May Be Moving to NH Soon

[Swanny]

I'm a long time FSP member and FTL Amplifier (Hi, Ian). I have a job interview with a company in Manchester (they already have 2-3 FSP members working there). I was wondering what towns around the Manchester area would be good places to look for homes. The more rural, the better - we're not big-city folk. I'd like to stay closer to the Mass border, as all of my family live in central Mass, but I know real estate tends to get more expensive the closer you get to that area.

Any advice would be greatly appreciated. Thanks!

[dawn]

Maybe contact realtor Dave Mincin davemincin@gmail.com

Typically, you don't have to go far outside the cities to be in a nice rural area.

[Nat F]

It's not rural NH but it's slightly closer to MA so I'll recommend Merrimack.  In addition to actual FSP members (such as mvpel on this forum) Merrimack has a decent contingent of liberty minded residents (such as myself and lildog from this forum).  However if you are looking for rural and close enough to MA for visits you'll likely be happy with just about any town around Manchester other than those to the south.  Goffstown, Candia and Hooksett all have rural areas but also have some development (especially Hooksett) and I often hear of people leaving Merrimack for those towns since they are more "rural".  Dunbarton, New Boston and Francestown are even more rural but it takes awhile before you get to a highway.

It all depends on what your definition of cental MA is, and how often you'll visit.  For example as I mentioned, I live in Merrimack and I commute to Westborough MA daily.  It's a longer drive than I'd like, but it's still under an hour each way.  That's about the eastern edge of central MA (in my opinion) so add time depending on where exactly you look near Manchester and where your family is in central MA.  For example my inlaws live in Douglas MA, which takes a little under an hour and a half to get to.

-Nat

[Swanny]

Thanks, Nat. Merrimack looks like a good option. I'm also looking at Litchfield, Londonderry...those areas. I guess by rural, I just meant the "quieter" the better. I don't necessarily need 5+ acres. I'd just like some space. Obviously home prices and property taxes are also a concern.

My family all live around the 495 belt. Hudson, Clinton, and Fitchburg to be precise. Anywhere in the Manchester area shouldn't be too bad of a commute.

Thanks again for the input. I'll add Merrimack to the list.

[Ron Helwig]

How about Deerfield?

It is pretty rural, being lodged between 2 state parks (Bear Brook and Pawtuckaway).

We have Don Gorman on our school board. One more libertarian on the board would make a huge difference.

There's a house on a 1/3rd acre lot available for $155K.

[Swanny]

Deerfiled looks like a great town. Unfortunately, in the job I'm interviewing for, I'll be travelling quite a bit throughout New England. I'm hoping to find something a little further south for easier access to the MA, CT, & RI territories.

I like your thinking regarding finding more L's for your school board though.

[Rosie the Riveter]

I live in Manchester, but I love the Hollis, Brookline, Milford, Wilton, Amherst area...

[Nat F]

I like Litchfield, almost bought there when I moved to NH.  Windham and Pelham are nice but expensive, as are the towns west of Nashua that Rosie mentioned.  In fact it's a very easy drive from that area, especially Brookline, down Rt 13 to Fitchburg and Clinton.  I used to take that route to Nashua and points north back when I lived in Clinton myself.  It's a fine balancing act to find exactly what you want.  My wife and I picked Merrimack because we were able to find cheap enough housing on 1/2 acre or larger lots with a good school system and reasonable property taxes.  Property taxes have climbed considerably since we moved in, going so far as to triple between 2000 and 2006, but that's not unique to Merrimack.

The town has a good mix of housing stock, with many small lots and reasonably affordable (for the area) houses in the older sections of town and a bunch of larger newer houses on large lots further away from Daniel Webster Highway (DWH).  The town is growing and significant development is taking place along the DWH but to some extent that is lessening the impact of the toll booths since it's less needed to travel out of town.  Add some more fiscal restraint to the local government and Merrimack will be an even better place to live.

