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wow, thanks! It sounds just like NH might be the right place for us....
Here we have a "large" lot for SoCal standards at 10,000 sq ft & the homes I am looking at online are 1-5 acres...it is a little nerve racking thinking of how we are going to maintain that much landscape....I guess that will be part of our "learning curve" (in addition to freak storms & such)
Only 6 more days & we will be there...I hope the weather is mild enough so we can drive from one part of the state to another....we are crossing our fingers that we find the right place so we can move soon after my husband leaves for his new job... we are still in love with Portsmouth, but I think it is only because we have not yet been to places like Bedford & other towns.
thanks so much for sharing!
I have to agree that the difference in acreage can be overwhelming. Our lot is just under an acre, and at first we were a little . Mowing the law isn't such a big deal, but mainly because our backyard is all pavement and pool. What we are still mentally dealing with is all the trees, and how to keep them from being a menace to the house. We had to do a lot of trimming and we cut down a couple shortly after we moved in. During the ice storm a couple of trees very close to the house snapped in two. Fortunately the tops fell straight to the ground instead of toppling over. There is some mild carnage that is currently buried under snow We heard a few horror stories about trees hitting roofs and snapping lines off houses in the last power outage. Our plan is to keep trimming a little at a time, while still maintaining a screen for privacy, something unheard of in SoCal
Bedford is nice, but check out the Amherst village when you visit here. It is definately walkable and quaint: one store, a town hall, brick schoolhouse, white spire church. The K-4 schools are within walking distance of the village.
As for the land, Amherst has a 2 acre minimum lot size with a 5 acre in the northern section of town. Some people like having more acres, some do not. We are in a housing development with 22 houses on 44 acres. A lot of it is common land. The street has a neighborhood feel to it. The kids were 5, 3 and newborn when we moved in 12 years ago. I have my own 2/3 acre which I maintain with the riding mower, the weed wacker, the leaf blower, etc. You can always hire someone to do the work for you.... I like doing it after being in an office all week.
lol! we see a lot of people from CA that want to move to NH on this list , and a few from FL (but only one that really wanted to move back for other than family reasons )
Bedford has a small town feel to it, and its really pretty during the season's and holidays. My sister just sold her house last year for $250k and headed back to Texas. My husband still works there, he loves it. Very New England.
I am curious why you are relocating to NH from Southern Califonia. We are considering leaving the San Diego area as well for NH
thanks,
I have never really wanted to raise our children in California...being from Northern California I never had ANY desire to live in Southern California....but it has taken 6+ years and I finally have grown to like it here (alhtough I wouldn't be saying that if I had to send my kids to public school). So, we have been OPEN to the idea of moving elsewhere. My husband was unhappy with the direction his company was going, some people he knows (who own a company in his industry) have been wanting him to join forces to grow their business in the NE. After a year of hounding, he finally got fed up enough to take them up on their offer. Soooo we are moving. We were fortunate enough to move anywhere in the NE and even though we thought we were really going to end up in Boston, we love the benefits of living in NH especially while our kids are growing up. So that is the story in a nut shell. Had we ever been to New England before I am sure he would have accepted the offer last year when they first asked him. We LOVE it there, it is way different but that might be why we loved it so much! I cannot pinpoint us loving it to one reason & it is possibly a combination of a few. It doesn't hurt that we enjoy moving new places and New England is unlike anywhere else we have lived (although it is harder now that our kids are getting older but we dont intend on moving for the next 10+ years). I LOVE San Diego (my husband loves LA - me not so much) and we will always come back here to visit/vacation. IMHO as far as quality of life I don't think you can even come close to comparing NH to CA even if you are factoring in the weather.....
Update......
So, we just got back last night from our NH house hunting trip.... drove through the snow for 2+ hours to get to Boston yesterday from Portsmouth (that was unlike any snowy weather we ever drove in while living in Colorado as far as the drivers on the highway...yikes!).
We liked Bedford, Amherst was nice too, checked out Exeter, Stratham & other towns (were told to check out Elliot & Kittery in Maine & we did) but we really love Portsmouth & so that is where we are moving!
My husband will be there next week for good & we will follow him shortly.....so anyone know of a reliable cross country mover? I will have to start searching the postings as I am sure there is something out there regarding movers.
Anyway, I just thought I'd update you all & thank you once again for all of your advice & help. It has been very helpful & much appreciated!
I have to say that even though we have been told more than a handful of times how rude people in the NE are (and we were even told by former east coasters) we found it quite the contrary again...people were very nice & helpful.... but I will keep it secret (all of the people we know who think we are crazy for leaving California can keep on believing there is no better place & just stay here )
Congratulations on making your decision twinmum! From what I've read on this board, Portsmouth seems like a great place to live. Best of Luck with your move!
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. Mowing the law isn't such a big deal, but mainly because our backyard is all pavement and pool. What we are still mentally dealing with is all the trees, and how to keep them from being a menace to the house. We had to do a lot of trimming and we cut down a couple shortly after we moved in. During the ice storm a couple of trees very close to the house snapped in two. Fortunately the tops fell straight to the ground instead of toppling over. There is some mild carnage that is currently buried under snow
We heard a few horror stories about trees hitting roofs and snapping lines off houses in the last power outage. Our plan is to keep trimming a little at a time, while still maintaining a screen for privacy, something unheard of in SoCal
, and a few from FL (but only one that really wanted to move back for other than family reasons
Bedford NH resident
