Whats up with NH houses? (Manchester, Nashua: appliances, big home, job market)

[unit731]

Half acre lots disappeared quite a few decades ago. Snob zoning placed minimum of one acre with some minimum of two acres.

There may be subdivisions of cluster homes. As developer still meets the one or two acre minimum but uses the crap land in development as open space.

[LexWest]

Originally Posted by offmove

Another thing I am noticing in NH is.. not too many properties in the market. Also the ones available are NOT part of a community.. they all seem to be isolated and "by themselves". Don't get me wrong, i am not looking for homes too close to each other, or cookie-cutters. (i wouldn't mind couple of similar looking houses in the same community/ subdivision though.) I like at least 1/2 acre lot to couple of acres lot.. but i want to be in/part of a community.. like where kids can go trick or treat for halloween etc.. just don't want to be in the middle of nowhere, if you know what I mean..

Most parts of NH do not have a "community feel". The culture is generally to be to be further away from everything else, for "more privacy" so to speak.The further north you go, the more "isolated" it will feel.

What you're looking for in lot-size could be had in towns further south, such as Merrimack, Bedford, etc. There are some newer development cul-de-sacs that are spread out in other southern NH towns as well.

[Brave Stranger]

Originally Posted by chris410

Way more then I would pay, but at least your getting a great town a great location and some of the best schools in the state.

Lakes region is lovely and there is affordable housing but It gets overrun with tourists in the summer and all the very desirable areas have property values that are driven up by the lakes and mcmansions along the water. Plus your further away from amenities and the schools are not as good as say bedford, amhearst, bow, exeter, etc

It's a mixed bag whatever you do unless you have money to burn. Gilford & Meredith have excellent schools & Gilford is just out of the way enough to avoid the tourists if you know the back roads.....Meredith, not so much. Biggest issue in the Lakes Region is the lack of quality heath care.....it's not terrible, but it lacks just enough medical access to make things somewhat difficult at times. For example: There is NO dermatology office in the Lakes Region.....which in this day & age is carzy

[buck naked]

Sheesh Brave, you must be looking in the wrong place. There are dermotologists in Wolfeboro and in Laconia. There are listings in Alton for pediatric dermotologists as well as regular.

While there are no major hospitals in the immediate vicinity, there are multiple regional facilities and lots of healthcare clinics.

[Brave Stranger]

Originally Posted by buck naked

Sheesh Brave, you must be looking in the wrong place. There are dermotologists in Wolfeboro and in Laconia. There are listings in Alton for pediatric dermotologists as well as regular.

While there are no major hospitals in the immediate vicinity, there are multiple regional facilities and lots of healthcare clinics.

That dermatologist listed in Laconia is retired. Concord is easier to get to for me than going over to Wolfeboro, but there is a guy over there.

[Valerie C]

I suppose to somebody from out of the area, it's strange to see homes NOT in subdivisions or communities. However, there are a great many homes that do not fall into a particular neighborhood. Many homes are located on our long and winding country roads, and yes, these can feel very isolated. Many of these roads are not suitable for kids to be walking, biking, etc. While NH's population has increased, with many new neighborhoods and developments every year, the roads to get to these neighborhoods hasn't changed. There are few sidewalks, narrow shoulders, etc.

The disappearance of half-acre lots has less to do with 'snob zoning' and more to do with necessity. Most homes in NH (outside of cities like Manchester, Nashua, Concord, etc) are serviced by private well & private sewer, and generally the water supply and the septic system needs to meet minimum distance requirements. Add in the leaching field, and also keep in mind that each town has setback requirements for well/septic placement. AND you can't just set a septic system down anywhere on the lot. The location of the house on on the lot is determined after the septic system location has been approved. Some developments are able to offer smaller lot sizes by keeping a certain amount of green space as 'common area'. Many times, this common area contains the wells or the septic systems for nearby homes.

To the op: if being in a neighborhood/community is important to you, you should be easily able to click onto a Google or Bing Map from within the listing, then select a birds eye view to see if it's in a neighborhood or on a winding country road. We have kids & dogs, and the single most important factor (after schools) was to be in a low traffic neighborhood. Took months, but when the right one came along, we knew. That's why it's important to look and become familiar with the market NOW.

Originally Posted by offmove

Another thing I am noticing in NH is.. not too many properties in the market. Also the ones available are NOT part of a community.. they all seem to be isolated and "by themselves". Don't get me wrong, i am not looking for homes too close to each other, or cookie-cutters. (i wouldn't mind couple of similar looking houses in the same community/ subdivision though.) I like at least 1/2 acre lot to couple of acres lot.. but i want to be in/part of a community.. like where kids can go trick or treat for halloween etc.. just don't want to be in the middle of nowhere, if you know what I mean..

