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I am looking into moving to southern NH with changes at the job. The job will have me driving to Logan airport maybe 2 times a week. I would prefer something within an hour of Logan. Schools are important to us, we have two kids. I will be new to winter and do have some apprehension about highway driving in the snow; so maybe the shorter the drive the better. I would also rather nothing too rural that might not be cleared as quickly as the major highways would be. Anyone have any pointers for towns I might start looking into? Somewhere with some shopping and restaurants nearby would be nice. We like a fairly small to medium sized town that has all the shopping and retail we need right there. The wife won't live further than 20 minutes from a Target! Thanks for the help.
Living just beyond the edge of "nothing too rural", I'm 20 minutes from Target (but only 12 from the target range)
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Originally Posted by 407Flyer
I am looking into moving to southern NH with changes at the job. The job will have me driving to Logan airport maybe 2 times a week. I would prefer something within an hour of Logan.
Rush hour, or off-hours? Working at Logan or flying out of Logan?
In general, look at NH towns that are on I-93, or have a highway feeder to I-93, these will be the most convenient to Logan. Outside of commuter hours, you could live as far north as Merrimack/Londonderry/Bedford/Manchester and still be an hour from Logan. During rush hour, it takes me an hour just to get out of Boston, much less out of Massachusetts.
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I will be new to winter and do have some apprehension about highway driving in the snow; so maybe the shorter the drive the better. I would also rather nothing too rural that might not be cleared as quickly as the major highways would be.
I wouldn't worry too much about snow, they do a great job of clearing the highways, and if the snow is falling so hard that they can't keep up, it's probably snowing at Logan also. Get a good car with AWD (there's a reason every other car on the road is a Jeep or Subaru), consider snow tires, and above all else, take it slow, and you'll be fine.
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Somewhere with some shopping and restaurants nearby would be nice. We like a fairly small to medium sized town that has all the shopping and retail we need right there. The wife won't live further than 20 minutes from a Target! Thanks for the help.
You might start with a map tool (Google My Maps, Bing, etc), put down pins for all the Target stores, etc, and then look at the neighborhoods that are within a reasonable drive of the destinations that are important to you.
All the towns I mention above are within 20 minutes of a Target, local restaurants, farmer's market, etc.
Hey, good question! Duh! Lol. I would LIKE to spend $300K or near there somewhere. I would sleep better at night with that price range versus $400K. We are also not opposed to renting a 3BR townhouse in the $2500 range, because I'm afraid there might be another move in 3-5 years. I figured maybe a Townhouse type community would make the adjusting to winter life a little easier if they are doing snow removal and such.
Hey thanks for the info, that was very nice of you. My hours and rotations down at Logan would be very random. Some very early, some very late; I am a flight crew member and our hours vary greatly. The length of my trips also vary greatly, anywhere from 1-4 days with no set pattern at all.
Thanks for the snow advice, I'm sure I will be needing some snow tires and 4WD as well.
Funny, I did just that (on Google maps and target) and will follow that advice as well. Thanks!
I could not disagree with the above advice more. The 95 route to logan is far easier than the 93 route. I would be looking in the Exeter district or the Portsmouth district. $300,000 does not go very far in this area, expect an older house and make sure to include the property taxes when calculating your monthly payment.
Exeter district: Stratham, Exeter, East Kingston, Kensington, Newfields, Brentwood
Portsmouth district: Newington, Greenland, Rye, New Castle, Portsmouth
There is a new Target in Greenland right off 95, there is every chain store you can imagine in Newington a little further up the road. Downtown portsmouth is loaded with restaurants, bars and small stores.
I could not disagree with the above advice more. The 95 route to logan is far easier than the 93 route. I would be looking in the Exeter district or the Portsmouth district. $300,000 does not go very far in this area, expect an older house and make sure to include the property taxes when calculating your monthly payment.
Exeter district: Stratham, Exeter, East Kingston, Kensington, Newfields, Brentwood
Portsmouth district: Newington, Greenland, Rye, New Castle, Portsmouth
There is a new Target in Greenland right off 95, there is every chain store you can imagine in Newington a little further up the road. Downtown portsmouth is loaded with restaurants, bars and small stores.
I second thebig0 on I-95 being the best route to Logan. If the OP will have free or subsidized parking at Logan then commuting by car down 95 will be the best option. Taking 95 down to route 1 into the Saugus area will allow the OP to utilize multiple options for continuing the drive into Logan, there are secondary roads into Logan from Lynn and Revere including Massachusetts route 1A. The overall drawback is balancing the budget versus school quality in the seacoast region.
I reside closer to I-93 and I consider working and commuting into Boston to be a last resort. Even using commuter rail out of Haverhill could end up being a 4 hour round trip, not to mention the expense of the parking and monthly train pass.
I do agree with most of the posts so written, but..
Manchester has a great airport to fly out of and opens up a lot of region to you.
Working out of Logan, and needing to drive there, depends on time of day.
I work in and around Boston almost daily, but do it early or late to avoid the mess of traffic.
It is a big 'town' and lots of folks go in and out, think you know what I mean.
I found a real nice place in Auburn, NH well under your budget.
Access to RT93 by RT 101.
Convenient to 'all' shopping with a small hop.
And under an hour to Boston (well, depending on time of day..)
The RT95 corridor to Boston is the best way down, but don't rule out RT93 to quickly.
Rt3 has improved greatly, but I still use Rt93 (well, depending on the time of day, I may jump over to Rt3)
The Manchester area gives you a lot of options to consider.
Go west, spend a little more.
Go slightly east, spend a little less.
Guys great post, please keep me coming. Logan is mandatory for me, I am a pilot and will be based there. So the other area airports don't help much in that regard. The budget isn't fixed at $300K, we could do higher if needed, $300K is definitely a comfortable number but we can go higher if needed for schools and work convenience.
Here's another question, what's the district closest to Logan on the NH side that has the best schools. So where's the border town with the best schools within an hour from BOS? Thanks.
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Living just beyond the edge of "nothing too rural", I'm 20 minutes from Target (but only 12 from the target range)
