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Hiya folks. My wife and I currently live in a small city outside Hartford CT. We have a 2 year old and one about to be born. We have a 1600sf ranch home in a decent semi-rural setting that I just gutted and remodeled to the teeth without a single dime financed. (Solid cherry cabinets, travertine floor, backsplash, all stainless appliances, red oak floors, decorative trimwork throughout, fieldstone fireplace, all new mechanicals etc) However, just our mortgage and house taxes are $2400.00 per month. For us, not nice.
We are people of faith and family. (Not the Duggar (About The Duggar Family (http://www.duggarfamily.com/aboutus.html - broken link)) type, more Waltons/Little House.) We are more "libertarian" than anything...less government, more freedom and even if we disagree so long as you don't impact my life, I won't impact yours. At the same time I'm NOT PC and can handle "big boy" conversations without running in the "offended" corner in return. We do July 4th parties, like having get togethers etc with a bonfire, good beer and BBQ.
I love NH (Have friends who moved there, hit up Pittsburg with the sled etc I still have my custom built 230hp Doo, so yea...I'm a bit of a sledneck. ), more specifically the Northern Seacoast region - Dover particularly.
I tried the "go South" thing as a kid (early 20's) and then later on in my late 20's and it just wasn't me. We looked again the last couple years and again, just not us. We are New Englanders, and love seasons and cold weather, ocean etc. I grew up first half in a mill town that is "Manchesterish" and moved to a small dairy town of 3K after that. I prefer to live in the later, but having a "city" around in a 10-15 minute drive for stuff is nice too.
I have a small service business (Think lawn care, carpet cleaning, powerwashing etc) that does okay, and she is a director of a daycare center. We both make decent money, but we are miserable in our setting because of real estate and tax costs here. We both would love for my wife to be home, and we very much believe in debt free, less is more, living and we are starting to make plans to carry that out more.
I'm old school, hard working and can pretty much do anything. (Lot clearing, plumbing, carpentry, electical etc)
We like to be within driving distance to a Walmart, Home Improvment Box, a "members club" etc. 15-20 minutes is fine.
The Plan
Liquidate all assets: Home, business, savings etc. We can drum up about 90K. I've been searching around Farmington, Barrington, New Durham etc for land. Seems if I"m patient and look hard I can find 8-16 acres for $20-30K.
So, purchase land outright, get well and septic, electric run. I should be in for about 40K at that point. Take 15K and pay off all minor debts. (CC, student loan etc) I would do most of the land clearing myself and just hire out for excavation work. We would put a 1600ish SF new 3 bed manufactured home on site and finance it for a small monthly payment and save money over the next 5 years or so. I would then build my own house (1800sf basic ranch is fine with me) on same property for about $120K with about 60-70K down and again have a very small mortgage. ($500?) Rent out the 3 bed manufactured home for additional income.
As stated above, I would sell my business now (Already have an offer) and start up another Web hosting/design/development company like I had in the 90's. I don't have a problem traveling in 2-3 days a week to outer Boston, Manchester, Concord etc to meet up with clients. In otherwords, making cash has never been a problem for me. I get it done.
To me, that's a way where we can simplify our lives, gain the freedom to do what we wish (Wife home, more time with kids, have the land for ATV's, snowmachines etc, less stress, get debt free) In 5 years or so I can have a new decent home on 10ish acres with hardly any mortgage, rental income and live free.
So - Nuts or smaht?
TIA
P.S. Feel free to suggest other areas around Dover with "cheaper" land.
Gee, if you don't like the real estate and tax costs in the Hartford, CT area, I don't see how the situation would be any better in the Seacoast area!
You pay $2400 per month PIT for your current remodeled home, I don't see how you would be any less for a 1600 square foot manufactured home plus a 1800 square foot stick built home on a 8+ acre lot in the Greater Dover area.
You should check with the building inspectors in those communities and see if they will even let you put 2 dwellings on 1 deeded lot, they probably will not. You would need to purchase 2 smaller adjacent lots or subdivide one property in order to do what you have proposed.
Don't get me wrong, move to NH if that's what you want, I just don't think you are going to save money while you are executing your plan.
Why not just find an existing home in the Dover area for say $300K, put $60K down, your mortgage P&I will be about $1300, taxes will be about $500, you're $600 per month ahead of where you are today and then you can work on the plan of developing an income property, etc.
As for the job market, I would line up new jobs in the area before you sever ties with your existing situations.
Also,OP, the market for Web businesses is shot.
They can do everything in India,Sri Lanka or Eastern Europe for a fraction of what US businesses would charge.
And have you ever lived in the area that you are proposing to move to?
How do you know that you'll like it?
Or that your spouse will?
Trust me ,if she doesn't like it,you'll wish you'd never moved.
