NH experts come in

[drloretta]

H interviewed for a job in Portsmouth last week. The recruiter indicated that they may be preparing an offer. We're seriously considering it, and are heading up this weekend to check out surrounding towns. If you know of specific towns to check out or avoid, I'd appreciate it!

[bostonmichelle]

I love Portsmouth! So many cute shops and restaurants. I have friends that grew up in Durham and Madbury, they both live in Dover now. That's about all I know but they are cute towns.

[cgpm]

Great area! How far does he want to commute?

Dover has it's own high school and is decent, as far as I know. I actually interviewed there.

Madbury, Lee, and Durham all go to Oyster River HS, which I think is a better school. Exeter also has a good school system, but is a little farther away.

Personally, if money were no object, I would live in Hampton or Rye so I could live at the beach!

[drloretta]

Jan 13, 2015 10:15:34 GMT -5 RockNVoll said:

He's interviewing again? Didn't he just change jobs? You keep threatening to leave the area. Though I can't say much against it now seeing as I left, too

Good luck! I know nothing about NH towns but I hope you get the outcome you want!

He was contacted by a recruiter. His work-life balance is good right now, but there's no opportunity for advancement and he'll end up spinning his wheels in short order. The site in NH is their North American HQ so resources are there for the taking. And he says it's more or less his dream job.

Part of me is totally freaking out out about moving for some reason, but if it would set us up for a while, I'll take it. Plus I love Portsmouth

[drloretta]

Jan 13, 2015 10:28:31 GMT -5 cgpm said:

Great area! How far does he want to commute?

Dover has it's own high school and is decent, as far as I know. I actually interviewed there.

Madbury, Lee, and Durham all go to Oyster River HS, which I think is a better school. Exeter also has a good school system, but is a little farther away.

Personally, if money were no object, I would live in Hampton or Rye so I could live at the beach!

He's looking at around a half hour. Now I'm going to go look at houses in Hampton and Rye!

We want to be able to afford a house on his salary alone, so I doubt we'll live with the fancy people. We found a few homes on realtor.com but the schools sucked.

[drloretta]

It really would be a good time to make the move. As long as I have a laptop and Internet I can work from anywhere. Only a semi-trailing spouse!

[lizlemon19]

I would love Portsmouth,and you can still come to Boston GTG's. I know someone who lived in Dover and loves it. Can get to coastal Maine, Boston, white mountain area easily.

[soxin2]

I had a friend in college who grew up in Madbury too. This is the first time I've ever heard anyone other than him even know the town. His wife grew up in Hampton and seems to love it. The settled in a nearby town.


H was born in MA and moved to Windham around 10. A little farther from Portsmouth than you probably want but super close to me.

[LoveTrains]

I love Portsmouth.

I have two friends from college who grew up right across the river in Maine. One is from Eliot, Maine and the other is from Kittery. Kittery Point is beautiful and on the water!

I don't know which would better serve you in regards to schools, taxes, etc but I would suggest that it is at least worth investigating the options just over the border. Plus you know, Maine is the way life should be.

[who22]

I work in Portsmouth and commute from Rochester. I've lived here all my life. What are your criteria for towns? Are you looking for the "best" schools? Walkability? More land?

Edit: DH is from Maine and we spend a lot of time there so I might be able to answer some of those questions too.

Edit2: List of towns (each has its pros and cons) in a 30 min radius via Google Maps: Rochester (it really takes me 40 mins with traffic to get to downtown and I live in "south" Rochester), Barrington, Somersworth, Dover, Durham, Madbury, Lee, Newmarket, Stratham, Greenland, Hampton, North Hampton, Rye, Portsmouth, New Castle, Newfields, Exeter, Seabrook.

[noodleoo]

Oh wow, how exciting! I remember talking about this at the GTG! I have no advice, although I also love Portsmouth. I hope things work out for you guys!!

[drloretta]

Jan 13, 2015 14:43:44 GMT -5 who22 said:

What are your criteria for towns? Are you looking for the "best" schools? Walkability? More land?

.

We plan to send DD to parochial school, so stellar school district isn't necessarily a must. But some towns had all school ratings of 2s and 3s. DH would like a reasonable commute, I want a reasonable distance to civilization, and we'd like a fairly roomy house that's not on a postage stamp, LOL.

[caligirl22]

I don't have any insight but I love Portsmouth!

[who22]

Jan 13, 2015 22:33:21 GMT -5 drloretta said:

Jan 13, 2015 14:43:44 GMT -5 who22 said:

What are your criteria for towns? Are you looking for the "best" schools? Walkability? More land?

.

We plan to send DD to parochial school, so stellar school district isn't necessarily a must. But some towns had all school ratings of 2s and 3s. DH would like a reasonable commute, I want a reasonable distance to civilization, and we'd like a fairly roomy house that's not on a postage stamp, LOL.

