Rye and New Castle area? (Portsmouth, Hampton: real estate, oceanfront, houses) - City-Data Forum

StepRN3 · 07-13-2009, 03:13 PM

We are from Connecticut and need to move to the New Hampshire area. Could anyone provide any information on Rye or New Castle? We are looking at them since they are close to the coast

We are in our 30's with very young children. I want to make sure it isn't a retirement town or anything. Any input is appreciated. Thank you!

JFRRACING · 07-13-2009, 04:26 PM

new castle and rye are both really nice places to live. i really like new castle it has alot of history and it is not real big. from what i have seen the homes are very old and some are quite exspensive. new castle has a very nice park that i used to take my kids to when they were little called the island common. there aren't many bussinesses out there but your not far from down town portsmouth where you can find tons of places to eat and places to shop. visit before you move just to make sure it's what your looking for. your close enough that you could make it a weekend trip. good luck.

steveusaf · 07-13-2009, 07:11 PM

Hope you've got some $$. Real expensive towns. Beautiful, though...

Valerie C · 07-13-2009, 11:32 PM

StepRN, both Rye and New Castle are stunningly beautiful towns directly on the coast. Living in New Castle would mean you head out of town for most if not all of your necessities (shopping, entertainment, etc). Regarding schools, the Town of Rye covers K through 8, and New Castle covers K through 6. Both towns tuition the students to the City of Portsmouth for the remainder through 12th grade.

Portsmouth is a beautiful and charming place to visit, but if you are considering using their public schools, you'll want to research the schools before you come out to and fall in love with the rugged beauty of the seacoast.

dognh · 07-15-2009, 12:58 PM

Also, New Castle is an island - though with a bridge connecting you to Portsmouth.
Both towns are expensive with New Castle being very expensive with limited property.
Both towns have low property taxes.
In addition to schools, I would also consider your work status. Unless you are working in the immediate Portsmouth area, the commute to say Mass or other parts of NH could get annoying. While on a map both towns appear to be close to 95. Both Rye and New Castle take some maneuvering around local streets to get there. Probably adding an extra 15-20 minutes to a commute - where as living in North Hampton for example would give you easy access to 95

NH2008 · 07-15-2009, 06:51 PM

I totally agree with everything Val said. I love New Castle; it is a charming island with very old houses in the original village and views of the water almost everywhere you turn. There is a spectacular resort (The Wentworth) and a big country club. Rye is less appealing to me because while it does have spectacular oceanfront mansions, it didn't really feel like it had a center. Apparently a lot of social life there revolves around club life.

As Val said, the major drawback of both of these towns is that although real estate is very expensive, neither town has its own high school. I couldn't justify the prices knowing that we wouldn't have felt comfortable using public schools all the way through. However, it's a great area in other ways.

dognh · 07-16-2009, 07:14 AM

On the flip side. If you can afford to live in New Castle you can probably afford to send your kids to private school

NH2008 · 07-16-2009, 07:35 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by dognh

On the flip side. If you can afford to live in New Castle you can probably afford to send your kids to private school

Maybe, but even then you're competing for spaces and not everyone will get one at the school they like. Phillips Exeter Academy is the best private school on the Seacoast (one of the best in the world, probably) and admission is highly selective. Our realtor told us stories about clients who bought houses assuming their kids wouldn't need to use public schools, and then found that they couldn't get into PEA. In some cases, one child would get in and not the other, which could create a yucky dynamic in the household. So all that factored into our decision - I definitely didn't want the expense but I also didn't want my kids to have the pressure of HAVING to compete for a spot at that age.

dognh · 07-16-2009, 08:47 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by NH2008

Maybe, but even then you're competing for spaces and not everyone will get one at the school they like. Phillips Exeter Academy is the best private school on the Seacoast (one of the best in the world, probably) and admission is highly selective. Our realtor told us stories about clients who bought houses assuming their kids wouldn't need to use public schools, and then found that they couldn't get into PEA. In some cases, one child would get in and not the other, which could create a yucky dynamic in the household. So all that factored into our decision - I definitely didn't want the expense but I also didn't want my kids to have the pressure of HAVING to compete for a spot at that age.

I get your point, but PEA isn't the only private school in the area. Being from CT you already know how packed New England is with high quality private schools. Sure, there's competition, but my guess is that unless you're stuck on PEA there are plenty of alternatives.

If on the other hand, you want public school then consider the towns that encircle the direct ocean front towns. Those are some of the best districts in the state.