UNH grad student - where should we live? (Manchester, Durham: apartment, rentals)

[Photojinx32]

My husband and I are relocating soon to New Hampshire so he can go to grad school at the University of New Hampshire. I have a job opportunity, but in Manchester, and obviously he'll need to be in Durham for classes.

We're trying to figure out how to sort this out. We've never been to New Hampshire (we're from Nashville but are moving across from Oregon) so we have not much of an idea of what to expect. We are willing to drive a bit, but does anyone really commute into UNH from Manchester? Or is it better to live somewhere betweeem Manchester and Durham? Is there somewhere else we should be looking at to live? Right now we are considering living in Manchester, but without ever having been there we have no clue where the good areas are.

We really love the idea of being close to unique restaurants and small businesses, but it is also important to us that we find a nice, comfortable and safe neighborhood. We're trying to find a two-bedroom apartment around $1100 or less and it not be a mess and actually be well-kept.

Any advice, City-Data land?

[buck naked]

UNH has a campus in Manchester too. Could he take some classes there?

OTOH - Durham is not a bad commute from Manchester...roughly an hour, less if you're lucky.

Check out Raymond to split the drive between you.

[rgonzalez]

Congrats on your husband's acceptance to Graduate School at UNH. Commuting from Manchester might be problematic during the winter season. As a local NH native all my life I would suggest looking into Raymond or Epping area. It is right between the two. If you are interested in living in Durham here is a link to the UNH off-campus housing website: [url=http://www.unhmub.com/housinglist/]Off Campus Housing[/url] . otherwise, Craig's list is a good resource for finding rentals.

-Regards
Rachael
UNH Graduate School
[email]grad.school@unh.edu[/email]

[julypaddler]

If you decide to live in Durham, you may just want to drive around locations that appeal to you and look for "for rent" signs. There are soooo many signs posted in almost every type of neighborhood. We live near downtown (although we're not affiliated with the university) and signs have been posted all summer. Hurry up before all the undergrads grab the best ones!

[mdamien]

I wouldn't want to commute to Durham from Manchester, so I would want to find a place in between, or continue looking for other job opportunities, if that's doable.

[buck naked]

It's only 39 miles, but it takes 50 minutes to drive.