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A good friend of my daugher moved to Exeter several years ago as her son was a student at Phillips-Exeter but now is wishing she had stayed in Dover. Her son is now in his mid-twenties. She has a condo in Exeter but lived in her own home in Dover. Not sure why but I think she just liked Dover better.
Thanks for that insight Newdaawn. Perhaps homes are cheaper in Dover. I am in the same situation here in Alaska. I have a beautiful home with half an acre out in Palmer but we got tired of the commute and had to rent out our house and bought a small townhouse in town.
Hi my wife and I are small business owners and we want to relocate/expand our business to the Portsmouth area.
A lot of things about Portsmouth, New Hampshire appeals to us such as:
*Less government, more personal freedom
*Sways more to the conservative side (proud conservative Asian family)
We originally wanted to move our small warehouse/office operation to the State of Washington for logistical purposes as well as having family there but we would have already been compromising with the poor weather situation and the idea of having to compromise on our conservative values was just simply too much of a compromise. I am not super political by any means......
I'm curious about some of your political criteria, for instance, why would you have had to "compromise on your conservative values" if you moved to Washington State? I'm pretty sure you can believe in--& vote--however you want to there; & that no one's going to force you to give up your "values" if you move there.
I've spent tons of time in NH, both working, & visiting. There is "personal freedom" there. But I've also lived in Mass. 1/2 my life--when I've crossed the border to NH, I've never noticed having one whit more "personal freedom" there than in Mass.
I think the laws (or lack of laws) of a state reflect its citizens' attitude on the role of government. There are a lot more crappy laws in MA than there are in NH in my opinion
Dover prices are certainly on the rise... roughly on par with Exeter. I personally prefer Dover, too. The population is more than twice that of Exeter (though only 29,000), and it's just... bigger. The downtown area of Exeter (the compact walkable area, not the sprawl out on Portsmouth Ave., or the somewhat farther flung train station) is pretty much just one street, and a short stretch at that. Dover, in contrast, has a larger walkable downtown, which remains scenic. The housing stock, to me, is on average more attractive, not that Exeter doesn't have some gorgeous houses. Dover has beautiful foliage too... unless you head to a town which somehow has a dramatically different mix of trees, you'll get beautiful foliage in the whole area. Do a Google image search for Dover and you'll see. I actually think it is more attractive than Exeter.
I don't think you can go wrong with either town. Both towns are historic. Both are on a river. Both have an Amtrak station, though Dover's is better. The property tax rates are almost the same, with Dover 40 cents less. They just have somewhat different feels. I prefer the topography of Dover.
Portsmouth and Exeter are pretty darned liberal, though... I agree with the above poster. Not sure about Dover as I have less personal interaction with residents there. Probably as liberal.
Last edited by cowbell76; 09-12-2013 at 01:52 PM..
I'm curious about some of your political criteria, for instance, why would you have had to "compromise on your conservative values" if you moved to Washington State? I'm pretty sure you can believe in--& vote--however you want to there; & that no one's going to force you to give up your "values" if you move there.
I've spent tons of time in NH, both working, & visiting. There is "personal freedom" there. But I've also lived in Mass. 1/2 my life--when I've crossed the border to NH, I've never noticed having one whit more "personal freedom" there than in Mass.
I never really had a set "list of criteria" I just know what is in my heart and what I like and don't like. I was never a political person and as a young person never gave it a second thought. But as an adult and a business person, you just pay more attention to these kinds of things; or forced to pay attention because policies/legislations dictate how you operate your business. And even more recently, as a new father, I want the best for my child, as we all do. So this has made me think what kind of society do I want to raise my son in... and my answer is, not a super liberal one.
As for compromises, you are correct, I have right and free will to vote how I please but I was speaking in terms of lifestyle and being in an environment that reflected our values and having representatives in government that represent me and my values. Because the PNW is very liberal, I will never get proper representation for myself and my family. One example, in Oregon, public nudity is legal. You can ride a bike nude and it is not illegal. They even have an annual event with nude bike riding parade etc. While I am a strong believer that people should have the freedom to do what ever they want, I absolutely will not subject my family to that kind of environment. I have a choice to not attend those annual events but I do not have a choice when a naked man rides his bike pass us when we are in public and I have to cover my child's eyes. Another example, I grew up poor and my family was on foodstamps. We were legal immigrants sponsored by an American community. We worked hard to get out of poverty; to start our own business and live the American Dream and now we give back to our community.
