New Hampshire Questions (Manchester, Concord, Derry: property taxes, hoa, mcmansion) - New Hampshire (NH) - City-Data Forum

Samrai309 · 05-06-2007, 12:26 PM

Hello to everyone

This is a novel and there will be a test at the end....good luck LOL

I have to say, I have been reading and reading and reading....

Ok you get the point. WEALTH OF INFORMATION and ALL YOU GUYS who POST have been very enlightening. I grew up on Long Island, went to college in CT, outside New Haven (Quinnipiac College) and have been living on the east coast of FL north of Daytona Beach for almost three years. I was never a heat person, even though we vacationed in FL. FL has changed in the three years I have been here and not so much for the better. (Taxes, expenses, crowding, etc. ) I guess this is seen everywhere in one way or another. I am a high school science teacher, having taught four years in NY and now about to finish up my third year down here. My fiancee and I have been contemplating where we plan to re-locate to in the near future. We both prefer the colder climate, and although Long Island is my home, I cannot see paying all the money to move back there. Number one, I don't have all that money so that is a problem. But even if I did, or was able to arrange something, what you pay for and what you get is just not worth it IMO. Number two, Long Island appears to be turning into a land of two classes: The rich and those that cannot afford to live there but still do.

My fiancee does not really have a vested interest in coming to FL. She stayed on Long Island to finish up her nursing school and has been applying to hospitals across Long Island for positions. Strange thing is, all these hospitals are crying for help. All say they are hiring new grads, blah blah blah. She sends resumes, gets an interview here and there, and then nothing. You call to follow up and get the general form response: "We are still going over resumes and when we need to contact you....." She is not incompetent either and has a medical and academic background that IMO is a bit more encompassing than the average applicant (EMT, Rescue squad, Internships, Academics etc,). I have been told the problem is that it is easier and cheaper to hire nurses with experience than to pay to train new graduates and such, so they advertise to attract the incumbent nurses. I dont know how true that is. Seems it is much like my experiences as a teacher. They cry they need teachers, and then make you jump through hoops and make it extremely difficult to actually get in a position to teach with all the red tape.

Now to some questions. First to each his/her own so I am not looking to offend anyone. I would not say I am some extreme right wing conservative but I do tend to shy away from the tax friendly liberal democrat help someone at someone else's expense attitude and mentality. Unfortunately, the "People's party" is not a people's party anymore. I am registered republican. Anyway, aside from politics of the area but keeping in mind that attitude,

1. What are some areas of interest that would be worth looking at for any potential move? We are 29 years old, scheduled to get married next year. We have pets (cats and dog). They are our children, but we do plan to have children in the future. My goal is to get up to the NH area a few times within the next year and drive around and take a look at the towns and surrounding areas.

2. How is the health care job availability for nurses? Any good hospital systems worth looking into?

3. Being that my fiancee is a nurse, do you see a lot of people commuting to Boston for health care jobs? She has had this fascination with Boston since high school. (We are high school sweethearts). I have no interest in Boston. I don't dislike cities. I just have not had a deep rooted interest in their use. I did not use NYC as much as I thought I would and I grew up 15-20 minutes from the city by train.

4. Being that I am a high school science teacher, in general, how available are jobs for teachers? My entire career, by choice, I have taught in private Catholic schools. I went to Catholic elementary and high school so I have not had an interest in the public school systems. I just feel comfortable and feel I have a bit more administrative backing when it comes to any concerns or issues that may arise. (Less Beauracracy)

I prefer a bit more suburban/semi-rural setting. I would like to have some land, maybe 1/2 acre/1 acre of land. I like the nature and woods and animals and all. It just kills me how much land they are clearing down here in Florida. They just go in and clear huge plots of land. Very disheartening. If the fiancee had to commute to Boston, is this type of setting actually possible or are you getting way to north for a decent commute. I understand the snow situation and roads and all that for winter commutes. I have read that north of Concord seems to be the most preferable part of the state for this type of setting. Does this place her out of the normal commute range? Any suggestions of towns, locations and areas would be appreciated. I have been to NH once when I was younger. My parents told me the friends they visited were in New London, NH. I know this is on the western part of the state but it was very nice and country like when I was there. That was 20 years ago though. I have also been to Vermont a few times so I am familiar with that state's setting as well. Family lived upstate NY outside Albany and friends had summer houses in western massachusetts in ther berkshires. these were all just examples of settings that appealed to me. All beautiful natural areas. A big huge thanks way in advance.

