Please Help Me Save Me (Nashua, Londonderry: for sale, condos, 2nd mortgage)

[sjvmi87]

Okay, I want it all. Having said that, I also realize I cannot have it all.

What I want is to get away from the traffic jams, the taxes, the glut of self-important and fake people and to raise my family in an area with clean air, clean water, an absence of attorneys and where people don't go into shock when you say "good morning."

I prefer to have access to good-great schools, a decent economy and to be buffered from the inane practices of these idiots who call themselves a "Federal government."

I want to have a "decent" job where my doing something GOOD for the world and spending time with my family is more important than my owning a BMW, wearing a $500 suit or boring people with my latest purchase. I truly enjoy gardening, teaching/tutoring and have both a BS and an MS in technical areas. I would also like to be able to afford 4-10 acres of land (more if I end up farming) and have avenues where I can share my luck in life with others without worrying about some idiot lawyer getting involved to screw things up.

Basically, I am looking for the America that "used to be> and someplace whee I can actually be PROUD to say is my home. I hear that Londonderry and the vicinity are a good place to look but am looking all around.

How about it, readers? Can you help me look forward to living a quality life that is impossible to have here in Northern Virginia? Can you tell me of a place where I can go to bed at night listening to crickets and with a sense of having done something worthwhile with my day? Can you tell me where I can go where people don't need Prozac and chardonnay to buffer their daily misery?

Any help will be GREATLY appreciated!!!

[daniellefort]

Sounds like northern NH where i'm from to me only the economy up there isn't the greatest but everything else your looking for you'll find there.

[OCCASparky]

If money isn't that big an issue to you, I'd go even farther north.

[rmcewan]

New Hampshire might be your place.

4-10 acres in the south is going to cost. Londonderry will be a problem for that size of plot (just not that many will come up). Look up north and in the west, esp. if you can build to suit (though you'll get more home for the money buying an existing place because of the depressed market - materials have not got cheaper, but homes have).

[MamaBee]

Originally Posted by sjvmi87

Okay, I want it all. Having said that, I also realize I cannot have it all.

What I want is to get away from the traffic jams, the taxes, the glut of self-important and fake people and to raise my family in an area with clean air, clean water, an absence of attorneys and where people don't go into shock when you say "good morning."

I prefer to have access to good-great schools, a decent economy and to be buffered from the inane practices of these idiots who call themselves a "Federal government."

I want to have a "decent" job where my doing something GOOD for the world and spending time with my family is more important than my owning a BMW, wearing a $500 suit or boring people with my latest purchase. I would also like to be able to afford 4-10 acres of land (more if I end up farming) and have avenues where I can share my luck in life with others without worrying about some idiot lawyer getting involved to screw things up.

Basically, I am looking for the America that "used to be> and someplace whee I can actually be PROUD to say is my home. I hear that Londonderry and the vicinity are a good place to look but am looking all around.

Can you tell me of a place where I can go to bed at night listening to crickets and with a sense of having done something worthwhile with my day? Can you tell me where I can go where people don't need Prozac and chardonnay to buffer their daily misery?

Any help will be GREATLY appreciated!!!

Let me know if you find such a place; I'm stuck here in NJ. I miss the smells and sounds of nature...the ability to drive for 45 minutes and not run into a major shopping center (here it's about 5 minutes until you hit a new strip mall). There's more to life than a McMansion and Coach Handbags...

[southward bound]

There are places in N VA that would fit the bill - just get away from the eastern coast of VA, away from DC. Check out the western side of your state. It's beautiful.

One doesn't need to move all that far. Sometimes what you're looking for can be found a mere "stone's throw" away.

[Valerie C]

You really found your way to the right place, and NH might just be the place for you. However, I have to say that as much as I love the town, it may be a little too far south/east for what you're looking for. We've already lost one of our horse farms, and another will be closing to development within the next couple years. Not really a friendly environment for "gentleman farms" but there are other nearby towns that you might consider...

A few people mentioned further North, I might suggest a little further West, not much, but there are some beautiful areas just north/west of Nashua that you might consider. Milford is nice, also consider Mont Vernon, Brookline, that whole area is very nice. Good schools, still open tracts of land, farmland, etc. and with the housing slowdown maybe the crazy development of new subdivisions and stripmalls that's dominated southern NH the last 5 years or so will come to a halt. Not a popular opinion in my profession, but it's definitely time for the towns to put the reins on unchecked building & development...

You can have it all, you just gotta look for it

Originally Posted by sjvmi87

Okay, I want it all. Having said that, I also realize I cannot have it all.

<snip>

I hear that Londonderry and the vicinity are a good place to look but am looking all around.

<snip>

Any help will be GREATLY appreciated!!!

[southward bound]

Originally Posted by Valerie C

You really found your way to the right place, and NH might just be the place for you. However, I have to say that as much as I love the town, it may be a little too far south/east for what you're looking for. We've already lost one of our horse farms, and another will be closing to development within the next couple years. Not really a friendly environment for "gentleman farms" but there are other nearby towns that you might consider...

A few people mentioned further North, I might suggest a little further West, not much, but there are some beautiful areas just north/west of Nashua that you might consider. Milford is nice, also consider Mont Vernon, Brookline, that whole area is very nice. Good schools, still open tracts of land, farmland, etc. and with the housing slowdown maybe the crazy development of new subdivisions and stripmalls that's dominated southern NH the last 5 years or so will come to a halt. Not a popular opinion in my profession, but it's definitely time for the towns to put the reins on unchecked building & development...

You can have it all, you just gotta look for it

Valerie, do you think that prices have come down to where they might be approaching "reasonable", or are they still on the high side?

[Valerie C]

My crystal ball is a little cloudy on this, but it's my opinion that prices are still on the high side. With more interest rates resetting in 2008 (even with the government "help") than there were in 2007, I don't think we've seen the bottom... I'm not expecting the 2008 doom and gloom that I hear on the news, but the double-digit increases are done, at least for awhile (that's good news IMO)

Every day, more bank-owned property is added to the MLS. HUD property for sale is up. The number of short-sales (when the bank agrees to accept less than the amount owed from the Seller) are up. Every day, I see the following on the MLS:

Price reductions, lots of them. The majority fall by $10,000 with each reduction. Some more. Very few less. This is across the board (condos, single family, multi family, new construction)

Many homes go under agreement. These fall under 2 categories:

1) high-end property (500K+) where mortgages and appraisals aren't much of an issue

2) property that is a relative "bargain" (ie: several thousand under what the house down the street sold for 6 months ago)

I still maintain that if someone "needs" to sell, they still may be able to see more than historical average gains on that property, AND price it right, with just a couple of criteria: that they bought before the "gold rush" mentality that we had in the years 2000 through 2006 AND that they haven't taken all of the equity out of the house with refinancing, 2nd mortgages, etc.

Buyer's aren't going to pay top dollar for homes to get someone out of their mistake or to feed the greed (the "I'm not going to give it away" mentality). You're not going to give it away, and you're not going to sell it either. Banks aren't going to make the same mistake that they've been making for the last 5 years. "Starter homes" shouldn't be a quarter of a million dollars, and thankfully they're moving downward to a point where first-time buyers aren't sacrificing such a high percentage of their income to have a home to live... This correction is painful for some (many) but necessary.

Whew, I didn't expect to write a novel and you thought you were asking an innocent little question...

Originally Posted by southward bound

Valerie, do you think that prices have come down to where they might be approaching "reasonable", or are they still on the high side?

[Fred C.]

Try Hewitt N.J. You can perchis my property. I'm getting the hell out. South bound.