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I think we are now going to look at Portsmouth or the surrounding area for a move in 2016. If not in Portsmouth itself, what are the surrounding areas like? We'll be looking at a 2 bedroom condo or townhouse. No kids. What are property taxes like there? Flood insurance needed? Any other advice, things you want to share I'm happy to read.
Hard to summarize surrounding areas - really a mix of rural (Stratham), higher end coastal housing (Rye), blue collarish coastal housing (Hampton) small cities (Dover/Rochester), college town (Durham), and prep school town (Exeter).
In general, for most of the coast or land around the Bay, yes, you'll probably want flood insurance, especially if you think sea levels are liable to rise. Looking at most properties a realtor would be able to tell you where it's required, where it isn't, and where it would still probably be pretty wise to have it.
It's a small geographic area, so relatively easy to get around, though mostly via backroads. Traffic is generally a non-issue, though there are a few big hotspots during peak season (Rt. 1 in Kittery, access to Hampton Beach), and downtown Exeter can get jammed up due to the road layout (111/27/111a/108/85 all run together in a jumbled mess).
Would probably be much easier to ask for a few likes/dislikes/must haves on your part before trying to describe the whole area.
The seacoast is a very neat place. That makes it a bit pricy. I have heard that Portsmouth is very expensive. I guess you have to pay for civilization.
Okay, so let's get specific. As someone affected by hurricane Sandy in NY I don't want to be directly on the water, that's for sure. But I can't go rural either. It will be a month or so before I can take trip and drive around but it seems from what people tell me, and where I've already been that it's either "city" or rural. Is there any in-between in the Portsmouth area?
Keep in mind the odds of a Sandy happening in NH are much more slim. Any angle of a system coming ashore would put it across at least the Cape (and the shallower waters around plus the water north of the cape being cooler) and more likely across RI/CT/MA, and it will lose some significant energy in the process.
Sandy was basically the worst case of it tracking N/NE over deeper waters and then suddenly turning NNW to smash the coastline before starting to lose steam. You can't even really imagine such an ideal path of how something like that would slam Portsmouth barring pretty significant ocean warming.
Now, that said, flooding is a significant concern, but the same sort of crushing sea surge is much less likely from a hurricane system. If you wanted to pick a worst-case scenario of the NH coast I'd say tsunami. An Irene scenario is a much more likely cause of flooding where a system stalls out over the region and just dumps rain in perpetuity.
Unless you live right on Great Bay or lowland coast, your primary flood concern is going to be streams/rivers.
As for city/rural, keep in mind Dover/Portsmouth aren't really 'cities' by NY/NJ standards. Strafford/Rockingham counties combined (which includes Portsmouth/Dover/Rochester and a big swath west) only have 400,000 people total over 1100 mi^2, and most of that population is towards the Merrimack river valley. Dover is the big city at 30k, and Portsmouth is around 23k. They're only cities by NH standards.
Get the appropriate topographic maps from Delorme's store in Freeport, Maine. Exit 17 (Yarmouth/Freeport) off the Maine Pike. Then find the high spots and check if some developer has already built condos on the sight. That will take care of flooding worries as well as housing. Or just come and visit. Drive around an look for developments on the top of the hills.
FWIW - The Delorme store is a tourist destination in itself. Fascinating 30+ ft. dia. globe and other displays.
Thanks GregW and Bler44! Very helpful. Funny we were in Freeport last year but that was before we decided to move. We're planning on a visit in the next few months. Stay tuned for more questions.
The whole seacoast area, especially Portsmouth, has very high housing costs. NH has a reputation for high property taxes, since there's no income tax or sales tax. I don't know how property taxes in that area compare to other areas of NH though. Do you have an idea where you'll need to commute to?
I know someone who owns a 2 bedroom condo in the Cedars of Portsmouth. Seems pretty decent there. The units (well, his anyway) have laundry hookups. This is in a pretty decent location driving wise, but it's not right next to a highway on-ramp.
I also know someone who owns a 2 bedroom townhouse condo in Spinnaker Point Condominiums. Again, seems pretty decent there, except it seems like they have very limited parking, from what I've seen. Again, laundry hookups in the unit. This has better access to I-95 as it's right next to an on-ramp.
The same friend that owns the unit in the Cedars also owned a first floor unit in a complex in Newmarket that was not on the coast and it was repeatedly flooded with water in recent years.
@bler144's summary seems pretty good. Greenland is also right there between Portsmouth and Stratham and is rural. There's also rural North Hampton between Portsmouth and Hampton.
Thanks so much Kicker Peabody. I am concerned about flooding for sure. Will most likely be commuting to Portland, but cannot live in Maine because they will tax my husbands pension. Trying to find somewhere in NH that is somewhat equal - 1 hour - to both Boston and Portland. I've seen some condos online in Spinnaker and they look decent, at least online. We need to be in a city. Essentially we'll be coming from NYC and are ready for suburbs, so a city in NH will actually feel suburban to us and that's what we're looking for, but not rural. Next trip up we're going to do a lot of exploratory driving around.
Keep in mind the odds of a Sandy happening in NH are much more slim. Any angle of a system coming ashore would put it across at least the Cape (and the shallower waters around plus the water north of the cape being cooler) and more likely across RI/CT/MA, and it will lose some significant energy in the process.
Sandy was basically the worst case of it tracking N/NE over deeper waters and then suddenly turning NNW to smash the coastline before starting to lose steam. You can't even really imagine such an ideal path of how something like that would slam Portsmouth barring pretty significant ocean warming.
Now, that said, flooding is a significant concern, but the same sort of crushing sea surge is much less likely from a hurricane system. If you wanted to pick a worst-case scenario of the NH coast I'd say tsunami. An Irene scenario is a much more likely cause of flooding where a system stalls out over the region and just dumps rain in perpetuity.
Unless you live right on Great Bay or lowland coast, your primary flood concern is going to be streams/rivers.
As for city/rural, keep in mind Dover/Portsmouth aren't really 'cities' by NY/NJ standards. Strafford/Rockingham counties combined (which includes Portsmouth/Dover/Rochester and a big swath west) only have 400,000 people total over 1100 mi^2, and most of that population is towards the Merrimack river valley. Dover is the big city at 30k, and Portsmouth is around 23k. They're only cities by NH standards.
Some day check out the Hurricane if 1938. More or less that one came right up the Ct river. I know where there is still blow down in the Whites from that one. That one makes these recent storms small.
Back then people seemed to understand building in some places just wasn't a good idea. Today ever 100 year flood plain is packed to the max....... Silly man is just that silly. I know roads around the coast that go under salt water in most any large storm. But these same roads are high and dry most of the time.
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