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Before everyone shuns us for being surfers that don't shower and live off Mexican food, let me say that we dislike CA just about as much as everyone else does. For me personally, it has never felt like "home". Hopefully you guys understand what I mean by that.
To give you a little background on where we're coming from...
-Northern part of San Diego County
-Rural/unincorporated community
-3,500 people
-Primarily agriculture/ranches
-Surrounded by Tribal Land and casinos which brings TONS of out of town drunk traffic
-Schools are average/below average
-30+ minutes to a larger city (100k+ population)
-Hot summers, around 90 for several months
-Very little rain, no snow
-Average home price 450+
-Per Capita income 25k, household 60k+
-Fairly high state and income taxes
-I suppose it's pretty in the spring when a few days of rain help, but it's primarily old oak trees and sage/chaparral... Brown and dry most of the year. Very high fire risk.
-According to NeighborhoodScout it has a crime score of 30 (not good)
Sure, there's beaches and mountains and great hiking, but traffic bad is no matter where you go. The attractions in the Southern Part of San Diego and along the coast are great, but that's nearly an hour from where we are. Overall, people seem to tolerate our small town, some even like it. But just about nobody likes the surrounding towns. The whole area is growing way too fast you're paying an arm and a leg for a house with a postage stamp yard.
So now that you know a little bit about where we are maybe you can help me narrow down a place to look into.
So far New Hampshire seems to be at the top of our list. Although we are open to Colorado, Oregon, Washington, all of New England and possibly Utah.
Some of the things we are looking for -
-Typical small town feel (isn't that what everyone wants)
-Kid friendly activities like Fall festival/Christmas tree lighting/Independence Day parade
-Appreciation for local stores/restaurants/goods
-Obviously a decent cost of living
-Low crime
-Above average school
-Parks, trails, etc. during nice weather
-Library
-Seasons!!! I need something other than a week of rain and then high 80s-100 for months at a time. We spent a winter in the northern plains of Texas and while it only snowed 2 days it did get plenty icy and cold with 2 weeks on temps hovering around 20F. And the storms are no joke there. I say that to prove how tough I am with cold weather lol.
-We plan to have more children so being near a great labor and delivery hospital with midwives would be great
-We're used to driving 30ish minutes to bigger cities with all of the typical chain stores and attractions.
My husband has a great deal of experience in the operations and maintenance of city water lines and systems and he's currently enrolled in distance learning through CalState Sacramento for utility/public works management and I have background in animal care/shelter medicine, although right now I'm spending my time raising our daughter and pets.
Any help and insight would be greatly appreciated.
We're about to make the move from Lancaster, CA to NH. What town do you currently live in? We probably just passed by you guys on the way to SD last week.
We're about to make the move from Lancaster, CA to NH. What town do you currently live in? We probably just passed by you guys on the way to SD last week.
We're just outside of Escondido! What area of NH are you going to?
How great to hear from someone making the same journey.
I lived in Mission bay for almost 4 years while I worked at MCRD and Camp Pendelton as a Marine. You can find what you're looking for in NH, my only concern would be how well you guys tolerate winter. They are a lot more involved than North Texas. I grew up in MN so to me the winters here aren't too bad but if I was a CA native I might be in a bit of shock when the first storm dropped over 18" of snow.
A good wood or pellet stove will help a great deal, honestly getting used to winter is all in your head. It sounds like you're pretty open to dealing with it.
NH is a great place for the seasons as well as the small town feel. There are plenty of home town celebrations for things like Independence Day as well as Christmas as well as farmer's markets and old home days.
Your husband will be able to find work in just about any area in the state. The southern part of the state as well as the seacoast are the best for finding areas that utilize public water supplies. A lot of NH is still on dug wells.
If you have any other questions feel free to reach out!
We're recently relocated to NH from Wash DC., and spent a long time scouting out areas. It's a state with very distinct regions of different flavors, ranging from remote rural, hours from any big city, to bedroom suburbs of Boston.
Unemployment in the state is low, but underemployment is probably not.
You might want to think about narrowing your choices as we did. We found "interesting" places on Zillow, then spent a weekend doing drive bys to see the areas etc. Most of the areas dropped off our list for one reason or another. Note that we did NOT connect with any realtors or visit any of the homes. That was not the goal. The goal was to see home affordability vs neighborhoods vs regions. The state is not that big, so you could cover most parts of it in a few days.
NH is a great place for the seasons as well as the small town feel. There are plenty of home town celebrations for things like Independence Day as well as Christmas as well as farmer's markets and old home days.
Your husband will be able to find work in just about any area in the state. The southern part of the state as well as the seacoast are the best for finding areas that utilize public water supplies. A lot of NH is still on dug wells.
If you have any other questions feel free to reach out!
Thanks for help! I feel pretty certain NH would be a good fit if we can adjust to the weather. Now we just need to narrow it down
My husband has a great deal of experience in the operations and maintenance of city water lines and systems and he's currently enrolled in distance learning through CalState Sacramento for utility/public works management and I have background in animal care/shelter medicine, although right now I'm spending my time raising our daughter and pets.
Those are fairly narrow skill sets, I think you would want to have jobs lined up before making the move cross-country.
The Indeed.com website lists only 1 opening in all of NH for a water utility position and that's in Concord. The greater Boston, MA area where jobs of all kinds are plentiful also lists only one job directly related to a water utility- a water meter installer. See link.
Unless you and hubby have other marketable skills, you're going to have a hard time finding decent paying jobs. Note: Animal shelter workers are usually volunteers.
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