Lakes Region towns - any suggestions? (Laconia, Gilford: for sale, HOA fees, house)

[PuggyLuv]

Firstly let me say that this forum is so helpful! I have been doing a lot of research about a move to NH and this place has been great.

That said, I haven't seen a lot of information regarding towns in the Lakes region. DH and I are planning a trip up soon to check out some areas but we could use a little help narrowing it down before we get there.

We want to buy a house on a small bit of land (2-5 acres) for around $250-300K
The lower the property taxes, the better (of course)
We don't have kids so we're not concerned about schools.
Commuting isn't an issue since we both telecommute (or will once we're there) however high speed internet is a MUST!
We don't need to be near a mall or major town.

What we would like to be near is a boat launch. Docking is not an issue since we trailer our boat. So we want to be within a few miles of a boat launch where we can park the truck & trailer for the day whilst out on the lake. It would be nice if it were a less "touristy" part of the lake, but we'll take whatever we can get.

We are NOT interested in a subdivision with an HOA. I saw some homes in Moultonborough that were part of the Suissevale community - not our cup of tea. I don't care about shared access to a beach if it means I have to pay huge HOA fees and live in a deed restricted community. (doing that now!)

Can anyone help? Any suggestions for areas to check out would be most appreciated.

Thanks!

[jthibodeau]

My suggestion, seeing that you've never visited, is take the time to literally drive around Lake Winnipesaukee, for a start. It should take you about 3 hours to make the round trip and cruise through those town which abut the lake. From this point, you can expand to the other towns/bodies of water which are all pretty much within a 30 minute drive or so.

The Northern side of the lake is slightly less touristy then the Laconia, Meridith, Gilford, Alton Bay area. However, if your any where near the road I have suggested (Rt. 109/25) to you on a holiday weekend, you may find more traffic them you prefer. The north side still has tourist but, it seems the pace is just a bit slower.

In reality, most, if not all towns in this vicinity, as well as other small towns scattered through out that area, are great little towns with that small town feeling but, after all, the final decision is yours..

Good Luck, PuggyLuv.......

[Brave Stranger]

Originally Posted by PuggyLuv

Firstly let me say that this forum is so helpful! I have been doing a lot of research about a move to NH and this place has been great.

That said, I haven't seen a lot of information regarding towns in the Lakes region. DH and I are planning a trip up soon to check out some areas but we could use a little help narrowing it down before we get there.

We want to buy a house on a small bit of land (2-5 acres) for around $250-300K
The lower the property taxes, the better (of course)
We don't have kids so we're not concerned about schools.
Commuting isn't an issue since we both telecommute (or will once we're there) however high speed internet is a MUST!
We don't need to be near a mall or major town.

What we would like to be near is a boat launch. Docking is not an issue since we trailer our boat. So we want to be within a few miles of a boat launch where we can park the truck & trailer for the day whilst out on the lake. It would be nice if it were a less "touristy" part of the lake, but we'll take whatever we can get.

We are NOT interested in a subdivision with an HOA. I saw some homes in Moultonborough that were part of the Suissevale community - not our cup of tea. I don't care about shared access to a beach if it means I have to pay huge HOA fees and live in a deed restricted community. (doing that now!)

Can anyone help? Any suggestions for areas to check out would be most appreciated.

Thanks!

Meredith & Gilford are both great towns. Meredith has lower taxes, and better boating access IMHO. And Meredith has a very low tax rate, but it is a big tourist place. Center Harbor is quiet, and rural. Around Wolfboro seems perfrct for what you are looking for....but it's very expensive over there.

[GraniteStater]

Originally Posted by PuggyLuv

Firstly let me say that this forum is so helpful! I have been doing a lot of research about a move to NH and this place has been great.

That said, I haven't seen a lot of information regarding towns in the Lakes region. DH and I are planning a trip up soon to check out some areas but we could use a little help narrowing it down before we get there.

We want to buy a house on a small bit of land (2-5 acres) for around $250-300K
The lower the property taxes, the better (of course)
We don't have kids so we're not concerned about schools.
Commuting isn't an issue since we both telecommute (or will once we're there) however high speed internet is a MUST!
We don't need to be near a mall or major town.

What we would like to be near is a boat launch. Docking is not an issue since we trailer our boat. So we want to be within a few miles of a boat launch where we can park the truck & trailer for the day whilst out on the lake. It would be nice if it were a less "touristy" part of the lake, but we'll take whatever we can get.

We are NOT interested in a subdivision with an HOA. I saw some homes in Moultonborough that were part of the Suissevale community - not our cup of tea. I don't care about shared access to a beach if it means I have to pay huge HOA fees and live in a deed restricted community. (doing that now!)

Can anyone help? Any suggestions for areas to check out would be most appreciated.

Thanks!

Greetings!
The core area included in the Lakes Region includes Belknap and Carroll counties. However, I would not rule out the possibility of including the town of Holderness in your search criteria as well. Holderness is in Grafton County, and is in the scenic Squam Lakes area- just to the northwest of Lake Winnipesaukee.
Here are the town boundaries within the various counties in your target area.
Carroll County
Belknap County
Grafton County
http://www.nneren.com/detailed.php?state=nh

The eastern part of the Lakes Region includes the following communites: Freedom, Effingham, Wakefield, Brookfield, Wolfeboro, Tuftonboro, Wolfeboro, Ossipee, and Moultonborough. All of these towns are in Carroll County. North of these towns the terrain becomes more mountainous and the quantity of lakes decline.