Here's what I would suggest: Sit down and do a "pro vs. con" debate about this.If you can't think of enough "cons" then you aren't thinking hard enough,so you should do it again.Then talk it over w/ your spouse in detail and get her input. and then w/ a trusted friend or relative and get theirs.
None of this will take you very long and after you've done it, make your decision.
This is serious move w/ more potential costs than benefits that I can see based on what you've written. You really need to consider it carefully.
Good Luck!
Gee, if you don't like the real estate and tax costs in the Hartford, CT area, I don't see how the situation would be any better in the Seacoast area!
There is no way possible for me, in our current situation to be able to purchase 10 acres of land and put a home on it for less than $400K in CT.
There is no land left in CT worth a damn that is not over priced in comparison. Moreover, overall tax burdens are much much higher than NH. My business gets taxed like crazy, income tax is about 1K per month out of pocket, our cars get taxed yearly along with a ton of other things. We are consistently in the top three states in the nation regarding tax burden. It makes a difference.
Quote:
Originally Posted by gf2020
You pay $2400 per month PIT for your current remodeled home, I don't see how you would be any less for a 1600 square foot manufactured home plus a 1800 square foot stick built home on a 8+ acre lot in the Greater Dover area.
No offense, but did you read my figures? I can purchase a lot and have septic, well, electric ready to go for about 40K. I'm not guessing at this.
Also, do you know what a manufactured home costs? You can get something decent for less than 30K and something nice for less than 50K...delivered.
Quote:
Originally Posted by gf2020
You should check with the building inspectors in those communities and see if they will even let you put 2 dwellings on 1 deeded lot, they probably will not. You would need to purchase 2 smaller adjacent lots or subdivide one property in order to do what you have proposed.
I agree, and of course I would make sure the 10-15 acre plot could be subdivided. I just did that with my current lot. I have 2 acres with an approved building lot in the rear if I wanted too.
Quote:
Originally Posted by gf2020
Why not just find an existing home in the Dover area for say $300K, put $60K down, your mortgage P&I will be about $1300, taxes will be about $500, you're $600 per month ahead of where you are today and then you can work on the plan of developing an income property, etc.
For several reasons. 1. Our mortgage would NOT be that low as being self employed we deal with higher interest rates. 2. My wife would still not be able to stay at home and the BIG one 3. As I said above, We DO NOT WANT to be in debt 240 thousand dollars! That's kind of my point of doing this. Owning 90% of what we have, and eliminating debt and then saving money to build in the future again with very little debt.
Quote:
Originally Posted by gf2020
As for the job market, I would line up new jobs in the area before you sever ties with your existing situations.
I'll already have the new business in place and working before this takes place.
Quote:
Originally Posted by banevader
Also,OP, the market for Web businesses is shot.
They can do everything in India,Sri Lanka or Eastern Europe for a fraction of what US businesses would charge.
No offense, but there are two things going on here.
1. I'm asking for opinions from the good folks in NH not TX or NV
2. I didn't ask for business advice. I'm well aware of what's out there and this isn't my first rodeo.
Quote:
Originally Posted by banevader
And have you ever lived in the area that you are proposing to move to?
How do you know that you'll like it?
Or that your spouse will?
Trust me ,if she doesn't like it,you'll wish you'd never moved.
Yes. It's roughly two hours away from me now. Again, this isn't like Nevada where you can drive for 5 hours and still be half way across the state.
We both like it. I'm not talking about going from Dallas to San Diego hoping "I'll like it". I just about lived in New Hampshire, VT and ME in my younger days.
Quote:
Originally Posted by banevader
Here's what I would suggest: Sit down and do a "pro vs. con" debate about this.If you can't think of enough "cons" then you aren't thinking hard enough,so you should do it again.Then talk it over w/ your spouse in detail and get her input. and then w/ a trusted friend or relative and get theirs.
None of this will take you very long and after you've done it, make your decision.
This is serious move w/ more potential costs than benefits that I can see based on what you've written. You really need to consider it carefully.
Good Luck!
Done it, been there, did it again. I'm more looking for input from locals, but thanks for the advice.
you wouldnt be moving farther away too much, but think of this...even if cost of living was the same and incomes were the same, no state income taxes and no sales tax (for most things) would probably put you ahead of the game a bit at the minimum.
My only advice to anyone with children is to rent and see if you want to be there for the long haul.
Unless you plan on homeschooling, and even if you do, you will need to check out resources for your kid's education. Living in an area in your twenties, while single, takes on a totally different perspective than living somewhere with a family. I totally get where you are from a financial point of view but I would first live there and get a real feel for the area from a family point of view. We have sacrificed a lot to stay at home with four children and sometimes it can get to you. Will your wife be okay living away from neighbors, play mates, etc? We don't take vacations very often so enjoying your home is important.
