Schools in S. NH (Manchester, Londonderry: condo, townhouse, neighborhoods)

[maire8]

Originally Posted by Kramer68

I would think Hollis is worse than Londonderry, Windham etc... because it's much further away from 93. You'd have to take Rte 3 to 495 to 93 and I don't see how they can be quicker to just going straight down 93. If the commute to Boston is a huge factor I would stick to Londonderry, Derry, Windham and maybe Pelham.

I think many of us in the Nashua area go Rt. 3 to 128 N to 93 S to get to Boston. It takes an hour (in non-rush hour traffic). I'd imagine coming from Hollis adds 5-10 minutes to that.

128 can definitely be a nightmare during peak commuting hours, though.

[Valerie C]

Originally Posted by Morris Wanchuk

Plus, there are towns closer to Boston that are more affordable and have significantly lower property taxes than Hollis or Londonderry.

I agree with you on the taxes, as many homes in Hollis, Windham and even Londonderry have yearly tax bills well over 10K. However, I don't think you'll find a city or town close to Boston, with highly desirable schools, that has more affordable housing than anywhere in NH. You need a very hefty budget for anything other than a very basic home in places like Needham, Natick, Weston, Winchester, etc. I'm told that in the more upscale towns, anything under 400K is considered a tear-down (how sad... I love older homes....) I would suggest taking a look to see. But perhaps the OP is wanting NH for reasons other than more affordable housing than Massachusetts...

Originally Posted by maire8

I think many of us in the Nashua area go Rt. 3 to 128 N to 93 S to get to Boston. It takes an hour (in non-rush hour traffic). I'd imagine coming from Hollis adds 5-10 minutes to that.

128 can definitely be a nightmare during peak commuting hours, though.

Depending on where you're coming from, I imagine it could be more than 5-10 minutes. If Amherst, avoiding Rte 101A at all costs in both morning and evening commute--red light intersections can be a real drag on your time. Has anyone ever actually counted just how many lights & intersections on 101A from Rte 3 to the 101 on-ramp? UGH!!!

[bavariantransplant]

Thank you everyone for your replies.

I remain on the fence about working in Manchester or Boston, the commute is irrelevant to Manchester but I am always considering the commute to Boston.

So far it seems Windham is primary choice, honestly, I dont understand how the homes can be affordable, it seems its location should be much more expensive. Worst thing about Windham is a 10k plus tax bill if buying a 500k home.

The little I looked in Mass, the homes were crazy priced. My 500k would be me a humble fixer upper. Not worth it to me, I would rather make my life difficult commuting, etc and give my family a nice home in a nice neighborhood with good schools then be close to work and not have that.

[GregW]

The simplest way to avoid paying insane property tax is to live in a small condominium and never own expensive cars. This has worked for my wife and I for 25 years. Our total property tax and condo fee (all outsider maintenance, water, and waste disposal COST LESS THAN $5,000 last year. True we are tight for space but the money we save on taxes has let us, at least until recent inflation in travel costs, have pretty decent lives. Our old cars and my motorcycles have a total value of less than $6,000.

So, if you keep your taxable property values you can actually live quite well. Check a realtor website and see how much house and convenience you can buy for under $200,000. There is a lot out there.

[bavariantransplant]

Your smart, despite my intentions to live that way I have yet to. I need 4 bedrooms which is part of my problem on housing cost, I have 3 children and each of them should have their own room.

Another thing that clicked for why I really shouldnt live in Mass. I own a home in Germany and will be recieving rental income and wouldnt want to have Mass hooking into that, but more importantly, I plan to retire here in Germany, well at least part year and its easier to live overseas and have a state with 0 state income tax.

