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thank you for taking the time to post that nicole. i did read your post on the weather on that other topic. believe it or not....property taxes here in texas are just as high..if not higher than new hampshire. we do not have state income tax either though. if we moved we would start out renting so we wouldn't be stuck with a house if we didn't like it. the move wouldn't happen for another two years. that is when our son would start kindergarten.
Don't forget about the black flies, mosquitoes, ticks, acid rain, Radon, Arsenic, milfoil, rock snot, red tide, poor rocky soil, libertarians, crime rates, drugs, cold ocean water with seaweed, frost heaves, wood smoke, road dust, litter, fast drivers, slow drivers, Dunkin Donuts and rubber necking tourist........Hummmmm, have I forgotten anything?
thank you for taking the time to post that nicole. i did read your post on the weather on that other topic. believe it or not....property taxes here in texas are just as high..if not higher than new hampshire. we do not have state income tax either though. if we moved we would start out renting so we wouldn't be stuck with a house if we didn't like it. the move wouldn't happen for another two years. that is when our son would start kindergarten.
That is great. Hopefully you will get a few visits in before then and come to the boards a lot and ask lots of questions. As you can see, we have a wide variety of opinion on this board which I really do think is a good thing.
I have one other suggestion-maybe go on and try to read the news from the state's newspapers online. I believe most papers give you some of the stuff for free. This is another way to really learn about a state. When we first started looking, we subscribed to the Sunday paper and they would mail it to us-this was before the papers were on the web. I would suggest glancing at whatever articles you can as this will give you more insight into our great state! When you are here for your visit-pick up newspapers from the different areas too. It is good to get info from as many sources as possible
Winter is cold - and if you don't like outdoor sports, it can be pretty boring. However don't make the mistake of thinking that just because you get a little snow in May, or there is some still on the ground that it's still winter! Presence of snow does not make 'winter' - overall temp does. May starts to warm up nicely into spring regardless of occasional weather blips. Spring tends to be noticeable by a lot of mixed seasonal weather, warm one day and cold the next. a little snow in May sure beats an 83d Christmas!
As to being cooped up in the house all winter - that's purely personal preference. trust me: growing up in the 70s where every winter was pretty much like this past one, I was never cooped up in the house. I still had to go to school and my dad and older sibs still went to work. As a young child I was never stuck in the house either. You just put on a snowsuit (if that young), hat and mittens and go out and play in it. You know, I don't ski! but that didn't make me stuck in the house.
Even small towns can be perfectly friendly (although people are people and you'll find the town curmudgeon anywhere). They are often somewhat reserved because they don't know if you're going to actually stay (maybe more than 6 months), if you're going to be negative and bellyache about the weather/town/politics/what have you all the time (no one likes that), or if you're going to move in and immediately start telling them everything the town/state is doing wrong and that they should change their long-held ways because you don't like something. This makes anyone a little reserved. If you are friendly, and you prove that you stay a while and mix in with the other town folk, things can be just fine.
Largely a lot of people don't move up because a)there isn't as much room sometimes (many towns having a 2acre minimum house lot) and they don't want it over developed, the job situation isn't great (we'd have moved up much sooner if hubby could count on an equal job), and many people don't want to put up with cold. but that's fine, because we don't want to be packed in like sardines!
I'll throw my 2 cents in here... i was born and lived in Norhtern NH until age 18. Going back next month. Back then, i can remember walking to school in 2' or 3' of snow and had fun doing it. Today they cancel school for 4" snow storms. This past year set a new record for snow in Northern NH (over 100 year old record). But i'll note the previous 2 years, there wasn't even enough snow for my brother to even register his snowmobiles. That was putting a hurt on the economy up there for both snowmobiliers and the ski resorts. This past year with all the snow they had i think they needed to make up for the loss they took years before. Winter months and snow are very important for northern NH and their economy. Yes oil and electric is very expensive but i think you've all heard of wood stoves. My brother and sister both have 2 story homes and they heated their entire homes with 1 woodstove. My brothers home is from the 1920's with very poor insulation. With me being used of the FL warmth, i was quite suprised how warm and cozy the homes were this winter when i was up there. They used oil or electric only for the water heater thus keeping their monthly bills very small. I'll also say that if you have a bad experience in NH living there, try moving somewhere else. It is a big state and just because it's bad in 1 area doesn't mean the whole state is like that. If you don't like winter sports, well join a health club or something where you can swim or do a workout just to meet with people. To me it's no different than living here in FL in the mid summer months because it's so darn hot i don't even want to go out and I feel stuck indoors all the time. I just hate it when someone who has a bad experience has to continue to discourage others. Don't like NH, don't post in NH. There's plenty of us on here to tell you the truth that the winters are cold, the taxes are high, etc without doing it in a discouraging way. I think anyone with a right mind will do their research very well before they move and in time will discover all the info they need to know to make the right decision.
