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Hi all. I am an Active Duty Air Force member who will be relocating to Pease ANGB mid 2010 as part of the TFI. I have never been to New Hampshire before. Can anyone suggest any good areas that are reasonably close to Pease as I will be commuting there daily. Initially we my family and I will be renting a house until we can get a feel for the area.
What I'm going to be looking for will be a 3 Bedroom house for around $1700 a month. That's about all we can afford. Something with a garage would be nice.
If anyone could point me in a direction of a good town or heck, even a realtor that could help me out, that would be wonderful.
I probably can't give you much info, but I can give some. Hope its helpful. I use to be stationed at Pease when it was an active base. I enjoyed it very much, but Im orignally from Mass, so I had the added benefit of being stationed in New England and close to home.
I lived on base but I remember many of the military chose to live in nearby Kittery, Maine, and communities in that region just across from Portsmouth. Remember Portmouth is the NH Maine stateline. They lived there because the housing was cheaper for them there. The Portsmouth area has always been a higher cost area for housing, so keep that in mind. You could also try near the base itself which I believe is actually in Newmarket or it sits on the town border of the two communities. Also look into Durham NH not very far from the base. There actually are a number of towns just west of the base.
I drove thru the base several years ago and from what I saw the military end was boarded up or so it seems. Im not familiar with the reserve end of it at all. I certainly hope the Air Force itself is going to provide you with info on housing and such in the area. I have no idea what the military is like these days. I have two nephews in the military and they say little about it.
I did want to say since the area is a tourist area, avoid the several beach towns in the region. Hampton Beach. Rye Beach. There is nothing wrong with them at all, very nice. They are just geared to the summer tourists that flock there from New England and Eastern Canada. Im talking serious crowds here and traffic, they would be rather expensive places to live to begin with.
Well with that said thats about all I have to offer. Probably not much but something. I would look up some realtors on the net and take it from there. I would also see what Pease ANG has for info on this also. I hope you will like NH as much as I did, and still do when I get the chance to visit back home in New England. I live in Oregon.
Thanks for the help. We were definitely going to try and stay away from the beach towns. I'm originally from NC, so I know that those types of areas are geared towards the summer tourists, so for a somone looking to live there, not a cheaper area to be.
So far, I don't think the AF has it figured out as far as what they will be doing with us. This is a new concept having AD stationed at a Guard Base. It ought to be interesting.
Some of the areas we were looking at online were the NewMarket, Stratford (sp?), Rochester areas. Those seem to be down in price the farther away from Portsmouth you get. But commuting to work is a bit of concern time wise.
Thank you for your service, ErrantVenture and welcome to NH.
IMO, your best bet will be to find a home to rent in Dover. Newington and Greenland are also close by, but for your price range I would recommend Dover. Plenty to do there, active downtown area, etc.
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Originally Posted by ErrantVenture
What I'm going to be looking for will be a 3 Bedroom house for around $1700 a month. That's about all we can afford. Something with a garage would be nice.
If anyone could point me in a direction of a good town or heck, even a realtor that could help me out, that would be wonderful.
I am so jealous of your move to Pease. I grew up in Kittery and would love to get one of those assignments to Pease as part of the Total Force Initiative. Instead, I'm soaking up all that wonderful Minot AFB, ND has to offer, which aint much compared to the seacoast of NH.
Pease has come a long way since the active duty side closed. I've been in many of the ANG maintenance facilities and they seemed nice. The other side of the base is full of high tech manufacturing and services - they've done a lot with it. You won't have the level of base support you'd get at an active duty base, but IMO the ANG culture (easier-going, less BS) makes up for it. Besides, you'll get your health care at Martin's Point Health Care clinic (contracted Tricare - it's awesome, relatively), and there's a amall Navy Exchange and commisary at the Portsmouth Naval Shipyard across the bridge in Kittery, ME.
If you live in ME as an active duty member, your military pay won't be taxed. However, a spouse working will have income taxed due to living in ME, even if he/she works in NH. Something to keep in mind, although I think there's legislation that just passed that allows a spouse to claim the same state of legal residency as the active duty member, which might allow a spouse to not pay income tax.
As far as where to live, Portsmouth can be expensive, but you should still shop around because you might find a good deal. Greenland and Stratham would definitely be more expensive, out of your price range IMO. Dover is a great place and would be in your price range. However, the only downside would be the trip over the General Sullivan Bridge as part of your commute. It can get congested. This will be the case for any town north of Pease on Rt 16 (Rochester, Barrington, Somersworth, Strafford, etc.). Personally, I'd do it, although the last time I made the commute from Dover to Portsmouth regularly, it was the 90s and traffic wasn't as bad then. I guess it depends on your commute hours. The savings in housing costs over Portsmouth, and not having income tax issues in Maine for a working spouse, would convice me to live in Dover with no hesitation.
If income tax with a working spouse is not an issue, than Kittery or Eliot would be good choices in Maine, and you get slightly more for your dollar there. Your commute would be 15-20 minutes. South Berwick and York is a little further out and you'd be looking at 30 minutes.
Dover would be 15-20 minutes depending on where you lived and the route you took. Rochester adds 10-15 minutes to that. Strafford is very rural and could be 45 minutes, although I've never done that drive. Newmarket and Durham are nice towns (heavy college influence) with expensive real estate, and would be 30 minutes or so. None of these estimated drive times include traffic on the bridge.
Don't want to scare you about the traffic. It's not DC or LA, but that bridge is about as bad as it gets in the Seacoast, which isn't bad at all.
I'm partial to Barrington, just west of Dover, but only because I've got 7.85 acres of hardwood forested paradise waiting for me to build a house on in less than 5 years when I retire from the AF. The town is in a great location commute-wise to Portsmouth/Dover/Rochester and has a very rural feel, yet is close to a lot.
Sending you a PM with the name of the realtor I used to buy above mentioned parcel of paradise.
Congratulations on your assignment. I have no doubt it will be one of the highlights of your career and you will love it. If you're still there in 2014, I'll see you there! BTW - if you instead want to come to Minot, maybe we can work out a swap? There's not even snow on the ground yet!
Thanks for the help with the information on the area!! Really appreciate it. Steve, I sent you a PM with some information in it, so if you want, take a look at it and use it or not. Whatever you're comfortable with.
Do you know how many AD people will be stationed there at Pease? I read where they just closed down the base at Brunswick, MA recently.......That whole area is just beautiful IMO.....with so much to offer. Think you will realy enjoy it!
The latest numbers I have heard (nothing official mind you) is around 130-140 people. That's what's been posted in the news and online. There are not currently any announced plans to bump that number up for the area.
Just a small number to work with the Guard unit at the base. Part of a concept the Air Force is trying out now. I think Pease is the first base to be doing this. There are others that are doing it also, but I think Pease is the first to activate it's unit.
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