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When you moved to NH, did you rent first to get a feel for the areas you'd like to live long-term, or did you take the plunge and buy right away?
I'd be curious to hear the different takes on this.
Obviously renting first gives you the opportunity to walk away fast if it's not the right area. But DH and I are so sick of renting. We really want to take the plunge and buy.
We researched various parts of the state and contacted an agent in the area we chose to move too (the Lakes Region).
We came out in February 2013 for one week... our First visit to the East Coast! We bought a house during that week and moved two months later. We haven't looked back!
We just moved from NH but still own our house there. We are renting to a family that wants to get a feel for the area before they make a decision of where to settle. We did a six month lease for them.
There are a lot of people in unique situations looking for housing on Craigslist. Maybe you could find something that way. It worked to connect the family we rent to with us.
Rented for about a year and a half. After 5 years of research from across the country, we ended up buying more than 40 miles from where we thought we would. Glad we waited, we love our town and the area we were honing in on would have locked us in on employers.
We just went ahead and bought a place. But we were living in nearby Massachusetts. Why move twice? However, we were only interested in buying a property with some decent acreage attached to it. We didn't care about quaint town centers or the quality of the public schools (no plans to ever have children).
We have an RV and spent quite a bit of time (on and off for two years) staying at various campgrounds looking for the right place. We were initially 100% convinced we would settle close to Portsmouth, but found the Lakes Region better matched our wants/desires. If you are not extremely familiar with the various areas I wouldn't recommend buying too quickly. Good luck with your search.
I bought rather than renting, primarily because I didn't want to move twice. I think renting first is definitely the prudent path if you are not absolutely sure of your decision.
For me, choosing was easier because I was transferring to a new office of the same employer, thus I had a fixed list of towns I was willing to consider (near the office, aiport, and away from the MA border), still made a half dozen weekend trips to the area before I made an offer on a house.
While a few folks on this thread have just bought without thoroughly getting to know the area first, I recommend renting first IF at all possible. Every situation is unique though. My experience has been that if there are school-age children or pets to consider, the logistics of a short-term rental usually don't make sense.
A big consideration for anyone is going to be the commute factor, and than the realities of rural vs suburban vs city living. How much convenience does your family require nearby? Are you ok with private vs public water, sewer, etc. It's something that I've repeated here quite often, but it's still true--if a town, or even a neighborhood doesn't have what you want, don't make the mistake of thinking that it'll come along (as it was in other areas of the country that I've previously lived in). That includes stores, restaurants, public services and schools.
Yes, we rented. It was rather easy as the kids were 4 and 2 at the time. Lived in a townhouse condo in Nashua for a year. It had a pool which the kids liked... We knew we were to going to be in NH for a long time so we wanted to find the right house in the right neighborhood in the right town. Built a house in Amherst, NH. That was 19 years ago. Worked out very well. One daughter graduated from college last year and the other two are in college now...
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