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Hello,
We currently live in north central Florida and are planning to relocate in about a year. I am a registered nurse and my husband will be completing electrical engineering school then. We visited the Nashua area and liked the proximity to Boston. Can someone please tell us where there is a safe, family friendly neighborhood with tree lined streets, houses $300-400,000 range, good schools and of course good job prospects and commute less than hour? We would like amenities close by with plenty of outdoor recreational activities. Also, I have heard the winters are pretty harsh...we are actually looking for the colder weather, but curious as to how long the winters last and if there are truly four seasons? I know this is a lot, just hoping to narrow down area to neighborhood that has some of the above. Thanks in advance for your help.
pretty much anywhere in NH is safe and will have tree-lined streets (well, maybe not so much in Manchester & Nashua). There are lots of great schools- like Londonderry, Hollis, Amherst... all great towns. and you can likely get to Boston in around an hour, depending. However...
NH is a very different world than FL!! oh yes, there are 4 seasons (more depending on how you count mud & black fly times ) and they can be beautiful. but winter is no joke. it can start in Nov (freak snows have happened earlier, but it's not really winter) and last into April - in southern NH; longer farther north. And yes, it can get cold! esp if there's an ice storm that knocks the power out for weeks (yes, it happens). that's why now most people have a backup generator. This past winter, seemed like it snowed every few days in my area. seriously: it's not that unusual to have enough snow in one storm that it's as tall or taller than the snowblower. we were having trouble being able to throw the snow over the top of the snow banks. yes, it would melt a little in between storms - but not that much.
If you're really thinking of moving up this way, you really need to take some vacations during Feb and see how you feel about winter. The snow is pretty when it comes down, but it turns mucky grey fast. be sure you can handle the cold. there's cold, and there's 'cold' - and being from FL it's gonna be colder to you. yeah, I"m trying to scare you some, but I'm only barely exaggerating (wait: no, I"m not really). Some people have transitioned from FL to NH, but it's not easy.
After some vacation time in the middle of winter and the middle of summer (for more than a couple of days), and you still want to move up, make sure whichever of you makes the most income gets a job first! like everywhere else, job hunting is not easy. I think nursing can probably get a job anywhere, but engineering can be tougher (DH being an electrical engineer who is job hunting) in spite of the proximity to Mass.
Spring and Fall are stupendous, but you have to deal with winter in between and that will separate the NH-ites from the people 'from away'.
My husband and I moved to NH two years ago. We had lived in Miami, FL for 35 yrs before that. I certainly agree with GotBackHome that you need to visit up here before moving. As far as the weather goes, not everyone is cut out for the cold/snow. The winters vary. Our first winter here was pretty mild. This past winter (in the "past" only a couple of weeks) was harsher, with colder temps, much more snow, and a longer winter. You asked if our weather here is harsh. Depends on what you're willing to deal with. You're coming to an area where it should be no surprise if it's cold and snowy with long winters, so be prepared for that and don't expect it to be any different. On the other hand, there are indeed four beautiful seasons. And each one is celebrated. Living in So. Florida for so long, we never experienced different seasons, but I know north FL is different, so perhaps you have. But the change of seasons is one of the big reasons we moved here. Right now in southern NH, the temps are in the 60's in the day, still in the 30's at night, but it will gradually warm up. The trees are beginning to bud and even some spring flowers are beginning to appear. Right now, we can go out without heavy coats or boots. But all of this is recent. Prepare for six months each year when that will not be the norm. Know you have to shovel or plow before you can leave your house many winter mornings. Know that the snow doesn't always look pretty, especially in places with lots of traffic, like Nashua or any other city. But there is infinite beauty here that will be different than what you experienced in FL. You will miss the trees and plants that you have in your area now, but those will be replaced with trees and plants that are here. You will join in the happiness and excitement of spring planting, beautiful fall foliage, Christmas that looks like the pictures in books, and perhaps small town celebrations and traditions. Don't expect things to be the same in any respect, but it's a different kind of good. But you have to be able to cope with the winter weather or you won't be happy here.
Make sure to visit in the winter for more than a few days. Expect to endure weather in the negatives for days, weeks at a time. I moved from Fla-NH and lasted 11 months. The cold was beyond anything I had ever imagined and it was so cold it was painful. It burned my eyes and ears and hands, really anything that wasn't covered.I couldn't breath sometimes when I first stepped out cause the cold would burn my lungs and my joints hurt (I was 25 at the time). So if you can imagine that kind of cold for months on and and think you can handle it then visit and see. Winter is long, much longer than Florida summer imo. I was in Keene, about an hour or so from Nashua and there were some days the snow/ice was so bad we couldn't get out of town. It took a bad toll on our cars, destroyed them really with the salt and constant ice then thaw then pot holes etc
The year I lived there it started snowing in Oct and we left in May and it snowed the night we left. It'll be a hard transition to go from seeing flowers, trees and sun every day to seeing grey, dead, and slushy white-ish black/brown snow for months.
