Cost to live & bring retired parents (Manchester, Nashua: sales, apartments)

[lilbear]

Hi,
This is my first time posting in the NH section. I'm lil bear, nice to see you all. I've been reading some of the topics in here. I'm basically searching for basic information. I'm from MI, hubby from SC, we currently live in SC and my parents (the retired parents mentioned in my topic ) live in MI still.

We'd like to get out of SC someday (still playing things by ear right now) We have some really close friends in Lancaster. The family owns Forbes Farm, (perhaps some of you have heard of it)

We're up in the air where to go at this point, I don't dislike my home state MI but it seems to be in a "recession" as some have put it. And my parents tell me some of the troubles they're having and it's a bit depressing. We discussed NY but I'm not so sure I really want to live in or near a big city. (I've posted in the Syracuse section)

Anyways, my hubby currently does Graphic Design/Pre-press for a local newspaper. He's very good at what he does, not paid enough for it. I'm a jack of all trades Great with kids, but good in a basic office setting too, bank experience etc.

So I guess I'm looking for some basic information. I know our friends can help to if we were to decide to move to NH. We love the scenery there. We've visited a couple of times so far. I'm just not sure that my husband's experience in Graphic Design is needed much. Anyone know???

My parents don't need constant care kind of thing, but I want them close to us. And I want good doctors and such for them. Having a limited income, there's no need to really buy them an expensive house (they're just not that kind of retirees lol) We're not rich people, have bills to pay (Due to unemployment ) But hope to go somewhere nice someday, try to settle down for real.

Any info is great. Thanks.

[Yankeehombre]

Hi LilBear, N.H. really only has 2 daily newspapers of any consequence. The Union Leader www.unionleader.com)is (broken link) billed as the state's only "state-wide" newspaper [ Right wing republican suck-ups] but has been loosing ground in recent years of late to Fosters of Dover Fosters.com - Dover NH, Rochester NH, Portsmouth NH, Laconia NH, Sanford ME and the Laconia Citizen (same publisher as Fosters and also accessible through the Fosters site)Fosters often reguirgitates "news" articles for weeks at a time, and fails miserably at local reporting.
There also is paper(s) in Nashua+ Concord but neither could not be considered a state-wide papers at all. There are numerous weeklies W/ good coverage about the state many of which can be accessed through htttp://www.seacoastonline.com/
Channel 9's website is fairly informative as a news source too New Hampshire News, Manchester News, Weather & Sports, Channel 9 TV - WMUR New Hampshire's Channel 9

[DareToDream]

Originally Posted by lilbear

Hi,
This is my first time posting in the NH section. I'm lil bear, nice to see you all. I've been reading some of the topics in here. I'm basically searching for basic information. I'm from MI, hubby from SC, we currently live in SC and my parents (the retired parents mentioned in my topic ) live in MI still.

We'd like to get out of SC someday (still playing things by ear right now) We have some really close friends in Lancaster. The family owns Forbes Farm, (perhaps some of you have heard of it)

We're up in the air where to go at this point, I don't dislike my home state MI but it seems to be in a "recession" as some have put it. And my parents tell me some of the troubles they're having and it's a bit depressing. We discussed NY but I'm not so sure I really want to live in or near a big city. (I've posted in the Syracuse section)

Anyways, my hubby currently does Graphic Design/Pre-press for a local newspaper. He's very good at what he does, not paid enough for it. I'm a jack of all trades Great with kids, but good in a basic office setting too, bank experience etc.

So I guess I'm looking for some basic information. I know our friends can help to if we were to decide to move to NH. We love the scenery there. We've visited a couple of times so far. I'm just not sure that my husband's experience in Graphic Design is needed much. Anyone know???

My parents don't need constant care kind of thing, but I want them close to us. And I want good doctors and such for them. Having a limited income, there's no need to really buy them an expensive house (they're just not that kind of retirees lol) We're not rich people, have bills to pay (Due to unemployment ) But hope to go somewhere nice someday, try to settle down for real.

Any info is great. Thanks.

Welcome to the forum lilbear! Which part of NH are you thinking of? The state is very varied If you are thinking of the Lancaster area, when I googled graphic design for Lancaster, NH I found two businesses in Lancaster, 2 in Littleton, 1 in Sugar Hill....of course, I don't know if they're hiring or not.

In case you are looking in the Lancaster area, there is senior housing here in Littleton (about 20-30 mins from Lancaster): Riverglen House: an innovative senior living community in Littleton, NH . While I've never been there, I keep getting mail from them telling me I can check them out and get a free lunch, too!

I'm not sure what kind of taxes you and your parents are used to. We moved from NYS pretty much because of the taxes. NYS has a state income tax, then there are county taxes, property taxes, school taxes, sales tax, etc., etc. While NH does not have a state income tax, they do have higher fees for things like car registrations than NY. However, even with the various fees, we still found it cheaper to live in NH than in NY.

NY isn't all cities - there are a number of small towns in the state, but you still get hit with all the taxes imposed by the state. Conceivably you could find a smaller town in the Syracuse area where you would be happy.

Anyway - hope this helps some - let us know a few more specifics, like where in NH you would like to check out and I'm sure you will find someone on the forum who knows something about the area.

Good luck in your quest!

[lilbear]

Well, my parents are still pretty independent. I was thinking more of a place based on their income maybe? A park like place but not an assisted living kind of home. Right now they live in a manufactured/mobile home community. They own their home but pay lot rent and because they live near the club house, they don't have to cut their own grass. But, gas is expensive, the companies in MI are charging $20 or $30 just to send the gas or electricity to your home per month. So even if you used NONE of it, you'd still get this charge to pay plus the taxes and fees to go with it.

We're used to property taxes on cars and stupid stuff here in SC. MI has their own crazy fees too. But I guess about every state does, it's just a matter of being able to afford it.

I think we'd like to be not too far, maybe an hour max from Lancaster. Not really sure. But living here in the south is just waaaaaaay too far from everyone we know. But NH is further from MI right now than SC is. SC's medical is a little iffy and where we live right now, we're a good hour and a half from the best nearest hospital. Dad has Parkinson's and Lupus and Mom is borderline diabetic.

We have friends in Syracuse, was hoping to go visit there at the end of next month to scope it out. I'm from suburbs, it's busy but not as busy as a city. Syracuse is central to MI, NH and MA (got a friend in the Boston area) but I think my mom wants to be closer to us. So I'm looking at all our options and keeping in mind what would make my parents happy.

[WannaComeHome]

Originally Posted by lilbear

[font=Comic Sans MS][color=Blue]Well, my parents are still pretty independent. I was thinking more of a place based on their income maybe?

Maybe something like a retirement community rather than assisted living? This website might be of help, 2007 you can download a doc file of last year's taxes for every town in the state. BTW, while NH doesn't have an income tax per se, they do tax 5% on unearned income - so any stock dividends will be taxed. But 5% isn't all that much, especially if you can move to a town with a low property tax.

But, gas is expensive, the companies in MI are charging $20 or $30 just to send the gas or electricity to your home per month. So even if you used NONE of it, you'd still get this charge to pay plus the taxes and fees to go with it.

As I understand it, NH has that same delivery tax for electricity (as does MD). I believe it's part of deregulation - MD & NH deregulated at the same time

[DareToDream]

Originally Posted by lilbear

Well, my parents are still pretty independent.

If I'm not mistaken, the Riverglen has both apartments for independent living as well as for assisted living.....

[lilbear]

I'll have to look more into it. Thank you

[lilbear]

What's Berlin like?