On my way out to NH!! need help :( (Laconia, Littleton: relocation, real estate)

[MrRapoza:)]

Hey everybody, I was reading through the moving to New Hampshire posts and theyre all pretty helpful but don't really answer my questions exactly. I'm currently workin a concept art job in Peoria, IL and I have to say this is the worst town in the world . I've never been to a more commercialized crap pit... The air is unfit to breathe!

So I need help! I'm planning on moving to NH and I wanna be really close to franconia notch... I'm hoping I can just spend days there working on my art rather than sitting in my room in peoria!

My problem is that I'd be looking for an apartment since I never know what kind of job I'll be offered and don't know how long I'd stay. I don't really wanna live in a big town either, just something small with local shops and all that. Would Littleton be good? I can't seem to find other places that offer apartments close to franconia.

Any help would be awesome! thanks!

[Katlakat]

Hi Rapoza!

I just moved from Pittsfield, Illinois. And its exactly like the title says, the pitts. LOL We visited Peoria once. It was a nice change from the farming communities down south of you. We made some friends up there.

But I understand about Illinois, it just wasn't for us either.

We moved in September to the lakes region, better known as "tourist capital" of NH. Haven't been up to the notch yet. Its been a heavy winter this year and I think only brave souls to ski and snow mobile have headed that far up there.

From what I gather, there isn't a ton of jobs or work the farther north you go. If you want beautiful serenity, and possibly work from home, up there and near Littleton is definitely the place to be.

Here is a fun link. Its a snapshot of the front pages of the local newspapers from Laconia to Littleton. Click on the newspaper to view it. Head over to the classifieds to browse apartments for rent.

NewHampshireLakesAndMountains.com

Things are about to change as we head from winter to spring, and even more so from spring to summer, with Memorial day marking the start of it all. From what I'm told by the locals, *the snowbirds* return from Florida to their summer cottages on the lake and the ones who rented it for the winter leave to go elsewhere too. Most of my elderly customers live in both places all year round. Summer here/winter FL.

Keep your eye on the classifieds in the areas you're interested for something to pop up. Try craigslist as well. Browsing craigslist for houses for rent gave us a great idea of the cost of living in an area too. craigslist: new hampshire classifieds for jobs, apartments, personals, for sale, services, community, and events

If you're interested in learning a little bit about Franconia notch, as the community you might become a solid part of, have a look-see at this website.

Franconia Notch Chamber of Commerce

This lists the hospitals, churches, employment offices, private schools, banks, architects, and apartment rentals. Their phone numbers, addresses, and usually their website address.

"The Notch" as its referred to is a hot spot for tourists, so you can easily view the scenic pictures in any of the welcome packets and brochures, of which you can have delivered to your house free of charge complete with a huge map of NH just to get you goin (and excited about your trip) right here:Welcome to New Hampshire

Hit the "Request the NH guide book" and select the region you want. The pictures are wonderful, the guide became my best travel buddy, and the huge map hung on my door for about 4 months or so, as a reminder to properly leave Illinois and head to the mountains ASAP!!

We camped along the great lakes from Illinois to NH on a "vacation relocation" style trip. It was the best!!

I really hope my post was helpful to you. Since I don't live in the region you're lookin' for, I can't really comment about the real way of life for those areas. But I can research until my fingers go numb, and I can certainly help you the best I can. Just holler.

And welcome to NH, the most magical and beautiful place in America.

[DareToDream]

Originally Posted by MrRapoza:)

Hey everybody, I was reading through the moving to New Hampshire posts and theyre all pretty helpful but don't really answer my questions exactly. I'm currently workin a concept art job in Peoria, IL and I have to say this is the worst town in the world . I've never been to a more commercialized crap pit... The air is unfit to breathe!

So I need help! I'm planning on moving to NH and I wanna be really close to franconia notch... I'm hoping I can just spend days there working on my art rather than sitting in my room in peoria!

My problem is that I'd be looking for an apartment since I never know what kind of job I'll be offered and don't know how long I'd stay. I don't really wanna live in a big town either, just something small with local shops and all that. Would Littleton be good? I can't seem to find other places that offer apartments close to franconia.

Any help would be awesome! thanks!

Hello MrRapoza - Welcome to the forum! We live in Littleton. We've lived here for 2 years. What kind of work do you do and what specific things are you looking for?

Franconia seems to be a nice area, more expensive than the Littleton area, though. If you can "bring your job" with you (i.e. telecommute) you should have no problems money-wise <g>

Franconia notch is, I dunno, maybe 15-20 minutes from Littleton proper? I'm a poor judge of mileage and don't keep track of how long it takes to get somewhere, so that's my best 'guestimate.'

Around Franconia, you have Lincoln, Littleton, Bethlehem, Whitefield, Lisbon isn't too far, not sure how far Woodsville is from there. One thing to be careful of is how you feel about what I call "wacky weather" in the notch <g>. I had posted in another thread that if you don't like driving through/being in mini-blizzards, if you are going to work above Franconia Notch, live above it - Franconia, Littleton, Bethlehem, etc. If you are going to work below the notch, live below the notch, in Lincoln for example. There can be blizzard and white-out conditions in the notch during winter and either no snow, or very little snow/wind above and below.