Also make sure you check taxes there it varys from town to town and home taxes are outragous. A home here who's taxes might be $900 a year are $5,000+ up there.. Plus a view tax, if you have a view.
Also be aware that it gets just as hot up there as it does down here, but they have haze esp if you are inland like Nashua. Most places don't come with A/C up there , even new construction. We went car shopping and even most cars didn't have it, its not standard like here. Also things like your electric have extra charges like a "delivery fee" (yah we never understood that, argued with the electric over exactly WHAT they are delivering if its all through wires) which can be as much as the bill itself. We'd sometimes have a $60 "delivery fee" tacked on to our $70 electric bill...Also we found things like washer and dryer are not common in-home there either. A lot of people use the laundry mat. My gf has lived there her entire life, never owned a home that came with a washer and dryer.
The biggest issue will be the winter for you, a White Christmas isn't worth the other 8 months you have to endure of freezing temps, shoveling, de-icing, ungodly high heating bills, frozen car locks, and an hour extra time to get anywhere IF you can get there. Autumn can be underwhelming and its short.. 3 weeks or so of decent color then the cold sets in and you're stuck raking leaves that stick to your lawn and car and windows cause the weather turns rainy. After winter you have mud season where its just disgusting and dirty everywhere, then black flies that swarm windows and bite...
All in all its way more expensive to live up there than in Fla. You're adding on a lot of extra expenses for clothes, car, home that you don't have down here. Just our winter wardrobe up there was the expense of our entire year wardrobe here. Taxes were insane, heating cost shouldn't have even been legal, and the extra pain the snow caused wasn't worth the view it gave you. Just my opinion on it.
Last edited by Sweetbottoms; 05-06-2013 at 05:54 AM..
Make sure to visit in the winter for more than a few days. Expect to endure weather in the negatives for days, weeks at a time. I moved from Fla-NH and lasted 11 months. The cold was beyond anything I had ever imagined and it was so cold it was painful. It burned my eyes and ears and hands, really anything that wasn't covered.I couldn't breath sometimes when I first stepped out cause the cold would burn my lungs and my joints hurt (I was 25 at the time). So if you can imagine that kind of cold for months on and and think you can handle it then visit and see. Winter is long, much longer than Florida summer imo. I was in Keene, about an hour or so from Nashua and there were some days the snow/ice was so bad we couldn't get out of town. It took a bad toll on our cars, destroyed them really with the salt and constant ice then thaw then pot holes etc
Haven't experienced "weather in the negatives for days, weeks at a time". A handful of days when it started out below zero early in the morning. I am in southern NH, though, but so is Nashua, where you're thinking of living.
The year I lived there it started snowing in Oct and we left in May and it snowed the night we left. It'll be a hard transition to go from seeing flowers, trees and sun every day to seeing grey, dead, and slushy white-ish black/brown snow for months.
It's not that bad. Sure, it gets dreary at times in the winters but I don't see it as "grey, dead and slushy whitish black/brown snow for months." Every time it snows again, it's white!
Also make sure you check taxes there it varys from town to town and home taxes are outragous. A home here who's taxes might be $900 a year are $5,000+ up there.. Plus a view tax, if you have a view.
Ah, property taxes can be high. However, we save almost $9,000 a year in insurance since moving to NH. In FL, we had homeowners ins., windstorm insurance, flood insurance and car insurance, all at premium prices (and high deductibles). Perhaps because of the low crime here and the lack of lots of natural disasters such as hurricanes, insurance is infinitely lower here. And no, I'm not saying there are never any natural disasters. But it's not like Florida. Also, there's no state sales tax here, which is a huge bonus.And, you can choose to live in a town where taxes are lower if it suits your needs.
Also be aware that it gets just as hot up there as it does down here, but they have haze esp if you are inland like Nashua. Most places don't come with A/C up there , even new construction. We went car shopping and even most cars didn't have it, its not standard like here. Also things like your electric have extra charges like a "delivery fee" (yah we never understood that, argued with the electric over exactly WHAT they are delivering if its all through wires) which can be as much as the bill itself. We'd sometimes have a $60 "delivery fee" tacked on to our $70 electric bill...
