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My wife and I (and our two beagles) are considering a move to NH. We feel an affinity for New England and think New Hampshire might fit our sensibilities. We spent a few days in and around Hanover and think it may be a good fit. I have just retired and looking at living on about $50,000 per year. Is it realistic for me to think that we can live in NH on that income? Thanks for any advice!
Yes, you can live on $50k per year, but it all depends on your financial status, your lifestyle etc. If you plan to purchase a home and have the funds for a substantial downpayment, and have a modest lifestyle (comfortable, but most excessive), then $50k in NH is sufficient. The reason why I'm bringing up purchasing vs. renting is that obviously house prices are still low and the interest rate is very modest, this allows you to get into a home and have a fix monthly cost for many years to come. Renting can fluctuate a bit more over time.
As you certainly aware of already, NH doesn't have income tax or sales tax. The property tax is a bit higher than many states, but it's not crazy high as in NJ (or most of PA) for example. What this means to you, is that you know fairly accurately how much you will have to pay each year in taxes... hiding the tax burden in sales taxes and income taxes makes it fairly difficult to calculate how much you will pay each year...
Thanks for your reply Audiofan. My wife and I live pretty frugally. We have a passive solar home on 12 acres in Bucks County PA. We love our house and we have good friends here. We would like to find a small to medium sized community where people work to live instead of live to work and where materialism is not as ramped up as it is here. We would like to be able to ski more in the winter and because we both hike and kayak we think we would take advantage of NH's mountains and lakes. We have enough equity in our home now to purchase another modest place. Probably looking for a 2BR with 3-5 acres for around $200-400K. Do you think that I'm being realistic?
Before we'd buy I would definitely spend some time in Jan or Feb. I am originally from Minnesota so winters are not something I fear but my wife needs to know what 30 below feels like! Thanks again...
Where in NH are you??
Do you have any personal recommendations for towns in or around Hanover or for towns that offer a similar lifestyle- cultural opportunities, community spirit, good medical care,... Thanks!
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