[SuperSparkle928]

Originally Posted by Brave Stranger

It's a mixed bag whatever you do unless you have money to burn. Gilford & Meredith have excellent schools & Gilford is just out of the way enough to avoid the tourists if you know the back roads.....Meredith, not so much. Biggest issue in the Lakes Region is the lack of quality heath care.....it's not terrible, but it lacks just enough medical access to make things somewhat difficult at times. For example: There is NO dermatology office in the Lakes Region.....which in this day & age is carzy

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There is no good healthcare in a large fraction of NH; I am in the medical field, the SO has been CNO of half a dozen hospitals here (I live in the Merrimack Valley). The nickname in the medical community here is 'death valley'.
I made sure to live in a town that has Med-Flight to Boston. (and no EMT's... only paramedics for the town ambulances).

People may disagree, but with a combined experience of over 50 years of direct medical exposure to the quality of healthcare here in NH, it is either Boston or NYC for me (for something bad). JMHO.

[offmove]

Originally Posted by SuperSparkle928

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There is no good healthcare in a large fraction of NH; I am in the medical field, the SO has been CNO of half a dozen hospitals here (I live in the Merrimack Valley). The nickname in the medical community here is 'death valley'.
I made sure to live in a town that has Med-Flight to Boston. (and no EMT's... only paramedics for the town ambulances).

People may disagree, but with a combined experience of over 50 years of direct medical exposure to the quality of healthcare here in NH, it is either Boston or NYC for me (for something bad). JMHO.

So to live in NH is not to just Live Free or Die, but "Hope Health or Die"!

hmmm

Interesting to hear from someone in the medical field.

[offmove]

Originally Posted by Valerie C

I suppose to somebody from out of the area, it's strange to see homes NOT in subdivisions or communities. However, there are a great many homes that do not fall into a particular neighborhood. Many homes are located on our long and winding country roads, and yes, these can feel very isolated. Many of these roads are not suitable for kids to be walking, biking, etc. While NH's population has increased, with many new neighborhoods and developments every year, the roads to get to these neighborhoods hasn't changed. There are few sidewalks, narrow shoulders, etc.

The disappearance of half-acre lots has less to do with 'snob zoning' and more to do with necessity. Most homes in NH (outside of cities like Manchester, Nashua, Concord, etc) are serviced by private well & private sewer, and generally the water supply and the septic system needs to meet minimum distance requirements. Add in the leaching field, and also keep in mind that each town has setback requirements for well/septic placement. AND you can't just set a septic system down anywhere on the lot. The location of the house on on the lot is determined after the septic system location has been approved. Some developments are able to offer smaller lot sizes by keeping a certain amount of green space as 'common area'. Many times, this common area contains the wells or the septic systems for nearby homes.

To the op: if being in a neighborhood/community is important to you, you should be easily able to click onto a Google or Bing Map from within the listing, then select a birds eye view to see if it's in a neighborhood or on a winding country road. We have kids & dogs, and the single most important factor (after schools) was to be in a low traffic neighborhood. Took months, but when the right one came along, we knew. That's why it's important to look and become familiar with the market NOW.

Thanks Valerie.

I am not necessarily looking for 1/2 acre lots. It can be anywhere from 1/2 acre to 2 acres or so.. I dont mind 3 or 5 either. For example where I live I have less than 1/2 acre but some homes have couple of acres. But it is laid out such a way, the woods are mostly in the back, and some trees to your sides for privacy and stuff.. But there still is a sidewalk and street lights where you can walk etc. you can see your neighbors far across.. Usually such communities are in rolling hills and nice valley views, ups and downs.. you never feel isolated.. kids can go trick or treat and only "community traffic" is usually on the roads.. No "through traffic"..

The biggest difference that I am discovering is : In NH such things doesnt seem to exist, or maybe rare.. here in PA / DE or other places in MD / VA, when your home is located by itself in some windy road in the middle of nowhere, it is NOT considered good, and your home value drops by 100k.. typically wierdos live in such places.. you see rusted old cars on such yards.. That is NOT considered typical suburb.

However in NH, most houses seem to be alone themselves and not part of a community / subdivision.. even though it offers plenty of privacy.. kids cannot bike or jog on the narrow roads, since typically through traffic will pass through. It is one thing to have your community neighbors drive carefully when kids are playing.. it is another thing for a random pickup to drive by.

Another thing that bothers me is : you said private septic and water etc. Does it mean the owner is responsible .. i mean after the builders are done with their work, i can understand.. i dont know i guess i am a bit puzzled.. things like this never come to your attention. Water and sewer is just there and you simply pay the bill to the county once a year... its all taken care of magically underground! I guess in NH probably you need to be more involved with permits etc.

[GraniteStater]

One of the troubling things that I have seen on some NH homes is some lack of builder attention to detail. One property did not have a roof column exhaust pipe for the septic, had an improperly placed exterior vent on a few inches from the back deck, and other such issues. How can the state inspectors miss basic items like this that are wrong? This was in the Lakes Region- Moultonboro.
I agree with other posters on the lack of inventory in many parts of the state. Good houses that are priced right will always sell much faster than properties that need work and aren't priced as competitively. So, those will often sit for a year or several years on the market without significant price reductions or they will be taken off the market. Or, they will head to a short sale or foreclousure status