Info needed - Looking at properties in these towns

[WannaComeHome]

well, Brookline is a nice woodsy town - just below Milford for shopping and you can hop over to Nashua for other shopping. There's not really too much about it - other than trees. It isn't anywhere near the shore; it has pretty high taxes (actually higher than Hollis although the property valuation may be a little lower trying to make up for it) and the kids once middle-school aged are bused to Hollis which is an excellent school.

Rindge is even more in the middle of nowhere. It's about two or three towns west of Brookline, and still a bit south east of Keene - probably 1/2 - 3/4hour to Keene? Heck, it's west of New Ipswich and no one's ever heard of NI! There may be a grocery store there (not sure, it may only be a convenience store) otherwise you're going a bit for groceries. Main thing going for Rindge would be outdoor activities: you're in the Monadnock region so there's some nice hiking around. Nowhere near Concord or Manchester - likely over an hour to Manchester at least.

[Suzet2262]

Thank you Val. Haha, I have a hard time with posting all the websites.
As far as "Vals Real Estate Page", lol, you got my vote. And no DMs please...I am only joking. You gotta have some fun once in awhile.

Originally Posted by Valerie C

Thank you Comet, for the kudos. I'd be lying if I said that I had good factual information on every one of those towns, but a few I could help you with

Suzet, I think this is the page that you meant to post:NH Community Profiles

The first link that you posted is for a real estate agent's site (can we do that here?) and what he did is pull the NH Community Profiles pages into his frames. Sneaky but effective, and even named the page the same as the "official" state page.
So, can I post my website here? Here is is: Val's Real Estate Page
(no--just kidding) gotcha!

As rmcewan stated, some of these towns are worlds apart (and I'm not talking about distance only!) so if you're a little more specific, we can probably help you more.

[Katlakat]

I work in Gilford, its a very nice place, near the lakes, and its very very busy in the summertime. If you can put up with a week of motorcycles every day, the summertime traffic, and the slow hours of work in the wintertime, its for you! LOL

There are lots of things to do, parades, (Old home day is in August), shows, and home to the Meadowbrook performing arts center. We just went and saw Weird Al Yankovic on Tuesday, and Reba is coming there as well. Its a beautiful concert area. Leann Rimes is coming this weekend I think.

I love living in the Lakes region. Everyone at work says there are just rich people living in Gilford, but that's not true in my opinion. I have met all walks of life, and everyone is very kind to me. Its a small town, and all the residents I swear have lived here for generations. So everyone knows everyone. Lots of shopping, the bypass makes for easy travel in all 4 seasons, and its next to Laconia for everything you need.

[motoracer51]

Originally Posted by rmcewan

You can't just start with a home price, size, and acreage. You've GOT to figure out your town criteria first: City or Rural? Are schools important to you? How about taxes - they are a HUGE factor? Access to Boston or a major airport? Do you like cold winters or REALLY cold winters? Town services? Conservative/Liberal? Nightlife or Wildlife?

For instance, Dummer and Stratham are WORLDS apart.

Thanks everyone for all the help!! to elaborate a little more on what we're looking for, which will probably eliminate some more:

1. We're looking for rural-very rural But, also be within 20-30 minute drive to shopping, i.e. Walmart, Borders, etc.

2. Taxes - Obviosly we'd like to keep them as low as possible, and definitly below $10K/year. I know that seems like alot, but fot the amount of land I want, it seems like we'll be paying $3K+ depending on the acreage and home. We're also planning on having kids within a year or two, so schools become an important consideration.

3. Access to airports - I think we googled the distance from Rindge to Boston, and it was about 2 hours drive. I think we're happy with that, and don't want to be any closer, as the further I'm from Boston and politics of the place, the better. I don't think there are too many people commuting from areas like Rindge to Boston, but I'm sure the closer you get, the numbers increase.

4. Winters - I know there will be more snow than where we are from in CO. Although the temps get down to -20 on occasion, the low humidity here makes it bearable. Also, we only get ~14" of snow a year.

I'd be more interested in access to recreation, especially hiking, camping, snowmobiling, cross country skiing, etc.

5. Town services - The less, the better. I don't want anything from the town, and hope they they spend my money wisely.

6. I'm conservative, so would prefer maybe a place that's less liberal. don't want to live in a place where social services and welfare are a big draw. I'd be happy with people just leaving other alone and letting them live their lives.

7. I think regarding nightlife, as long as there are a few bars for a beer or two, and a decent selection of restaurants, I think that would do. We go out to eat about 3-4 times per year.

Hope that helps a bit, and thanks so much for all the help. We're heading out this Friday.

[WannaComeHome]

well, if you're good with 2hours or so to Boston, an hour or so to the Manchester airport and can cope with the snow (how on earth do you only have 14" in CO?! ) which you will get more of... , Rindge might be ok for you. They combine schools with Jaffrey (no idea how good/bad they are). huh: they've actually got a Market Basket and Hannaford's (low and high priced grocery chains) in Rindge (gotta see if that's any closer for me than Milford!). And apparently there really is some shopping in the same center with the grocery stores (who'd have thought!), and they claim some places to eat. town website is Welcome to the Town of Rindge

Everything I've heard about it says it is pretty conservative, and most of NH tends to avoid the social services trap. There is also Franklin Pierce college there, and the scenery is lovely in the Monadnock area. And you're not far from Peterborough which is probably where most bars or restaraunts are.

It might be worth browsing the city-data and community profile sites and the NNEREN mls listings to see if you want to drive around when you're there.