-Nat

[Porcupine Realtor]

Since you'll be on the road a lot, you'll want to be near one of the freeways, so Derry, Salem, Nashua would be good.  Nashua is a large town, but you can be out in the boonies 10 minutes from there.
I can help you with doing a real estate for sale listings search if you'd like.
Mark

[JonM]

Parts of Litchfield are quite rural, and some quite close to the Manchester airport.  As are many parts of Londonderry.  I'm 12 miles by car (less by crow) from the front of the terminal via backroads, but apparently out of any normal flight path.  On Sundays I get to listen to the race cars at the speedway 700 or so crow yards from my house.  Other than those days, it's quite quiet around here, but I have over an acre at the very end of a cul-de-sac.

Of course, parts of Litchfield are a pain to get to a highway from as well.  Especially for where you want to go in MA, you're on the wrong side of the Merrimack river.  So it's either trek down 93 if you're not too far from that, or make your way down to the exit 2 bridge from Route 3.  You don't want to take that 111 bridge if you don't need to.  I live right near the borders of Litchfield and Londonderry, and it takes me 18 minutes or so to hit the MA/NH border on Route 3and most of that is just getting to Route 3 at exit 2.  There are parts of Litchfield where it would make more sense to drive north to I-293 to go over the river there and pay the toll going south on Route 3.  If they ever do build another bridge over the Merrimack you'll do quite well if you own property there.  Unless yours is one slated to be taken for that project.  A house I looked out was in the path of 8 of 10 of the alternate plans for the Circumferential Highway.  I opted not to make an offer on it.

If you're going to Fitchburg more than Clinton or Hudson Brookline is a good bet.  Route 13 to Fitchburg from there isn't bad.  If Clinton or Hudson is the more usual destination you want easy access to Route 3 to feed you to 495.  Parts of Hudson give you easy access to Route 3, Litchfield, not so much.

[Swanny]

You know, FTL Ian always talks this board up on his radio show. I never thought much of it until tonight. You guys are every bit as helpful and friendly as he says you are. Thank you all so much for your input. I can already tell, if I end up taking this position, this could be the easiest move I've ever made.

I forgot to mention that I lived in Manchester (Bodwell Road - Exit 5 off 93) for 2-3 years about 10 years ago. My girlfriend's (at the time) parents lived in Litchfield and I fell in love with that little town but the real estate seems a bit too pricey for me right now. Wherever I choose to move, I just hope I don't get run out of town for being another 'Masshole'. I guess I'll just have to make sure I have an FSP bumper sticker prominently displayed until I get my NH plates.

Did I mention my wife and I are expecting twins in the next couple weeks and we already have a 2-year-old daughter? I have a need for quite a bit of sqaure footage on top of it all ;-)

[Swanny]

Actually, Nat - you look kind of familiar. Do you drive a smallish white SUV with FSP and Ron Paul bumper stickers all over it by any chance? I've seen this SUV with NH plates on my way to work in Marlborough on 495 South on more than 1 occassion. I honked at it once and gave the driver a thumbs-up. Could it be?

[JonM]

Well where you can afford depends on your budget.  There are scarce few houses with a lot of square feet for under $200k near Route 3 or 93 that don't need a lot of work.  www.nneren.com is a good site to look up listings.  If you're savvy the Book/Page or Map/Lot info can be used to either look up the deed or the assessment for towns with online assessment databases.  For deeds check nhdeeds.com.  Either of those will give you the address of the location, and off to maps.google.com you go.

[Swanny]

Thanks, Jon. I'll look into that. My price range, depending on the salary of this position, should be 200-250. Maybe a bit higher if I can succeed in my years-long attempt at quitting smoking (looks like that will have to be the case if the latest federal cigarette tax goes through). We recently switched to a 1 income family because of the impending twins.

[JonM]

If you've got the down payment you can swing it. The era of 0 down house buying may be over for now unless you have very good credit.  The coming months are when people who NEED to sell a house are selling their house.  I can suggest a non-free stater realtor who covers this area for you.  Despite the fact that I found my house myself, his knowledge helped me put in a bid that got accepted.  This place was on the market for less than 24 hours before the estate took the best offer.  I don't think any free-stater real estate agents are covering this portion of the Merrimack valley, and local knowledge and knowing other realtors can help.  Especially when what you will want to do is find a pre-foreclosure house and make someone else's poor decision your good luck. That's the sort of trick harder to do without an agent.