JOE

NeverTooLate · 05-06-2007, 11:04 PM

Hi Joe,

I am a Realtor and as such have assembled several helpful links.
I am partial to the Concord area...not only because I live here but also because it has so much to offer.
Concord Hospital is large, modern and growing. They have a Cancer Center a Heart Center and many Specialties!
There are many school (teaching) opportunities in the area also.
Here are some links to check out! Enjoy!

Concord
New Hampshire
NH Community Profiles
Have Fun!!

Samrai309 · 05-07-2007, 11:59 AM

Nevertoolate--

Thanks for the reply. I will check out the websites. I knew of one of them but the others I will check out.

To Everyone else,

Thanks in advance for checking my thread out. I noticed a lot of viewings by folks maybe hoping to add any input. Anything you may have to offer is welcome and appreciated.

I know it is a long winded post. I tend to ramble sometimes as I try to cover the bases. I look forward to helping anyone else in these forums as well. Thanks again in advance for any insights you may have to offer.

east2west · 05-07-2007, 03:12 PM

Agree with other poster about Concord Hospital being good hospital. But if she's looking for the big medicine, inner city experience and want's Boston, Concord is too far to travel. I'd look at the seacoast, around Exeter, for a not too bad commute to Boston and for you St. Thomas Aquinas High School in Dover or Trinity High School in Manchester, both easy commutes from Exeter. Good luck. New Hampshire is GREAT!

Samrai309 · 05-08-2007, 12:54 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by east2west

Agree with other poster about Concord Hospital being good hospital. But if she's looking for the big medicine, inner city experience and want's Boston, Concord is too far to travel. I'd look at the seacoast, around Exeter, for a not too bad commute to Boston and for you St. Thomas Aquinas High School in Dover or Trinity High School in Manchester, both easy commutes from Exeter. Good luck. New Hampshire is GREAT!

East2West--

Appreciate the feedback! Thanks. I will keep that in mind as I begin my exploring. What is Exeter and the surrounding areas like? Built up? Crowded? Urban? Suburban?

Thanks for the reply and thanks to everyone else for looking and any feedback you may have.

MrsM · 05-08-2007, 07:24 PM

I see your novel and raise you a novella.

I live in Exeter (but not for too long, let's hope, as we're putting our 4b/2.5ba, 2000sf house on .9 wooded acre

on the market in a couple of weeks due to a job change; I really do love it here but it's not working for us anymore) and can attest that it is a LOVELY town. It's got about 8000 people, with a tiny, closely-built-up, veddy-historic downtown, but ruralish enough that there are farm supply stores! We don't have kids ourselves but the public schools are considered quite good, with performance well above average; we live very close to the regional cooperative middle school, an eeee-normous new regional high school is opening this fall, and there is also a cooperative vocational center serving six (I think) school districts here in town. There is also, of course, the famous Phillips Exeter Academy, whose students are guaranteed to run out in front of your car on Front Street at least once a week. ;-) I know of 3 sizable parochial schools in the area: St. Mary's (K-8) in Dover, St. Thomas Aquinas High School in Dover, and Portsmouth Christian Academy (preK-12) in Dover. I'm sure there are more smaller ones that I just don't know about, and I know there are scads of little bitty private schools around (the 30-50 students, ultra progressive type).

There is plenty of shopping in town and in the next town over, Stratham (verrrry Yupscale little town), in terms of grocery stores (three of them in a 1/2 mile radius), drugstores (four in same, not counting the 2 grocery stores with pharmacies), and suchlike. 10 minutes west in Epping is a Lowes and one of those giant Walmarts (not sure if that's something to recommend it or curse it though), Home Depot is 10 minutes east in North Hampton. Lots of restaurants, too, both chain and independent - I don't know of anyone in this area who doesn't know, for instance, the Loaf and Ladle downtown, which makes bread almost as good as my husband's and fish chowdah almost as good as mine. :-) About 10 minutes northeast is the Portsmouth/Newington area. (I joke that we're 10 minutes from everything.) Newington is known for its clusters of malls and more malls; Portsmouth is a wonderful artsy little city with lots of mouthwatering restaurants and more "boutiquey" shopping. Hampton/North Hampton/Rye's beaches are less than 15 minutes away. Manchester (which has an excellent little airport) is 35 minutes to the west, Concord is closer to an hour but it's been a couple of years since I've been there so I could be off a tad. Exeter straddles Route 101 which is a major east-west corridor and is moments from I-95 north to Portland ME or south to Boston.

