Visiting New Hampshire (Manchester, Nashua, Concord: where to stay, sales, house)

[getmeoutofhere]

So my wife and I will be coming up to visit this upcoming summer. We'll be flying in to Logan, and driving to New Hampshire.

It's partly a vacation, to finally get back to Maine for a bit, and to show her around some cool spots, and it's partly a scouting visit to see if she likes the New Hampshire area.

So, some questions -

1) Where should we visit to look at living? I've been looking at Keene, and was told in an earlier thread to look at some of the place north of Concord or Manchester.

She's an elementary math / science teacher, and I sell cars. So we'd need to be fairly close to at least a moderate size city, somewhere where she can find a job and I can make a decent living.

But I don't want to get into a huge city. I live in Dallas right now, and I am just tired of big cities. I think they are bad for the soul. I don't mind a bit of a drive to get to work, if it means a smaller town and a nice place to live.

We need a house price of around $220K to $250K, preferably older, with at least 1600-1800 square feet.

Suggestions?

2) Where to stay and what to do? I love New England, spent many summers in Maine / Rhode Island / a bit of New Hampshire with my grandfather. I am sold. Never been to a more beautiful, peaceful place. Plus, I love cold weather and snow. I would take 10 inches of snow any day over the heat and crappy weather here.

What can I do with my wife that will help her fall in love with the area like I have? Anything cool to do in early June? Any special places to go?

We'll probably want to stay around Concord, just to be in the middle of the state so as to make driving around to other places more convenient. Maybe a couple days in the Keene area.


Any help is appreciated.

[dubthang]

When you leave Logan, take a drive up Rt. 1a on the coast of NH. Stop here and there to get out, and admire the view of the ocean. Visit Portsmouth, and then head out on Rt. 4 towards Concord. I'm not a fan of Concord myself, but there are some nice surrounding towns, like Bow, Contoocook, Penacook, etc. From Concord, you can visit Franconia Notch and the White Mountains, head down to Keene and over to VT, check out Lake Sunapee, and/or Lake Winnipesaukee.

If you want to work in Concord, I suggest you look at the towns that dot Rt. 89, Rt. 3 and Rt. 4.

Keene is nice (I grew up there), but the job market is tight. Travelling from Keene to Manchester or Concord is possible, but its not great.

[GraniteStater]

Originally Posted by dubthang

I'm not a fan of Concord myself, but there are some nice surrounding towns, like Bow, Contoocook, Penacook, etc. .

What do you dislike about Concord? Whenever I visit the town it seems pleasant enough, and has a lot more to offer than the capitol city of Montpelier in Vermont.

[dubthang]

Originally Posted by GraniteStater

What do you dislike about Concord? Whenever I visit the town it seems pleasant enough, and has a lot more to offer than the capitol city of Montpelier in Vermont.

It's def. better than Montpelier. I'm just not a fan. I worked in Allenstown (right below Concord) for a little while, and made plenty of deliveries there. I have friends that live in Concord too. I just never took to it. It's kind of shabby. It basically consists of Rt. 9 and Rt. 3. Downtown is strung out along Rt. 3 and the nieghborhoods are scattered between the two routes. Nothing there makes me excitied about going there.

[jthibodeau]

dubthang has the right idea with the drive along the coast and Rt. 4 to Concord. Concord is centrally located with roads, such as 4/202/9, and highways, such as 89 and 93 leading in all directions.

Land to the east of Concord tends to be more rolling hills where as west of Concord gets you into a bit more country with higher elevations. Less than an hours drive will get you north to Plymouth and, the same time traveled along 89, will bring you to the Lebanon/Hanover/Dartmouth area. Manchester, with greater shopping opportunities, is just a few minutes drive south along 93.

As far a home prices go, your in the neighborhood with your budget for an average sized home or, perhaps a larger older home which may need some repairs. Remember that 10 inches of snow you won't mind dealing with will double your commute time also.

Do as much investigation prior to your trip as possible and best of luck.

[WannaComeHome]

First of all, Getmeoutofhere , even Manchester which is the largest city in NH, will not be as big as Dallas. So no worries there.

Second, the best thing you can do is to spend your time looking around the web before you settle on a definite itinerary. look at a map of the state and make notes of some towns around that look like good locations (proximity to Manchester, Concord, Nashua, Derry....). If you need a map, http://www.city-data.com/forum/new-h...geography.html has some.

Then go to http://www.nneren.com and plug in the towns to see what kind of real-estate is currently on the market. This can help give you an idea of whether you want to pursue that town. If you still like some of the towns, google up their town website (most have them), or go to community profiles to get another look at the towns.

I found that doing this changed my town selection sites quite a bit. I would never have thought we'd be going back to the town I was born in! after all, I had only looked that one up as a lark.

So... get a notebook and pre-plan your towns, then
you'll have a much better idea of where to go. We can help you with town character, but you need to look at all the data.

[getmeoutofhere]

I am not really fixed on anywhere to live, I just figure I can make a better living closer to a bigger city.

If there is somewhere better, I am all for it.


I research everything, which is why I am starting now, 7 months out from a trip.

It's a dual purpose trip...scout areas to live, and convince my wife it's totally awesome in that area of the world.

[dubthang]

I've only been to Texas once, and I agree that NH is better. There are some places in NH that aren't better though so def. do your homework like you said. I'd check out the amount of car sales that happen in any given town or region. Also look for jobs for your wife before you decide. The job market comes and goes in NH. While a low unemployment rate is good, it also means that a lot of jobs are already filled. Good luck on your search.

[buck naked]

my son was laid off - he's been a car salesman for a long time and the car company had NO SALES during three weeks of October....They just did another round of layoffs...so hopefully you are coming with a job lined up already.

[getmeoutofhere]

Originally Posted by buck naked

my son was laid off - he's been a car salesman for a long time and the car company had NO SALES during three weeks of October....They just did another round of layoffs...so hopefully you are coming with a job lined up already.

It'll be a little bit, at least two years before we can actually make the move. Hopefully, the economy will be a little better by then.

But having done commissioned sales for a long time now, I won't make the move without 6-8 months living expenses in the bank.

My wife has never traveled much, nor spent any great deal of time outside of Texas. She's willing to move, but nervous about the idea. This trip is more a get-acquainted trip, show her the New England area, and just much nicer it is than Texas. Do a little scouting, see where we would possibly like to live. We are also going to visit Maine, Vermont, and Connecticut as well, to see some different sights. Some of the attraction in the area is how easy it is to get to different places. Texas, you can drive all day and never see anything but Texas.