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We are a couple looking for our first house. We are both from MA. Our budget is 500k but would love to go under that if we can swing it. To do so, we are expanding the area we are looking in (originally the Peabody-ish area). I work in Middleton, MA and spouse works from home, but does fly out of Logan often. We are thinking if we go a bit more rural but near-ish 95 we might get what we want, which is a garage, 3-bdr, 1.5 bath, in a neighborhood, with good to great schools, and liberal (although willing to make concessions). We are looking in both MA and NH up to Portsmouth. I know that's a lot to cover so feel free to cherry pick an area you know about. Staying near 95 is pretty important since that's where family and work is for me in MA.
We don't like very rural, we don't need a ton of land or for a grocery trip or to get to the highway to take 20 minutes. But don't mind small town.
Particularly I'd like to know what people think of Salisbury, Amesbury, Georgetown, Groveland, in MA
and Exeter, Greenland, East Kingston, Kensington, and Hampton Falls in NH.
I know that Newburyport/Newbury is great, MASCO area is great, and it seems like Exeter area/school system seems good too if we can afford those. We know about NH property taxes too.
Really hoping for some insight so thank you for you answers!
Exeter, Greenland, East Kingston, Kensington, and Hampton Falls in NH.
By recent voting patterns, Exeter is a lot more liberal than the other three towns you mentioned. Hampton Falls has the lowest tax rate.
Exeter is a fine town. Have you been there? If not, you should visit for a day. Nice Main St with shops and eateries. With your budget, you can find what you are looking for but inventory is very, very low. You'd have to watch closely and jump on things quickly.
As you've probably discovered, 500k is a big number that doesn't go so far in Massachusetts, especially the closer you are to Boston. But the Merrimack Valley towns closest to the NH border could work well for you, and there are plenty of towns that could work along the Rte 95 corridor. You didn't mention it, but how important are schools to the equation?
I'll start in NH and then move south to some of the Mass towns on your list (I grew up in that area of Massachusetts and moved to NH in 2002). East Kingston, Kensington and South Hampton towns are beautiful, but I think may be a bit more rural than what you are looking for. Have you had a chance to visit for yourself yet, or is all of your searching online so far? None of them have a downtown, or much business at all, and you'll be heading to Seabrook or Amesbury for most of your shopping needs. There's a great little breakfast cafe on Rte 150 but can't for the life of me think of the name right now. It's either in Kensington or South Hampton.
Exeter (and Stratham next door) are both great towns, plenty of shopping, well-regarded schools that are part of SAU 16 (again, not knowing if schools are high on your list of priorities). Exeter has a wider variety of housing available (everything from a mobile home to million-dollar properties). I'm not at all familiar with Greenland or Hampton Falls, but do know that Hampton Falls is part of Winnicunnet School System (I hear good things, but no direct experience).
Moving over to the Mass side of the border, Salisbury has the lowest tax burden (lots of business to support the town services). Salisbury Beach (long known as a bit of a honkytonk area) is cleaning up it's act in a big way, with loads of upscale condos being built along the waterfront, and along the Rte 110/1A entrance. I'd venture to say to say that of all the towns you mentioned, Salisbury is where you could get the most house for the money, followed by Amesbury (and you could put Merrimac on your list as well). Amesbury has a great little downtown, and many neighborhoods too. Wide variety of housing stock, plus you're super close to Newburyport, without the price that goes along with that zip code.
You'll be priced out in Newburyport & W. Newbury, but may get lucky in Georgetown & Groveland, both are nice suburban towns. As long as you're not looking for new construction
Lack of inventory continues through early 2018, and this is continuing to drive prices and keep the market VERY competitive. Buyers need to be ready to act fast when something they like becomes available. Have your pre-approval ready to go...
