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I am a 28 year old female who is married to a 34 year old guy. My husband and I moved from Orange County, California 3 years ago to Bellingham, WA (2 hours north of Seattle) for a more affordable lifestyle. However, we realized that Bellingham is getting pricey. We haven't purchased a home here because 1) housing is limited and 2) the median home price is 350,000. I work as an office manager for a Dental practice and my husband works for a company as a help desk guy - your general IT guy. I've been thinking hard about what's important to me if we move again and here goes: affordable homes around 200,000 - close to a cute charming town - would like a home with a nice sized backyard in a very safe area - however, we don't want to be too far out in the country, but not living in a metropolitan city - and neighbors around are always appreciated. The economy has to be good for jobs as well, so being near a city that we can commute to for our jobs in a reasonable time would be nice. We would hope to raise a family in the next couple of years so we are trying to find a state where we can call home for good. On the flip side, my husband doesn't want to make a move in case we cannot find any jobs. So again, the job market would have to be decent. I'm not sure what to do. Any advice would be appreciated. Any suggestions on how much money would we need to save to move across country?Also, I've never been to New Hampshire before, so is New Hampshire truly worth the move? What's great about New Hampshire? Please help. Thanks!!!
So many questions. :-) Yes, you should be able to find a decent home in that price range with a backyard in a safe area in a smaller town with a reasonable commute. I'll let others answer about the job market...I think you need to find jobs before you think about buying a house, but the very first thing I think you need to do is visit NH in February so you get an idea of what the winters here are like. If you're OC natives who now live in Bellingham, you're likely going to be in for a climate shock when you relocate to NH and experience 5 months of snow every year.
However, four seasons is one of the things that is great about NH, providing you like them. The people, varied topography from the mountains to the lakes to the ocean, scenery, wildlife, recreational opportunities are other advantages. The state has no sales or income taxes, but it makes up for that with substantial real estate taxes. You can live out in the boondocks, or small towns, or small cities, and it's safe compared to a lot of other east coast areas.
$200,000 for a house seems too low for anywhere except the north country where jobs are not as plentiful as in the southern part of NH. You might find a fix-me-up in the country for that price, but you don't want to be out in the rural areas from what you said. Take a look at NNEREN.com or Realtor.com and see what's out there for $200,000. Probably not a lot in areas you'd be interested in. I think $250,000 would be more realistic for a small house.
The other thing to consider is property taxes and the cost of utilities. You will probably be able to find a home for a lower price than your current location, but there are other things that will be more costly.
The most important thing, however, is (as was stated above) finding employment. I would not move until you have jobs. I'm also not sure how salaries compare between the two states, but I guess you'll find that out.
What's great about New Hampshire? Please help. Thanks!!!
Watch 101 Reasons Liberty Lives in New Hampshire on YouTube. Or see my Instagram page. NH is awesome.
Like others pointed out, you should focus on jobs first. Find out where you are a likely to find employment, and how much you will be paid. Then I'd determine how far you are willing to drive to work. Once you do that, you can figure out if 200k is even doable for you.
Thanks everyone! Since my husband and I don't have executive positions, I think it's going to be challenging finding a job before we move. We'll most likely have to rent first before we buy. Are there any cities that you can think of that have great job markets with decent pay? If we worked in a big city, we would probably rent and buy outside of the city. So are there any cities/towns that come to mind for jobs and housing? They don't have to be in the same town, but hopefully not too far apart from each other. Thank you for your insight!!
Again,
do you know anything about "ice dams" on roofs?
Do you know anything about water in basement?
Do you know anything about septic tanks, septic pumps, and leech fields?
Back to jobs. NH is at "full employment" today. Easy to find a job currently. BUT. The history of the USA is a recession every 7 years (on average). Great to move to NH when jobs are available. Tough when jobs are scarce.
To posters benefit. NH is an aging state. More and more older people live in and come to NH. So somewhat easier for young people to find a job. But older retirees have the money to buy homes and homes can be expensive in some areas.
Hello fellow Washingtonian! I'm not native to there but have lived there for many years including Seattle, Everett, Marysville, etc and visited Bellingham number of times. My jaw dropped when looking at some of the houses even where my parents live in Marysville. It nearly tripled since we moved there in the late 90's. Unbelievable!
