Thinking of moving to New Hampshire

[TheCentepedeShoes]

In Texas now and probably won't be able to move for another year or two. Hubby spent a lot of time there (he's from Connecticut) in his younger days and at one time even had some property at Lake Winnipesaukee (sp?). His choice of location would be near the lake or on the coast. What's the economy, lifestyle, cost of living, etc like?
Thanks, 'pede.:-)

[Quadrajet]

1. Not a bad idea, but then there'd be less Dems in the red.

I've been thinking about this lately. If Dems moved to more Dem friendly states and even countries (Canada), that makes the red states all that much stronger.

I realize you didn't mention Canada, but since I did, here's my plan. What we need to do is try to get Canadians to move to the States, preferably red states. I know, they'd have to be insane to do it, but...eh just wishful thinking I guess. ;)

[Atman]

2. I practically grew up on Winnepesaukee

Too bad he no longer has property there...it is pretty much all gone. Multi-million $$ mansions and 50' boats everywhere. It is STILL a beautiful place, but not the quiet retreat of years passed. If you can afford property on the lake now, you can probably afford LOTS of acreage somewhere else, far from the madding crowds.

NH has an astonishing property tax rate, because it has no sales or income taxes. And bring your flannel shirts and buy a pick-up truck. You're neighbors will likely be playing banjo's on their front porch.

Now, all the negative stereotypes aside, it IS beautiful country. The southern border is much less of a backwater village...the Nashua area and surrounds are basically just suburbs of Boston. And thus, are also overbuilt with strip malls and chain restaurants and way-too-expensive cookie-cutter homes.

Save NH for ski trips and vacations on the lake. Sorry, NH-ers...I'm NOT speaking as an outsider, I'm from eastern MA, now living in CT, spent all my summers on The Lake, have family in Candia and Hooksett and Center Harbor. I love it, and have lots of fond memories. But it is not the most progressive place you'll find.

[Francesca]

4. I live in Peterborough (southern part of the state) and

we are very progressive here, the Monadnock Region is a highly educated, artistic, progressive and exciting part of the state...Honestly people visiting this part of the state (especially Peterborough) are usually shocked by the community (lots going on here, lots of great people..)

[Atman]

5. Peterborough is AWESOME

I love that area. Forgot about the artists colonies. I admit I was a bit too harsh on NH...it really is nice, but the areas my family lives in remind me more of West Virginia than New England.

[alevensalor]

15. You got that right!

We're wicked pissah!

The only caveat; There are only three seasons up heah:

almost winter, winter, and road construction

~A!

[Redneck Socialist]

23. ya fagut mud season

between that an the black flies by the jesus there almost ain't no way fah anybody ta live up heah.

[TheCentepedeShoes]

9. He had about a third of an acre

on some island in the lake. Paid about $50K for it back when. Sold it after it looked like he wasn't going to be able to get any utilities. Said the other residents used generators for electric and dumped sewage into the lake (YUCK). He'd love to go back, but we just don't have that kind of money.

[Francesca]

3. live in NH myself

and highly recommend this state, we have low crime, good schools (although we are short on funding..), there are quite a few liberal communities, great people, one low point is high property taxes (I pay about $8000 a yr and am in an average house) which vary from town to town, if you have kids (which I don't yet) this is a great state to live in, only 1.5hrs from Boston and 3.5 hrs from NY in the southern part of the state, we have a wonderful airport in NH (very quick in and out-my husband and I fly frequently and really appreciate our airport), lifestyle varies dramatically in every community, housing prices are probably relatively higher than in Texas, we do have a Dem in the governors office...

[TheCentepedeShoes]

8. $8K in property taxes !

Yikes ! You have to get some serious house here to go that high. But without sales or state income tax I guess it has to come from somewhere. My husband and I were talking about housing costs last night (leaving out the property tax) and he thought they might be lower in New Hampshire than here. But he did say that the weather took more toll on houses, you spend more on upkeep.

[maxanne]

6. hi 'pede

I don't want to sound discouraging, but I do want to be honest.

You'll find property near the lake hugely expensive. There's a housing shortage on the coast, and the coast and the north country have the highest health care and health insurance costs.

