Any MA real estate refugees here?

[midnight armadillo]

I gotta say, the prices in Nashua/Portsmouth NH are roughly half what I would pay where I live, near Newton, MA.

Has anyone here migrated north in order to become a homeowner? What was the experience like? How are NH schools?

[maxanne]

1. schools

The quality of schools depends on where you are. We don't have madatory kindergarten. Another thing to consider SERIOUSLY is taxation. Our property taxes are among the highest in the nation. We don't have any broad based (income or sales) taxes - but we tax the bejeebers out of property to make up for it.

[Raven]

2. I'm a refugee from Newton.

I sold my house in Newton in 2004. I have had a cabin up here in the Keene area for years so this was where I wanted to be. I have just built a house across the road from my cabin and I was amazed how inexpensive it was compared to Boston suburbs. I have also found contractors much easier to deal with up here. As for schools, my kid is grown but my younger friends seem to be pleased with the schools in this area.

[Tesha]

3. If you will still work in Mass, don't bother.

If you will still work in Mass(and therefore be subject
to the Massachusetts income tax), don't bother. You'll
get to pay Mass's high income tax while also being saddled
with NH's very high property taxes.

And no, we don't have services here such as you're used
to: not only are the schools perennially cash-poor but
many towns are starting to decide that they can pretty
much do without appropriate public libraries. Garbage
collection, city sewers, public water supplies, piped-
in natural gas for heating, and many other amenities
are not present in many of the towns, although cities
such as Nashua do provide them to most residents.

The one thing NH does have going for it are those reduced
real-estate prices that you noticed. You'll probably pay
half to a third of what you'll pay in the good Boston
suburbs. But as with much of life, you get what you pay
for.

Tesha