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This is my first post on City Data, and I'm sure these "We're moving here, what's it like" posts are tiresome, so I truly appreciate any advice you all have to share. I've read most of the posts in the first 4 or 5 pages, and you seem like a helpful group. I apologize if this is long-winded, but when asking for advice, I try to give as much info upfront as I can.
I have a job opportunity at my company's office in Nashua. It's a pretty decent position, about 50% remote work, and my family and I have been looking for a reason to leave Tacoma, WA and try someplace new. We'll likely move in June of this year.
We have 2 kids, 7 and 5, whom we homeschool. We have a dog. We really enjoy outdoor activities, as well as participating in local community, like farmers markets and local businesses.
I've done some real estate "research" on Zillow, and it seems like the rental market is fairly expensive compared to the for-sale market, especially for a place that meets our needs (yard, garage, 3br/2ba) so we might wind up looking at buying a house right away. I understand and have considered the effect of property taxes on overall living cost, and the math still seems to lean toward purchasing.
We're looking for a place within an hour of Nashua that is mostly safe (Tacoma is not very safe, and we're not generally fearful people, but my wife stays home, and we prefer not to have crazies knocking on our door), people are generally neighborly, has sidewalks, a farmers market, and decent places to eat and drink. School system is not a huge priority.
I know that's pretty much everyone's ultimate wish list in a place to live, but I'm hoping I might get a ranking of places within an hour or so of Nashua that fit those categories. Manchester, Nashua, Milford, and Derry return the most results for my real estate search, but obviously that's not the best way to find a town to live in.
The hiring manager for my new position suggested living in Southern Maine to avoid high property taxes, but it doesn't seem like trading slightly lower property tax for a state income tax makes much sense. Maybe I'm missing something?
I hope to come out for a long weekend in April to see what's what, but it would be excellent to have some kind of direction beforehand.
I live in Nashua and I love it here, but the property taxes are outrageous. Check out Hudson and Litchfield - much better property taxes (and probably school system). The traffic over the bridge to Nashua is a nightmare during rush hour, but otherwise is fine. Milford is very "townie" which can be good or bad, depending on what you do and don't like. Great restaurants though! And again, lower property taxes. Derry has pretty high property taxes. Manchester's are lower, but the school system isn't great.
I think Hudson might be my first choice if I were to move....
Normally I'd say rent for a while first, but that can be difficult with a dog
I started by making a list of my "must have" items (acreage, fast Internet, no wacky town politics, not in a flood plain, etc), and then made a list of towns within the right transit time and which could meet my requirements.
Bear in mind that anyplace within commutable distance to the 495 corridor & Boston will have elevated housing prices due to all the MA escapees moving in. It helps to look at towns further from the highways; commuters want an easy on-ramp for their daily slog down US-3 & I-93.
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Originally Posted by stonewallmike
The hiring manager for my new position suggested living in Southern Maine to avoid high property taxes, but it doesn't seem like trading slightly lower property tax for a state income tax makes much sense. Maybe I'm missing something?
ME would be a long commute to Nashua for the days you're not working from home.
Some people see the big NH tax bill, (most of which goes to the local school system) and somehow are more comfortable paying sales & income taxes to the state in drips and drabs instead of writing big biannual checks to the town.
I like how most NH taxation is hyper-local.
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Originally Posted by stonewallmike
We're looking for a place within an hour of Nashua that is mostly safe (Tacoma is not very safe, and we're not generally fearful people, but my wife stays home, and we prefer not to have crazies knocking on our door), people are generally neighborly, has sidewalks, a farmers market, and decent places to eat and drink. School system is not a huge priority.
With the possible exception of Nashua & Manchester proper, anywhere in S.NH is going to be safer than Tacoma. And you'd want to avoid towns on the Massachusetts side of the border, not so much for safety as because Mass income tax is almost as high as Maine income tax.
Living in small town NH, the only unsolicited knock on my door comes from my state reps/state senator trying to get my vote every two years. But then my town has no traffic lights, no sidewalks, and more foxes and deer than people. We do have a farmers market and more than one decent place to eat and drink.
