Possible move to the Seabrook area...

[fishnfool]

You described Exeter.....I think you'll love it.

The other towns (Hampton, N. Hampton, Hampton Falls, Stratham, etc.) are great but don't have much in the way of a walkable downtown. Stratham really has no town center at all, but rather a strip on 108 with a variety of shopping plazas.

Hampton has the closest thing to an actual downtown (not the strip on the beach) and has a few good restaurants, but you definitely wouldn't spend a day there walking around.

The other hamptons are mostly comprised of housing and you'll need to shop in the other towns and along Rt. 1.

Exeter has a great downtown, close enough to the beaches, quaint feeling full of colonial houses and local shops with quick access to modern necessities like super markets, pharmacies, etc. There are also plenty of backroads into Seabrook so you won't get stuck with the morning commute along route 1.

[dognh]

Both Exeter & Portsmouth have walkable downtowns and quick commutes to Seabrook.

Keep in mind, that unless you actually live downtown (or within a mile of it), you'd still have to drive to get there. The only reason I mention that is that most of the NH seacoast towns are geographically small. So, there may be 4 or 5 different towns that are within a ten minute drive of these downtowns - and each town may have a different price point.

For example there are parts of Exeter that border Brentwood (and share the same schools). Each would be about a 5 minute drive to downtown, but the cost of housing could be significantly different.

[Valerie C]

Folks, the OP was considering coming here back in 2007, and has since moved on to other areas. This is good info for the next person who comes along and does a search on Seabrook, but sort of irrelevant to the OP at this point.

MaxxOccupancy, that's some good info on Seabrook which I will keep in mind. I have to admit it's a town that sits just below the radar in many people's searches...

[maxxoccupancy]

Thanks. I've been getting the word out to friends about Seabrook. It's a really great town with some very nice people. There's a lot of resistance to change among many, but the town is one of the best I've ever been to, and there's hardly any crime at all. There's a drug problem (mostly minor drugs), but not really a crime problem.

Otherwise, it's a great town to live in.