Retiring in Nashua or Merrimack (Manchester, Durham: best cities, condos, home)

[menkanta]

After living in warm climates for more than 35 years, my wife and I are considering moving to Southern NH after retirment to be near to our son and his family (they live in Woburn MA); I also have extensive family in western MA; they would be reasonably accessible from there. The cold weather is a disincentive but family trumps that criterium. It does seem likely that our son will not be moving from the Boston area.

At this point, I have two questions:

1. We may need some income so a part-time job would be helpful. Are there many options for retiree employment in Manchester, Nashua or Merrimack? My experience is with a non-governmental social agency, I speak excellent Spanish and hold my own quite well with Portuguese. Good writer, too!

2. We can't afford a fancy home but realtor.com does show many condos within our price range. We would prefer not to have to deal with too many maintenance issues. MA is mostly out of our price range. We have driven through Merrimack and liked it but have not visited the residential areas of Nashua yet. We intend to do that this summer. Are Nashua's residential areas as good as Merrimack's? Quiet? How come Nashua is no longer one of America's best cities after having made the list twice at the top spot?

[Valerie C]

Yikes! Many of us New Hampshire-ites are planning to move someplace a little warmer (not Florida-warm, just a little warmer) when we retire, and here you are coming back. You are brave souls

Anyway, I would think that both Nashua and Manchester would be a good first place to start. Both cities have various social programs that are simply not found in most of the smaller towns.

Nashua does have some very nice residential areas, and a couple of VERY nice condo communities (Sky Meadow comes to mind), but it gave up it's Best Places spot to Hanover NH last year. I guess one city can't claim all the glory for our little state

Originally Posted by menkanta

After living in warm climates for more than 35 years, my wife and I are considering moving to Southern NH after retirment to be near to our son and his family (they live in Woburn MA); I also have extensive family in western MA; they would be reasonably accessible from there. The cold weather is a disincentive but family trumps that criterium. It does seem likely that our son will not be moving from the Boston area.

At this point, I have two questions:

1. We may need some income so a part-time job would be helpful. Are there many options for retiree employment in Manchester, Nashua or Merrimack? My experience is with a non-governmental social agency, I speak excellent Spanish and hold my own quite well with Portuguese. Good writer, too!

2. We can't afford a fancy home but realtor.com does show many condos within our price range. We would prefer not to have to deal with too many maintenance issues. MA is mostly out of our price range. We have driven through Merrimack and liked it but have not visited the residential areas of Nashua yet. We intend to do that this summer. Are Nashua's residential areas as good as Merrimack's? Quiet? How come Nashua is no longer one of America's best cities after having made the list twice at the top spot?

[menkanta]

Thanks for your observations. I understand that there is now a tendency for some relocated northeasterners to move back due to the pull of family, higher cost of living in certain southern areas and hurricanes. Broward County, for example, was reported recently as experiencing a decline in population rather than growth. Potential problems with lack of water are expected to affect New Mexico and Arizona in the near future. Visiting other similar message boards on the Raleigh-Durham-Cary area, I was surprised at the many negative comments. At any rate, proximity to family is our main incentive.

How is public transportation in Nashua and Manchester from residential to shopping areas? At some point we might have to rely on it.

Seems to me that there was a report of plans to establish a geriatric health center in Nashua. True? Might be good for us should we need medical services as age-related illnesses approach.