Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
You've probably heard this one before, whether here or offline: city living has turned into a nightmare, we want out, and not just by a couple miles.
"We" in this case are an early-'30s husband and wife, both with mid-career office professional jobs. We thrive where there is a good bond of community, and living right in Boston, where you're always just a face in the crowd, we had been missing this factor, even before "fear thy brother" became the national code. A little contradictory, we're also introverts who like some space.
That's reflected in our hobbies: travel, cooking, and a love of history that shows up in keeping old stuff running - whether it's video games, cars, window air conditioners. I think this is reflected in our politics, too: person-to-person we have an empathy-driven open-mindedness towards others that you might call socially liberal, but we also (very strongly) dislike public acts of showiness and holier-than-thou smugness.
Nowadays we're wondering if maybe that last part gels a lot better with NH than it does with MA. Maybe, maybe not. But we've been in Boston since undergrad, and it's the right time to start assessing what the right place to spend the next chapter of our future looks like.
So, just talking hypotheticals, I'm open for ideas. Not to drop everything and move in the next four months, but to scout towns, assess and observe, and see if we fall in love with anything.
I'll give a few more details to the profile above. We both grew up in suburbs (one of us East Coast, the other Midwest) that were probably a little larger, around 30,000+. We are definitely OK with something smaller - it's only around the very low thousands of people that it might not be a good fit. We prefer space, but there's an upper limit on that, too: backyard privacy would be nice, but multiple-acre properties aren't the right fit for us.
We like a healthy downtown - doesn't need to be huge, and "picturesque" is more important to us than "fancy". Just one where there's some embedded fabric of community - give us a couple neat restaurants, some bars where there are regulars, and a couple shops or establishments the community calls its own. If you've got that, we aren't turned off by or hoity-toity about chain restaurants (Taco Bell gets to keep me as a lifelong customer for however long the Cheesy Gordita Crunch stays on the menu).
Maybe there are towns that aren't able to get back to normal right now, and that's OK (although, if they are - man, would that be nice), so long as "normal" remains a value, and goal, they're not giving up on. This, we feel, is a vital contrast with the cities, where it feels like no one wants to go back to life pre-COVID.
No kids - if there are to be any, we're about as certain as you can get that would be >5 years away. Almost definitely there would be a dog first. One of the first things I do in a new place to call home, is look for a mechanic where I can forge a relationship built on trust (I have an only somewhat less guarded process for finding a barber).
The two pieces that I know are really essential are location (commute) and budget. For the former, it's hard to predict, because heaven knows how long we're going to be staying remote. I think the best way to get at it is to assume an occasional (1-3x weekly) commute into Boston. But we're talking hypotheticals, and I think it's reasonable that if we really fell in love with somewhere further out, we'd have the option to play hardball and make full-time (or most-time) remote happen. So a drive into the city that tops out around 80 minutes (one way) is a good starting point, but assume some flexibility.
Since we're renting now, we'd probably be looking at our first fully-owned home. We do not need to go huge for that, and what we used to think would work for a starter townhouse or condo in the more immediate Boston burbs ($400-550k) is probably reasonable for a more spacious, but by no means huge, house further out. Again, there's flexibility here and room to lift that ceiling. FWIW, the Boston burbs that start to get elitist-level, where the schools are high-strung and cut-throat and the $1m houses are fixer-uppers, always turned us off. Call it the fox and the grapes, but that's not what we're looking for - in MA, NH, or anywhere.
In short, we wanna scout, drop in and observe, and see what speaks to us. I'd be delighted to hear your suggestions. We're pretty quiet and peaceable people and don't aim to impose our values on anyone - however, when it comes to baseball, quietly or otherwise, I take my Evil Empire loyalties with me wherever I go. (You've been warned.)
LOL Well, you had me until you put in that last line! Red Sox all the way!
But I'll offer a suggestion anyway and won't hold the "those who shall not be named) against you.
Sounds like Portsmouth is what you are looking for. Plenty of restaurants and shops downtown, theaters and big park, Strawbery Banke Museum, etc. The museum is where they moved many of the historic houses too and opened them all to the public.
There's a mix of politics (see another thread on that) and races and plenty of local bars with regulars. There's even local coffee shops with regulars.
It's close enough to Boston to commute when you need to and there is a bus that goes to Boston that stops at North Station, South Station and Logan. If you drive over to Exeter, there's a train that goes into Boston as well.
You should be able to find a house in your price range. The beach is about a 10 minute drive to Rye. And as ar as I know, there's a Taco Bell on Route 1 in the Walmart area. There are chain restaurants in Portsmouth but none of them are in the downtown area. Most are on Route 1.
Take a drive up some weekend and check it out. It should fit the bill.
