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As far as property taxes are concerned, I would recommend moving to a town with their own school system (preferably elementary, middle/jr. high, and high school), their own police, fire, and possibly hospital. Reason being - taxes won't hike up a ridiculous amount in a single year.
That is, of course, unless the town approves renovations for all these in quick succession. However, I don't consider that a particularly common occurrence.
However, the no income or sales tax (prepared food is taxed, though), is pretty great, I think.
Otherwise, I would say that people very much keep to themselves - I've lived in my home for a year now and still don't know any of my neighbor's names. (Which works for me!)
To touch on the driving, I will say that the more north you go, the slower people get... So be prepared for that. I live in Gilmanton and commute to Franklin and have a hard time with regularly getting stuck behind people who go under the speed limit, and it's difficult to pass because the "back roads" (state highways) are pretty windy and have 1, maybe 2 places you can pass for several miles (where I always seem to meet with oncoming traffic and can't pass anyway).
Another little thing I've noticed about driving is that I can probably count on 2 hands how many times I've heard someone in NH, from NH, use their horn - and I've lived here for over 25 years. Of course, I don't spend much time in the cities, so that could contribute a bit to that.
Otherwise, in my experience, it's pretty socially liberal in NH, so there's that.
As far as property taxes are concerned, I would recommend moving to a town with their own school system (preferably elementary, middle/jr. high, and high school), their own police, fire, and possibly hospital. Reason being - taxes won't hike up a ridiculous amount in a single year.
That is, of course, unless the town approves renovations for all these in quick succession. However, I don't consider that a particularly common occurrence.
Can you explain more about why this would be the case? In my experience this hasn't been true. I used to live in one of the highest tax-rate towns, and it had its own school system, K-12. The fact that a small town had its own system instead of being part of a regional system (as used to be the case) was one of the big problems. They carried the full financial burden of all the of the buildings and overhead costs. I do see issues in regional systems in which the apportionment formulas can leave some towns feeling like their carrying the weight of some of the other towns. But I don't think either system guarantees lower taxes.
I'm guessing that you're thinking about extreme local control (no voters from any other towns making decisions) and perhaps population changes and new special ed. students from other towns not affecting the costs.
Also, I don't think there are any town-owned hospitals and I don't see how a hospital would have an effect on property taxes other than perhaps in an indirectly negative way due to their tax-exempt status. I could be missing something.
Can you explain more about why this would be the case? In my experience this hasn't been true. I used to live in one of the highest tax-rate towns, and it had its own school system, K-12. The fact that a small town had its own system instead of being part of a regional system (as used to be the case) was one of the big problems. They carried the full financial burden of all the of the buildings and overhead costs. I do see issues in regional systems in which the apportionment formulas can leave some towns feeling like their carrying the weight of some of the other towns. But I don't think either system guarantees lower taxes.
I'm guessing that you're thinking about extreme local control (no voters from any other towns making decisions) and perhaps population changes and new special ed. students from other towns not affecting the costs.
Also, I don't think there are any town-owned hospitals and I don't see how a hospital would have an effect on property taxes other than perhaps in an indirectly negative way due to their tax-exempt status. I could be missing something.
Local control is an illusion in a highly regulated area like education where people in Concord, Washington, and various accrediting agencies make regulations you have to follow. And expenses due to special needs students can bite you in the *** if your town happens to pick up those students three years in a row and the costs can't be spread across all the towns in a regional system.
Local control is an illusion in a highly regulated area like education where people in Concord, Washington, and various accrediting agencies make regulations you have to follow. And expenses due to special needs students can bite you in the *** if your town happens to pick up those students three years in a row and the costs can't be spread across all the towns in a regional system.
I agree with you.
I saw one article which mentioned some special needs students can cost a school system up to $250,000 each. (Not sure where I read that and surely that is an extreme example, but it can happen.)
My family and I moved into New Hampshire from the North Shore (MA) about four years ago. The first thing that I noticed was that the people of New Hampshire operate on their roadways at a slower, more comfortable, pace than those in Massachusetts. As you drive up Route 95 and cross over the border into New Hampshire you can feel things slow down. The roads, while still busy, seem to have less traffic on them and the traffic flows better. The drivers aren't as aggressive as those going in and around Boston... and will actually let you change lanes without riding up on your bumper and blowing their horns at you. During my first year in New Hampshire I know that I had to "re-learn" how to drive like a normal person... and not the race car driver that I had become while driving in MA. Surprisingly, you will learn to tell the people who are from Massachusetts, just by the way they drive, before you even see their registration plates. (The embarrassing part is... I know that I must have driven like that when I first moved to New Hampshire.)