Hubby used to commute to Boston, which is certainly doable, if a bit sucky. He had the option of driving, which took a little over an hour on the average rush-hours, driving 10 minutes to either Portsmouth or Newburyport, MA to pick up the commuter bus (C&J Trailways) to South Station, or taking the Amtrak Downeaster train from downtown Exeter to North Station, both of which take about an hour. (Note that if you work in MA and live in NH, you still get to pay MA income tax - NH has no income or sales tax of its own, but both MA and ME will gladly nail your butt to the wall taxwise.) Property taxes tend to be on the highish side, we're paying about $19 per thousand which is pretty average for the state, but the total tax burden for NH residents is one of the lowest in the country.

There are lots of healthcare options here. Due to chronic illness I am a big, big consumer of medical services. Right here in the seacoast area are Portsmouth Hospital in Portsmouth (middling in size, decent ER), Exeter Hospital here in Exeter (smaller and into the very-personal thing), the big-and-getting-bigger Wentworth-Douglass Hospital in Dover (which includes the Seacoast Cancer Center), Frisbie Memorial Hospital in Rochester (ditto). Scads of small clinics and independent doctors' offices. I've gone to Boston to see a couple of specialists but for the most part I can find everything I need right here in the seacoast, from anesthesiology to urology!

On the political front... the "Live Free or Die" motto isn't empty words. I have never seen such a tolerant, "mind your own dang business" place - I know people who make Ralph Nader look narrow-minded, and people who are slightly to the right of Genghis Khan, and everything in between, and it's all OK. People around here in general tend to be socially liberal, financially conservative, kind of like "do whatever you want as long as I don't have to pay for it!" The one thing that some people find bothersome is the, umm, racial profile of the state - overwhelmingly Caucasian. It's a catch-22, people of color tend not to want to move here because it's so white-dominated, but if they don't move here it will STAY that way!

Housing is on the expensive side in the seacoast, although nowhere near as bad as I hear it is in LI! But it's pretty expensive. If your dog is bigger than the average purse you will find it extremely difficult to find a rental. I'm sure you've been touring around places like realtor.com, but just as a ballpark figure $250k will get you a decent starter-type first-couple-of-kids home (3 bedrooms, 1 or maybe 1.5 baths), you won't get anything palatial. It's a buyer's market right now (sucky for us). The further away from the coast you get, the lower prices get. We're moving up to Rochester and said starter there is about $180-200k. But Rochester's not considered quite as nice a town (been nicknamed Roach-chester for I don't know how many years

), higher crime rate, the school system has never had a great reputation, it's another half hour further from Boston (getting more into the hour and a half territory), et cetera et cetera. Dover is a nice town to consider too, although it's pushing it on a commute to Boston factor; it's more expensive than Rochester and cheaper than Exeter. Unfortunately the blight/McMansion trend has not bypassed this area, there are way too many of them, but there are still plenty of charming little wooded places left right here in the busy areas.

I think you'll like it here. I've lived in Maine (I was born and raised there, and I do still consider myself a Mainer, but the tax burden forces us out of the state), Massachusetts, Illinois, Missouri, and New Hampshire in my adult life, and if I have my druthers, I'll never leave this seacoast region of New Hampshire ever again. Hope this helps!

kwiley1221 · 05-08-2007, 07:38 PM

Excellent Novella MrsM. Very good info!

nhyrnut · 05-09-2007, 08:24 AM

Any hospital that is affiliated with Dartmouth Hitchcock will do you good. If you want a Boston type hospital than go to the Lebanon area and work at Dartmouth Hitchcock. Littleton Just got a new hospital. Weeks hospital in Lancaster is good. But as far as Catholic schools the list is small here in NH check out

www.catholiclinks.org/schoolsnewhampshire.htm Now if you just want private schools that hold the same non political ways as the Catholic schools that check this site out.

http://www.directorynh.com/NHEducati...teSchools.html both of these links should be able to help you out.

To me the West Lebanon area sounds to be more of what you are looking for. But as I am not you, only you can decide that. But I would at least check it out.

good luck.

Mark S. · 05-09-2007, 03:54 PM