Ragged Mountain?

[buck naked]

I don't live there...I just invested and lost. It might help you to know that Ragged has not filed any serious upgrades with the Danbury planning board. The mountain backs up to conservation land so it will be interesting as to how it plays out. The developer does plan to build at least 100 new slopeside homes, but groundbreaking is at least a year out.


Currently the mountain sports 225 acres of skiing terrain suitable for beginners and intermediates.



"I also feel like, all the people who complain that Danbury is so out of the way, I also think, is it really that big of a deal that I'd have to drive 20 minutes further to Target than you would?z"

it's at least a half hour to the nearest highways so you will have access to a Target site. LOL


Danbury is isolated.

[Oo-v-oO]

I'm curious about the house - if you wouldn't mind, please send me a link to the listing or the street address and I'll let you know what I know about the place. 1 mile West puts you pretty close to the center of town. That house will absolutely have cable TV and internet available.

104 is well-maintained but if you have pets you'll want to make sure they stay in the yard. There will be log trucks, dump trucks, etc. that use the road and even though the speed limit is 35 near town they are in business to make money and you're not making money if you drive slow...
I wouldn't want to live right on 104 myself, but that's me.
Advantages - shorter distance to drive to get elsewhere, State road is well-maintained.
Disadvantages - traffic noise, closer to other houses as compared to back roads.

Closest Target is in Concord, a 45 minute drive away. Any big box store is going to be a minimum of 45 minutes' drive. There is a regional chain grocery store in Bristol or New London, both about 15 minutes from town. The two general stores have the necessities but they are priced accordingly - in other words, you're best off to do most of your shopping at the bigger stores whenever possible.

No Starbucks in these parts. There are Dunkin' Donuts in Bristol and New London, though.

Closest hospital is either Franklin or New London, Franklin being about 20-25 minutes and New London about 15. I was born in New London.

Can you get on OK? I dunno, that's a call you'd have to make. I like it, if anything the town is much bigger than I'd like to see it. Nothing like it was when I was a kid. The lodge, ski shop, and hot chocolate stand at Ragged was a shed that sat on cement blocks and the only lift was a rope tow. There was no golf course there, in fact I used to hunt where some of the course is situated today and I remember seeing what appeared to be a Bobcat track - or a cat even larger than that.

There are bear in the area, I have had a few run-ins with them in my yard and I live 3 miles from town. You need to be careful about where you store your trash and when you put out bird feeders so as not to attract the bears.

Oh, yeah, you need to take your own trash to the transfer station, or pay someone to do it for you. That close to town, you might need to go to the post office just down the road to get your own mail from a PO box, too, but I'm not sure about that. There is no town water or sewer, obviously. You will be responsible for maintaining your own well and septic system.

As far as what I think about Ragged - I'd like to see it stay in business but not grow too much, like the plans the previous owners were floating. Ragged is a big taxpayer in the town and if they are in business that will take that much more load off of the individual homeowners as far as property taxes are concerned. Because NH does not have a sales tax, that revenue has to come from somewhere and they make it up in property taxes. Be sure you research what the taxes are for that property and don't be surprised if it is reasessed after it has been sold.

-Lee

[Oo-v-oO]

Originally Posted by buck naked

I don't live there...I just invested and lost.

Just curious - where do you live?

[buck naked]

lakes region.

[canyontothesky]

Honestly, if I bought the house, I really wouldn't care what happened to Ragged in the short/long term. In fact, I'd rather it stay where it is as a nice place for the locals, and then, oh, 6 months before I sell (whenever that may be), it become the most popular resort in the area and home values are in the millions, bwhahahaha. Umm. Right.

Also, I don't think that the price of tickets is unreasonable. Granted, I will be buying a season pass, but I grew up skiing at Ski Bradford and Nashoba Valley in MA, and though both mountains have night skiing (which I really, really wish Ragged had!!) and both are much, much smaller mountains, the season pass for those mountains cost more (not by too much though). But you only have to go to Ragged 8 times on a weekend/holiday before it starts paying for itself.

