Relocation help- w/preschool aged child in speech therapy (Dover: real estate, to rent)

[anniebobannie]

Hello! My husband will be working at the Portsmouth Naval Ship Yard in the spring. We have a 2 year old that needs to be in preschool and speech therapy so we need to be in an area with decent services. My husband is willing to commute up to an hour. Can anyone recommend towns to look at or to stay away from? We could rent or buy... unfortunately a 300k price cap as we are coming from a much lower cost of living place.

Thank you for any direction! I'm a little overwhelmed with this move.

[LeviDunn]

Hi, any chance you can rent before buying? Where are you moving from?

[anniebobannie]

Unfortunately no. We will only be there for three years so to have to move again with the kids and dogs would just be too much. We will be moving from North Carolina.

[OutdoorLover]

Originally Posted by anniebobannie

Unfortunately no. We will only be there for three years so to have to move again with the kids and dogs would just be too much. We will be moving from North Carolina.

If you will only be in the area for 3 years, it's not worth it to buy - the transaction costs of buying and especially selling, are too high, besides the extra hassles. My vote would be to rent.

Unfortunately I am not very knowledgeable about the schools. My instinct would be to check out Exeter, NH. It's a very nice town with a nice downtown, 30 minutes at most from Portsmouth. It is cheaper than the current Portsmouth values, which have really run up in recent years. Real estate values have been good there in Exeter for a long time, so it should have the tax base for established good schools, and they have a top private prep school there. Reviews of schools at Great Schools are strong. Worth further investigating at least.

[gf2020]

For just 3 years, I agree that renting is probably a better strategy. Dover, NH, probably offers you the best mix of commute, services and affordability.

You can learn more about early intervention services here:

https://www.dhhs.nh.gov/dcbcs/bds/ea...port/index.htm