Conservatives believe in helping out our communities but we also believe in hard work and personal responsibilities, etc. I come from a minority background, a background of poverty, I have seen first hand the abuse of the public assistance system.
As a manager of a business, I've personally had requests by people I know to sign off on their job hunt/interview even though they didn't do an interview so that they may comply with unemployment requirements and continue to receive their unemployment checks.
As a poor person, I've sat around the dinner table with cousins that discussed how they are going to "suck it up and work for a little bit and then collect unemployment".
As a Property Manager managing affordable housing, I've experienced single mothers with tears coming to my office asking to be advanced on my waiting list and I moved heaven and earth to push their move date to a sooner time frame only to have their "baby daddies" move in with them the same night they get their keys to their apartment and homeboy comes into my office all pissed and irate because his car was towed because it was not registered nor authorized to be the property.
As a hardworking American, I've witnesses my own family members who were on assistance have BBQ get-togethers on a weekly basis while complaining of being broke and some of those same family members worked for me and didn't show up to work the next day because they had a hangover.
As a small business owner, I've worked hard to promote healthcare and tried to get a group big enough to be interested in healthcare, met with providers only to have nobody sign up because they "didn't want to pay another bill", the same group of people who didn't mind having all those BBQs and fishing and camping trips. Oh I must add, those same people that voted for Obama because they believed everybody should have healthcare and now complains that they are now being forced to pay for a health plan.
In closing, all the liberal policies and programs did help some people but the majority of my life I witnessed abuse. I am the poor person that so called liberals tried to help with all the freebies. I chose do work hard and get myself out of poverty. It was my choice and sacrifice to not attend those BBQs and camping trips. As a former person of poverty, I must say from my own personal experiences that liberals policies did more harm than help as it created a lazy lifestyle option. I never intended for this to be a political rant but you asked a question, and there is my answer of why I feel living in a place that does not reflect my conservative values would be considered a compromise. You can be a liberal, I don't care, have at it. I just know from personal experiences that those values do not align with mine. I just want to work hard and raise my family in an environment that reflects my values and be left alone that's all. Not trying to knock anyone for their values or belief system. That's why I am relocating to NH, a place where I will find like minded individuals.
Dover prices are certainly on the rise... roughly on par with Exeter. I personally prefer Dover, too. The population is more than twice that of Exeter (though only 29,000), and it's just... bigger. The downtown area of Exeter (the compact walkable area, not the sprawl out on Portsmouth Ave., or the somewhat farther flung train station) is pretty much just one street, and a short stretch at that. Dover, in contrast, has a larger walkable downtown, which remains scenic. The housing stock, to me, is on average more attractive, not that Exeter doesn't have some gorgeous houses. Dover has beautiful foliage too... unless you head to a town which somehow has a dramatically different mix of trees, you'll get beautiful foliage in the whole area. Do a Google image search for Dover and you'll see. I actually think it is more attractive than Exeter.
I don't think you can go wrong with either town. Both towns are historic. Both are on a river. Both have an Amtrak station, though Dover's is better. The property tax rates are almost the same, with Dover 40 cents less. They just have somewhat different feels. I prefer the topography of Dover.
Portsmouth and Exeter are pretty darned liberal, though... I agree with the above poster. Not sure about Dover as I have less personal interaction with residents there. Probably as liberal.
cowbell76, I agree with you about Dover vs Exeter. Thanks for the insight!
Hi everybody! Thanks for all your input on Portsmouth and NH in general. While Portsmouth has the small town feel that we were looking for with a lot of things to do, it may be too far from bigger cities. The closest would be Boston and Manchester, which we do not want to go to Boston for our Asian sundries or other activities. Several people recommended Nashua and although it is bigger than what we had hoped for it does give us more options such as Manchester to the North and Lowell, MA to the south which has a big Southeast Asian community. Plus Nashua also seems like it is central to the mountains, lakes, beaches so we would have more options on things to do without being so far from everything. I know Portsmouth is not far from mountains, lakes, etc but from what we have been researching, it seems Nashua have more of what we want minus the small town feel. With that said, would it be better for us to relocate to Nashua or perhaps a place like Bedford which would give us the small town feel but it would be right next to Manchester. Not sure I like for my daily activities (work, etc) to be in Manchester though. What is the opinnion of locals of living in Bedford and working in Manchester VS living and working in Nashua? Should I start a new thread? LOL
Last edited by Need4Seasons; 09-15-2013 at 06:54 PM..
