Moving to Newport (Providence, Middletown, Portsmouth: low income, real estate, renting)

[JohnK801]

I am moving to Newport & would like general information on the area from current & past residents. At first it will be a second home but will transition to a full time house.



Thanks,

John

[smarty]

Never lived there before. My understanding is the very rich and the very poor live there. Depending on the section of town. You may want to check out properties around Narragansett Bay like Kingstown.

[MoMark]

Originally Posted by JohnK801

I am moving to Newport & would like general information on the area from current & past residents. At first it will be a second home but will transition to a full time house.
Thanks,
John

I love Newport, Rhode Island and the Narragansett Bay. I was lucky enough to have been there in the summer and in October one year, so experienced Fall there too. The scenery is gorgeous and the bay is spectacular. Newport itself is a charming town. If I could afford a second home there in the right location, I'd want one too.

[rockfisherman]

Originally Posted by JohnK801

I am moving to Newport & would like general information on the area from current & past residents. At first it will be a second home but will transition to a full time house.
Thanks,
John

Newport is a beautiful town...as mentioned, it has very rich and very poor sections. And there is the Navy base and Navy housing. There is so much history in Newport...it was one of the early colonial seaports. There's more affordable housing in Middletown and Portsmouth on the island, and you won't have to cross any bridges to get to work. The climate is moderated by the ocean so the winters aren't too bad and the summers aren't too hot.

[megsinri]

Newport is expensive to live. Many people live in Middletown and Portsmouth. I've lived in Newport for 4 years, but got tired of the tourist during the summer season. I think Fall is the best time because the traffic subsides, but you can still enjoy the beauty of Newport.

As far as the navy base goes. It is still there and it is still a functioning base. My dad retired from the Navy 10 years ago. He was stationed at Newport. Yes the base has downsized but there are still many families stationed here.

Good luck on the move.

[JillianfromMA]

My parents live in Newport and I spend alot of time there. it is very expensive to buy now. My parents bought their house in 1999 for $180,000 and it is now worth close to 600,000, and thats not even in the fancy part of town. Thats in the fifth word , which is mostly families. Try looking at condo's. A nice 1 bedroom goes in the upper $200's.

[dennis s]

Newport is a tiny litle town with a lot of history. Because of it's age there are many one way narrow roads. Daytrippers get lost on them every day making it impossible to get anything done. I am making plans to move there (Newport County) in two years and I'm going to buy in Middletown or Portsmouth because of there proximity to the beatiful city of Newport. The homes in Newport are either in "rough" areas or just plain overpriced. If you have one of the homes downtown you always have problems with tourists parking either in front of your driveway or even in it.
The area is great though and being a sailor it's always been a place where I wanted to live. Lots of beaches and marinas and even a pretty good polo club in Portsmouth for the "horsey set". Real nautical New England and only two and a half hours from N.Y.C.............CAN'T WAIT !!!!!!!

[sunsetrunjibbz8l]

Newport is a beautiful town to live in- I lived there for 5 years. It's not the type of place I would seriously recommend settling down in however. The very rich and very poor reside here. I would check out Jamestown or Middletown. Both are within 15 mins away. The school systems are not the best in newport. in the summer, it is inundated with tourists. It's hard to get that "small town" feel because it is a transient area. do not live off of broadway if you can help it, as it is not so nice and there is a lot of crime. Off of Thames, you get a lot of students. Try other areas in town.
Good luck!

[jakedog1]

I think it depends... On your lifestyle. We lived in newport for years. There are lots of great things about it and lots of things that just make daily life ANNOYING - but it really depends on your lifestyle. Parking can be a PITA which can just make every day end with frustration. Its great to be able to walk to world class restarants but if you live downtown you need to be prepared to suffer totally inconsiderate tourists - they will pee on your front bushes and park ACROSS your driveway. But it can be fun to meet new people so if you are a walk to starbucks for breakfast kind of person and not a try to get your car out of the driveway to get to the grocery store kind of a person- well it just won't matter that much. I just have to say that the rich-poor divide is so sad and the tourists never see it. The schools there are deplorable. So when it came time to buy and stop renting, we moved out of town- way out of town.
A fun place to visit and a fun place to live while you are young and umm footloose? BTW Jamestown is approx 5 minutes from the center of downtown newport and the exact opposite (very few poor, great schools, quiet and respectable tourists/locals) but it is very $$$ to buy there.

[POhdNcrzy]

A little while ago I lived in Hollywood, California for about 9 weeks, having never lived there or really visited before. Now I'm living back in Jamestown, RI, where I grew up before heading off in 1990 for college and post-college in Boulder, Colorado for about the last 16 years. Jamestown is right next to Newport so I'm very familiar with it. It humors me how I actually make some comparisons now between coastal RI and southern California/LA.

Yes, Newport/Middletown seems to be filled with only the rich and the poor, with lots of high visibility minorities, most of whom seem to be poor or low income. Sort of like the LA area in that regard. Beautiful beaches and scenery seem to account for the very high cost of living, just like LA, but also just like LA, in my opinion, there's really very little to offer that makes the very high cost of living worthwhile, unless you are someone who just has money to burn, as they say. Property taxes and rents here are simply outrageous....

Just like LA, if you are wealthy or the kind of person who owns several homes, yes this can be a great place to live and a sure bet good real estate investment. You are close to Providence, Boston and New York City. Not far from good skiing up north. Plus you have all the beaches and the boating.

Rhode Island is a very insular culture in my opinion, there is a certain vibe here that is ubiquitious. Personally I don't care for the vibe or the Rhode Island culture one iota. Most people here strike me as uneducated, ignorant, crass simpletons with foul tempers. They have amassed no personal wisdom during their lives nor appreciation for the outside world whatsoever. This is not a flame, but it is my honest opinion and heck I've spent more than half my life here. The other day after work in a busy retail strip area in Middletown, I needed a quick jump start having already attached and laid out my own jumper cables, because I had left my headlights on after driving to work in the rain and the battery was drained. I asked 4 motorists for help and was rebuffed until the fifth person I asked. Person one: "I gotta get back to work, sorry." Person two: "Sorry, last week someone hit my car and damaged the side, sorry I can't help you with a jump start" (????!!) Person three: "Sorry buddy, why doncha get AAA like everybody else?" (I do have AAA, but I'm not gonna call them for a jump start that takes less than 30 seconds with any friendly human being with a car). Person four: "Sorry, I'm in a hurry". Person five: "Oh, I gotta be somewhere...oh wait my niece is right over there and she could do it." (Yes, the niece gave me a successful jump start which took less than 1 minute to accomplish) Now I'm not the hugest fan of Colorado either, but one thing's for sure, in Colorado I would have gotten a jump start from the first or second person I asked, for sure. That's how they live out West, by the way.

Much like a concluded about southern California, in my personal opinion, Rhode Island including Newport is one of the most horrible places in the world one could possibly live in. Yeah, I'm kindy picky and I hold strong opinions. Personally, I don't mind that I'm that way.

P.S. My goodness, if anyone on the forum knows how an intelligent, friendly person with a 4-year liberal arts college degree can find a job in Rhode Island that pays more than $7.00/hr., please please please I beg you post some advice here....