Southern NH

[sjwaste]

We've been kicking around the idea of relocating to southern NH -- the Manchester, Nashua, or Portsmouth areas. There are a number of compelling reasons, such as a reduced cost of living compared to the Northern VA market, similar or lower tax burden, and what seems like just a generally nice place to live. It doesn't hurt that Manchester seems to have its own market for professional work, and it's an hour out of Boston and its labor market. Nor does it hurt that cost of living looks to be about 20% lower than here, while salaries are just about equivalent.

I'm wondering, though, if you live there, what are your thoughts on the area. My fiancee has been doing corporate work for a while, mostly strategic work and business process improvement, and has management experience. I'm willing to bet she could find comparable work. I, on the other hand, am a government employee and attorney, and would have to find a transferrable federal position and/or join the local bar. I'll probably try to contact some members of the bar up there to get their take on things, but it might be more difficult for me to find work.

All that said, do you like living there? Do you have professional opportunities? Is there a decent restaurant/bar scene and things to do in your spare time?

 

[techs]

I visit Manchester often. Have a few friends who live there.
While its not culturally barren it doesn't have a very large amount of stuff going on. That's because you're about 50 miles from Boston via super highway.
Business wise, it's quite a place. Close enough to Boston that companies have moved their offices there, far enough away that there are still undeveloped areas.
Great malls. No sales tax, no income tax.
Has a lot of stuff for what used to be called "yuppies". Upscale bars.
Plus you are 35 miles from the ocean, especially Hampton Beach and the resort areas.
Basically you can hunt, fish, ski and do a night in Boston if you live there.

 

[Itchrelief]

Make sure you pick a non-popular color for your Subaru so you can find it quickly in the parking lot. All bets off if it's covered with snow in the winter.

 

[sjwaste]

Originally posted by: Itchrelief
Make sure you pick a non-popular color for your Subaru so you can find it quickly in the parking lot. All bets off if it's covered with snow in the winter.

Haha, I'd actually have an entirely different problem.

I drive a Supra and my fiancee a Passat (not AWD). We'd need a winter beater or two.

 

[sjwaste]

Originally posted by: techs
I visit Manchester often. Have a few friends who live there.
While its not culturally barren it doesn't have a very large amount of stuff going on. That's because you're about 50 miles from Boston via super highway.
Business wise, it's quite a place. Close enough to Boston that companies have moved their offices there, far enough away that there are still undeveloped areas.
Great malls. No sales tax, no income tax.
Has a lot of stuff for what used to be called "yuppies". Upscale bars.
Plus you are 35 miles from the ocean, especially Hampton Beach and the resort areas.
Basically you can hunt, fish, ski and do a night in Boston if you live there.

What do your friends do for a living and for fun? Are they excessively outdoorsy? I'm not, but I do like the idea of going snowboarding for the day and being able to hit Boston at night. I also like that there are waterfront homes available at prices I might be able to swing. Of course, I don't actually own a boat.

I'm guessing Manchester isn't large enough to have much public transportation, which would be a big change for me. I do miss driving to work, though. If you commute into Boston from the north, is it awful?

 

[BUTCH1]

Originally posted by: techs
I visit Manchester often. Have a few friends who live there.
While its not culturally barren it doesn't have a very large amount of stuff going on. That's because you're about 50 miles from Boston via super highway.
Business wise, it's quite a place. Close enough to Boston that companies have moved their offices there, far enough away that there are still undeveloped areas.
Great malls. No sales tax, no income tax.
Has a lot of stuff for what used to be called "yuppies". Upscale bars.
Plus you are 35 miles from the ocean, especially Hampton Beach and the resort areas.
Basically you can hunt, fish, ski and do a night in Boston if you live there.

My brother lives in Manchester, we grew up in Andover about 30 min. south of there. Yes the beaches are relativity close but traffic is a nightmare on the weekends to and fro. That part of the coastline ( Mass, NH, ME) are for the most part very rocky with small beach areas so parking, beach rentals of any type (cottages motels, ect) are very expensive. Lots of decent employment opportunities though (or so I'm told).

 

[techs]

Originally posted by: sjwaste

Originally posted by: techs
I visit Manchester often. Have a few friends who live there.
While its not culturally barren it doesn't have a very large amount of stuff going on. That's because you're about 50 miles from Boston via super highway.
Business wise, it's quite a place. Close enough to Boston that companies have moved their offices there, far enough away that there are still undeveloped areas.
Great malls. No sales tax, no income tax.
Has a lot of stuff for what used to be called "yuppies". Upscale bars.
Plus you are 35 miles from the ocean, especially Hampton Beach and the resort areas.
Basically you can hunt, fish, ski and do a night in Boston if you live there.