[Morris Wanchuk]

Originally Posted by Valerie C

I agree with you on the taxes, as many homes in Hollis, Windham and even Londonderry have yearly tax bills well over 10K. However, I don't think you'll find a city or town close to Boston, with highly desirable schools, that has more affordable housing than anywhere in NH. You need a very hefty budget for anything other than a very basic home in places like Needham, Natick, Weston, Winchester, etc. I'm told that in the more upscale towns, anything under 400K is considered a tear-down (how sad... I love older homes....) I would suggest taking a look to see. But perhaps the OP is wanting NH for reasons other than more affordable housing than Massachusetts...

If the OP is considering living in Hollis and commuting to Boston, then equal housing could be found in Groton, or Dunstable.

The 93 corridor would however be tougher to find.

[Valerie C]

Originally Posted by GregW

The simplest way to avoid paying insane property tax is to live in a small condominium and never own expensive cars. This has worked for my wife and I for 25 years. Our total property tax and condo fee (all outsider maintenance, water, and waste disposal COST LESS THAN $5,000 last year. True we are tight for space but the money we save on taxes has let us, at least until recent inflation in travel costs, have pretty decent lives. Our old cars and my motorcycles have a total value of less than $6,000.

So, if you keep your taxable property values you can actually live quite well. Check a realtor website and see how much house and convenience you can buy for under $200,000. There is a lot out there.

There may be alot that you and I don't agree on, Greg, but this is how we have chosen to live as well. We have older cars, an older motorcycle and an older house. My goal is to never again have a car payment, and when we bought our home, we purposely chose a modest home, one that should sell in any market. We've updated (but didn't over-improve) for the age, style or neighborhood. We purposely chose NOT to borrow the maximum amount we were approved for, chosing a shorter mortgage duration instead.

Unfortunately though, there is not alot under 200K that wouldn't need major updating or TLC, in any of the towns that the OP is considering...

[maire8]

Originally Posted by Valerie C

Depending on where you're coming from, I imagine it could be more than 5-10 minutes. If Amherst, avoiding Rte 101A at all costs in both morning and evening commute--red light intersections can be a real drag on your time. Has anyone ever actually counted just how many lights & intersections on 101A from Rte 3 to the 101 on-ramp? UGH!!!

I was just referring to Hollis (responding to another post) and the fact that a lot of people probably don't go from Hollis to Boston by driving Rt. 3 to 495 to 93, but instead go Rt. 3 to 128 to 93. It sounds like the OP has already ruled out Amherst.

I live in Amherst so I'm (unfortunately) well aware of the additional time that 101A adds to that drive, and really any drive south. However, I've also discovered that from many parts of Amherst, there's no way to get around 101A that actually saves any time. For example, trying to bypass 101A to get to Boston by taking 101 East from Amherst Village to get to 93S in Manchester adds a lot of miles and doesn't usually shave off any time. Amherst is just one of those "can't get there from here" types of places in most cases, unless you live close to the Merrimack border.

[seamusnh]

We've lived in Amherst for 16 years and have two kids go through the schools and on to college and another kid now at the high school. Our experience has been very good. Both college kids got into the schools they wanted and are doing well. The school is different than most, but it does prepare students well for college...

As for betting to Boston, it is 55 miles from my house to the heart of downtown (Faneuil Hall). One way around 101A is to take exit 11 off Rte 3 and head west on Amherst Rd; 5 miles to the Amherst line...

[jaxpaige]

Originally Posted by bavariantransplant

Exeter higher then $20.00 per 1k value?

Yes our taxes are higher than that. We are at around 25.00 per 1k value. I live in Exeter and they do have a wonderful school system BUT neither of my children go to the SAU 16 schools. Both of my children go to Charter Schools. My son is in 4th grade and my daughter is a sophomore. When my daughter graduates she will be the longest standing charter school student in the state of NH. The good thing about the Charter schoool is you can live in any town you want and send your children there. So we are trying to sell and get out of this tax burden town of Exeter. The school system is not so important to me since we don't utilize it.

Also wanted to add that if any of your children have an IEP the Exeter School System has a wonderful, supportive system for children with an IEP.