Moving in January...what about these cities?

[SeanSchade]

I'm moving to NH in January. I'm bracing for the weather since it's bound to be a tad cooler than Atlanta, GA. 

I'm looking for a typical, small New England town to raise a family. I'll be commuting to the metro-Boston area so I have to be somewhat close to MA. I pretty much looked at a map and picked a few cities close to Manchester and Nashua. I would appreciate any recommendations.

Hampstead, Newton, Danville, Salem, Derry, Kingston, etc...

I'm planning a long weekend trip sometime in December. I'll find a realtor or two who can devote a weekend to helping me find a place.

[Russell Kanning]

I wouldn't call Salem or Derry "small NE towns", but some of our friends here like those places.

[SeanSchade]

LOL, thanks Russell. I guess small is a relative term since I'm coming from a town with a population of over 3 million.

Do you have any suggestions?

[cathleeninnh]

Just let me know when you are coming. We can show you around.

Don commutes to N. Andover from Derry. 35 minutes each way, about 21 miles. Some days worse than others.

Avoid Boston like the plague. Distance isn't bad, the commute isn't too bad, but driving/parking in Boston is atrocious. And I have driven many big cities without a major concern.

Cathleen

[d_goddard]

Derry looks like an excellent place to land.
Check this out, they just had a "taxpayer revolt" there:
http://www.freestateblogs.net/node/517

[Braddogg]

Yeah, I gotta agree with Cathleen.  Driving in the city sucks.  There's a bus that goes from Concord and Manchester into and out of the city, and you could drive to a commuter rail (public transportation) station and take the train in to the city.

Of course, living in NH and working in MA, you pay the Massachusetts income tax AND the higher-than-usual NH property taxes.

[aries]

The only way you can see salem as a small town is if you were born there 60 years ago and have barely left. Some people there still know everyone important like in a true small town (chief of police, selectmen, fire chiefs etc) but it's hard to know the whole PD and have any single selectman over for dinner like in my town...

Southeastern NH just isn't "small cozy new england" anymore. It's big economically booming traffic-packed NH.

That's the bad part of working in a city - you live in a city or a suburb.

I'd say southwest or slightly north/west of the seacost area would be the nearest small towns and those are 60-70 miles from Boston. Not a terrible commute really.

[Dreepa]

However aries:

Salem NH is 10000% better than Atlanta!

Welcome Sean.

I live further north (around Concord) so I can't give you much advice about the Southern part.
Cathleen is 'down there' , Toowm and Friday are also 'down south'
John is too isn't he?

[SeanSchade]

Thanks for all of the responses. As a consultant my clients could be anywhere, but most are within 20 miles of Boston proper. I don't mind driving an hour to work each day. 1.5 hours would be pushing it though. But in the end, I would rather work in MA than live there! 

Cathleen, I'll definitely take you up on the offer to show us around when we come up there. Thanks!

[Fluff and Stuff]

Derry looks like an excellent place to land.
Check this out, they just had a "taxpayer revolt" there:
http://www.freestateblogs.net/node/517

Derry is a high tax town as far as SE NH is concerned.  It will take years of work by these people to make to even on par with the near-by towns (except Manchester which is another beast).

[aries]

Thanks for all of the responses. As a consultant my clients could be anywhere, but most are within 20 miles of Boston proper. I don't mind driving an hour to work each day. 1.5 hours would be pushing it though. But in the end, I would rather work in MA than live there! 

Cathleen, I'll definitely take you up on the offer to show us around when we come up there. Thanks!

If you get involved in town affairs and meet your town selectmen, representatives, chief of police etc, any town thats under 50000 can feel like a small town. Just wait for yourself to be saying "I cant believe how much this place has changed..."
and there were some rumors of salem going to reclassify itself as a city since it... basically is.

And yes any town/city in NH feels 100* smaller than atlanta

[cathleeninnh]

To the southern eye, Derry, Salem and other of the southern tier "towns" are quaint looking. Look a little closer and it is evident that they are commuter towns. Many more residents than employers. A town whose little main street gets clogged up for long stretches at dinnertime. Where residents demand restrictions on what kind of business goes on that mainstreet and what kind of houses and lots can be developed in order to "preserve the NE flavor".

Cathleen

[SeanSchade]

To the southern eye, Derry, Salem and other of the southern tier "towns" are quaint looking. Look a little closer and it is evident that they are commuter towns. Many more residents than employers. A town whose little main street gets clogged up for long stretches at dinnertime. Where residents demand restrictions on what kind of business goes on that mainstreet and what kind of houses and lots can be developed in order to "preserve the NE flavor".

Cathleen

So I should try and avoid the commuter towns? It sounds like most towns in Southern NH would be commuter towns. I can see the long traffic lines as people leave and reenter the town because of work. 

[cathleeninnh]

Well, you do want to think about what lifestyle works best for you. The people live here because there is more work in Massachusetts, but no sales tax in NH. Paying only one tax instead of two is better than nothing. There are some off the path towns around here.

You can tell the commuter towns because they are on the interstate and the population is relatively high. Salem, Derry, Londonderry, Nashua. Going away from the interstate adds a lot to the commute time. It might be worth it, depending on the exit you must take to get home. And whether you like a country feel. What you won't find much of and you probably are used to from the south are those suburban developments. Clean cut, clubhouse, tennis court type neighborhoods with all the box store and chain restaurants nearby.

Those shopping areas do exist, but the residential developments are fought tooth and nail. Years of environmental and community(school) impacts squelch most of them.

Cathleen

[SeanSchade]

Well, you do want to think about what lifestyle works best for you. The people live here because there is more work in Massachusetts, but no sales tax in NH. Paying only one tax instead of two is better than nothing. There are some off the path towns around here.

You can tell the commuter towns because they are on the interstate and the population is relatively high. Salem, Derry, Londonderry, Nashua. Going away from the interstate adds a lot to the commute time. It might be worth it, depending on the exit you must take to get home. And whether you like a country feel. What you won't find much of and you probably are used to from the south are those suburban developments. Clean cut, clubhouse, tennis court type neighborhoods with all the box store and chain restaurants nearby.

Those shopping areas do exist, but the residential developments are fought tooth and nail. Years of environmental and community(school) impacts squelch most of them.

Cathleen

That's great news Cathleen. I hate cookie-cutter residential developments. I think of the "Little Boxes" theme song to the show weeds whenever I see one!

I grew up on a farm in Ohio, but have spent the last decade in big cities. I miss the quiet of country. The hussle and bussle gets old after a while.