Hope this is helpful for you. I grew up in that general area of MA, so know all of these towns and the border NH towns pretty well
Quote:
Originally Posted by tamiswa
We are a couple looking for our first house. We are both from MA. Our budget is 500k but would love to go under that if we can swing it. To do so, we are expanding the area we are looking in (originally the Peabody-ish area). I work in Middleton, MA and spouse works from home, but does fly out of Logan often. We are thinking if we go a bit more rural but near-ish 95 we might get what we want, which is a garage, 3-bdr, 1.5 bath, in a neighborhood, with good to great schools, and liberal (although willing to make concessions). We are looking in both MA and NH up to Portsmouth. I know that's a lot to cover so feel free to cherry pick an area you know about. Staying near 95 is pretty important since that's where family and work is for me in MA.
We don't like very rural, we don't need a ton of land or for a grocery trip or to get to the highway to take 20 minutes. But don't mind small town.
Particularly I'd like to know what people think of Salisbury, Amesbury, Georgetown, Groveland, in MA
and Exeter, Greenland, East Kingston, Kensington, and Hampton Falls in NH.
I know that Newburyport/Newbury is great, MASCO area is great, and it seems like Exeter area/school system seems good too if we can afford those. We know about NH property taxes too.
Really hoping for some insight so thank you for you answers!
Thanks for these replies! We can't stop thinking about a house we saw in Greenland. It's a tiny tiny town compared to what we're used to, but like the idea of being near Portsmouth and hear that the schools are good. It's a bit more sticks than we are used to, but I have been doing some research and it seems a market basket, a pharmacy, and a Target are within a a decent distance if we can get used to country roads. The house itself is in a little neighborhood which is nice. Anyone out there got anything on Greenland? Taxes seem to be lower, wonder why that is? Exeter would be great, we liked it a lot, but we don't see much on the market. Stratham also looked good, just haven't found the right house there yet. The other towns seem a bit to "in the sticks" for us, and property taxes start creeping too.
All this adds to more commute time/distance but wondering if the upside is worth it. Relatively speaking, it's pretty much insanely cheaper AND nicer than anything in MA (at least in the areas we look) -- yes even with the property taxes, and all the properties we look at in MA are not only more expensive but require quite some work that we'd have to pinch (both in $$ and time) to do since the prices are higher and the handy man works a lot of hours. MA is so depressing it might just lead us to relocate a bit and start a NH life! Anyone else do this?
Thanks you for that, what a horrible situation and this is exactly why these boards are so important, because sometimes it's hard to unearth things like this. Is it well water only that's the concern or the municipal water as well? Anyone out there have personal experience with this?
"MA is so depressing it might just lead us to relocate a bit and start a NH life! Anyone else do this?"
Lots of people do this. Last year alone I helped people from CT, NY and MA. No income and sales tax are big reason people move here.
Statham and Greenland are nice and convenient to what the Seacoast has to offer. A lot of homes will be close to the highway so you'll have noise from that. Regarding the dump and water situation, no matter which town you end up looking at, it's always good to look on Google Maps/satellite and also drive the neighboring streets of the potential property.
MA is so depressing it might just lead us to relocate a bit and start a NH life! Anyone else do this?
We are, CT has also become a depressing (and expensive) place to live. However, we love NH the way it is and sincerely hope the policies that have ruined CT do not migrate north by those escaping the other states in the northeast.
We are, CT has also become a depressing (and expensive) place to live. However, we love NH the way it is and sincerely hope the policies that have ruined CT do not migrate north by those escaping the other states in the northeast.
They are to some extent. However, because of NH's decentralized nature in that towns have a lot of autonomy and decide things for themselves, it provides a buffer. So if towns in the southern part of the state or bigger towns in NH start to take on a MA mentality, rural NH, areas of central NH and north NH are not. For example, where I live it would not even cross somebody's mind that they have the power to stop a neighbor from having chickens or farm animals, shooting guns, growing gardens, erecting fencing and out-buildings of their choice, etc. So while some transplants may influence towns to take on laws and policies and regulations that resemble the craphole they came from, there are still plenty of towns where this will not be the case.
A side note: to help protect the rural folk and small towns from being controlled by the population centers, I do think it would be neat if the Senate was based upon county and not population. For example, each county gets two senators regardless of population.
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