With that said, for general IT work (I have many friends in that field and do well) as well as dental, you shouldn't have any problems with local jobs. Obviously if you travel to Mass there will be more jobs paying more but it's like driving to Seattle and in many ways it's worse as Boston is chaotic with roads that don't resemble anything like Seattle or NYC in grid formation. You can live 30 minutes from Boston and will still take you solid hour with traffic on a GOOD day lol.
So considering family, not far, good schools for future children, and for $200K, you would probably want to consider a town that may be 30-40 minute commute to any major city. I say that cautiously as if you can bump that price to $225K-$230K you may have more options and not have a house that's older/smaller and commute far. Many people commute far in this state though so it's not uncommon either. Overall, I found out when I moved from WA, the prices in NH isn't all that cheap either when it's said and done. WA is expensive but the pay in general is higher as well so something to keep in mind.
BUT, if you're okay with a little commute there are many towns that would offer a lot for the price and you'll get a lot of land.
In NH, you either live to work in Concord/Manchester, towards Mass or up north of 16 and work along towards the Seacoast heading near Portsmouth. There's also 101 that's in between Concord & Portsmouth where it will open up a lot of opportunities as well to travel to either directions. Same with Rt.4 like Northwood/Epsom/Barrington where people commute east or west.
Say you find better job opportunities on Concord/Manchester side on 93; you can find many homes that are charming and smaller (small, spread out but very peaceful) in Chichester, Pittsfield, Pembroke, Canterbury and even north of Concord. I would obviously research the schools beforehand but there are many peaceful areas. For Seacoast Portsmouth/Greenland/Stratham is VERY expensive. But if you go up a little north on Rt. 16, I would say west Rochester or Farmington. Just know there are 'better' options between Rochester & Farmington as far as schools are concerned but it's worth a look! Stay away from Somersworth period. High crime rate, high property tax, etc and not worth discussing lol. There's also New Durham but ends up being close to 45 minutes towards Portsmouth. You have to also take in account winter driving that can extend that drive.
With that said, it's gorgeous up here. I won't ever live in Washington even though my parents live there still. Unless you like rain, while it may take awhile to get used to the cold during winter, you won't miss the drizzly weather afterawhile. I don't...I rather be in a 20 degree weather with brilliant sunshine. I personally cannot do without sunshine. Bellingham is beautiful don't get me wrong and in many ways I miss the cooler summer including the snow capped mountain views but NH offers so much more and with clean beaches everywhere all the way up to Maine.
It's less chaotic, peaceful, people are very nice (very liberal in this state and I wasn't born here either), and they are strict on conservation/nature so people really take care of the state overall. Very animal friendly, you won't hear people leaving dogs outside (dog house? They don't sell one lol) and many shelters have 100% adoption rates. Our state including Maine and Vermont is where people come up from Florida (a lot of retirees) and Massachusetts for vacation so that alone says a lot.
And this may sound completely random but many of my friends have moved to North Carolina. I went to Raleigh for the first time in spring and was completely blown away. Talk about even more relaxing community and people. Southern hospitality was no joke. I didn't think human beings can be that nice. But Raleigh had many transplants from other states and while I missed the beach (I thin it's almost two hours to the coast), I felt at home right away. My g/f and I are thinking about moving there one day when we get sick of the cold winter when we're ready to retire (we're in our late 30's). But if you two are young, want to experience four seasons, opportunities, lots of nature and outdoors and you have to check it out!
Thanks so much NHdriver!! It's nice to know someone has that experience coming from Washington! We lived in Seattle and Everett and still felt like those weren't places we wanted to raise our future family. We love Bellingham, but there are hardly any job opportunities here and the median house is roughly 350,000! I thought of New Hampshire because I started googling what states are the best to raise families and NH came up! So I started looking into it and it truly seems like a beautiful state! We have a couple of friends that moved to NC as well and NC is also a state that's on the list of best places to raise a family! However, I'm like you and prefer the seasons!! Your post was so insightful!! Thanks so much!!! 👍
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Moving here and then looking for work will be extremely stressful.
