Relocating to Southern NH?? (Concord, Salem: houses, neighborhoods, buyers)

[cliffrdball]

I am contemplating taking a position in Andover, MA from CT. We are unimpressed with anything in our price range in that immediate area in MA and are considering NH. Seems like Litchfield & Windham are decent, and we actually like Portsmouth from previous visits (even though its a bit longer). What towns should we consider. Our purchase range is from $400K to $500K.
Anything w/in a 35 min drive of Andover would be fine w/ us.

Schools are important as we have 2 young children, and most of the schools we have reviewed (at greatschools.net) do not measure up to the CT schools we originally considered (when considering standardized test rates at various levels). They all seem to be around the state average, whereas nice towns in CT are all well above. Maybe I can just chalk it up to state-to-state diffrences.

Thanks in advance.

[CityGirl52]

Have you considered the seacoast area of NH? Any one of the towns in Rockingham county (except Seabrook!). I commute to Andover a couple of times a week. It's nothing from Hampton Falls, Hampton or No. Hampton. In fact it's exactly 35 minutes according to mapquest and 31 miles. That wouldn't be a bad commute at all for you. You'd really really like this area to live. The schools are quite good, they just built an addition to Winnacunnet Regional High School, it's really pretty nice too.

Another town is Exeter, which is about 7 miles west from the Hamptons. In the last year or so they built a brand new high school and it's absolutely beautiful, I can vouch for it because I was in it last week for the first time for a benefit concert and is it ever impressive. They did a beautiful job with this whole complex. If your kids are young, this is where they'd go when they're in high school, it's quite an amazing structure, when you see it you'll see what I mean and agree! Another town is Brentwood and I know all the kids that live there also go to the schools in Exeter which according to mapquest is exactly 42 minutes to Andover (39.55 miles away)

One more town that you should consider is Hampstead, NH. It's only 30 minutes to Andover from there at 22 miles, it would be an even easier commute. I know this couple that lives there and they love it there. So check it out to see what you think.

Commuting down to Andover is a breeze compared to going all the way in to downtown Boston (which is what I did for years!)

Good luck!

[Wireless]

Hey Clffrdball,

Geesh, you sound like us. My wife and our two young girls (ages 2 and 8) are relocating to Andover (my new job) and looking at Southern NH as our place to live. I've been commuting from Texas for a month now and last weekend we did our first house hunting trip. Your price range is also our price range. And the schools in NH usually don't rate as high as the school our 8 year old attends now, but some do. Windham has good schools (elementary and middle - I hear they are building their own high school but for now they send them to Salem).

I also want to limit my commute to 30 minutes or less. See, we are similar...

I've found that our focus on housing is in Windham and Salem. Windham is an upscale area where our price range is a bit on the low side, but there are properties to be had. The square footage is smaller than what we are used to, more in the 2250 - 2900 for that price range, but the lots are always an acre or more. I want at least an acre with wooded lots and space between houses. THis is usually the case...

Salem has alot to offer in regards to shopping. WHile it is bigger and has older sections, there are also new updscale communities, and the commute to Andover can't be beat.

There are other towns not too far either as other have pointed out, but I've been commuting for a long time and want to limit that. The traffic during rush hour heading up 93 can be a slow moving parking lot from my obsevations. 93 drops from 4 lanes down to three and eventually down to two. When it drops the red brake lights start increasing...no surprise there. I hear they are going to widen the highway but that takes a bunch of years and in the meantime, construction...

We unfortunately didn't find our house and my wife will make another trip up, but we learned alot about the areas and I feel I know what to expect. As much as I thought it was a buyers market, it is even more so. Folks who haven't realized that prices have dropped are holding onto their homes for a long time on the market. And some have dropped their prices and are still sitting on the market.

One suggestion. I bougtht my wife a Garmin Nuvi 660 as a "moving" gift. It was great to just plug in addresses and be taken to them. I'm not going to want to give it up to here when she moves up here with her car...

Hope this helps.