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Originally Posted by stonewallmike
I know that's pretty much everyone's ultimate wish list in a place to live, but I'm hoping I might get a ranking of places within an hour or so of Nashua that fit those categories. Manchester, Nashua, Milford, and Derry return the most results for my real estate search, but obviously that's not the best way to find a town to live in.
Are you looking for a town center where you can use the sidewalks to get from your home to shopping, a farmer's market, and places to eat and drink? Because that would limit your options considerably (see the "Walkable downtowns" thread).
I started by making a list of my "must have" items (acreage, fast Internet, no wacky town politics, not in a flood plain, etc), and then made a list of towns within the right transit time and which could meet my requirements.
Yes! This is essentially what I'm trying to do! Although, wacky town politics might be a draw for me, we don't have town government to speak of here, I'd kind of like to see how it works How did you determine those characteristics of the towns within your commute radius?
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I like how most NH taxation is hyper-local.
I LOVE this idea! Even though we homeschool, I come from a family of public school employees and I wholeheartedly support good public education.
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With the possible exception of Nashua & Manchester proper, anywhere in S.NH is going to be safer than Tacoma. And you'd want to avoid towns on the Massachusetts side of the border, not so much for safety as because Mass income tax is almost as high as Maine income tax.
There are a handful of reasons I don't want to live in MA, and this is certainly among them. Crime wise, according to a website called Moderator cut: link removed, competitor site, Tacoma is in the 98th percentile for crime, and Manchester is in the 85th, and Nashua is in the 54th. We've had our cars broken into and stolen, and there are homeless people and drug addicts everywhere, but it's just sort of a fact of life that you deal with. We don't really think about it, to be honest.
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Are you looking for a town center where you can use the sidewalks to get from your home to shopping, a farmer's market, and places to eat and drink? Because that would limit your options considerably (see the "Walkable downtowns" thread).
We would like a place with a town center nearby, but the sidewalks are because I'm a runner, and really prefer running outdoors to a treadmill We're pretty used to driving to get any place we want to be, because it's usually raining here.
Forget ME, the tax is not much better when you include property plus income tax and the commute is a killer.
If you're homeschooling, focus on tax rate to decide towns. Sidewalks are not very common around NH other than the "big" cities, since the state is mostly rural.
We lived in Milford for a year and loved it. People are very friendly, has sidewalks & good restaurants. There are places you can walk to, like the library, the restaurants, the oval.
We also lived in Nashua, but far from downtown so there was few sidewalks and places to walk. Since it's bigger we couldn't walk to places other than a 7-11, a strip mall with few restaurants and a drugstore. Every where else required driving.
Maine to Nashua would be a heinous commute, just sayin'.
I don't believe I saw your budget, so without that information, I would suggest you also look at Hollis, Amherst and Bedford. All an easy commute to Nashua and extremely safe and family-friendly.
ETA: Some apartment complexes DO allow dogs, btw. I stayed at Hampshire Green in Bedford when I first moved to NH and I had a dog. It was also good as they offered different lease lengths (1 yr, 6 mos, 3 mos, month-to-month, etc.) which was great when I was looking for a house and didn't know when I was really going to need to move. I believe Heritage on Merrimack in Bedford also allows dogs. Anyway, I can understand why you might not have to move twice, but if the big issue is the dog, take a look around, you may find something.
If you decide to live in a smaller town, be aware that high speed internet access is not guaranteed. The best way to be sure a house can get it is that the house already has it. Don't rely on a carrier's coverage maps.
Don't live in Maine. You'll have to get away from the coast and I-95 corridor to find affordable housing, guaranteeing you'll enjoy a 3-4 hr round-trip commute.
Unless you live in the downtown of one of NH's "larger" cities, crime is pretty negligible here. Violent crime, except for the ubiquitous domestic violence issues, is nearly non-existent in the smaller communities.
Watch out for recently built housing developments with HOAs, restrictive C&Cs
Renting for a while is always preferable, helps get a better feel for the traffic and personality of the dozens of towns within your stated commutable distance.
