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I'm a lifelong NH resident so I'm pretty familiar with a lot of it, but could use some input here...
We're looking for a NH town/city to move to that would a 30-minute-or-less commute to Wilmington, MA...and we'd prefer it be as close to the seacoast area as possible. We're both seacoast-area natives and preferred it out there (closer to family and places we like to go), but have been living over in the Merrimack/Amherst area for the past 8+ years due to my husband's work commute to areas like Billerica. But now that he works in Wilmington, we aren't really in an ideal commuter location anymore anyway, so are considering moving east a bit.
Would like a town/city with a good school district. We're considering Windham, Plaistow...also looked at Kingston, Kensington and Hampton Falls, though they seem to be a bit over the half-hour commute time. Is there a town we're not thinking of that fits our criteria? Any feedback about any of these towns would be appreciated too.
Trulia offers a fairly accurate "commute time" overlay for their maps, though it make some assumptions about road speeds, so you might want to set it for, say, 40 minutes instead of exactly 30.
30 minutes to Wilmington during rush hour from Seacoast NH? Heck, it might take 30 minutes just to get from Methuen to Wilmington during the morning commute!
If we consider 50 minutes as a more realistic commute time, I would look at Windham and Hampstead and maybe East Kingston, depending on your budget and housing preferences. None of those towns are "Seacoast" but they get you closer than Merrimack/Amherst.
Hi Marie. Other than the commute time and a good school district, what is your other criteria for finding the perfect town? Living in the Merrimack/Amherst area, you've got lots of conveniences nearby, which you may end up having to trade if you end up in a more rural location. Kingston is rural, Kensington even more so, but you would have the benefit of being part of SAU 16 Kingston. Sanborn Regional would be your district in Kingston, and in my opinion (if schools alone were to make the decision for you) Timberlane is a much higher-rated district.
The biggest drawback to Kensington (compared to say, Plaistow) is that the commute down Rte 495 will be further north (accessing from 95 would probably be better than getting to 125/495 to get to Wilmington BUT overall quality of life would be very nice...
We came very close to settling in either Kensington, South Hampton or Stratham when we moved back to NH from the Midwest (15+ years ago, where does the time go!!) but the perfect house & neighborhood opened up in Londonderry, and at that point, schools were much higher ranked than they are presently. Plus it was much closer for the 2x weekly commute to Woburn..
Hopefully this helps a bit
Quote:
Originally Posted by maire8
I'm a lifelong NH resident so I'm pretty familiar with a lot of it, but could use some input here...
We're looking for a NH town/city to move to that would a 30-minute-or-less commute to Wilmington, MA...and we'd prefer it be as close to the seacoast area as possible. We're both seacoast-area natives and preferred it out there (closer to family and places we like to go), but have been living over in the Merrimack/Amherst area for the past 8+ years due to my husband's work commute to areas like Billerica. But now that he works in Wilmington, we aren't really in an ideal commuter location anymore anyway, so are considering moving east a bit.
Would like a town/city with a good school district. We're considering Windham, Plaistow...also looked at Kingston, Kensington and Hampton Falls, though they seem to be a bit over the half-hour commute time. Is there a town we're not thinking of that fits our criteria? Any feedback about any of these towns would be appreciated too.
Trulia offers a fairly accurate "commute time" overlay for their maps, though it make some assumptions about road speeds, so you might want to set it for, say, 40 minutes instead of exactly 30.
I really don't find this to be accurate at all. Trulia says my commute is 45-50 mins, when its really 20-25. Google Maps is more accurate
Trulia offers a fairly accurate "commute time" overlay for their maps, though it make some assumptions about road speeds, so you might want to set it for, say, 40 minutes instead of exactly 30.
Thanks, will try that!
Quote:
Originally Posted by robr2
Is he going to be commuting to Balardvale or Concord Rd or will he be down on Main St/Rt. 38? The latter can add 10 minutes to the drive from 93.
Good point...Ballardvale.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Valerie C
Hi Marie. Other than the commute time and a good school district, what is your other criteria for finding the perfect town? Living in the Merrimack/Amherst area, you've got lots of conveniences nearby, which you may end up having to trade if you end up in a more rural location. Kingston is rural, Kensington even more so, but you would have the benefit of being part of SAU 16 Kingston. Sanborn Regional would be your district in Kingston, and in my opinion (if schools alone were to make the decision for you) Timberlane is a much higher-rated district.
The biggest drawback to Kensington (compared to say, Plaistow) is that the commute down Rte 495 will be further north (accessing from 95 would probably be better than getting to 125/495 to get to Wilmington BUT overall quality of life would be very nice...
We came very close to settling in either Kensington, South Hampton or Stratham when we moved back to NH from the Midwest (15+ years ago, where does the time go!!) but the perfect house & neighborhood opened up in Londonderry, and at that point, schools were much higher ranked than they are presently. Plus it was much closer for the 2x weekly commute to Woburn..
Hopefully this helps a bit
Thanks, Valerie. We're actually very rural where we are in Amherst (we lived in Merrimack before and that was much more convenient to almost everything) and we're about 15 minutes away from the nearest grocery store, so pretty used to the rural lifestyle at this point. I think aside from good schools, we would like a town that has some charm to it, like a downtown area/"town center" of some kind (doesn't have to be extensive...but it always irked me that Merrimack didn't have any sort of "downtown" or town center at all!). A nice community for kids/families would be ideal.
So you are saying that Kensington is part of a better school district than Kingston?
Any intel on Windham? I think I've heard that the schools there are good. Hampstead?
30 minutes to Wilmington during rush hour from Seacoast NH? Heck, it might take 30 minutes just to get from Methuen to Wilmington during the morning commute!
If we consider 50 minutes as a more realistic commute time, I would look at Windham and Hampstead and maybe East Kingston, depending on your budget and housing preferences. None of those towns are "Seacoast" but they get you closer than Merrimack/Amherst.
Yep, exactly. Just trying to get as close as we can without it being a major commuting headache. 50 minutes across the border in winter driving can turn into several hours, we've learned over the years!
Trulia offers a fairly accurate "commute time" overlay for their maps, though it make some assumptions about road speeds, so you might want to set it for, say, 40 minutes instead of exactly 30.
I really don't find this to be accurate at all. Trulia says my commute is 45-50 mins, when its really 20-25. Google Maps is more accurate
Trulia overestimated my old 50 minute commute time as 1 hour (the max it will graph), but seems pretty close to reality for my current commute.
Does google maps allow you to drop a pin on your office and draw a "blast radius" commute time map? I know there was another tool besides Trulia with that feature, but can't recall the name.
Trulia overestimated my old 50 minute commute time as 1 hour (the max it will graph), but seems pretty close to reality for my current commute.
Does google maps allow you to drop a pin on your office and draw a "blast radius" commute time map? I know there was another tool besides Trulia with that feature, but can't recall the name.
It doesn't -- estimating through google is definitely a bit more involved. You have to plug it each individual address. But I've done it enough that I've gotten pretty good at it
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Mapping commutable homes based on work location