[rogueangelis]

I grew up in Danbury my whole life, and i wish i had more time to comment on this subject & the many facets that have been brought up in the string.
My first question would be- where are you from? Living in Danbury isn't really like living anywhere else - even just a few towns over in New Hampshire. If you are young (young = without a family) i have no doubt that you would find living there excrutiatingly boring. Having grown up a 'local' i can attest that unless you like spending all of your time 4wheeling, minigolfing or going to the movies, you are pretty much out of luck. There are very few nearby bars (nearby being 20-30minutes), the closest supermarket is 20 minutes away and the two corner stores close at 6pm. Although i love the area, i would not move back unless i had children to occupy my days/nights - there literally is just nothing to do. (and, although it might only be 40 miles to school, on back roads in the winter that could take you 4 hours- no exaggeration)
That said, in regard to Ragged Mountain, Danbury is NOT a tourist town. It is in no way "up and coming" anything. If you are waiting to see some monumental development of the town or ski area, then you will be waiting a LONG time. It sees an influx of people in the winter for skiing and in the fall for leaf peepers. It does not bring as much business as you would expect for golfing - it is kindof an afterthought for the town, although the course is nice. Because of this, i would not expect to buy a house and turn it over for profit, although you may get a bit of $$ during the winter renting it out for the ski season if it is in close proximity to the mountain. However, people don't really visit danbury outside of fall/winter, (except maybe bike week to sit on Hippie Hill) so there aren't a whole lot of people to rent to throughout the year. It isn't like a city where there is a lot of turnover so you're guarenteed to get a tenant. If you buy there, i'd expect to live in the house yourself most of the year.
What you have to understand when buying property there, is that it is a whole different type of living. The roads wash out and you literally can be stranded at your house for days. The town doesn't maintain 1/2 of the roads so you have to hire someone to plow out your house/drive way. If you have cable you're VERY lucky - most houses can have internet but no cable tv service and need to have a satellite dish to get anything at all. Because of the location, if your electricity goes out during a storm, sometimes it can take up to a week for it to come back on. (say, if a tree in the woods fell on the line and they have to check the whole thing) Most of the town is comprised of and 'run' by offshoots of three different families that own construction, plumbing and electrical companies within the town in addition to farms. The town is full of the kindest, most generous people you'll ever meet, but if you live there you have to embrace the lifestyle. You need to go to town meetings and be involved.You need to hang out at the corner store and read the paper on saturdays/sundays. You have to care about the people in the town or else you will not thrive there because there is nothing else even remotely near by. My family moved from CT because they wanted a quiet, small town life and if that doesn't interest you then don't even consider buying anything. What seems like "quaint" turns in to "painful" after the novelty has worn off.
Also, it is very difficult to find a job. You may be close to school, but when you get out - then what? Take a look around at the surrounding towns - which are hardly any bigger and don't offer much more. Unless you want to work in a supermarket or antique store (or a school), then expect to drive an hour or more to work every day.
The biggest pet peeve of most residents is out of state people moving there. most people think "oh i'm going to have a house in the country' so they buy a 1/2 acre of land, cut down the trees and plop a pre-fab house on it. Then they realize they can't handle the lifestyle (or the winters!) and then they leave and the house sits there on the market like an eyesore for YEARS because no one in their right mind in town would buy such a stupid house. If you take a drive through the town you'll see exactly what i mean. Then the once beautiful landscape just looks ugly.
Plus, the whole town knows all of your business. And i mean ALLLLLL your business. Where you came from, all about your house and how you bought it, what you do, what you do in your spare time. gosssip city.
For all the reasons above, that's why it isn't an up and coming area. People DONT want it to be one. If everyone moved in to all of the small towns for the 'scenery' then there'd be no small towns left. The people there are trying desperately to keep it's serenity and beauty and have no tolerance for people who move there w/o the mindset to preserve what the town has maintained since 1795. It's very lucky that the same families that comprise most of the town also own most of the land. That way, in a sense, the town has alittle control over how much land can be built up.
Hope that helps, haha! I don't mean to sound cynical, but as a 27 year old who now lives in a big city who came from such small upbringings, i really can attest to what it's like on both sides. I love that town and wouldn't change growing up there for anything, but you will NOT see me back there any time soon!! (maybe when i'm retired and just want to sit on my porch ALLLLL day. then it'd be a PERFECT spot! ) Good luck!

