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Hello everyone... over the years, New England has appealed to me as a place to live, and New Hampshire seems like a much easier (cheaper, less over-regulated) place to live than Massachusetts. Job-wise, entertainment-wise, I'd probably be looking at Manchester and points south from there (I'm a huge sports fan, proxmity to Boston is a big plus).
I do have a couple of questions... first, how do people find NH for allergies? Just to help a bit, I am most allergic to weeds, grasses, and mold. Trees are not nearly as big of an issue as the other three.
Also.. what I'd most like is a 2,500 square foot house on a fairly small lot, ideally a one-story. I know a lot of lots are huge in New England, but I've been there, done that, it was an allergy (and rodent) nightmare -- I'd much rather live in a more compact, Toronto or LA-style development, or even a townhome... is there much construction like that in NH? If so, or even if not... what would a new house that size tend to cost?
Just an off-the-wall question.. I'm a huge hockey fan (might have guessed that from the name, LOL).... is NH a "hockey" state -- do people follow hockey quite a bit? I know the Monarchs and UNH draw well, but is is part of the New England hockey culture, or is it more the night-out, go to a game instead of a movie crowd that one finds in non-traditional markets?
Hockey is HUGE in NH, especially in Manchester, the west side is french canadien and hockey is HUGE, the monarchs have a big following one of the highest in attendance and unh is big for hockey that's what they are known for. A home around 2500 square feet would be around $300,000 and up depending on how new and what town it is in and the taxes would be extremely expensive, sorry but it's really expensive to live here now. Allergies are bad only in the summer, well maybe a little bit in spring, pollen is the worst. Get some claritin and you'll be fine.
Wow... 2,500 square feet for $300,000 sounds remarkably reasonable, based on what I've been conditioned to the last few years. You couldn't touch an 800 square foot condo for that where I currently live, a new house that size would start over $800,000... so that sounds okay! The taxes on that house here, though, would only be about $6-8,000 per year, I'd estimate. Of course, the 9.3% state income tax isn't fun here!
Claritin doesn't do much for me anymore, I think my system is burned out on antihistamines! I finally went to a well-known allergist, and he said avoidance is pretty much my only option that does not carry serious side effects... so I try to research the pollen as much as possible in advance. Generally though, it seems New England is a lot better than the Midwest.
I did not know about the French-Canadian tie to Manchester -- makes sense though, it is not far from Quebec. There are definitely many great hockey fans for the Monarchs and UNH.
Wow... 2,500 square feet for $300,000 sounds remarkably reasonable, based on what I've been conditioned to the last few years. You couldn't touch an 800 square foot condo for that where I currently live, a new house that size would start over $800,000... so that sounds okay! The taxes on that house here, though, would only be about $6-8,000 per year, I'd estimate. Of course, the 9.3% state income tax isn't fun here!
Claritin doesn't do much for me anymore, I think my system is burned out on antihistamines! I finally went to a well-known allergist, and he said avoidance is pretty much my only option that does not carry serious side effects... so I try to research the pollen as much as possible in advance. Generally though, it seems New England is a lot better than the Midwest.
I did not know about the French-Canadian tie to Manchester -- makes sense though, it is not far from Quebec. There are definitely many great hockey fans for the Monarchs and UNH.
Hey, HockeyFan!
Good to see you're still around! Yes, some allergies are a lot easier in New England than in the midwest. I have experience between Wisconsin and NH pollen counts. Definitely much, much easier in NH. As for hockey, it's really big for those who like it. One of our kids is still a huge hockey fan, and just for fun I went to a Bobby Orr autograph signing. He was asking each person how they wanted the photo addressed, and they all gave their names...it came to me...Bobby looked up and said, who would you like me to address this to, and I said, "to Mom", and smiled (a lot of people call me mom: )
and he gave me a big grin and that's how he autographed it - "to Mom, with love" He's so gracious!
Yeah, strong French Canadian influence. You're bound to hear French spoken frequently, especially in certain parts of the city. Very nice people.
As to your question about small lots and housing, try a condo if you want to buy (or even rent for a while). I don't know where to suggest that you look, but if you're willing to spend $300K you should be able to find a nice condo for that with very little yard to take care of. Maybe none.
This is a great website for searching real estate in NH - it's MLS based and not realtor specific. http://www.nneren.com/
2500sqft for 300-400k is probably realistic, but taxes will vary dramatically from town to town and rates won't be set for this tax year until Oct-Nov. 2006 rates are not always a good indicator as many towns are doing re-valuation and it's affecting things all over. Also, the tax rates will be impacted by school funding issues that are still very up in the air.
Wow... 2,500 square feet for $300,000 sounds remarkably reasonable, based on what I've been conditioned to the last few years. You couldn't touch an 800 square foot condo for that where I currently live, a new house that size would start over $800,000... so that sounds okay! The taxes on that house here, though, would only be about $6-8,000 per year, I'd estimate. Of course, the 9.3% state income tax isn't fun here!
Claritin doesn't do much for me anymore, I think my system is burned out on antihistamines! I finally went to a well-known allergist, and he said avoidance is pretty much my only option that does not carry serious side effects... so I try to research the pollen as much as possible in advance. Generally though, it seems New England is a lot better than the Midwest.
I did not know about the French-Canadian tie to Manchester -- makes sense though, it is not far from Quebec. There are definitely many great hockey fans for the Monarchs and UNH.
Claritin doesn't work for me or my children either...but the combination of Zyrtec and Nasonex have done wonders. Also allergy shots have vastly improved the quality of life for my sister (whose allergies have always been way worse than mine) so you may want to look into that as well. As for Hockey....I'm still a Rangers girl at heart.
The only place I've seen that's more hockey-crazy than NH is Minnesota, and that's not by much. The Bruins have stank up Boston for awhile but thankfully the AHL action in Manchester is good and there are local rival teams in Portland Maine, Lowell, Worcester, and of course the Providence Bruins. I'd rank hockey ahead of everything except football and maybe baseball on the sports scale around here (of course being the home turf of the Red Sox and Patriots).
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He's so gracious!
