We're almost there! Some questions... (Manchester, Concord: apartment, renting, how much)

[maestramommy]

Dh accepted an offer with a company in Manchester! We are going out the week before July 4 weekend to look for a house. At the moment we're interested in Bedford and Concord. Bedford because it's within bike commuting distance, great schools. Concord because (I've heard) it's a walkable city with a town center, which could free me from doing a lot of driving, even with two little ones. We might also look at Bow.

The way we're planning it, we have Mon-Thurs. of that week to look for houses. We also want to spend some of that time just checking out the towns themselves as a family, getting a feel for what it might be like to live there. I want to find out for myself how "walkable" Concord is with a kid in the stroller and another on my back. Or two kids in a wagon

Any suggestions for good places to check out? Things to look for or watch out for? Thanks!

[Kelticnomad]

My neighbor owns a home in Bow and he says its very swampy lots of bugs. A number of towns look out for nearby rivers, streams, ponds, lakes for any flood plain issue. And I will definitely tell you Concord is a lovely walkable city, You will have plenty of room. If you have a chance for bfast check out the corner view restaurant in Concord.........really nice...good luck

[jthibodeau]

Bedford would certainly be a shorter commute to Manchester then Concord or Bow. The later will require travel on a toll road (Rt. 93) or winding country roads such as South Bow Road or Hackett Hill Road which exit on Rt 3A North of Manchester. Another back road would be Twist Hill Road which will take you to Dunbarton road, then on to the traffic rotary in the north part of Manchester. Of course, it all depends on where you will be located as compared to where the work is.

Best of luck...

[maestramommy]

Okay, talked with Dh and we're leaving out Bow for now, but we'd like to see Concord and Londonderry, since neither of us have seen the towns yet. Bedford is at the "top" of our list, but Concord and Londonderry interest us. We only have 4, maybe 5 days to look, so we're trying to maximize our coverage.

[jthibodeau]

You may want to take the time to visit Goffstown which is adjacent to Bedford. Goffstown has two village districts. A quaint town center with a more built up area (Pinardville) nearer Manchester. The Village center is within a 20 min. commute to both Concord and Manchester. Hooksett and Suncook may also be of interest to you.

[maestramommy]

Originally Posted by jthibodeau

You may want to take the time to visit Goffstown which is adjacent to Bedford. Goffstown has two village districts. A quaint town center with a more built up area (Pinardville) nearer Manchester. The Village center is within a 20 min. commute to both Concord and Manchester. Hooksett and Suncook may also be of interest to you.

Well see, there are a couple of things at play here. First, schools. We heard that Bedford and Bow had top schools, with Londonderry around up there as well. So at first we concentrated on Bedford because Dh could bike commute to Manchester (the company is near the airport). Then we heard that Concord has a walkable town center and that really interested us, because even though Dh would have to drive to work, if I could get out of driving as much as possible during my day that would be a definite advantage. My ILs in PA live in a town very similar to Concord and they walk everywhere. Actually they were the ones that told us about Concord. We know the schools aren't necessarily top notch, but if they were still really solid, it could be the best of both worlds for us. Bow doesn't really have either advantage, since it's a drive commute AND requires me to drive as well. Londonderry is also bike commutable to Dh's work, with great schools, so it's on the same level as Bedford to us. So unless the towns you mention have a walking accessible town center it's kind of looking like Bow to us.

But thanks for your suggestions. I always appreciate what you have to say!

[miakelly]

When you talk about Concord being 'walkable'....what specifically do you mean? It seems like you are hoping to eliminate some driving by walking....but to what types of places? I just want clarification so I can help more.....I lived in Concord.

Londonderry or Bedford would be MUCH nicer in terms of aesthetics and schools. They also have most of the stores & shopping that you would need very close, if not in town. Both of these are towns, but both have an area with all the major stores. These would also offer a better commute.

Concord is definately a city (small though), with a city feel, good parts and bad parts.

It really depends what you are looking for specifically, but as a mother myself with two small kids, I wouldn't want to live in Concord. Please feel free to email me if you want, I can give you a list of parks & things to check out if you have little kids.

[nicolem]

Originally Posted by miakelly

When you talk about Concord being 'walkable'....what specifically do you mean? It seems like you are hoping to eliminate some driving by walking....but to what types of places? I just want clarification so I can help more.....I lived in Concord.
Londonderry or Bedford would be MUCH nicer in terms of aesthetics and schools. They also have most of the stores & shopping that you would need very close, if not in town. Both of these are towns, but both have an area with all the major stores. These would also offer a better commute.