Definitely not anywhere as hot here as Florida. During the summer, we'll get maybe 10 super warm days, and that's not an underestimate. There's no comparing the Florida heat and humidity to NH heat. Our house does have central a/c (as most of the houses I've been in here have), but we only used it about 10 days each of the two summers we've been here, and just in July and August. And the mornings start out cool and comfortable, always. Paddle ceiling fans would do the trick, too, if no a/c. Also, haven't run across new cars without a/c. . . We haven't experienced a "delivery fee" for electricity that I know of.
The biggest issue will be the winter for you, a White Christmas isn't worth the other 8 months you have to endure of freezing temps, shoveling, de-icing, ungodly high heating bills, frozen car locks, and an hour extra time to get anywhere. Autumn can be underwhelming and its short.. 3 weeks or so then the cold sets in. After winter you have mud season where its just disgusting and dirty everywhere, then black flies that swarm windows and bite...
Heating costs here are a good deal lower than our constant 24/7 a/c costs in FL. Mud season - depends where you live. Sweetbottoms, sounds like it was a smart move for you to move away from NH, as it doesn't seem like it was up your alley at all. However, I don't want the original poster to hear such a slanted opinion of things here. It wasn't for you, and it may not be for the original poster, but who knows? Maybe the things that were so awful for you wouldn't be for her, just like they aren't for me, a former long time Floridian.
Heating costs here are a good deal lower than our constant 24/7 a/c costs in FL. Mud season - depends where you live. Sweetbottoms, sounds like it was a smart move for you to move away from NH, as it doesn't seem like it was up your alley at all. However, I don't want the original poster to hear such a slanted opinion of things here. It wasn't for you, and it may not be for the original poster, but who knows? Maybe the things that were so awful for you wouldn't be for her, just like they aren't for me, a former long time Floridian.
I agree 100%, sweetbottoms was not cut out for NH and she makes it known on this forum everytime someone posts asking about winter....
Two things i do not understand about her post, new cars without A/C??? where are you shopping? Its pretty much standard on all new cars from what i have seen... also houses not having washers and dryers? yah maybe if your house shopping at a trailer park? we have bought 2 houses in NH, a starter home and a more expensive home, looking at almost 35 houses +/- almost ALL of them had washers and dryers....
NE is notorious for having some of the highest cost of living in the country behind Cali so to say its cheaper than other places is simply not true.
Just as you seem to think I post excessive negative things I think too many of these posts can be sugar coated convincing people that the 3 weeks of views in autumn are worth the 8 months of brutal cold, grey, dead land for the rest of the year and the price it costs to have it. We save probably thousands a year in supplies and bills not living there and the astonishing amount of ex new englanders on the Fla boards with the same opinion can't all be wrong about that. Just look at the amount of young people fleeing those states from lack of opportunity and lack of jobs and living expenses to states like Fla and Texas tells you all you need to.
I post my experience plain and simple. Sorry if people don't like it and its negative but I didn't have a positive experience. Heating costs aren't even CLOSE to cheaper than A/C in florida are you kidding. Not only that heating and electric were two separate bills for us in NH. Our 1 bed 1 bath apt (probably 700 sqft if that) heating up there was over $400 a month sometimes with $175 electric bill to boot. We've never paid over $120 a month for a/c (includes electric) for my 2 bed 2 bath 1200sqft condo here even when its triple digits in summer and our a/c at 72. Up there the heat was run just warm enough to keep ice out of the dog bowl and we'd be bundled up in the house all day and night with heaters on the bed. Our lowest electric was still higher than our lowest electric bill down here. No state income tax here, no car inspection here, don't pay state AND city tax when you register your car here. Sure there's no sales tax but theres a food and beverage tax. Here its just a flat 6% here. There its 9% I believe.
The argument I'm sure will be "well you lived in an older home without great insulation".. Unless you're building your home or get lucky up there you're home is gonna be probably 50+ years old and that's a newer home for there. Down here you probably wouldn't even consider a home before the early 2000's because of hurricane codes and upgrades. Again just another difference.
As far as the cars we shopped for a new one in Keene at a car dealer . We looked at 3 cars (not used or old or anything) and none had A/C it was extra. We never had a washer and dryer up there, we even looked at a newly built townvhome in Swanzey still under construction and non had washer and dryers. Like I said my gf has lived there her whole life, never had a washer in dryer in her house, nor her parents. Dishwasher also which was a bit more common it seemed but once again down here if the places doesn't have a washer dryer, dishwasher and upgraded stove fridge etc its not even a consideration for most. I came from one of the richest towns in America (technologically advanced also) to a town who didn't even have cable or highspeed outside of downtown in, 2007 no less. Lets not start how Keene is suppose to be a "city" in NH yet didn't have access to technology that is standard everywhere in the modern world. Its pretty scary when you hear the police department was on dial up internet less than a year before you get there. It was a culture shock you can't prepare for. Even so with all that things like rent are double what they are here ,and Fla is actually a desirable state to live.