The central part of the Lakes Region includes the following communities:
Alton, Barnstead, Gilford, Laconia, Meredith, Glimanton, and Center Harbor. These towns are located in Belknap County.

The western extent of the Lakes Region also includes Holderness, which is in Grafton County.

[Verseau]

You should definitely check out the Newfound Lake area. Hebron, Bridgewater, and Groton all sound like good choices for you.

Center Harbor and Holderness are also great choices.

[NHVisitAssist]

There are a lot of wonderful small towns in the area. You can get a lot of information from Vacation Lakes Region of New Hampshire, USA - Lake: Winnipesaukee, Squam, Winnisquam, Sunapee, Ossipee, Newfound Chamber. Under Regional Information you can get lake info, maps, photos etc. The site covers the entire area of Central New Hampshire. The lower White Mountains are only 30 minutes from the lakes. There are over 300 lakes, ponds and rivers in Central NH and can be explored in a couple days.

[GregW]

These are very nice places except you pretty much have to bring your own job and be willing to put up with the horde of tourists/vacationers/snowbirds in the summer. The winters are long and cold but the summers are great and the fall just about perfect weather.

[PuggyLuv]

Originally Posted by NHVisitAssist

There are a lot of wonderful small towns in the area. You can get a lot of information from Vacation Lakes Region of New Hampshire, USA - Lake: Winnipesaukee, Squam, Winnisquam, Sunapee, Ossipee, Newfound Chamber. Under Regional Information you can get lake info, maps, photos etc. The site covers the entire area of Central New Hampshire. The lower White Mountains are only 30 minutes from the lakes. There are over 300 lakes, ponds and rivers in Central NH and can be explored in a couple days.

Thanks for the link! The NH Public Boat Launches table will be invaluable.

It looks like the touristy-side of Laconia & Meredith have the launching & parking facilities we'll need, but I don't see much listed for the other areas.

jthibodeau, we're definitely going to take that drive around the lake to see for ourselves, we just didn't want to miss any "hidden gem" that only you locals would know about.

Verseau, Newfound Lake looks nice, but I'm not seeing much for sale in that area. Of course that can change so we'll definitely check it out when we visit.

Brave Stranger, thanks for the info. I noticed a town near Wolfeboro called Tuftonboro. Taxes look great. Any opinion on there? Where is the nearest boat launch in that area?

We're still in the "exploring our options" phase so we're pretty open to suggestions. Lake Winni kind of popped off the map at us, but if anyone can give us other lake areas to look at we'll add them to our list.

Thanks for all your help.

[Brave Stranger]

Originally Posted by PuggyLuv

Thanks for the link! The NH Public Boat Launches table will be invaluable.

It looks like the touristy-side of Laconia & Meredith have the launching & parking facilities we'll need, but I don't see much listed for the other areas.

jthibodeau, we're definitely going to take that drive around the lake to see for ourselves, we just didn't want to miss any "hidden gem" that only you locals would know about.

Verseau, Newfound Lake looks nice, but I'm not seeing much for sale in that area. Of course that can change so we'll definitely check it out when we visit.

Brave Stranger, thanks for the info. I noticed a town near Wolfeboro called Tuftonboro. Taxes look great. Any opinion on there? Where is the nearest boat launch in that area?

We're still in the "exploring our options" phase so we're pretty open to suggestions. Lake Winni kind of popped off the map at us, but if anyone can give us other lake areas to look at we'll add them to our list.

Thanks for all your help.

Tuftonboro has very low taxes. It's very rural, but close to Wolfeboro. There's some nice new construction in Tuftonboro also. Better home prices than Wolfeboro. There is some water access there, but you still would have to use Wolfeboro. It's good that you can come up and take your time to look around.

[GraniteStater]

Originally Posted by PuggyLuv

Thanks for the link! The NH Public Boat Launches table will be invaluable.

It looks like the touristy-side of Laconia & Meredith have the launching & parking facilities we'll need, but I don't see much listed for the other areas.

jthibodeau, we're definitely going to take that drive around the lake to see for ourselves, we just didn't want to miss any "hidden gem" that only you locals would know about.

Verseau, Newfound Lake looks nice, but I'm not seeing much for sale in that area. Of course that can change so we'll definitely check it out when we visit.

Brave Stranger, thanks for the info. I noticed a town near Wolfeboro called Tuftonboro. Taxes look great. Any opinion on there? Where is the nearest boat launch in that area?

We're still in the "exploring our options" phase so we're pretty open to suggestions. Lake Winni kind of popped off the map at us, but if anyone can give us other lake areas to look at we'll add them to our list.

Thanks for all your help.

Another lower tax town that has a lot of lake frontage would be Moultonborough. If you scan the mapping programs you can easily see the one higher density rural neighborhood that is probably not what you are looking for.