Just find a place in southern NH to rent. Explore the state on the weekends. Don't rush to buy. Every town has a different feel. Property taxes are a killer, so research a town's past rates and find out what the residents want for their town's future. Every town has at least one FB community chat page. Find them, join them and lurk. If you don't want children, then avoid any town with a reputation for good schools, because that just attracts more families, and more students in the school system only translates into higher property taxes.
Anyway... RENT FIRST!!! Even if it's for a couple of years.
I don't want to encourage or discourage you on NH, but I do want to point out if you're still working in Boston you'll be paying Mass income tax. NH has no income tax, so it taxes property heavily. Living in NH, you'll be paying that too (even with rent, your rent has to cover the property tax). So you're going to be paying a lot in taxes to two states. You may be better off just getting a place in Mass that's 90 minutes outside of Boston.
Thanks to everyone who responded. Good discussion.
Quote:
LOL Well, you had me until you put in that last line! Red Sox all the way!
But I'll offer a suggestion anyway and won't hold the "those who shall not be named) against you.
Sounds like Portsmouth is what you are looking for.
There's definitely a lot that makes Portsmouth attractive. It's a close analogue to where we live today, maybe NH's closest, so you're right to point it out. That other thread about the local politics was interesting; a blend is good, and we'd fit best where neither too left nor too right past the median dominates. We're at a point where even if our (interpersonal) social values are left-influenced, someplace too far left of center would be a poor fit. For that reason, I also wonder if the towns immediately around Portsmouth might make sense. I've never been to the area at all, and scouting is definitely something we could act on, to start.
Our baseball rivalry is great, it makes the sport go round. We get to knock the crap out of each other and you get to rest assured I have to live my life pretending 2004 never happened, just as I get to know my Boston townie friend still spits on the ground every time he hears Aaron Boone's name. It's a healthy, ball-bustin' competition (as opposed to the Astros, who I just don't like).
Quote:
Just find a place in southern NH to rent. Explore the state on the weekends. Don't rush to buy.
Prudent, and realistically that probably is the path for us. We do want to own, but it's not something to enter into lightly.
Quote:
I don't want to encourage or discourage you on NH, but I do want to point out if you're still working in Boston you'll be paying Mass income tax. NH has no income tax, so it taxes property heavily. Living in NH, you'll be paying that too (even with rent, your rent has to cover the property tax).
Oh boy, you're gonna love this. In MA the income tax compares pretty favorably to where I'm originally from in NY, where the property taxes are also out the wazoo. If smartasset.com is at all accurate, rates are about the same there as they are in NH (statewide average).
I've been to the two-state tax burden rodeo before. You're right to bring it up as a caution, for sure. Like everything, it's something we'd have to weigh. If we found and loved a place well enough, I can see it being worth the pricetag. In its worst case, it'd still never clip the NY ceiling. ()
For most out-of-staters I suggest renting first for a year to explore the state. However, because you are in Boston, I don't think renting first is necessary since you can come to NH every weekend if you like.
I also suggest spending some time in Portsmouth and the surrounding towns. You guys should also check out downtown Concord to see if you like it there. Since you said you are willing to do an 80-minute drive, I strongly suggest spending time in the Lakes Region towns off the 93. (Meredith, Laconia, Gilford and Tilton area.)
If you want community, I believe that one of the best opportunities for community in the United States is living in a small town in New Hampshire. You can have access to this community and the amenities of a small city if you chose to live in a small town that abuts one of the cities. So instead of living inside Portsmouth, Concord or Manchester, chose to live in one of the smaller towns that abuts these cities or is a short drive to these cities.
I personally like the Lakes Region the best. Everything is spread out enough so you can have privacy and be left alone if you want to, but close enough together so that if you want community and want to become "a regular" at places, it's very easy to do.
Portsmouth is really nice, but really expensive. Houses basically start at $600K there and go up-up-up. Since you specifically say you don't want to go too small, I'd suggest two towns nearby - Exeter and Dover. They are both former mill towns on a river, pretty, with a walkable downtown and a viable commercial area in the center and some things going on. The Great Bay/Little Bay and the five rivers is a spectacular environment to explore in a kayak or a small boat, you have pretty beaches in NH and southern ME, and there is a lively cultural scene there with Portsmouth and UNH in nearby Durham. It's a super area. Oh, and beyond Dover and Exeter, honorable mention for the part of Kittery, ME that's along the Piscataquah, that is also very cool.
Me too. After living and working in the Davis Straits for the last 10 ten years, I'd like to have 20-50 ac in Coos County up near the CT lakes. And close enough to Canada to feel more at home.
Exwycowboy: you won't like it anymore than you did in Wyoming. People always getting into your business.
Please register to post and access all features of our very popular forum. It is free and quick. Over $68,000 in prizes has already been given out to active posters on our forum. Additional giveaways are planned.
Detailed information about all U.S. cities, counties, and zip codes on our site: City-data.com.
Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