I'm giving my experience and I think its too bad if people don't like post the negative parts of it coming from a state that doesn't have any of these issues, esp when the poster lives in the same state as I currently do. It can't always be peaches and sunshine I simply wrote the differences that we found from Fla to there, and reading my post vs the ones before me it seems to me that I was more or less supporting what the above posters had said. ie winter is brutal and hard up there, experience it before you move and make sure you can handle it. It is not unreasonable to warn someone about these things.
Last edited by Sweetbottoms; 05-06-2013 at 07:19 AM..
The property taxes and heating costs in the winter are legitimate concerns, and should be overestimated for anyone thinking of moving to New England. We underestimated ours, and it cost us dearly.
OK speaking as someone who was never real find of cold and who is not getting better at taking it as I get older.....
I don't see NH as a place you move to for the weather unless you really enjoy winter activities like cross-country skiiing and snowshoeing and outdoorsy stuff like kayaking and hunting. If you like motorized stuff you can go snowmobiling too. If that is what you are into, you will like it here.
And frankly I could care less about the first three weeks of autumn since we are just coming into the time of the year that I love. The daffodils are out, the lilacs are about to bloom and the sky is a bright clear blue. No haze. And I dearly love the views of the mountains, every last one of them.
What I like about NH and this is also true of northern New England is that we do not have all this same old same old franchise - pardon me - crap that defines a lot of the rest of the US. Same old same old box stores selling the same junk, same old same old franchise restaurants dishing up oversalted and fatty chemical laden stuff rigth out of the microwave - no thanks. If you want to go out to eat you can dine in a place where the owner decides where to buy the ingredients and what to serve. And if you want to buy goods, you can go somewhere where the owner sources the goods and not some faceless corporation that has no knowledge or understanding of the region. I will never understand why some people seem to think that living within five miles of Home Depot-Target-Olive Garden-Petco-Staples-Dicks Sporting with some huge shopping mall to boot is a good thing. If I ever need that stuff I can drive an hour and frankly I'm glad it isn't close to me. It is something I will miss when I leave.
No it is not the place to come if you want to wear skimpy clothes year round, although I have seen high school kids wearing flip-flops in the snow and guys shopping at the (regionally owned) building supply store wearing shorts in February.
The houses can be old stock. It is a matter of taste and how often you want to wear a toolbelt. I used to enjoy old house charm but I've gotten it out of my system.
People are not sugary friendly but they are friendly in a more solid way. They won't just drive by you if you car is dead on the road, they will stop to help. The farmer down the road has given me eggs and vegetables as thank you for the egg cartons and plant containers I brought over that I didn't need and they did. New Englanders are also not hung up on appearances. In a place where almost everyone wears jeans, flannel shirts and waffle stompers, people are not into impressing total stangers with outward signs of wealth.
I think if you grew up in Florida, the weather will be a shock. Whatever you do, don't listen to people who say you will be a prisoner in your home for six months and won't be able to go outside. You can and should go out - you just need the right clothes. OK I will stay in if it gets to -20 but that is mostly because one of my dogs can't take the cold well. And that only happens a few days a year nowadays. But you will enjoy the relative lack of crime and if you were hoping to get away from the box store sameness of a lot of the US, you will really enjoy it here.
I don't recall seeing it mentioned here before when this topic comes up but a condo might be a good option for someone who might be put off by the thought of shovelling snow. Granted this might be counter to the "tree lined street" requirement but if the house prices/taxes are beyond one's reach and the condos aren't it's something to consider.
A condo with a garage mitigates quite a bit of the winter hassle (as well as mowing and raking) with the condo fee being the major trade off.
There are some stand alone condos in Nashua which are more "house-like" but I don't know how often they come up for sale.
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) and they can be beautiful. but winter is no joke. it can start in Nov (freak snows have happened earlier, but it's not really winter) and last into April - in southern NH; longer farther north. And yes, it can get cold! esp if there's an ice storm that knocks the power out for weeks (yes, it happens). that's why now most people have a backup generator. This past winter, seemed like it snowed every few days in my area. seriously: it's not that unusual to have enough snow in one storm that it's as tall or taller than the snowblower. we were having trouble being able to throw the snow over the top of the snow banks. yes, it would melt a little in between storms - but not that much. 