Concord is definately a city (small though), with a city feel, good parts and bad parts.

It really depends what you are looking for specifically, but as a mother myself with two small kids, I wouldn't want to live in Concord. Please feel free to email me if you want, I can give you a list of parks & things to check out if you have little kids.

I agree with miakelly about Concord being "walkable" and what your definition of that is. I lived there for almost 7 years. I mean they have a nice downtown with the state house and mom and pop shops. However if you want to be near the chains, the mall, etc. I don't know how "walkable" that is. It depends on where you live in Concord and if you would be willing to walk up Loudon road and your location to it. People walk up Loudon road but it is nothing like downtown Concord. If you live in East Concord, I don't know how much walking you would be doing to get to stores-I don't think it would be the safest to walk from there to "The Heights" where a lot of the stores are. Plus it would be kind of far. Plus not everywhere in Concord has sidewalks either and roads are busy and always under construction. In the winter, a lot of sidewalks are plowed right away but some are not and can be slippery for a while.


Nicolem

[miakelly]

Originally Posted by nicolem

I agree with miakelly about Concord being "walkable" and what your definition of that is. I lived there for almost 7 years. I mean they have a nice downtown with the state house and mom and pop shops. However if you want to be near the chains, the mall, etc. I don't know how "walkable" that is. It depends on where you live in Concord and if you would be willing to walk up Loudon road and your location to it. People walk up Loudon road but it is nothing like downtown Concord. If you live in East Concord, I don't know how much walking you would be doing to get to stores-I don't think it would be the safest to walk from there to "The Heights" where a lot of the stores are. Plus it would be kind of far. Plus not everywhere in Concord has sidewalks either and roads are busy and always under construction. In the winter, a lot of sidewalks are plowed right away but some are not and can be slippery for a while.


Nicolem

And I fully agree with what NicoleM said

When I lived there, I was single and I worked at the State House. I was renting an apartment very close to the downtown. I could walk to work, the gym, the farmers market and the little coffee shops downtown, that's it though. I did ride my bike all over. There is no way I could have walked to the stores and carried bags home, especially with little kids! With kids, I don't know where you would walk to. There is one small kids museum in downtown Concord but that's about it. The parks aren't really within walking distance of each other. Also, many of the streets that run down to Main St are very hilly (thinking of you lugging kids in a stroller or wagon.......).

I didn't mind Concord when I was younger and single, but having kids really changes everything. Schools in Concord are also not that great. Not to knock anyone that went to school there....but they simply don't have a great reputation compared to the other places you are looking at (Bedford and Londonderry).

As I said before, if you'd like, I can give you a list of tons of kids things to check out if you're interested. Do you have girls/boys & what are their ages? I'm a stay at home Mom and try to get out almost every day so I have been to just about every kids place/playground/activity in the state I'm actually out of ideas for myself......but I can tell you about all the places we've been a hundred times.


We are actually moving to Orlando in August....I hope......

[maestramommy]

Originally Posted by miakelly

When you talk about Concord being 'walkable'....what specifically do you mean? It seems like you are hoping to eliminate some driving by walking....but to what types of places? I just want clarification so I can help more.....I lived in Concord.

I guess I would like to be able to walk to the grocery store, library, a park, and it'd be great if the schools were within walking distance as well. Right now we live across the street from a park. I take my daughters to play there, and they also take a toddler class there. I could walk to my library, although I don't because I'm usually in a hurry, and traffic is really busy. Just to give you an idea of where I live. Our town is smaller than Concord in size, but has 3 times as many people. Our population density is listed as "high," but we are still listed as a small city.

Not having seen Concord yet, I'm just guessing, but I thought if we lived no farther than 1 mile from the town center I could manage that walk.

Can you tell me why you wouldn't want to live in Concord now that you have two kids? You can dm me if you want.

ETA: oops sorry, I didn't realize there were more posts! Okay, I see what you're saying. I WAS actually thinking of taking the kids in the stroller or the wagon if I was grocery shopping. And I DID wonder if Concord was hilly. I am a SAHM as well, my daughters are 2.5 and 1. So we are looking to get out of the house as often as the weather permits. Okay, this is all very good food for thought, thanks!