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Originally Posted by stonewallmike
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I started by making a list of my "must have" items (acreage, fast Internet, no wacky town politics, not in a flood plain, etc), and then made a list of towns within the right transit time and which could meet my requirements.
Yes! This is essentially what I'm trying to do! Although, wacky town politics might be a draw for me, we don't have town government to speak of here, I'd kind of like to see how it works How did you determine those characteristics of the towns within your commute radius?
I used a few map sites to get a rough estimate of towns that meet my drive time requirements.
Overlaid FEMA flood maps to redline very flood-prone towns (and parts of towns in flood plains).
Most towns publish online the budget (warrant) and often the minutes from monthly meetings. Of particular interest is the zoning board -- if you'd kind of like to see how it works, attend a ZBA meeting.
One of my prime criteria was no HOA -- I told my agent that I didn't even want to hear about any house that was in a recently built housing development, nor any house that required signing Homeowners Association paperwork. Before I made an offer, I researched the property and deed, including any restrictive covenants. Some older developments in NH might not have a HOA proper, but come with oddly restrictive covenants attached to the deed.
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We would like a place with a town center nearby, but the sidewalks are because I'm a runner, and really prefer running outdoors to a treadmill We're pretty used to driving to get any place we want to be, because it's usually raining here.
Milford would be my choice. Easy commute to Nashua, compact and pretty town square (referred to as the "oval") mostly friendly people and some areas even have natural gas availability (important for cost efficient heating). Plenty of sparsely travelled roads in the area for jogging.
Maine to Nashua would be a heinous commute, just sayin'.
I don't believe I saw your budget, so without that information, I would suggest you also look at Hollis, Amherst and Bedford. All an easy commute to Nashua and extremely safe and family-friendly.
Our budget is around $300k. I prefer to have some projects around the house to keep me busy, so I'm looking for a house that's livable but needs updates. I guess proximity to a Lowe's or Home Depot should also be a consideration
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Originally Posted by Merjolie8
Forget ME, the tax is not much better when you include property plus income tax and the commute is a killer.
We lived in Milford for a year and loved it. People are very friendly, has sidewalks & good restaurants. There are places you can walk to, like the library, the restaurants, the oval.
Thank you! Maine is pretty much out at this point, but Milford is looking better and better!
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Originally Posted by KCZ
If you decide to live in a smaller town, be aware that high speed internet access is not guaranteed. The best way to be sure a house can get it is that the house already has it. Don't rely on a carrier's coverage maps.
Renting for a while is always preferable, helps get a better feel for the traffic and personality of the dozens of towns within your stated commutable distance.
I used a few map sites to get a rough estimate of towns that meet my drive time requirements.
Overlaid FEMA flood maps to redline very flood-prone towns (and parts of towns in flood plains).
Most towns publish online the budget (warrant) and often the minutes from monthly meetings. Of particular interest is the zoning board -- if you'd kind of like to see how it works, attend a ZBA meeting.
One of my prime criteria was no HOA -- I told my agent that I didn't even want to hear about any house that was in a recently built housing development, nor any house that required signing Homeowners Association paperwork. Before I made an offer, I researched the property and deed, including any restrictive covenants. Some older developments in NH might not have a HOA proper, but come with oddly restrictive covenants attached to the deed.
Nonesuch, I can't thank you enough for all the incredible insight!! I had no considered the HOA/town covenant aspect! So far, my rental searches have not turned up very much. Is there a better place than Zillow where NH rentals can be found?
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Originally Posted by Wells5
Milford would be my choice. Easy commute to Nashua, compact and pretty town square (referred to as the "oval") mostly friendly people and some areas even have natural gas availability (important for cost efficient heating). Plenty of sparsely travelled roads in the area for jogging.
Thank you! I have yet to hear anything negative about Milford, it will definitely be high on our list!
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Normally I'd say rent for a while first, but that can be difficult with a dog
How did you determine those characteristics of the towns within your commute radius?
Watch out for recently built housing developments with HOAs, restrictive C&Cs
