Rochester NH - any info? (Manchester, Dover: sales, renting, crime)

[usone123]

HI . I live in CT right now and I miss NH.. I grew up in Kingston. I would lve to move back there but the prices are just too high....

But I have been looking online and I see some affordable housing in some parts of Manchester but mostly in Rochester. Manchester has very high taxes it seems and the graduation rates for the high schools are in low 70's so I don't like that.

Rochester seems to have a good school system as well as very good prices on houses in my range (190-220000). I don't really remember the area though as I only went there once.

Is there anything anyone can tell me about it?

Basically I have a infant daughter and a step daughter who is 13 and may move with us next year starting in high school. And we are planning on having one or 2 more kids so we are looking for a place that is safe and quiet with good schools but not stuffy and secluded....

Are there big stores and places to shop? I'm a Walmart queen..lol.. gotta have one nearby.. any home depots or lowes? and a mall? how about stuff like restaurants, fast food and sit down....

and my hubby is about to start training to get his CDL... do you think there are local truck driving jobs up there? I know if we moved to Manchester my sister could help him get a job... but the houses there seem to be smaller and in less nice areas and high taxes.... so we're leaning towards rochester unless we hear bad stuff about it....

Oh, and my mom said the water wasn't good to drink in Rochester... but i wasn't sure if this was true or this was just a country lady who never lived with city water.... cause ive always had city water since I moved away and just use a brita filter.. or is it really that bad and how do local peole avoid it?

OK I know that's a lot of questions but hopefully someone knows

Thx in advance
Rae

Oh and another thing I was wondering.. and please no flaming...

My husband and I are an interracial couple and my dh + step daughter are african american and I noticed the school system is like 96% white and I'm wondering if race issues ever come up or if its just not a lot of african americans live there ....... I know where we live now there are rumors of KKK in the next town over but no proof and everyone says it was a long time ago.. but there is a very mixed group of people where we live so I don't know if those rumors are true but we've never been bothered.... and right now SD lives in a 100% black community in the inner city of chicago so it would be quite a change...

so any opinions about potential race issues in the town would be appreciated.. and I realize that can be a hot topic so i'm trying to state it as plainly as possible - I couldn't care less what race people are.. I just want me and my family to be comfortable and safe no matter where we live,...,. so please don't flame me or create a debate as I seriously need to look at everything b4 moving..

Thx again

Rae

[usone123]

OK did I scare people by the last section of my post? If you don't know anything about the racial issues I'd still love to hear from you.. that was just one of many questions I had


Thx
Rae

[jipsee]

I have lived for years in a small town only about 15 miles from Rochester. Here's my observations based on my experiences:

The cost of housing in the Portsmouth/Dover area has gone "through the roof", so to speak. This has forced lots of folks to look for housing in outlying areas and towns such as Rochester. So, yes, you will very likely find housing in your price range in the Rochester area, and perhaps get more for your money. But there are reasons why housing costs less, I think the quality of life is not as good. Rochester used to be very nice in its day. But since I have lived here, about 30 years, I have always considered it to be "faded", for lack of a better word. There seems to be a lot of crime for the size of the town, a lot of Off Price outlet type places, Dollar Stores...and tons of Chinese food restaurants. There is a "welfare" neighborhood right in town that sees a lot of trouble. There doesn't seem to be very many nice places to eat. I worked there for a couple of years, and I used to get frustrated that there wasn't any place to eat lunch in my area except Burger King/McDonald's.
Now I sound rather judgmental, and I don't want to seem snotty, but I'm just telling it from my point of view. It does seem that in recent years the town is trying to make changes. I'm sure there are plenty of older folks who've lived there all their lives and aren't happy about the way the town has headed.
I can't speak for the school system. As far as racial issues go, I haven't heard anything negative, but I know that my town is mostly white and conservative. I'm sure, Rochester being a larger area, there is more of a mixture but I can't say for sure how you'd be treated. My first guess would be that you'd meet with more tolerance if you got closer to the seacoast.
However, there is a Wal-mart, near the Farmington line, and a "mall" of sorts (The Lilac Mall) which has a few stores such as Sears, K-mart, a bookstore, Subway, etc. And a movie theater, which is nice.
I know it's tough for those of us who can't pay the high costs of housing, whether purchasing or renting. We all want to live in nice places too! There are neighboring towns such as Barrington which I would move to over Rochester, but housing is costlier and less easy to find. If you really feel you want to live in Rochester, my advice would be to locate on the nice country roads toward Barrington and environs, where you would be near the turnpike for convenience, or on the Dover/Somersworth side, off Route 108. There are some nice areas off of Route 125 too, near Gonic. The east side of Rochester is practically right on the Maine border and seems kind of run down in areas.

