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Wolfeboro nh is a pretty resort type town on lake winnepasaki (sp).
For retirement, Londonderry is only 45 min dr to boston, yet a really pretty area. Also close to manchester airport (15 min).
We used to go camping when we were younger, but not so much now. We do love nature and my wife enjoys gardening. I like to ski, so winters there might be fun. Neither of us likes crowds or your typical tourist traps. If we move to NH, we'd probably be looking for land and space with some peace and quiet.
Coming from the west, I had to get used to the idea that if you want to be away from any cities, you usually end up losing the luxury of municipal water and sewer, unfortunately; or at least be relatively close to the city limit. You won't get much in terms of land unless you're away from most major cities in NH. Portsmouth is out of the question as beautiful as the city is. You're lucky to find any nice home for under $600K with any decent sized lot. Then again if you dont' want to be near busy area this wouldn't be my first choice (but very fun place to visit without it being crazy like Boston).
Price wise it doesn't get all that cheap relative to its size; nothing like down south like North Carolina obviously. But if you look around sometimes you'll find good deals. Again, 2-acres generally will mean it'll likely be either very expensive and/or having to deal with well water and sewer which we absolutely did not want. Depending on the location and generally, the water is too hard and of course the smell. The filtration system depending on what's in the water can mean a 3-stage system that can easily cost you over $10,000 depending on the model. I only know this as a friend of mine bought a house in Concord but it's near Loudon which is a gorgeous location but has well water with undesirable contaminants. But somehow it has natural gas piped in which is also bizarre.
There are towns by code that require 2-acre plot minimum from what I understand. I'm assuming it will be more remote as I can't think of one someone mentioned recently. Any regions near the lake will always be expensive. I guess the price is all relative but on the flip side, people here are nice in general (compare to Seattle where I moved from) and open-minded for the most part. They're definitely not like your small-town closed-minded mentality I've seen often living in Washington State for many years.
You're likely looking at anything north of 101 and 93 and along Rt. 16. Even a small city like Rochester is growing so rapidly (about 30 minutes from Portsmouth) that finding good real estate with 2-acres is becoming very difficult; that is, with a nice home.
And it hasn't been terribly snowy and the temperature has been somewhat mild (other than today, it's 2°F out right now which isn't very often). It's supposed to be this way for the next five years...which I'm assuming has to do with the rising temperature everywhere. I remember my grandmother in Michigan used to get 8-10 ft of snow easily during winter before the '80s but now, it's like here. Not as much. Which could be good (or bad) for retirement.
Rambling on, other than what seems like a high cost in real estate for a place that seems remote, it's a beautiful place to live. It has a relaxing feel compared to if you were in Massachusetts where everything is busy and chaotic.
Don't be afraid of a private well and septic.Wells are drilled,sometimes several hundred feet deep with a submersible pump that will last 25 or 30 years without service.Beautiful clean water .....without floride.
Any well designed septic system will give you a lifetime of service without problems.The tank must be pumped annually or semi annually depending on usage but it's only a few hundred $.
Add a generator to your home and you are totally self sufficient with no water and sewer bills......it's a nice feeling.
Don't be afraid of a private well and septic.Wells are drilled,sometimes several hundred feet deep with a submersible pump that will last 25 or 30 years without service.Beautiful clean water .....without floride.
Any well designed septic system will give you a lifetime of service without problems.The tank must be pumped annually or semi annually depending on usage but it's only a few hundred $.
Add a generator to your home and you are totally self sufficient with no water and sewer bills......it's a nice feeling.
Meh, id gladly pay for city water/sewer. especially when you add in the costs of maintaining systems to remove radon/arsenic/balance the PH, etc etc. I have had 2 houses with wells/septics and they are far far more expensive to maintain and operate than the house I had with public water/sewer. On the other hand, the benefits of living in the woods make it worth it and I wouldnt let it be a driving factor in a house purchase.
We'd like to have a large in ground pool, so I think municipal water and natural gas would be pretty important. I'm guessing this means we'd be in the southern portion of the state. Not sure what our budget will be for a home, but it would probably have to be under $800k.