Reason: grammar
I would start a new thread. But, (and forgive me if I missed this in one of your posts... will go back and check) have you visited this area before? It sounds like you have, but I don't know if you said so explicitly. I can't see how Nashua is more convenient to lakes, mountains, and beaches than is Portsmouth. Manchester and Nashua aren't close to any beaches. And while Nashua and Manchester are bigger, neither of them is a "big city." The Manchester and Nashua areas (including suburban parts) just have dramatically-different feels from Portsmouth. Portsmouth is hip with urbane residents... a feel and experience you just don't get with Nashua and Manchester. I'm not knocking either of those areas, but they're just completely different from Portsmouth and Portsmouth is really the only "cool" city in New Hampshire, despite being a smaller city. It also has a much lower crime rate from Manchester and Nashua. Lowell has improved in recent years, but generally has a reputation of being crime-ridden... proximity to Lowell is not usually considered a good thing. The crime rate is well above the national average.
Don't forget that NH is a tiny state and the whole New England region is small. No place in NH is significantly more convenient than most other areas in the Central to Southern part of the of state.
I would start a new thread. But, (and forgive me if I missed this in one of your posts... will go back and check) have you visited this area before? It sounds like you have, but I don't know if you said so explicitly. I can't see how Nashua is more convenient to lakes, mountains, and beaches than is Portsmouth. Manchester and Nashua aren't close to any beaches. And while Nashua and Manchester are bigger, neither of them is a "big city." The Manchester and Nashua areas (including suburban parts) just have dramatically-different feels from Portsmouth. Portsmouth is hip with urbane residents... a feel and experience you just don't get with Nashua and Manchester. I'm not knocking either of those areas, but they're just completely different from Portsmouth and Portsmouth is really the only "cool" city in New Hampshire, despite being a smaller city. It also has a much lower crime rate from Manchester and Nashua. Lowell has improved in recent years, but generally has a reputation of being crime-ridden... proximity to Lowell is not usually considered a good thing. The crime rate is well above the national average.
Don't forget that NH is a tiny state and the whole New England region is small. No place in NH is significantly more convenient than most other areas in the Central to Southern part of the of state.
Hi cowbell76, I was thinking I should start a new thread about Bedford/Manchester VS Portsmouth but was worried about having to explain my needs and wants all over again. Perhaps I can summarize it and refer people to this thread. We really like the small town feel of Portsmouth but being an Asian family feel Nashua would better fit us because of access to Asian sundries either in Nashua or for sure in Lowell, MA. Plus we will relocate our business which consist of a office/small warehouse operation (for the online store) and perhaps a storefront which we prefer to be in a mall of some sort. OMG, I thought we had this figured out but you do make some really good points about Lowell, MA and crime, etc. Ok, back to square one lol. Anyone else want to chime in? lol
I would start a new thread. But, (and forgive me if I missed this in one of your posts... will go back and check) have you visited this area before? It sounds like you have, but I don't know if you said so explicitly. I can't see how Nashua is more convenient to lakes, mountains, and beaches than is Portsmouth. Manchester and Nashua aren't close to any beaches. And while Nashua and Manchester are bigger, neither of them is a "big city." The Manchester and Nashua areas (including suburban parts) just have dramatically-different feels from Portsmouth. Portsmouth is hip with urbane residents... a feel and experience you just don't get with Nashua and Manchester. I'm not knocking either of those areas, but they're just completely different from Portsmouth and Portsmouth is really the only "cool" city in New Hampshire, despite being a smaller city. It also has a much lower crime rate from Manchester and Nashua. Lowell has improved in recent years, but generally has a reputation of being crime-ridden... proximity to Lowell is not usually considered a good thing. The crime rate is well above the national average.
Don't forget that NH is a tiny state and the whole New England region is small. No place in NH is significantly more convenient than most other areas in the Central to Southern part of the of state.
No, we haven't visited, but drove through the area before on a trip dropping friends off 15 years back. That's when we discovered New England first hand.
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