[motoracer51]

Originally Posted by WannaComeHome

well, if you're good with 2hours or so to Boston, an hour or so to the Manchester airport and can cope with the snow (how on earth do you only have 14" in CO?! ) which you will get more of... , Rindge might be ok for you. They combine schools with Jaffrey (no idea how good/bad they are). huh: they've actually got a Market Basket and Hannaford's (low and high priced grocery chains) in Rindge (gotta see if that's any closer for me than Milford!). And apparently there really is some shopping in the same center with the grocery stores (who'd have thought!), and they claim some places to eat. town website is Welcome to the Town of Rindge

Everything I've heard about it says it is pretty conservative, and most of NH tends to avoid the social services trap. There is also Franklin Pierce college there, and the scenery is lovely in the Monadnock area. And you're not far from Peterborough which is probably where most bars or restaraunts are.

It might be worth browsing the city-data and community profile sites and the NNEREN mls listings to see if you want to drive around when you're there.

Thanks WannaComeHome. I take it from you name, you're stuck in MD and wan't to comeback to NH?

Yeah, we've been spending a lot of time on the NNEREN website, just looking around.

The really only time I'll be using Boston Airport would be to fly to either FL or to Italy. I'm fine with the 2 hour drive. Who knows, with the price of fuel going up, as well as aviation fuel, traveling by air might not be feasible some day.

The more I read about Rindge area, and the Monadnock region, it seems like it might fit the bill.

I've heard that Rindge is in a supposed snow belt? If true, do they get even more snow the further north you go?

Yeah, we live in far western Colorado, basically the desert. ~10" or rain per year along with about ~14" of snow. We had rain yesterday for the first time since April. Woo hoo. Nothing grows out here easily. I'm looking forward to "woods" and a garden again.

[Ken E]

I have always liked the area of N.H. between Rochester and Conway. There is a ton of small towns up that way. I recently bought a log cabin up in Effingham.I really like that area. You have lakes, mountains and its rural. There are some pretty neat towns up that way. Ossipee, Wakefield , Effingham , Madison, Freedom ect. I think the closest large airport is Portland Me. Thats less than a hour away.

[WannaComeHome]

Hi Motoracer,

yep - stuck in the 'MD' and I keep trying to get home to NH. Foolish me left for college to 'see the world' and I've been trying to get back ever since. Only 4 more years (hopefully) and we'll be there!

The Manchester airport is closer than Logan, and definately easier to deal with. I know Southwestern flies from Manchester to Orlando, since that's what my brother used last Christmas. Couldn't tell you about Italy - you may have to go to Logan for that.

Yes, Rindge is in the snowbelt - but only just. It will get a weather pattern a little closer to northern NH than Hollis and points east get. http://www.city-data.com/city/Rindge-New-Hampshire.html has weather charts and claims that the heaviest snowfall is about 16-17" in a month and at the worst gets just over 80d (average) in July-Aug, although the humidity is worse in Sept.

Rindge is next door to the town I'll be moving to (New Ipswich).

[cbraxton]

Hi, you are correct when you say that you are “all over the place” in your New Hampshire search. The very best place for town information is the state’s community profile link because every town has a consistent three page format. NH Community Profiles From that profile you can get the town’s website (often almost impossible to find otherwise) and the school district information (often with a link). The Lakes Region is popular for those who do not mind a bit longer commute or have a job in Laconia, Meredith or Plymouth, etc. There are a lot of attractions right there and the mountains (skiing, hiking, etc.) are 15-45 minutes away depending on destination. Gilford is very accessible to services, but will be a bit longer trip to the taller White Mountains and major ski areas, however there is a lot of outdoor recreation right in that area.
There’s something else I would like to point out about your list of towns. Not only are they all over the place geographically, but they cover a wide range of property tax rates. Moultonborough is the lowest ($6.99 per thousand of property value at 100% value) and Ashland is perhaps the highest (over $24 per thousand). Other towns under $10 are Bridgewater, Hebron and Center Harbor. Towns like Meredith and some others in the Lakes Region are under $12. Why does this matter? In a word, affordability. Take a look at this example, a $250,000 home in a town with a $20 tax rate will cost you $5,000 per year. The same home in a town with a rate of $13 will cost you $3,250 per year. That is $1,750 per year less or about $145 per month. Since a mortgage costs you about $6.50 per month per $1,000 borrowed, that means you could afford about $22,000 more house in the lower tax town than in the higher one and have the same monthly payment.
In the Lakes Region the prices of homes and land in the very lowest tax towns (see above) are somewhat higher because of this and in the very high towns (Ashland, Plymouth) the prices are lower. So be sure to keep that in mind in your search. You should also know that some towns have a precinct tax on top of the town rate. This may take more local knowledge if a precinct tax only applies to parts of the town. For example, Hebron and Bridgewater have precinct taxes of about $0.15 per thousand that apply to the entire town to cover the cost of a shared elementary school. Gunstock Acres in Gilford has a precinct tax of $0.25 per thousand for the water system and other services. For a list of tax rates by town and precinct go to 2007
Another thing to keep in mind is that most of the homes in many of these towns will be on private sewer systems (septic systems). New Hampshire has had regulations about systems since about 1970 and the size of a septic system is rated on the number of bedrooms according to the regulations. Therefore, if you want a three or four bedroom home you might keep in mind that there are some perfectly good homes that will be listed as two or three bedrooms, but may still meet your needs. Once you have a candidate property in mind, further research can tell you about the system in place. You can go to Subsurface Applicant Query
to query the site and some towns have excellent records.

Best of luck in your search. Chuck