New Hampshire vs. Albany NY area (Manchester, Concord: real estate, property taxes, apartments)

[zeno44]

Hey Folks,

I'm looking into a possible move to either New Hampshire or upstate New York, specifically the Albany NY area. I know both are close to outdoor activities, plenty of water, forests, and mountains. Any opinions on which would be better, more friendly to outsiders, more expensive, etc. Any cautions? And by the way, no need to mention snow and winter weather...I'm originally from Minnesota, so I know it well.

Thanks!

[DareToDream]

Originally Posted by zeno44

Hey Folks,

I'm looking into a possible move to either New Hampshire or upstate New York, specifically the Albany NY area. I know both are close to outdoor activities, plenty of water, forests, and mountains. Any opinions on which would be better, more friendly to outsiders, more expensive, etc. Any cautions? And by the way, no need to mention snow and winter weather...I'm originally from Minnesota, so I know it well.

Thanks!

Good morning Zeno - My son lives in the Saratoga area, although not in Saratoga proper, and works in Albany, NY. I'm don't know what kind of work you do, or what part of NH you're considering. I'm going to guess you're considering southern parts?

My son is able to make more $$ working in Albany than he would here in NH - of course in NY, he also has the NYS income tax that comes out of each paycheck. His property taxes on a smaller house than we have and with less land are more than what we pay in northern NH, not sure how it would compare with other areas. His weather this winter was very similar to ours in northern NH.

I can't say for sure, but I would imagine the biggest difference would be the NYS income tax, and, depending on your work, your salary.

With regard to how friendly people are towards outsiders, I can't answer that. People in Albany are friendly, as are those we've met here in northern NH. Like any city, Albany has its share of problems with crime.

My suggestion would be to visit both Albany and the area you are thinking of in NH and see which one strikes the right cord with you. In the meantime, if you could be more specific as to which area of NH you're interested in and your line of work, that would also be helpful. Things vary greatly in NH between the northern areas and southern areas, at least IMO.

We moved from the Mid-Hudson region of NY (about halfway between NYC and Albany) to northern NH and it is cheaper up here than it was there - but there are not as many jobs up here. Hubby is on his "second career" as a woodworker (used to be IBM) - when he did that in NY, he made about the same as he does up here, but take home pay was quite a bit less in NY because of the taxes taken out of each check.

[zeno44]

Thanks, DareToDream. The mention of the state income tax difference is a good point. I'm working as a freelancer now, so I could get hammered by the tax in NYS it sounds like. I worked in software for a long time, and I've heard the capital region is up and coming in that area (good to know in case I wanted to get back into the mix). But in the mean time, the taxes sound a little daunting.

As far as NH, we were considering the southern part actually, down by Concord in general. A couple of internet searches suggest apartments aren't that common, or they're listed somewhere other than Apartment Finder or craigslist. There's no way we'd commit to buying a house 'til we explored and experienced a place for quite awhile. Albany did appear to have more rentals...so that's another consideration.

[GregW]

I have lived in Guilderland, NY and Londonderry, NH. Guilderland has changed so much in the forty years I have been away I cannot say much about it. Londonderry has grown three times in the last 25 years and no longer is a small rural town but a congested part of Boston- Manchester suburbia. What you pay in NYS income tax is made up by what you pay in NH properly taxes.

The Albany area provides access to the Adirondacks for recreation as southern NH provides access to the White Mountains. The local scenery, once you are clear of the suburbs, is quite pleasing in both areas. The Mohawk Valley as well as the Hudson are just plain beautiful. Southern NH has its twenty miles of seacoast and NY has Lake Champlain.

I would have difficulty choosing between them.

[nicolem]

Originally Posted by zeno44

Thanks, DareToDream. The mention of the state income tax difference is a good point. I'm working as a freelancer now, so I could get hammered by the tax in NYS it sounds like. I worked in software for a long time, and I've heard the capital region is up and coming in that area (good to know in case I wanted to get back into the mix). But in the mean time, the taxes sound a little daunting.

As far as NH, we were considering the southern part actually, down by Concord in general. A couple of internet searches suggest apartments aren't that common, or they're listed somewhere other than Apartment Finder or craigslist. There's no way we'd commit to buying a house 'til we explored and experienced a place for quite awhile. Albany did appear to have more rentals...so that's another consideration.

Many of the apartments in the Concord area have been turned into condos. I personally would avoid most of the apartments on Loudon Road. Also-anything by the prison-the homes which have been converted into apartments- as there are many registered sex offenders there-you can see on the list for yourself. We recently moved out of Concord-Penacook. Our apartment was great when we moved in-2001 but it really has gone down hill. One of our neighbors had a grow house in their apartment and just a week or two in the newspaper the apartment across the hall and down one from our old place-guys broke into the sliding glass door in the middle of the night and stole some things. The guys were scared off because the woman screamed and locked herself in the bedroom and called 9-11. I am really not surprised as we had seen the writing on the wall with this place but it is a shame because the area itself is safe-they have just been letting a lot of questionable people into the complex who really brought the place down-and this was one of the highest priced apartments in Concord-Penacook.