If school district is not a must I'd skip right over Durham, Exeter, Portsmouth, Rye, and New Castle. These towns have the "best" schools and the price tag to go with it.

Reasonable distance to civilization? Skip Greenland, Stratham, and Newfields. Very pretty areas to live, but not a lot to do/grocery stores/restaurants super close by. They did build a Target with the grocery store in Greenland a few years ago.

Reasonable commute? Skip Rochester, Somersworth, Lee, Seabrook, and Barrington. There are some areas that are very do-able for commuting but you'd have to be very specific about which areas.

That leaves, Newington, North Hampton, Hampton, Madbury, Newmarket and Dover as prime locations. All but Madbury and Newington have a "downtown" with stores/restaurants. Check out www.nneren.com for real listings to get an idea for housing costs.

In terms of commuting, from the North the main way into Portsmouth is via the Spaulding Turnpike (Route 16) which goes over the General Sullivan Bridge (its really the Little Bay Bridge but no one calls it that). Right now they're widening the bridge to alleviate rush hour traffic but it can be rough. Coming from the south you'd take 95 or Route 1 to get into Portsmouth.

[shopgirl07]

I live in Portsmouth now and like it very much. I'd look in Portsmouth. The elementary schools are some of the best in the state and the middle and high schools are decent and improving. New Castle and Rye are gorgeous seaside towns with their own elementary schools which feed into Portsmouth. Expensive, but great places to live.

The Oyster River school system is also very good. Durham and Madbury are nice places to live, taxes are very high.

Stratham and Exeter also have a good school system. Stratham has a lot of nice neighborhoods with larger, newer homes. Taxes are very high here as well.

North Hampton is nice, a little more upscale than Hampton. Don't think the school systems are that fantastic. I personally would never live in Dover. It's a nice enough place I guess. Schools aren't great and taxes are high.

For me living in NH, Portsmouth, New Castle and Rye are really the only places I'd live. Portsmouth has a lot going on, tons of good restaurants, etc.

Let me know if you have other questions. And I have a great realtor if you're interested.

[LoveTrains]

shopgirl07, what did you think of my Maine suggestions? Do many people live in Maine and commute into Portsmouth?

[shopgirl07]

Jan 14, 2015 9:24:28 GMT -5 LoveTrains said:

shopgirl07, what did you think of my Maine suggestions? Do many people live in Maine and commute into Portsmouth?

Oh yes, people definitely live in Maine and commute into Portsmouth. 

Kittery is a nice town, and some parts are walking distance to Portsmouth! My cousin lives there and she's been happy with the school system. Personally, I'd rather live in NH to avoid the income taxes. Living in working in NH is great for the tax burden! 

Eliot is also nice but a little too middle of nowhere for me. Of course it's really not that far from everything, but just father than I'd personally want to be.

[drloretta]

Wow, you guys are great! I passed on all the info to DH, and we'll spend (yet more) time looking at housing in specific towns. We're going to come up this weekend just to get more of a lay of the land.

[dougthedogsmom]

I know nothing about that area except Portsmouth is an adorable town and we love Smuttynose. Good luck to YH!

[Awkward]

Sooo, I was going to come in and offer my thoughts, but I see all the bases have been thoroughly covered. My suggestions were going to be Greenland and Exeter.

[who22]

Jan 14, 2015 11:35:59 GMT -5 RockNVoll said:

I love all the lurkers that came out in this post

She did ask for the NH experts  

[who22]

Jan 14, 2015 13:45:03 GMT -5 RockNVoll said:

Jan 14, 2015 13:43:35 GMT -5 who22 said:

She did ask for the NH experts  

Do we have to tag every post with "NH people come in and play!" to get responses to regular posts then?

Maybe? lol. I have no excuse.

[rosebud]

The catholic hs is in Dover, just FYI

[Lilac]

My DH works in Portsmouth and we live an hour away. Anywhere along 101 is a doable commute traffic-wise, just depends on how far you want to drive. There's a lot of nothing between Manchester and Portsmouth, but it's an easy drive and house prices go down a lot once you go a little past Exeter.

[who22]

Jan 15, 2015 16:44:58 GMT -5 rosebud said:

The catholic hs is in Dover, just FYI

There's also Portsmouth Christian Academy which takes people from Dover.

[beeks]

I'm a little late to this party, but I live on the Stratham/Greenland town line and it is perfect for us...an above poster said Stratham and Greenland weren't near grocery stores/restaurants, etc, but that isn't true at all. Stratham has two grocery stores, and Target is right down the road and there are countless places to eat within 10 minutes. A couple of Walmarts are a 15 minute drive. I love being in-between Exeter and Portsmouth, so much to do...and even Epping isn't far and has quite a bit now. I would personally never live in Dover/Somersworth/Rochester...don't love the towns or the schools. Love Greenland, Stratham, Portsmouth, Rye, North Hampton...