Right now we are not happy where we live and it is miserable. We have watched an area we loved 12 years ago turn into somewhere we can't wait to leave. Unfortunately we can't go anywhere until our third one graduates from high school and the last from middle school. That will be in 2 years. I know it would be worse if I didn't have good neighbors and good friends for my children. It looks like you have put a lot of time and effort into your plan, and it seems like a great one. I'm just saying, if I were you I would "try out" the area before committing to buy a lot of land and building a home.
BTW- I am shocked you are so young. I always thought you were older since you know so much about the CT area. Huh.
Good luck with the dream, I'm right there with ya' on that!
you wouldnt be moving farther away too much, but think of this...even if cost of living was the same and incomes were the same, no state income taxes and no sales tax (for most things) would probably put you ahead of the game a bit at the minimum.
You are right, it's not that far away at all...but like typical New England, things can vary so much in a short distance. I can hit the NH border from where I am in 1 hour.
Yea I would have saved about $7000 last year on income tax alone. That's not chump change.
We would be dumbing down our cost of living a lot - with no regrets.
Quote:
Originally Posted by oc2nyc
My only advice to anyone with children is to rent and see if you want to be there for the long haul.
Unless you plan on homeschooling, and even if you do, you will need to check out resources for your kid's education. Living in an area in your twenties, while single, takes on a totally different perspective than living somewhere with a family. I totally get where you are from a financial point of view but I would first live there and get a real feel for the area from a family point of view. We have sacrificed a lot to stay at home with four children and sometimes it can get to you. Will your wife be okay living away from neighbors, play mates, etc? We don't take vacations very often so enjoying your home is important.
Yea, I hear you on all those things - and please don't take this the wrong way, I'm not sure how familiar you are with New England. It's just...different. Going to Dover NH from Northeast CT is pretty much like going from Santa Barbara to Huntington Beach. Maybe a little closer even. Not a big change in anything regarding topography, climate etc.
We will do private Christian (church based) or home school. We do have a very good feel for the area, mostly because we already live in New England. lol Seriously though, we know the area, and in fact prefer it to where we are now. We love the Southern coast of Maine and the Mountains, Portsmouth, Epping (New England Dragway. ), Loudon (Another racetrack. ) and would be that much closer to it all. The area we are looking as well is literally 10 minutes from either the city of Rochester or Dover, and a short hop to Portsmouth.
Everything else is pretty much the same for us. We are in a semi-rural area now, not a subdivision, vacations are pretty much heading up to NH and ME anyway etc. But I do appreciate the insight because you never know what you may not be thinking of.
Quote:
Originally Posted by oc2nyc
BTW- I am shocked you are so young. I always thought you were older since you know so much about the CT area. Huh.
Good luck with the dream, I'm right there with ya' on that!
Thanks for the kind words, but I'm not THAT young anymore. LOL 40, my wife is 36. ( I like em young. lol)
Hi Jviello!
while I'm certainly not anyone to tell someone's unusual moving plans that they are nuts (come on: we are moving in 2 years, yet have bought land to build on and now a house just so we can visit it 3 or 4 times a year and slowly move stuff up! then we can sell this house down here, and unfortunately that house there to raise capitol for building - but having the house there means we have a place to live while we are building. crazy, or what?!) but I think there is one thing that you might be missing...
yes, in general NH has lower CoL than most places (especially, as my late brother referred to it, the Peoples Republic of CT).. but there actually is an income tax that I think you'll run into! there is no state income tax normally, but I believe there is an 8% tax on businesses. So please just add that into your mix while you're running numbers. Hey, if you can make your dreams happen and keep your debt low.. go for it!
Gee, if you don't like the real estate and tax costs in the Hartford, CT area, I don't see how the situation would be any better in the Seacoast area!
NH has gone mad with the taxes at both the state and local levels. This is not the NH it used to be, despite some remaining natural environment. Jobs are nonexistent. People from Mass moved in en masse, and brought their tax and spend mentality with them. It all has to come out of the NH citizen, and government thinks we all have high-paying Mass. jobs to pay their infinitely-increasing (and already among the highest in the Country) property taxes, among a slew of new taxes added by our insatiable state and local leaders.
We make good wages now, but could not possibly stay here for retirement--just our property taxes are more than a typical NH job would gross, let alone net. But we have to wait for some sort of real estate market to emerge before we can get out.
Don't try to retire to NH without at least a million in the bank and no debts. And don't lock yourself into property taxes that will send you into bankruptcy, with no real estate market to give you "an out." It's a good place to visit, but not a good place to live anymore.
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), more specifically the Northern Seacoast region - Dover particularly. 
Seriously though, we know the area, and in fact prefer it to where we are now. We love the Southern coast of Maine and the Mountains, Portsmouth, Epping (New England Dragway. 