i guess i need to start saving for a winter vacation also then. i don't want to fool her this summer into thinking it is perfect. i'm pretty sure i can handle the snow. but, i don't know about the wife. last night she was cold with our a.c. turned down to 73 degrees.
in the winter you normally keep the heat on in the 60's MAYBE 70's and at night turn it down. Heats is way more expensive to A/C ($75 a week to heat my house which was always still cold cause sometimes you just can't cut the cold out of the house compared to $75 a month for a/c in Fla in the dead of summer and the house nice a cool).
You will more than likely be in sweaters, and pants the whole winter in your house.. I would wake up some mornings from it being so cold outside to ice on the inside of some of my windows, and only once to ice in my dog bowl. I thought I had no insulation in my house because it was always cold but found out I did along with new windows and it was just friggin cold! Its a different cold than you're going to experience in Texas.. NH cold can be frigid and it doesn't matter how much you bundle and wear its just COLD and hurts to breath sometimes and makes your eyes water.
Pipes can freeze if not properly insulated and burst causing a lot of damage. Make sure all of that is covered and proper in a place you rent/ buy cause you don't want to wake up to a flooded frozen basement in Feb.
I visted NH about 5 times before I moved there each time for 3 weeks each and I LOVED it there, and then I moved there and it was totally different than visiting, even for that many extended periods. I visited in each season which I would recommend before you dive into anything.. Consider things like allergies, in Autumn my allergies were so bad I ended up at the doctor which I've never had to do before. Because the homes don't have a/c you'll have the windows open and that can be an issue if you're highly allergic. Some days you'll wake up to a yellow dusting of pollen over everything.
I know people talk about there is so much to do in the winter, and perhaps there is and I lived in a "city" in NH, and other than skiing or ice skating there really wasn't anything to do at all. There aren't festivals outside because its too cold. Somedays we'd have warning to not go outside because of frostbite.. After a while the cold gets annoying and dragged out to the point that its more of a hassle to go out because of all the bundling you have to do.. Its easier to stay in.. Esp with a child I'd hate to have to bundle my child up, let them play for 20 mins outside, then have to bring them in because they are so sensitive to the cold.. In the winter time we NEVER saw kids playing outside in the snow,ever. My husband would patrol the city and comment on how dead it was in the winter.. I dunno where the people were but they weren't outside.. And you're talking 7 months a year.. Not 3 or 4 like summer. And NH is the only state to not have universalized (sp?) Kindergarten, and I dunno how it works in other towns I can only speak for Keene/ surrounding area but if you live out of zone and want to send your kid to a different school (eg you live in Swanzey which is 2 mins from Keene) but want to send your kid to a keene school you pay a "tax" to do that... We personaly knew 2 people who did this and had extended conversations as this because we were concerned as we considered moving over one town.. They highly recommended we don't.. They paid $10,000 per child per year to send them to a school out of their school zone. Its like tuition for a public school...... Gotta make up those taxes somehow and while some people on here will say they've never heard of that it IS true and you need to look into that before considering a town.
I have never heard of AC needed in northern NH before. I don't ever remember anyone having AC and even today it's not a requirement. maybe down by the coast it's more humid but again, it comes down to location. Up north, it's not needed. It does get hot a few days of the summer but nothing that would make me go out and buy an AC unit just for those few days. I pay $165 $180 for AC here in FL in the dead of summer and it's on 75 degrees. I've never heard of anyone having their dogs water freeze in the house and water pipes will not freeze if you keep them trickling overnight. I remember you posting a picture of your walls with no insulation in them and we all couldn't imagine someone living in a home like that up north. I think your one of those people who enjoys the FL lifestyle and you just were not ready for a drastic change. When we talk about going outside to play, we're not talking about going outside when it's below zero. IT IS cold then and doesn't stay that cold forever but 20 or 30 degrees isn't all that bad when you got some layers on. I used to go cross country skiing and before long, i was taking layers off because i was so hot. I don't know much about the schools but i know my mom couldn't afford to pay for kindergarten for me when i was a kid so it had to be at no cost. That may have changed today. In comparison to the high school, my daughters school here in FL has 1700 kids vs 650 kids in NH with a student/teacher ratio much lower in NH. With her having a disability, that's 1000 less kids i need to worry about them picking on her. NH also spends more $ per student than FL as well. Some of the teachers that taught me years ago are still teaching there today which to me is also comforting. Believe it not, there's more to NH than the cold weather and high taxes.
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12 communities in NH don't have kindergarden...
