Rochester, NH to ? (Manchester, Nashua, Derry: best town, real estate, homes)

[fairdinkumfrankies]

My husband recently got hired for a new job in Worcester, MA. We don't want to move out of NH and staying in our current location (Rochester) is going to make a long commute very long.

I'm hoping to get some personal insight into Seabrook, Lodonderry, Derry, and Nashua. The biggest importance is how the high school rates. The second importance is narrowing the drive time. Any suggestions other than what is mentioned above is very welcomed.

Thank you in advance.

Frankie

[BF66389]

Nashua is going to be the closest bet for you of those 3. I'd add another 30-40 minutes for Derry or Londonderry and another hour for Seabrook. Nashua has a decent HS, every bit as good as Rochester- probably better.

Hollis and Brookline both have a GREAT school system (the MS/HS is shared between them) and the drive would be around an hour. The fastest route from both avoids 3 and 90 completely...saving you $$$ in tolls and time in traffic. Brookline has the cheaper homes since its further from Nashua and Boston.

[DreamworksSKG]

I'd say Brookline NH would be your best bet, or Jaffrey/Peterborough area?

Brookline is the closest town proximity wise to Worcester

would be about a 30-40 miles commute via 13 South , 2 E , and 190 S.

Peterborough might be another option as well

Jaffrey//Peterborough area would be about

40 miles from Worcester-

Millford-Amherst Might be good as well- also about 40 miles

either way its going to be 30-40 miles into Worcester each morning

[DreamworksSKG]

My top 2 towns would be Brookline and Peterborough for you to look into
peterborough is particularly nice and a cultural/arts community as well

[WannaComeHome]

Dreamworks gave you the route from the Monadnock area - I just drove down that way a couple days ago. One thing, though: coming down through Fitchburg and on out to Worcester, those aren't big highways and could get congested during traffic. took me about an hour to get from the Jaffrey side of New Ipswich down to Worcester at around 10:30am. But I thought it was Rt 31, not 13? I get those numbers confused. Isn't 13 in Townsend and 31 becomes the John Fitch Hwy?

[Valerie C]

You asked about Seabrook, and I think at most, it would shave 30 minutes +/- off the commute. Getting into the Nashua area would be your best bet.

I would think that Jaffrey/Peterborough to Worcester would be a terrible commute to have to make, especially on dark and icy winter mornings. Great roads for Sunday afternoon motorcycle cruise, getting to work, something else altogether...

Hollis/Brookline would get you into one of the best high schools in all of NH, and be the closest for a commute as well. And while the real estate prices are somewhat lower in Brookline than Hollis, their tax rate is higher. Check Northern New England Real Estate Network - Official Website of the Northern New England MLS for the most accurate property listings, unless you are already working with an agent and using their property search engine.

[fairdinkumfrankies]

Thank you for the information.

Does anyone have any thoughts on Hampton, Plaistow or Exeter? It is a bit farther from Worcester. My husband doesn't mind driving a little more than an hour. He just doesn't want to be making the 2hr drive from Rochester. If we can manage it the towns mentioned will keep our kids in better contact with their friends.

Thank you again for your insight.

Frankie

[BF66389]

My thought is he is still going to hit the "worst" part of the commute on his down-swing toward Boston...so it probably won't save that much time. I really like the idea of "trial runs" for commutes- during normal commuter times during normal commuter days...

[DreamworksSKG]

Hampton-Plaistow and Exeter would be a crazy commute--to Worcester ---plus you'd have the Boston-NH traffic from that way. Its not worth it.

I would say the Peterborough-Jaffrey, Brookline or Nashua area would be your best bet.

I'd say look into Peterborough. Its a great community with a lot of culture/arts, outdoor activities, etc. etc.

Brookline would be another choice
right on the border near Nashua-Manchester not too bad of a drive from Worcester

its doable anyway--

----route 31 goes from Monadnock region of NH to Fitchburg---

13 goes from Brookline NH - Fitchburg

if you want to commute from NH without moving to NH those are your best town options

for the criteria they requested.

[fairdinkumfrankies]

Thanks everyone. We spent the weekend tooling around. We liked Hollis, but we especially liked Hudson. We drove past the Alvirne High School. It looked nice, is it a decent school, maybe comparable to Spaulding in Rochester?

We liked South Nashua, but we weren't sure if there was any place to live and do residents of S. Nashua use Nashua's high schools. Or is it that there really is no difference between S. Nashua and Nashua except on the map?