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My husband and I will be retiring in a couple of years, although we like NY and the four seasons we can not afford to stay in NY after we retire. We are looking for a retirement friendly state. Our research puts NH and TN in the top two places that will keep us on the east coast. Yes, they are drastically different in terms of terrain and weather, BUT they appear to be retirement friendly states.
We have vacationed in several areas of NH in past years but vacationing is not like living there. We have a few questions, hope people can point to places to research, and provide us with some negatives and positives of living in NH.
We know the winters can be harsh in NH, as well as NY, so that does not faze us too much. Summers are much nicer in NH than NY and definitely nicer than TN. We are not looking to move way up in NH, but also don’t want to be in the bedroom communities for Boston or Portsmouth workers as we think the cost of housing is higher in those areas.
As of now, neither one of us anticipates having to find a job to supplement our retirement. That may change in the future so don't want to be way out in the sticks in case we have to look for part-time employment. Our kids will be out of high school, but may decide to follow and attend a community college or Vo-Tech school. Hoping for some post high school education info and the potential job market for HS graduates.
We would like a 3/4 bdm single story ranch, done with climbing up and down stairs, with privacy between neighbors. We are not getting any younger so do not want acres of yard that the hubby will have to care for.
I have been reading that electric is expensive especially during the winter. We currently heat with oil and wood. Our electric runs between $200 to $300 in the winter and summer months. We do have two teenagers who leave everything on.
We like hiking, biking, fishing, kayaking, shopping, and dining out. Hope to have access to groomed trails and bike paths.
We would be looking at a home up to about $375,000. I am hoping to get some suggestions on where the property taxes are reasonable and within a 15 to 30 min drive to markets and box stores. We are used to driving that distance now for groceries/box stores/malls. Property taxes are outrageous in NY and from what I have seen on Zillow - NH has cheaper property taxes.
One big thing for us is access to good medical care and doctors. Although we are healthy now we are not getting any younger.
Lakes region alternates between a manic summer vacation time and dead quiet the rest of the year. Hardly ideal for retirement, IMHO unless you just love water.
OTOH, west of route 3 (i.e. west Concord ) you have a large number of communities that are retiree friendly and also have decent health care access. Think Hillsborough, Lebanon and Peterborough, for example. Most of the towns in this area are not commuter towns or towns where life revolves around the schools. Most of the area is surprisingly culturally rich, especially in the summer. The area has good primary health care, with specialist care in Manchester or Boston (depending on how exotic...) Lebanon also has Dartmouth Hitchcock, a non-profit academic health system.
Housing prices vary from town to town of course, and ranches are not common. There are many homes, however, that have 1st floor masters, with upstairs bedrooms for the guests who like stairs. Zillow can give you an idea of what's on the market, recognizing that there are a lot of dog listings who seem to re-appear every spring and disappear in the late fall. Kinda like perennial plants.
Check out Milford. I have noticed that there is some single-story new build communities near the town center there (I've seen some of the listings online). It has a nice downtown area, is close to route 101A/Amherst St where there are plenty of shopping options. And is close enough to Nashua that you would have more shopping and dining options, but not so close that you would be affected by commuters. You would also be a reasonable distance to Boston for the occasional trip, as well as Manchester Airport.
One thing you will need to consider is your comfort level with having a well and septic system. You are going to need a private system in most towns. If you feel that you need town water and sewer, that will cut down the list of possible towns considerably.
We specifically picked the lakes region (Sandwich) for our retirement home. Being retired doesn't mean locked in an adult community with box stores and bus service. We love this location because it is close to the towns surrounding the lake (15 min) and about 40 min to N. Conway, all of which have pretty good restaurants/pubs to visit. We also like that we are relatively close to Attitash and Wildcat for winter fun and the property taxes are pretty inexpensive (compared to the rest of the Northeast). We have lived with a well and septic in our current house in CT for over 25 years and I just don't get all the concern some people have with these systems. If properly installed with a little routine maintenance they are problem free. Good luck with your search.
I have learned to not go anywhere but Lahey Clinic (in Burlington MA), or MA General.
Interesting bias. FWIW, many people think MGH is the worst for acute care. And you ignore many other great hospitals and centers, like Beth Israel, Brigham, DFCI, Childrens. I could go on but won't.
Yes, NH is not known for specialist care. Few small, rural states are, and especially ones that are so near a top medical complex like Boston. So we drive when we need specialty care. It was the same when I lived in Wash, DC. Had to drive to Baltimore for specialist care.
Though replacing the septic (Title 5 in MA) will set you back a pretty penny. On my parent's house, at time of sale, it ran me $25K to dig it up and replace it. In Bedford, town water and septic are both free (at least where I lived). When I lived in MA, the quarterly water bill was $15... pumping out a septic will run you $100. If you figure a septic will last 25 years, then it is $1K a year for the 'privilege'. Of course, if it is already halfway through its life, then double that amount.
Where in MA did you live? (And when? 40 years ago?) Obviously not metro Boston, where water + sewer rates are many times that.
I rent out my house in greater Boston to 2 adults. The water & sewer bill runs about 320 dollars a year as of 2017.
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