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We are searching for a possible living arrangement since my hubby could end up in one of the above mentioned area for a job opportunity...
We are not familiar at all about the New England area and so I have no idea if finding a place somewhere in between those 4 towns are going to be even 'commutable' distance...
I would love to be able to narrow down from 4 towns to maybe one or two but for now since we are still job-hunting...this is the best I can do... And since this could happen in a matter of month or two(which is the worst case scenario...), I wanted to at least, have some kind of an idea for where to do house hunting in.
We(or one of us) love trees & nature(except for bugs... I have read that the area is known to have many?) so it doesn't have to be right in the middle of a city. Also we have a 60lbs dog and so we would like to find a quiet place with either a big yard or maybe a walking trail near-by. I think I would be ok to drive up to 30 min or so to the grocery stores(maybe whole foods & trader joes). We don't have any kids and so school district is not much of a concern for us. (however, if that translates also to a 'safe' neighborhood, then we would like to take it.) Our plan is to start off renting either a townhouse or an apartment and then move to a house later on. (Will it be challenging to find a townhouse/apartment which allows dogs?)
I would be appreciative if any of you don't mind sharing any info/suggestions with us...
All of those towns are close to the seacoast except for Nashua. Boston, North Hampton (assuming this is the NH one), and Kittery are all easily accessible by 95 as well as the Downeaster train.
North Hampton area would be the most central for you, that being said it is a very pricey place to live. Greenland NH has a lot of homes that have big lots for the dog and would be easily accessible to all these places.
You should probably wait until you know for sure where your husband will be working. You're not going to find one location that is mutually convenient to those 4 locations. Boston to Kittery, for example, is over 60 miles. Nashua is about 60 miles from Kittery, as well.
What will your housing budget be once you do decide to move?
Agree you need to find out where you husband is working. THe towns you mentioned really aren't that close to each other and commuting from/between presents different issues depending on work location. Likewise tax structure (income + sales vs property + excise taxes) vary considerably between MA, NH, and ME.
TJ's and Whole Foods are less common the farther you go from Boston than most other supermarket chains, so if shopping in those chains is an absolute requirement, you need to pull out maps of their locations and go from there.
What does the job pay and/or what's your housing budget? That's a major consideration.
Assuming the OP really means Northampton (MA), there's single town that's convenient to commute to even 3 of those locations from one place, much less 4, so as others have noted, you'll have to figure out which one he's actually working at before you proceed.
Nashua is the most convenient, in many ways (lots of options on where to live), but Kittery (coast) or Northampton (inland river valley) would both be a bit more scenic.
Thank you everyone for your help!
I now see that it may be more helpful if we knew where exactly we would be...more than 60 miles commute might not sit so well with my husband...especially when it could involve special winter driving skills.(we are not used to driving in the snow/sleet etc,.)
Northampton is the one in MA...sorry didn't realize there is another town with the same name nearby.
The rent we are comfortable to pay will be somewhere between $1500 and $2000/mo, at least for the apartment/condo/townhouse. Hopefully we can find a neighborhood that fits our need....somewhere.
Thanks and I will post more questions later on once we find out where we are going to be.
North Hampton is a NH coastal town (Hampton Beach). I think people jumped to that assumption because it would fit better in the Nashua-Kittery-Boston triangle (not to mention posting in the NH forums), whereas Northampton is much further west, drive time-wise. Bit of a geographic outlier, at least on a New England scale. Two hour-ish west of Boston IIRC (the last time I drove it was in traffic, so that's messing with my gauge a bit).
I quite like Northampton and the Pioneer valley, but it's a hair isolated from other stuff (or the coast), and without pulling all the climate stats, anecdotally it's going to have the longest winters. It's definitely worth a look though, and is part of a pod of towns (Amherst/Hadley etc.) known for the natural beauty of the area and the colleges. Probably also the worst mosquitoes in the summer, though Kittery might give it a fight on that. Good restaurants, somewhat higher COL for the economy given that it's a place left-leaning folk like to live (myself included) for the amenities and social climate. There's a TJs and a Whole Foods, plus a lot of local co-op-ey type stuff you might like.
Boston housing is nuts. If you're making mid six figures, then sure, Boston is probably the most appealing of those. If you're not making serious money, personally I'd probably skip Boston. Not worth the hassle/cost imo if one has other options.
Kittery is a nice location just across the river from Portsmouth, which is a great little city, though can get slammed with summer traffic because of the Maine beaches and the outlet stores all pulling people into a pretty narrow band (95/Rt 1). Decent chance you'd actually live somewhere else and just commute to Kittery.
Nashua is kind of the compromise, pragmatic, location. It's not the most fashionable (Boston), or the hippest (N'hampton), or the cute coastal town. But it's pretty easy to commute to from a large swath of southern NH/northern MA, and would give you lots of options on where you actually wanted to live.
Nashua also has (or is proximate to) a lot of retail because it's on the border, and NH's lack of sales tax attracts a lot of shoppers. I hear the restaurant selection has improved, but it's also easy to pop across the border to Lowell or Andover or wherever if there's some cuisine you want but can't get locally.
But again, the town you want to live in will definitely depend on which job he gets.
Now, if he gets to choose, I'd probably suggest you take a close look at both Nashua and Northampton. Boston only if there's a ton of money to throw around, and Kittery only if you're willing to be much farther away from a WF [looks like Portsmouth has a TJs now].
You will pay a whopping state income tax if you work in Kittery as well. Something to consider....
...as well as tax on some food and clothing.
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