As for our trip, should we expect any issues with bugs/pests (mosquitos, black flies. etc.) when visiting in late July? Can anyone recommend nice bed and breakfast type places to stay? What other things should we try to put on our itinerary during our visit? Nice restaurants, wineries, historical sites?
We'd like to have a large in ground pool, so I think municipal water and natural gas would be pretty important. I'm guessing this means we'd be in the southern portion of the state. Not sure what our budget will be for a home, but it would probably have to be under $800k.
As for our trip, should we expect any issues with bugs/pests (mosquitos, black flies. etc.) when visiting in late July? Can anyone recommend nice bed and breakfast type places to stay? What other things should we try to put on our itinerary during our visit? Nice restaurants, wineries, historical sites?
People with wells use contract water tank trucks to fill their pools. With a solar cover, it won't evaporate much so you top it off with well water.
New England has a big natural gas pipeline capacity problem. Your winter gas bills will have a pipeline surcharge in the winter. In 2019, oil is cheaper.
As a retiree, you kind of need to consider health care. Dartmouth-Hitchcock is the only Level I trauma center in the state and the only teaching hospital. Elsewhere in the state, it's, at best, 2nd tier regional hospitals. In the southern tier of the state, for a real medical problem, you're using Boston.
I lived in Portsmouth for a decade. I think that's the best place to live in the state. As a retiree, I'd consider the Seacoast, Hanover where you have all the Dartmouth College amenities, and maybe New London/Sunapee. YMMV.
We'd like to have a large in ground pool, so I think municipal water and natural gas would be pretty important.
Pools are a lot less common in New Hampshire than on Long Island, where the longer swimming season makes the expense more justifiable. However, many nice freshwater lakes and ponds around for swimming if you don't build the pool.
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As for our trip, should we expect any issues with bugs/pests (mosquitos, black flies. etc.) when visiting in late July? Can anyone recommend nice bed and breakfast type places to stay? What other things should we try to put on our itinerary during our visit? Nice restaurants, wineries, historical sites?
The St Gaudens historical site in Cornish, New Hampshire is well worth a visit. Also Strawberry Banke in Portsmouth. There are shaker community sights and museums in Canterbury and Enfield. Remick farm museum in Tamworth is a lovely spot; also check out the Barnstormers summer theater in Tamworth. Cranmore, in North Conway, had a true relic of a ski lift; not sure whether it's still in place. The lift served skiiers flocking to Cranmore on the Boston & Maine Railroad's "snow trains" out of North Station in the 1930s. Mt Washington has the cog railway to the summit. People say good things about Cathedral of the Pines.
Last edited by missionhill; 01-30-2019 at 10:30 AM..
Well...we had a nice drive up to NH and we put a total of 1000 miles on the car for the week. The lakes region was beautiful but too touristy for us and the traffic was pretty bad. We stayed up in Jackson for a few nights and it was pretty scenic...very enjoyable. We drove the Kancamagus Highway and stopped at a few places along the way. So beautiful up there! The Inn at Thorne Hill was nice. The downside was that the food was OK, but not fantastic.
We drive over to Portsmouth and stayed at a nice Bed and Breakfast close to downtown. Dining out was much better here and nightlife was also good. We also took a scenic drive up along the coast to Portland Maine, great seafood there was well!
We looked at a few homes that were listed on Zillow in the Bedford area and while the neighborhoods and homes were nice, it just didn't feel like home. We also realized that dining out is just as expensive in NH as NY and there is a 9% tax for this in NH which we didn't know about until we got there.
We'll probably go back in a few years and take another look around, but at this point we can honestly say we were not really "feeling it" in NH, so our prospects for moving there in retirement are lowered. Thanks all for the great information! It really helped!
We'll probably go back in a few years and take another look around, but at this point we can honestly say we were not really "feeling it" in NH, so our prospects for moving there in retirement are lowered. Thanks all for the great information! It really helped!
You can purchase a nice house on a nice street in Sebring, Florida. For about $150,000. If one desires to live in a higher expense town - go to Naples, Florida.
And also purchase a modest off lake home in New Hampshire in any of the smaller towns for the Summer. Many towns in New Hampshire have some sort of public beach if a swim is required.
Pools are an expensive item to maintain and all of the retirees that I know who have pools - never use them.
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