What do your friends do for a living and for fun? Are they excessively outdoorsy? I'm not, but I do like the idea of going snowboarding for the day and being able to hit Boston at night. I also like that there are waterfront homes available at prices I might be able to swing. Of course, I don't actually own a boat.

I'm guessing Manchester isn't large enough to have much public transportation, which would be a big change for me. I do miss driving to work, though. If you commute into Boston from the north, is it awful?

Nah, they have a pretty extensive public transportation system. However, everyplace has huge parking so you can drive everywhere if you like.
I see below BUTCH1 complaining about the beach traffic, but I go there from 75 miles further away, and it's not so bad if you are coming from Manchester because you are heading east, while the Boston crowd is going north. He's right about the rentals. I usually just make a single day of it. If I lived in Manchester it would be real easy to make many more single days of it.

 

[MBrown]

I live in Manchester and I like it. Its not too small but its not enormous. Its the largest city in NH and the largest city north of Boston; about 110k residents. No sales or income tax, less than an hour away from Boston, the beach, and the Mountains. Its almost perfect.

 

[sjwaste]

Well from what I gathered, people are pretty positive about the area, which is good. I'd really like to get out of the DC area, and I'd prefer to go north than south. NH looks like the best option in the northeast in terms of quality of life, cost of living, and taxes/fiscal responsibility. I love Boston, but I'd rather put a bullet in myself than live in Massachusetts. Might as well direct deposit my checks to someone else's welfare account.

EDIT: I don't mean to call politics into it. Just one of the nice things about the USA is that you can generally find a place to live that fits your own desired public/civil liberties/tax burden.

 

[wwswimming]

from what i hear, you guys actually have ocean. might be cold, but it's still ocean.

 

[MotF Bane]

I'm in MA, on a good traffic day, 15 minutes south of the border. If you end up working in Boston, your commute will be a living hell. 93 is the best route to Boston for Manchester, for Nashua it's 3 to probably 495, and then possibly over to 93. Dunno about Portsmouth. Lots of MA residents go further north into NH for vacations. During the summer, northbound Friday and Saturday is terrible, and southbound Sunday is the same story. You'll see plenty of snow, road salt and ice will be a major no-no for your Supra. A winter beater will be a must. I've never encountered much for public transportation. I'm in a 30k pop. suburb 20-25 miles from Boston, we don't have buses, and the train stations aren't even in the same town. Once you get closer to the city, public transportation will ramp up. As for the weather, summer's are warm. Figure 80's to be common, this last summer was rain 6 out of 7 days a week. Usually very humid. Autumn is nice, right now it's 60's, 70's for a very nice day. Winter gets pretty cold, but I've never felt it to be an extremely windy area. Spring is wet, and takes forever to arrive. If you want to go for vacations, think Lakes Region to the north. You'll see a lot of MA residents up there, but it's a nice area.

 

[sjwaste]

Hate to bump my own thread, but it's better than starting a new one.

We're headed up over halloween weekend, anything specific not to miss in terms of bars, restaurants, and general things to do? The weather should be like mid 50's right?

 

[Biggerhammer]

Portsmouth is a good time- a good number of bars, pubs, restaurants.

 

[Thump553]

Originally posted by: sjwaste
Hate to bump my own thread, but it's better than starting a new one.

We're headed up over halloween weekend, anything specific not to miss in terms of bars, restaurants, and general things to do? The weather should be like mid 50's right?

Salem, MA.

 

[acheron]

I live in NoVA and kind of want to move to NH too. And my wife is a lawyer. What kind of legal work do you do? You said you work for the gov't, is it regulatory type work? Just curious. Hope it works out for you whatever you decide.

LOL at the Subaru comment by the way.. I have a Subaru here in VA. You see others around fairly frequently but I just went up to NH a couple weeks ago and it's nothing compared to up there. (Actually one of the reasons for getting the Subaru was in anticipation of a possible move to New England, so.)

 

[Capt Caveman]

If you're looking to move to NH, expect to commute 1 to 1 1/2 hours each way to Boston for work.

In regards to places to check out, Salem, MA as Thump mentioned is lively fun during October and from Salem you're not that far from Portsmouth which would be the only place I'd consider living in NH.

 

[HardcoreRobot]

live free or die

the coastline is nice also