Another thing that I noticed, and I guess this might depend on where in New Hampshire that you plan to reside, was that my neighbors are very friendly and outgoing. As you drive up your road, it is not uncommon to have several neighbors wave to you as you drive past their homes. This is something that you don't always see in the highly populated communities of MA.
Another thing that I found interesting was "checking out in a grocery store". You could actually hold a conversation with the person ringing in your groceries and the person bagging them... without the customer behind you getting all worked up.
Before I make myself sound too foolish, I'm going to leave you with these few words... "Go slow and enjoy the change of pace/lifestyle that you will experience. Don't try to change your new Town to be like the old one that you left in Massachusetts."
Another thing that I noticed, and I guess this might depend on where in New Hampshire that you plan to reside, was that my neighbors are very friendly and outgoing. As you drive up your road, it is not uncommon to have several neighbors wave to you as you drive past their homes. This is something that you don't always see in the highly populated communities of MA.
The other thing to note about this is: your neighbors are actually spending time OUTSIDE. Not something you see so much in more heavily populated areas.
I am in the very beginning stages of starting the process to relocate to southern or central NH within the next few Years from the South Shore in Massachusetts and was hoping for some insight on what will I notice right away once I purchase a house and begin living in New Hampshire (What will be better and what will be worse in your opinion).
When we got married, many moons ago, we left RI/SEMass and moved to the NH lakes region. We’ve moved back and forth between NH/MA/ME several times and for the past 18 years have been back in the SE MA area.
When we first moved to NH, the things we missed most were mostly food related. We were both very fit and in our mid 20’s. You wouldn’t think food and culinary choices would be a big deal, but they were. We missed the Portuguese food, we missed the fresh seafood and great fish markets. We also missed oriental food, chow mien. I have siblings who relocated permantly to central NH and they regularly request we bring up a 5 lb bag of chow mien noodles from Fall River! LOL! Old habits die hard..
The other thing we missed was the ocean. Having grown up in RI where the ocean is everywhere, you really long for it when it’s not there anymore. We’d sometimes make the hour+ trip to Portsmouth for a saltwater & seafood fix.
Also, be prepared for slower internet, depending on what town you end up in. Maybe in Laconia you’ll get fast internet, but in the little outskirt towns you’ll probably be stuck with something slower. Also winter power outages will probably be more frequent then you’re used to. You’ll want to make sure you have an alternate heat source like a woodstove, and I’d recommend investing in a generator.
Things we liked.. Less crowded and more friendly. More laid back. When we had to make the trip to MA it was depressing to cross the state line into MA. And when you are driving back home to NH, you breath a sigh of relief when you cross the line back into NH. You also notice the road condition when you cross the state line. It goes from pot holes and rubbish in the medians on the MA side, over to well maintained, clean and beautiful as soon as you cross into NH.
The property taxes are generally higher in NH. But no income or sales tax makes up for it. If you live in NH make sure you work in NH if at all possible. Otherwise you get stuck paying high property taxes and paying income tax to MA, a double hit.
The lakes and mountains are wonderful. If you like winter sports you’ll be really happy in NH. Summer sports to look forward to are kayaking on the many lakes, hiking in the mountains. It’s also a great place for motorcycling if you’re into that, and if you’re not, be prepared for motorcycle weekend. I love motorcycling, but hated motorcycle weekend. We’d stock up on supplies and hunker down for the week long event. Liked the tax dollars, hated the added traffic and noise.
Anyway, good luck with your move! It’s not like you’re moving cross country, you can always drive down to SE MA for a day or to for a seafood and chourico fix!
Can you explain more about why this would be the case?...
I had specifically stated that the taxes won't hike up a ridiculous amount. I wasn't trying to say anything about the current rate of any given town.
Ultimately, my point was that if a town already has some/most of these services, then the taxes are less likely to go up by 25+% (as an example) in a single year, due to potential new large construction projects. Something to just keep an eye on when you're looking at towns.
Having lived all over New England (not south shore), I can say that southern and central NH are different. It depends what you are looking for, a more rural experience or access to cities or in between. And your budget of course.
If you still want good access to Boston, south east towns are good, as well as easy access to the coast, and to smaller cities like Lowell, Nashua and Manchester. Those towns have a mix of people and types of real estate and land, and still some good deals for a decent location. Some call southern NH northern Mass but it really depends on where you are.
Slightly more sane politics, although that has been changing thanks to all the mass holes moving north.
People are generally more friendly.
Better drivers.
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