I don't mean to throw a damper on your enthusiasm at all. I wanted to give you a practical snapshot so you can make an informed choice. NH is very fortunate to have many great towns to live in. Unfortunately, this housing boom is creating problems for many of us.
What type of work will you or your husband be doing? Would you consider a smaller town, with access to Wal-mart:-)

[usone123]

HI, Thank you for so much details - that's the most info I've found out in weeks .

I'll be working fomr home at my current job and my husband will be hopefully finding a job as a local truck driver (CDL). We don't mind small towns - but all the stuff in our price range seems to be either in Rochester or Manchester or in a trailer somewhere which I don't want.

What other areas can you suggest in southern NH? I'd prefer to be within an hour of Manchester and Kingston as I have family in both places.

I will have to cehck to see if these places I'm looking at are in the nicer or the run down areas you are talking about. The problem is I haven't put my house on the market yet so by the time I do those houses I like may be gone . But me and my husband are planning a trip in a week or 2 to drive around the area and see what we think. The good thing is that we do like fast food and chinese and are willnig to drive to get decent food..lol..

Thanks for the advice

Rae

[jipsee]

No problem, I'm happy to help. I realized after I posted my reply that I will probably get some cranky responses. I'm sure that I am probably not seeing the town in its best light. I guess it's all about what you are looking for, and what is important to you.

I hear you, I've been there on the home search front! I wish I had bought a house three years ago before the market went through the roof. Now they are way out of my price range. I was looking at trailers a year ago which were going for $200k! Ridiculous. And they only depreciate.

There are many nice towns in those areas you mentioned, Exeter, Hampstead, Deerfield, Raymond, Nottingham...and the Keene area is quite nice. Those are just a few, there's more. But I'm thinking that you are going to run into trouble with the housing affordability. The Keene area may be more affordable, but farther away from Manchester.

Coming to visit is a great idea. And you'll be coming at a great time of year. If you want, let me know which areas you are looking at and I'll give you my appraisal, if I know the area. If you do move to Rochester you will be within an easy drive to Somersworth (good shopping area), Dover, and Portsmouth has a great mall and cool restaurants and it's only about a half hour away, if that. So perhaps you will be able to find affordable, nice housing and enjoy all of these things within an easy drive too.

Maybe I'll see you at McDonald's...:-)

And you're most welcome!

[usone123]

HI, thanks again. I doubt you'll get cranky responses - you are just telling it like you know . And I appreciate the truth over sugar coating it


Ya Keene would definitely be too far...my sister went to school near there... was torture to get there ..lol.

i'll post again if i find anything anywhere else

thx
Rae

[Dragondog]

You can buy a decent cape cod in Manchester or Vernon CT for about 200K
both towns are east of Hartford- and are really good places. Prices in southern NH are high being close to Boston-look elsewhere in southern New England for better prices.

[usone123]

Thanks, but we are mainly looking at NH because of the added benefits of closer to family, no sales tax, no income tax, and no car property tax. In CT thre are some houses in that range but most are the siZe we have now and it's just too tiny. To get a decent square footage we'd be paying a lot of money....

We did look at some cape's before but they don't work for us unless they are fully dormered as my husband is 6'3"..lol.. and we saw a few where he only fit down the middle..lol...]


Thx
Rae

[Earthangel1776]

I will be moving to Milton, just north of Rochester soon. I think it is a nice little city. I don't know much about it, but get a good feeling there. Although E Rochester is still depressed, I think overall the city is on the rise. There is a new 8 screen cinema going in, and a new Home Depot and 2 big grocery stores. The old Opera House has recently undergone restoration and is beautiful. There are some interesting small businesses and restaurants. I like it's size -not too big and intimidating, but just big enough to provide the basics and be friendly. I don't think race will be much of a problem there. NH is getting more diverse by the day, and most people here are very color-blind. :-)

[usone123]

Great, thanks for the help/info

Rae