Concord is a very safe place to live-just really do your homework if you are choosing an apartment.

[DareToDream]

Originally Posted by zeno44

Thanks, DareToDream. The mention of the state income tax difference is a good point. I'm working as a freelancer now, so I could get hammered by the tax in NYS it sounds like. I worked in software for a long time, and I've heard the capital region is up and coming in that area (good to know in case I wanted to get back into the mix). But in the mean time, the taxes sound a little daunting.

As far as NH, we were considering the southern part actually, down by Concord in general. A couple of internet searches suggest apartments aren't that common, or they're listed somewhere other than Apartment Finder or craigslist. There's no way we'd commit to buying a house 'til we explored and experienced a place for quite awhile. Albany did appear to have more rentals...so that's another consideration.

Renting is definitely the way to go until you find the right place for you! The capital region of NY is up and coming from what I've heard from those who are in that area. When looking for an apartment in Albany (if you're going to live in Albany proper) I would suggest you post a note on the NY forum asking about areas to avoid. There are some areas that can be "iffy" in terms of drugs/crime, etc.

Valerie C is a realtor on this forum who may be able to tell you the best places to search online for an apartment in the Concord area - or someone on this forum who lives in the area may know. When we first moved up here, we rented through a real estate firm, so you could check the real estate firms in the area and see if they have rentals, as well as a Concord area newspaper - they may have apartment/house rentals as well. We have a dog, so it limited us in terms of renting.

The state taxes in NY on top of the property taxes are pretty much why we decided to leave NY....

[DareToDream]

Originally Posted by GregW

I have lived in Guilderland, NY and Londonderry, NH. Guilderland has changed so much in the forty years I have been away I cannot say much about it. Londonderry has grown three times in the last 25 years and no longer is a small rural town but a congested part of Boston- Manchester suburbia. What you pay in NYS income tax is made up by what you pay in NH properly taxes.

The Albany area provides access to the Adirondacks for recreation as southern NH provides access to the White Mountains. The local scenery, once you are clear of the suburbs, is quite pleasing in both areas. The Mohawk Valley as well as the Hudson are just plain beautiful. Southern NH has its twenty miles of seacoast and NY has Lake Champlain.

I would have difficulty choosing between them.

Hi Greg - We did not find the bolded part above to be true at all. The property taxes in NY were high when we left 2 years ago and have climbed even higher since we've been gone. If I'm not mistaken (and I may be) the NYS Income Tax rate has also climbed.

NY has some beautiful areas along the Hudson and in the Adirondacks, for sure. We thought of moving up there before we made our move here, but again, the taxes were prohibitive with increases coming.........

[zeno44]

Thanks, GregW and nicolem.

[JFRRACING]

Hi, up until 6 years ago i lived in new hampshire my whole life and now i live in new york. i am moving out of new york because the taxes here are rediculous and they keep going up. upstate ny is a nice place to visit or to vacation . if i had to do it again, i wouldn,t have moved here. that's why i'm moving out this summer. there are no jobs here, unless you want to work retail or in health care. new hampshire has much better paying jobs for sure. here the top paying job in my field is almost half of what i was making in new hampshire. as far as property tax offsetting the sales tax in new york, the property tax is just as high here. plus you have sales tax of 9.75% , income tax. so if you don't want to pay all this tax, i would move to new hampshire with out a dought. don't make the same mistake i made.

[DareToDream]

Originally Posted by JFRRACING

Hi, up until 6 years ago i lived in new hampshire my whole life and now i live in new york. i am moving out of new york because the taxes here are rediculous and they keep going up. upstate ny is a nice place to visit or to vacation . if i had to do it again, i wouldn,t have moved here. that's why i'm moving out this summer. there are no jobs here, unless you want to work retail or in health care. new hampshire has much better paying jobs for sure. here the top paying job in my field is almost half of what i was making in new hampshire. as far as property tax offsetting the sales tax in new york, the property tax is just as high here. plus you have sales tax of 9.75% , income tax. so if you don't want to pay all this tax, i would move to new hampshire with out a dought. don't make the same mistake i made.

Good morning Jfrracing - I forgot about the sales tax on everything on top of the income tax and property/school taxes in NY (see what 2 years can do?) If I remember correctly, the sales tax varies in the different counties/cities, doesn't it? If I remember correctly, we had the state sales tax plus the Dutchess County tax that was paid on purchases......

Where in NY are you located?