We have no income or sales tax. We have some of the highest property taxes in the country, and they'll probably be going up. NH has a revenue problem. The NH House of Representatives is the 3rd largest governing body in the world. We have 400 state reps who earn $100 a year plus mileage. The average age of a state rep is 70. The NH House has been controlled by the GOP since the Civil War.

We are not a progressive state, though there are many progressives here. We were the last state in the union to accept Martin Luther King Day as a holiday. We have only one television station, and it's a right wing mouthpiece, as is our largest daily paper, the Manchester Union Leader. The state funds education via the property tax. This has led to children becoming the enemy in many places. We have more millionaires per capita than most states - and that's because they get a free tax ride here.

We are a state that hasn't exactly accepted the idea of a 2 party system yet. We have libertarian tendancies. I live in Carroll County, the most Republican county in our red state.

Our economy varies from region to region. A large part of our economy is small business and tourism. Many people where I live have several jobs. We are short on dentists. Our health care system sucks. Our governor is taking a chainsaw to Medicaid programs. We're building jails and cutting back on social services. We rank 47th in the nation on spending state dollars for substance abuse treatment and education. (In spite of the fact that our state runs the liquor biz) None of our tobacco settlement money is currently being used for it's intended purpose. We have a regressive tax system, and we are proud of it.

I've lived here since 1984, and don't want to live anywhere else. We may be crazy, but we're not dull.

[TheCentepedeShoes]

7. Thanks for all the info!

That's alot to think about. I knew there was no sales tax (and Texas doesn't have state income tax either). We wouldn't even consider the lake - we just don't have that kind of money. Moving isn't something we can do just yet - there's plenty of time to plot it out.:-)

[Francesca]

10. you might consider vermont as well

[TheCentepedeShoes]

11. We are

:-) There's a Texas teacher in the Vermont forum who is looking for info too. I posted a reply to her, saying I was looking for same.

[Bluebear]

12. TCS, New Hampshire welcomes you

You have received helpful info which I will not repeat, but the poster who said we are not progressive but many progressives live here is correct. I am so gratified that we were the only state to "go blue" on Bush. A recent article pointed out that more and more people from Mass. are relocating here and I do believe we are headed in the correct direction. You should definitely come for a visit, rent a car, poke around, have some cheap lobster and see if you can picture yourself here. Do PM me if I can be of any assistance, you sound wonderful. And I would love our state's electoral votes to swell with progressives :) Cheers!

[TheCentepedeShoes]

13. Thank you !

Like your new user name. I brought home a copy of Yankee Magazine today to look at all the great fall pictures !

[FightinNewDem]

14. Here's a suggestion

Rather than looking at the twee and precious little post card villages and hideously overpriced Portsmouth, consider one of the older mill cities.

Manchester is not your father's Manch Vegas. MHT has housing costs that are admittedly high but well below most other places in the state; the world renowned Currier Museum of Art; the Millyard Historical Museum; an inceasing array of nightlife options (though we are still thin in the movie theater department); good restaurants, including Thai, Vietnamese, Greek, Italian, Indian, Pakistani and Dominican; a number of colleges, including SNHU, St. Ansels College, UNH-Manchester, the NH Institute of Art and a campus of the Mass College of Pharmacy; an ever-growing local arts scene; live local rock music at the Black Brimmer, Uptown, Raxx, and Milly's; the Eastern League champion NH Fisher Cats baseball team; the red-hot Manchester Monarchs of the American Hockey League; the Manchester Wolves arena football; and an airport that has nonstop flights to places from Baltimore and Albany to Las Vegas, Orlando and Chicago.

[alevensalor]

16. That sounds so much like a commercial....

Just struck me funny, sorry...

:shrug:

~A!

[FightinNewDem]

17. A commercial?

Then so be it. I, for one, have grown tired of pseudointellectual snobs making condescending cracks about Manchester being a grubby little cultural backwater. This town has a lot to offer, and those of us who live and work in MHT should be proud of what we have here.

[alevensalor]

18. Agreed

It's my home town, love the place. I just thought your post would make a good tourist pamphlet. I think it was the eloquence.

~A!

[maxanne]

19. hmm

I live in a twee and precious post card village - so feel free to disregard my opinion. :P

Littleton, NH in Grafton County is a very walkable and liveable small city, with a new hospital, and a blossoming downtown - a great bookstore and a wonderful and historic diner. There's a whole section of small art galleries downtown. It's a nice little place.