[DreamworksSKG]

Why not buy the house as a vacation home? you could live in the portsmouth area, but use the house as a vacation home when you wanted and maybe rent the house out for the spring-summer-fall months? I'm sure it'd be a great vacation house and you could make some investment returns from it?

then when you're ready you'd have the house there to move to after college?

just a thought

[dognh]

Originally Posted by rogueangelis

I grew up in Danbury my whole life, and i wish i had more time to comment on this subject & the many facets that have been brought up in the string.
My first question would be- where are you from? Living in Danbury isn't really like living anywhere else - even just a few towns over in New Hampshire. If you are young (young = without a family) i have no doubt that you would find living there excrutiatingly boring. Having grown up a 'local' i can attest that unless you like spending all of your time 4wheeling, minigolfing or going to the movies, you are pretty much out of luck. There are very few nearby bars (nearby being 20-30minutes), the closest supermarket is 20 minutes away and the two corner stores close at 6pm. Although i love the area, i would not move back unless i had children to occupy my days/nights - there literally is just nothing to do. (and, although it might only be 40 miles to school, on back roads in the winter that could take you 4 hours- no exaggeration)
That said, in regard to Ragged Mountain, Danbury is NOT a tourist town. It is in no way "up and coming" anything. If you are waiting to see some monumental development of the town or ski area, then you will be waiting a LONG time. It sees an influx of people in the winter for skiing and in the fall for leaf peepers. It does not bring as much business as you would expect for golfing - it is kindof an afterthought for the town, although the course is nice. Because of this, i would not expect to buy a house and turn it over for profit, although you may get a bit of $$ during the winter renting it out for the ski season if it is in close proximity to the mountain. However, people don't really visit danbury outside of fall/winter, (except maybe bike week to sit on Hippie Hill) so there aren't a whole lot of people to rent to throughout the year. It isn't like a city where there is a lot of turnover so you're guarenteed to get a tenant. If you buy there, i'd expect to live in the house yourself most of the year.
What you have to understand when buying property there, is that it is a whole different type of living. The roads wash out and you literally can be stranded at your house for days. The town doesn't maintain 1/2 of the roads so you have to hire someone to plow out your house/drive way. If you have cable you're VERY lucky - most houses can have internet but no cable tv service and need to have a satellite dish to get anything at all. Because of the location, if your electricity goes out during a storm, sometimes it can take up to a week for it to come back on. (say, if a tree in the woods fell on the line and they have to check the whole thing) Most of the town is comprised of and 'run' by offshoots of three different families that own construction, plumbing and electrical companies within the town in addition to farms. The town is full of the kindest, most generous people you'll ever meet, but if you live there you have to embrace the lifestyle. You need to go to town meetings and be involved.You need to hang out at the corner store and read the paper on saturdays/sundays. You have to care about the people in the town or else you will not thrive there because there is nothing else even remotely near by. My family moved from CT because they wanted a quiet, small town life and if that doesn't interest you then don't even consider buying anything. What seems like "quaint" turns in to "painful" after the novelty has worn off.
Also, it is very difficult to find a job. You may be close to school, but when you get out - then what? Take a look around at the surrounding towns - which are hardly any bigger and don't offer much more. Unless you want to work in a supermarket or antique store (or a school), then expect to drive an hour or more to work every day.
The biggest pet peeve of most residents is out of state people moving there. most people think "oh i'm going to have a house in the country' so they buy a 1/2 acre of land, cut down the trees and plop a pre-fab house on it. Then they realize they can't handle the lifestyle (or the winters!) and then they leave and the house sits there on the market like an eyesore for YEARS because no one in their right mind in town would buy such a stupid house. If you take a drive through the town you'll see exactly what i mean. Then the once beautiful landscape just looks ugly.
Plus, the whole town knows all of your business. And i mean ALLLLLL your business. Where you came from, all about your house and how you bought it, what you do, what you do in your spare time. gosssip city.
For all the reasons above, that's why it isn't an up and coming area. People DONT want it to be one. If everyone moved in to all of the small towns for the 'scenery' then there'd be no small towns left. The people there are trying desperately to keep it's serenity and beauty and have no tolerance for people who move there w/o the mindset to preserve what the town has maintained since 1795. It's very lucky that the same families that comprise most of the town also own most of the land. That way, in a sense, the town has alittle control over how much land can be built up.
Hope that helps, haha! I don't mean to sound cynical, but as a 27 year old who now lives in a big city who came from such small upbringings, i really can attest to what it's like on both sides. I love that town and wouldn't change growing up there for anything, but you will NOT see me back there any time soon!! (maybe when i'm retired and just want to sit on my porch ALLLLL day. then it'd be a PERFECT spot! ) Good luck!

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