There's a fairly recent thread here on Littleton, where I posted some links for the town. We have a fairly active art "community" in the area. There are many artists, craftspeople, writers, musicians, etc. We have a Main Street that does not appear to have been hurt by the box stores that are also in the area. We have a lot of tourists come through all year round.

Like Kat - we have a fair share of those who spend the nicer months up here, but head south for the winters.

I have not seen or heard of any "luxury apartments" here in Littleton, although there may be some that I just don't know about because we couldn't have an apartment with our dog, we needed a house - there are apartments and sometimes houses for rent. Many of the real estate offices also have rentals. When we first moved here we saw an ad by Winn Associates (you can google them) for a house for rent and went through them to rent an old farmhouse. We bought our current home in 2007. Rents vary - so you have to look around. One thing I would recommend, at least to start out, is that you make sure heat is included in the rent (many places do this).

Up this way, most places pay less than what you would make south of here (not sure how it would compare to where you are now). We did not find this to be a problem for us, but we aren't people who do a lot of spending and make use of a lot of the free activities around.

It's pretty much all in what you're looking for. With apartments, make sure you look at them before renting. From what I've heard, some can be quite run-down, drafty, and not what a lot of people want. One of our friends rented a place awhile back and to first look at it, it looked like a dump, but...with a little creativity when it came to decorating, it's really a nice place, so if you see what looks like a "dump" - if the neighborhood seems nice, the building is safe, it's pretty safe to rent it and create your own space. If you can though, find out about insulation - especially in an older place. When we rented the old farmhouse, the heat was included and it's a good thing - we had no idea what kind of insulation it had and concluded it probably had little to none, as when the wind blew it came through the walls and no matter how often the furnace ran, the place was still COLD! <g>

Anyhooo, we came from NYS and are happy with our move. Living in the rental was a challenge, but we knew it wouldn't be forever, so we made the best of it...check out the fairly recent thread on Littleton for the links there. I hope this helps!

[MrRapoza:)]

Thanks a lot! I'm an artist for a videogame company and my job doesnt really need me here(can work via internet). I'm curious now on the home rentals... How much does that usually cost a month? I have family in Carver, MA so I'll probably stop there and then go up and visit apartments one of these days in the coming months(I hope). Otherwise I don't really have a good easy way of checking these places out before the move. I read that apartments vary from $450-650 or around that. I'm not big on appearance I just wanna be somewhere beautiful for a change .

Thanks!

[DareToDream]

Originally Posted by MrRapoza:)

Thanks a lot! I'm an artist for a videogame company and my job doesnt really need me here(can work via internet). I'm curious now on the home rentals... How much does that usually cost a month? I have family in Carver, MA so I'll probably stop there and then go up and visit apartments one of these days in the coming months(I hope). Otherwise I don't really have a good easy way of checking these places out before the move. I read that apartments vary from $450-650 or around that. I'm not big on appearance I just wanna be somewhere beautiful for a change .

Thanks!

Hi again - The old farmhouse we rented was $1200 and included the heat...the place was HUGE, more room than we actually needed, but the only place available at the time we moved that would allow our dog - she's not a tiny dog - had she been smaller, we would have had more available to us.

I've seen other houses advertised for rent from $900-$1500, so there's a pretty big spread. Apartments are anywhere from $450-$1000 - it depends on the area, the size of the apartment, etc. I don't think I'm supposed to post links to realtors, but if you'd like I can DM you some of the realtors in the area that have rentals.

You can also check these newspaper links:
NewHampshireLakesAndMountains.com
and
Denied:1up! Software

Being able to "bring your job" with you is a big plus - that's what I did <g>

[MrRapoza:)]

that'd be great if you could DM me the info! Its only me, my girlfriend and my cat so I dont think I'll need to rent a home... I guess I'm looking more for an apartment but I keep hearing theyre pretty bad in littleton, granted I dont really care that much but it'd be nice to not have to worry about fixing up too much. Did you check out any while you were there? how are they mostly set up? Any info would be greatly appreciated!

[DareToDream]

Originally Posted by MrRapoza:)

that'd be great if you could DM me the info! Its only me, my girlfriend and my cat so I dont think I'll need to rent a home... I guess I'm looking more for an apartment but I keep hearing theyre pretty bad in littleton, granted I dont really care that much but it'd be nice to not have to worry about fixing up too much. Did you check out any while you were there? how are they mostly set up? Any info would be greatly appreciated!

I just DM'd you 4 websites. With a cat, you probably won't have much trouble - cats seem to be "more acceptable" We didn't check any of the apartments because as soon as we said, "we have a dog" we were told they didn't allow them, so had to go for a house instead. I believe one of the sites I sent you has a picture of at least 1 or 2 of their apartments.

They can be pretty hit & miss, so you really need to check them out for yourself - if you contact the places that have apartments for rent, they may take pics for you to see if you wanted to do it long distance.

[handyman87123]

littleton nh is a beautiful little town, this year new hampshire broke the 100 year snow fall record, so if you like snow in the winter and and do not mind the cold it is beautiful here, i live outside of rochester and not far from the lakes region, it is a beautiful state and i love it here,