great towns of NH? (Concord, Hudson: appointed, real estate, apartment)

[karelise]

My family and I are thinking of relocating to New Hampshire. So far we've researched Littleton, Bethlehem, and Lebanon. I'd love to hear opinions about these or other great NH towns in which to live and raise a family. Our criteria is someplace safe, good public schools, and affordable ( i.e. house for under$230,000). Ideally someplace smaller than 50,000 would be good, with some kind of access to arts and culture, even if it's a couple towns away.

Any suggestions would be appreciated. We're also considering Vermont, Rhode Island, Connecticut, and upstate New York. Actually anywhere in the country would work but low crime, good schools, and affordability are the must-haves.

Thanks!

[NeverTooLate]

Karlise,
Here is a website that may at least get you statrted:

http://www.nhes.state.nh.us/elmi/communpro.htm

It will give you loads of info about every town. I live in the Capital City of Concord ...ane love it here. It offers big city amenities with a small town feel.
NH has a lot to offer no matter what you seek! We have lake ,mountains and aren't too far from the coast.

Keep posting here and I'm sure you'll get plenty of info!
Joan

[karelise]

Thanks Joan - that's such a helpful website. I appreciate it!

[immster]

I would like to put in a good word for Keene. It is a great town to raise kids and you can definitely find homes in that price range. We have good schools and The Colonial theater has a great variety of shows.

[maybe11]

Hi there, I've just joined the forums - I found it during my research of NH towns too! We are relocating to NH this summer - my husband has taken a job up North. We've looked at Littleton, Bethlehem, Franconia and Sugar Hill. Seems like Franconia has the best schools (K-5) and that the last 3 towns share a high school. Littleton is the largest of the towns.

I've noticed that there are some folks here from Littleton - any other thoughts about your town would be great! I have a 1 year old and a 7 year old and am interested in kids activities like ballet, theatre, sports etc. Also would love to hear about the school there - Lakeway I think it is?

One of the biggest issues I'm running into is housing. We'd like to rent for a year to make sure we land in the best possible spot and I'm having trouble finding rental homes. Any ideas? Thanks!

[DareToDream]

Hi Karelise - My husband and I moved to Littleton in April of 2006. We love it Unfortunately, I can't answer any of your questions about the schools, as our children are grown. We relocated from the Mid-Hudson region of NYS

The town is much smaller than where we were and we love it. There are activities in the area, but sometimes you have to look for them and talk to people about what your looking for in order to find them (hope that makes sense, I know the sentence is a little convoluted <g>). If the activities you are looking for aren't in the town proper, chances are they are nearby.

We feel very safe here and love the people! Salaries are much less when compared to what my husband made in NYS, but by the same token, the cost of living here is also much less when compared to where we were. The move didn't impact what I make as I am an independent contractor and brought my job with me, so to speak.

We just bought a house in Littleton for well under the $230K you are looking for, and it is not a fixer-upper - we will be able to just move in with nothing to be done.....where we came from, even a house for $230K would have been a fixer-upper <g>..

As for finding a place to rent - Like you, we wanted to rent before we even thought of buying, so we went through a realtor when we came up here. If you would like, PM me and I will give you the web sites of some of the real estate companies in the area so you can browse their sites.

I wish I could tell you more, but we're relative "newbies" and I'm sure we have only scratched the surface of what the town and area has to offer, but so far we haven't been disappointed!

Oops - Guess the rental info should be addressed to maybe11....sorry!

Good luck to you in your search!

[jer17]

Born and raised in Littleton, and still here. I don't like it here, but that's just me. Anyway, it's safe, the schools are safe. I think the Elementary school is really good, but the high school needs more activities to keep kids in school. More school spirit, or something. If you have a great job to take with you, you'll do great. A good comfortable income is hard to find around here. I recommend to find a different place to shop, though. We have one grocery store right now, and it’s ripping off all of us. We do have a Wal-Mart, home depot, and Lowes, which just opened and is right next to home depot. A stupid idea and waste of space, I say. We also have a 99 and Applebee’s restaurant. I like the 99, better. This is a small town, but crowded, and getting worse. They, who ever they are, are trying to make it bigger, but the main street is just too small and traffic gets backed up. Ask me anything, I'll try to answer. I don't know much about housing, because I never bought a house, I just rent, and I'm moving away to make more room, LOL. If you rent first, search around the town real good, it's hard to find a nice apartment here. There's a lot of over-priced whole in the walls.

Good Luck,

Jer

[kellylee243]

you should take a look at londonderry its a great place to raise kids it is a little on the expensive side but its worth it.

[NH2008]

I'm a huge fan of Peterborough. It's far enough west to have the natural beauty of the mountains, but it isn't as built up as the eastern portion of southern NH. It's much closer to Boston than northern NH - probably 90 minutes on a good day so close enough for day trips. And it has a very artsy, cultural vibe going on with a real downtown crowded with shops, restaurants and a theater. It is home to the world-famous MacDowell Colony which attracts artists and writers. You'd drive 20 minutes to Keene for big-box shopping. The town is so charming that we go there just to walk around sometimes or visit the Mariposa Museum, which is wonderful for kids. Housing is much more affordable than it is further east too, since it isn't commutable to Boston.

[WannaComeHome]

while it's great to post about good towns, and all... just keep in mind that the OP was writing in 2007. They've likely decided where to be by now. But just in case someone else is looking around....