[cliffrdball]

Wireless, thanks so much. Windham is an area we were considering, as is Pelham. I would recommend you look in Pelham too. The schools (I believe) are better than Windham/Salem per greatschools.net, although no telling what the new HS brings. Salem is too "urban sprawly" for our tastes.

Citygirl, thank you too. We like some of the areas out there as well. I am also considering the 35 minute ride from the Portsmouth area, but dont know what that will be like w/ traffic. We love the feel of Portsmouth, but fear it may be too far. Have looked at all those towns you mention, and it seems like the schools are closer to the state average, but that isnt a huge problem for us. Also, Pelham/Windham is about 25 mins closer to Boston. Is there a train that runs from Boston to Portsmouth? I believe there is one in Exeter.

If I choose to take the position, we are already about 95% committed to living in NH. Remodeled an old, expensive, small house in CT and have no desire to do that again in MA.

[CityGirl52]

The downeaster train (AMTRAK) commuter rail is in Dover, NH which is north of Portsmouth and it goes all the way in to Boston via Exeter, NH. You can view the train schedule on the mbta dot com site. Click on commuter rail to see the schedule. You'd check the "downeaster" under commuter rail on that site.

I took the Newburyport MBTA commuter rail in to North Station for a few years. It was SO much easier than driving all the way in to Boston a lot of times.

Here's pictures of the train station north of Portsmouth in Dover that you could take if you didn't want to drive over to the Exeter train station.

It's snow.prohosting dot com/usarail/dover.htm
http://snow.prohosting.com/usarail/dover.htm (broken link)

Good luck wherever you decide to live.

[CityGirl52]

Actually I forgot to mention, the above site has pictures of Exeter & Durham's train stations as well.

[Wireless]

Funny you mention Pelham, we were just considering opening up our search into that area. However, the reason I initially eliminated it is that their school rating on greastschools.net was low (6 across the board). Windham elementary school was rated a 9. So you might want to check that again as perhaps I'm missing something?

However, we are going to take a look at Pelham and see some of the house listings. We will look into private schools if needed.

I also thought Salem might be too much of a sprawl, but when you drive through the North section, it really is quite nice and you can't tell the difference between Windham and Salem. You should at least drive to into the North section of Salem.

Good luck.

[allisonM]

Could anyone have anything to say, good or bad, about the Amtrak downeaster? Although it extends the length of the commute due to speed and stops, it seems like you can get work done while on the way back and forth. Potentially a good way to still be productive while in transit to avoid a full work day on top of a long commute.

Does anyone have any input?

[Valerie C]

cliffrdball, have you considered Londonderry? Great schools, and if your kids may be at all musically inclined, the high school band (Londonderry Friends of Music - Londonderry High School) is a wonderful organization, such a positive part of HS for so many kids (300+ members, many will be traveling to perform in China July 2008!) Can you tell I'm a proud "Lancer Mom" (we're known as Friends of Music or FOM)

Windham has a new HS (recently separated from Salem) and I'm sure they'll be experiencing some "growing pains". Property taxes in Southern NH are painful, but when you live in a community that has excellent schools, makes it all worth it. Some of the smaller towns that don't have services might have lower tax bills, but when you try to sell later on, you find that the first thing most people as is "how are the schools". There are few trains in NH, depending on what part of NH you settle in, the border may be a short drive to get to a "T" stop (MBTA, the train system into Boston and surrounding cities/towns: MBTA.com > Official Website for Greater Boston's Public Transportation System). The trains go to North Station. Also, Trailways Bus System does have a park-n-ride at Londonderry (Exit 4) which goes to South Station:
Concord Trailways : Londonderry Commuter Bus Service to Boston
There is another huge park-n-ride in Windham at Exit 3, but the bus does not stop there... more of a place for carpoolers to gather.

Pelham is has some great neighborhoods and good values, however, being a true "border town" many influences from neighborhing Lowell and Dracut. Check police records for drug busts, residential break-ins, etc.

Hope some of this info is helpful for you.. feel free to PM if any more questions, I'll be happy to help...

Valerie

[swbtoo]

Valerie, what areas do you cover?