There are some nice little (affordable) neighborhoods in Concord as well, if you're interested in cities.

One problem in NH is that most people south of Concord are sure that the state ends in Plymouth, and what's left is a suburb of Canada or something. Plymouth is a nice little college town - and there are a number of very liveable communities north of Concord. I live in the far northern reaches of Carroll County, which puts me in the frozen arctic tundra, I suppose - but we do have indoor plumbing up in the nawth, and an ever expanding crop of progressives. You can hardly even hear the banjos these days...

[Redneck Socialist]

22. And just what's wrong with banjos, hmmmmm?

asks the indignant bluegrass fan. :P

[kvining]

20. Much improved

I grew up in Manchester in the 60's, left in the early 70's. During the 60s, it was one of the most polluted, nasty cities on the planet, and I was glad to leave. Since then, the mills that caused the pollution have died out and wise DEMOCRATIC leadership of the city transformed it into a really, really pleasant place - you can't beat a place that is 45 minutes from either the beaches, the mountains, or Boston, not to mention nice drives into the back country of Maine and Vermont.

I'm thinking of moving back, but I also hear New Mexico calling, which still has the kind of utter wilderness solitude New England has pretty much totally lost. They are both red states that went blue or almost went blue by close margins and could use a few more democrats. Alls I know is I am ready to get the hell out of Texas. Jesus Land gets wackier by the day. Since Bush won, its been like a permenant full moon is out oer this asylum.

[n2dfun]

21. welcome

My partner and I moved to a small, quaint, New England village about 25 miles northeast of Lake Winnepesaukee. We came from suburban Nashville,Tennessee in March, 2000 after spending a couple vacations during the summer here. We love it although occasionally in the springtime I miss my native TN. (Be prepared for a late Spring.) People have been warm, friendly and accepting - even though it's a small village and we're a gay couple. In fact, there are several gay couples in the village and around the general area. We don't even lock the doors to our house or cars unless we're going away for several days - even at night. It's very safe. We love the four seasons, being in the foothills of the White Mountains with many hiking trails, waterfalls, and the coast at Portland, Maine or Portsmouth, NH is just about an hour away. Additionally, for an urban fix, we can take a day trip to Boston (only 2 1/2 hours away) or spend a weekend in Montreal, Quebec (4 1/2 hours away.) Although the state has been traditionally very republican, the demographics seem to be changing as more people move in from Massachusetts and other states. Good luck!
Tim

[Redneck Socialist]

24. Don't let Maxanne scare you

Though that may be her intent. We've go enough folks from "away" already. :P Not really we could use some more progressives here.

Yes the political structure is dominated by a bunch of right wing loons but for the most part they are libertarian loons not the fundie, god told me to stick my nose in your business type loons. There is a very strong live and let live attitude here, which unfortunately sometimes gets perverted to mean the government shouldn't have to take care of the citizens but that aside I think you'll find folks to be pretty tolerant of your foibles as long as you are tolerant of theirs.

Housing costs are outrageous and the property tax situation is absurd but even with that NH has a lot to offer especially if you are an "outdoorsie" type. The hunting is good, the fishing is very good, stipers on the coast, trout in the north and bass just about everywhere. The hiking is fantastic. Having hiked in the rockies and been in the pacific northwest I'll put the Whites Mountains up against anywhere for the quality and number of hiking opportunities. Skiing is great too.

So come on up! Like I said we could use a few more progressives here.

[maxanne]

25. I'm not trying to scare anyone

I'm just honest. :P

Better to be armed with knowledge and pleasantly surprised than terribly disappointed like the Free Staters have been. ;-)

[Redneck Socialist]

26. The Free Staters are disappointed?

Aaaawwwwww...:eyes: They struck me as nutty enough to fit right in.

[maxanne]

27. yep, call the waaaaambulance

Some of them were bright enough to figure out that given the way NH's population is growing, there aren't enough of them to effect any change. One of them (one of the smarter ones) is organizing a band of them to move to Wyoming or Montana, where they can have some real influence.

A number of them flat out refused to move here - probably the cold. They have fared poorly in their attempt to take over the town of Grafton - and now that Governor "Oh, we'd love to have you move here" Benson has been run out of Dodge, they're going to have a tough time finding sympathizers.