Moving to New Hampshire and am clueless. HELP! (Derry, Salem: sales, homes)

[csette663]

Hi, We are a family of 5 looking to move from Illinios to New Hampshire. We would like to live in an quaint, upscale town that is fairly small (5000-10000), has a cute downtown area, a good rec. program, good schools. We would like to be no more than 20 miles from Lawrence, Ma, where my husband will be working. We would also consider towns in Mass that fit this bill. I have been on line constantly googling towns and mapping stuff and since I know nothing about any of these towns, it is getting very confusing. Some towns I was wondering about are Pelham, Salem, Windham, Hampton Falls, South Hampton, Atkinson in New Hampshire and Georgetown and West Newbury in Mass. Does anyone have any insights on these towns or can suggest others? Thanks so much!

[buck naked]

I would not describe Pelham, Salem or Windham as quaint or small, although Windham is upscale. Atkinson may fit the bill but I'm not sure of the population. Hampton Falls and South Hampton are seacoast towns.

I have friends in Georgetown, MA and they love it! A little bit of country!

[buck naked]

http://www.nh.gov/oep/programs/DataCenter/Population/documents/pub06.pdf (broken link)
^^^ a list of town by population as of 2006.

Salem population is roughly 30K.

[aponeil]

I went to high school in West Newbury, MA at Pentucket Regional. It is considered a very good school district. Towns include Merrimac, West Newbury, and Groveland. I would recommend any for that small town feel. This is a pricey area now. Also Amesbury, MA is a great small town that has had a major turnaround since I went to school many moons ago. As the city sprawled out, these 2 areas have gone way up in price and are quite lovely. Amesbury and Merrimac would be the best bet for proximity to Lawrence for driving, as they are right on rt 495.

In southern/coastal NH, I highly recommend looking at Exeter. SAU 16 has 6 feeder towns for their high school: Kensington, Newfields, Stratham, Exeter, E.Kingston, & Brentwood. Kensington is just over the border from Amesbury on the border and is very upscale in parts, yet still quite rural with lots of farmland. No real small downtown, because most of the towns around there use the Exeter town center. Southhampton is also cute and on the border, but has a VERY small elementary school, but it's high school commutes to Hampton to go to Winnicunnet High School - a decent school. Seabrook also participates in the Winnicunnet highschool, but does not have the best reputation for this area. It is just an old town with a long history that it can't seem to shake (lower income and home to the nuclear power plant).

I would not consider Plaistow NH, Newton NH, and Haverhill MA area - though also close to 495 - they do not have the same reputation as the others and schools are not as good.

[Valerie C]

csette, what area of Illinois are you moving from? Several years back we relocated back to New England from a suburb of St. Louis, and while we were there, we spent quite a bit of time in the Alton IL area, visiting the orchards, exploring the bluffs along the river, etc. When we came back here, we felt somewhat claustrophobic for all of the trees (we got so used to being able to see for miles and miles, watching approaching storms, etc)

One thing that you'll want to be aware of is that New Hampshire has no sales or income tax, however, with your husband is working in Massachusetts, you'll be paying income tax to the state of Massachusetts. In addition, since it's the only tax that NH residents pay, the property tax in most NH towns is significantly higher than the taxes would be on a comparable property in Massachusetts.

A couple of towns to consider in NH would be Windham, Bedford. Londonderry has great schools, but may be more populated than you are comfortable with. Both of these towns have brand new high schools, great rec. programs, and are considerably more upscale than other nearby towns. Bedford would be more than 20 miles from Lawrence. You mentioned Atkinson, so you could also consider Plaistow, both are part of the Timberlane School System or possibly Hampstead, very nice town, quaint, good elementary schools, but the big draw for Hampstead is that the high school tuitions to Pinkerton Academy in Derry, excellent HS, laid out in campus style.

Aponeil covered the seacoast towns, but I wasn't aware that South Hampton was now going to Winnicunnet. They've been tuitioned to Amesbury (MA) High for decades... Amesbury has in the last couple of decades become much more desirable place to live, and has the most beautiful Victorian homes along it's main streets leading to a recently revitalized downtown. In addition to West Newbury, Groveland and Merrimac that Aponeil mentioned (Pentucket Schools) also consider Georgetown, and possibly Boxford (Masconomet district w/ Topsfield) Very suburban/rural, quaint and highly regarded.

Here is a link that you might find helpful to research some of these towns instead of googling everything (you can drive yourself crazy doing that!!) I hope you'll gain some of the info you seek from the NH forum, a very helpful place to visit
NH Community Profiles
NH School District Profile

[Dwatted Wabbit]

Milford.

Just drive farther.

[impudentangie]

Hey,

I actually live in Hampton and I love it! Im 18 and Ive lived here my entire life. Its a very safe community with great schools and anywhere you live would be very close to Hampton Beach but far enough away to avoid tourists. The rec department here is pretty good, lots of sports activities. Downtown is fairly small, however there are plenty of cute places to eat, and there is a small movie theatre as well. Its going to be really hard to part from here for college next year!

If you have any other questions, feel free to ask!

[buck naked]

Londonderry HS has the lowest drop out rate in the region. OTOH Pinkerton Academy had the highest percentage of dropouts — 2.7 percent. Last year alone, 92 students left school.


Percentage of dropouts by graduation year

School%2004%2005%2006%2007


Pinkerton Academy (Derry)4.1% 3.7% 3% 2.7%
Londonderry Senior High School 2.7% 2.2% 1.7% 0.7%
Pelham High School 1.4% 3.2% 1.1% 1.8%
Salem High School 1.6% 0.7% 1% 1%
Sanborn Regional High School 2.9% 1.7% 2.6% 2.5%
Timberlane Regional High School 3.3% 1.9% 2.7% 1.9%



Pinkerton is the largest high school in the state, but not the best.

[buck naked]

comments from kids that attended PA -

UnionLeader.com - New Hampshire news - Dress code being considered at Pinkerton Academy - Wednesday, Feb. 27, 2008

[dognh]

Originally Posted by csette663

Hi, We are a family of 5 looking to move from Illinios to New Hampshire. We would like to live in an quaint, upscale town that is fairly small (5000-10000), has a cute downtown area, a good rec. program, good schools. We would like to be no more than 20 miles from Lawrence, Ma, where my husband will be working. We would also consider towns in Mass that fit this bill. I have been on line constantly googling towns and mapping stuff and since I know nothing about any of these towns, it is getting very confusing. Some towns I was wondering about are Pelham, Salem, Windham, Hampton Falls, South Hampton, Atkinson in New Hampshire and Georgetown and West Newbury in Mass. Does anyone have any insights on these towns or can suggest others? Thanks so much!

The good thing about working in Lawrence is that you can take advantage of backroad communiting if you pick the right town.

For upscale living in Mass. I would look at N. Andover, Boxford, Georgetown, or West Newbury

For more reasonable living in Mass, I would check out Merrimac or Amesbury.

In NH, housing is cheaper, but property taxes higher. I would look at Pelham or atkinson or Windham.

If you want to get closer to the seacoast, still get backroad access, and good schools look at East Kingston, Kensigton or Brentwood, or even Hampton Falls