to be - more of a tourist magazine than it used to be. But, I still like it. My parents have subscribed for as long as I can remember. It gives me a "warm and fuzzy" feeling about the best parts of living in New England - it's not all tourist hype and I can really identify with stuff in the magazine (especially the Maine stuff.) Just keep in mind that it doesn't tell the WHOLE story.

[cowbell76]

Owenfam -

Windham is right over the border from MA, so many people who work in Boston live there. I don't know if I would call it "real northern New England." It was also just ranked the most expensive town in NH, although since it is a more affluent town it (somewhat ironically) has much lower property taxes than many other towns. The taxes are only about 2/3 what they are in my town.

That's it... other than my inability to get a straight answer from anyone about whether it's pronounced wind-um (as Windham, Maine is) or wind-ham (as the local news station pronounces it, but other New Hampshirites have said is incorrect.)

[BeachBound2012]

I am just going to stop changing my screen name. I was BACKtomaine, then had visions of the NC coast and thought I would move there. After talking about it to someone who lives at NC coast, I am now re-thinking things. I lived 39 of my almost 42 years in Maine and wanted to try something different.
I don't think this was truly ever feel like home and I have been here 3 years. The heat, the crime, the traffic, the amount of people is just too much for this New England girl to handle.
If I knew we could get jobs and a decent place to live I would move back north.

[homewardboundnh]

Originally Posted by BeachBound2012

I am just going to stop changing my screen name. I was BACKtomaine, then had visions of the NC coast and thought I would move there. After talking about it to someone who lives at NC coast, I am now re-thinking things. I lived 39 of my almost 42 years in Maine and wanted to try something different.
I don't think this was truly ever feel like home and I have been here 3 years. The heat, the crime, the traffic, the amount of people is just too much for this New England girl to handle.
If I knew we could get jobs and a decent place to live I would move back north.

Hi BeachBound - I feel the same, I thought I needed a change too and now I am somewhat stuck here in NC (not to far from where you are) - I have been here 3 yrs too and it definately is not home for all the reasons you mentioned and more....and...to add insult to injury, have you heard the weather for this week....not good...I would take the snow anyday over this insane heat....I will never take NH for granted again!

[Captjob]

Originally Posted by 3DogNight

Oh my...I subscribe to this too and I find myself flinging it across the room more often than not. I don't know about anyone else but the desire to be back home in NE is so intense that visiting for 4 days or looking at a magazine filled with images is akin to whacking a hornet's nest with a stick. I've decided to let that subscription lapse and skip my trips home...it's making me vicious and pissed off at a couple of my anchors (indecisive mother and apathetic husband).

3DogNight,

This sounds just like my wife. She wants me to move my family up there NOW! It just cant happen so she has to be patient. It is sad; however, my chldren can't grow up in NH like we would both prefer.

By the time I am ready to move, two will have just graduated high school and that will leave me with a 13 year old at home. Cant wait to try and move them then.

Captjob

[Redsox1972]

Originally Posted by homewardboundnh

Hi BeachBound - I feel the same, I thought I needed a change too and now I am somewhat stuck here in NC (not to far from where you are) - I have been here 3 yrs too and it definately is not home for all the reasons you mentioned and more....and...to add insult to injury, have you heard the weather for this week....not good...I would take the snow anyday over this insane heat....I will never take NH for granted again!

Homeward ... what is it about Durham that you don't like? What makes it "Hell, NC"?

We all have our own paths and reasons for moving . . . I have been thinking about moving to NC for a few years. So, I am curious to hear about your perspective, particulary since it seems very ardent.