OT--Help, dont know where in NH to move to

Hi K8,
Thanks for all your info, I hope everyone in NH is as friendly as my OH family has been!  If I have any questions, I sure will ask you, thanks again...Angie

Hey Angie:

I live in Plaistow, NH.  This is between Nashua and Portsmouth, closer to Portsmouth.  Schools are good, services (like fire, police, trash pickup) are good.  Housing prices are reasonable.  I feel like I have the best of both worlds.  Salem is the next town over and has a large mall, I'm only 30 minutes from Manchester which also has a large mall and lots of other services.  It's not NYC, that's for sure, it's much more rural.  Most of our streets don't have sidewalks.  I'd suggest you go to findyourspot.com which can give you detailed information on various towns.  My hospital where I had my WLS was 30 minutes from my home.  Also a plus, for followups and support group.

Good luck in your search.

Thanks Shirley,  I will check out that website for sure. I like to hear from actual people as well.  I was on some other site and it gave the crime stats for different areas, well when i put in some not so desireable neiborhoods that I am familiar with, it sure wasnt correct. I'll check out this one...Thanks Angie

You're very welcome.  Good luck in your search and if you end up in my neck of the woods, give me a shout out.

What a great bunch of replies you have gotten thus far. 

I live in Manchester as well and have for 20 years.  I grew up in Laconia which is in the middle of the state in what is known as the Lakes Region.  While Laconia is a small city, it would be a drastic change from NYC!  It is a great place to raise a family.

Now, personally----I would shy away from Nashua.  Call me prejudice or what not---but there has been an increase in gang related minorities moving into that community.  It has grown so fast in the past ten years.  While we see this in Manchester to a smaller degree, I think the proximity to the MA boarder makes Salem and Nashua more prone to a rougher crowd right now.

I agree with the above poster about Manchester---there are GREAT neighborhoods....and then the center city is a bit rough.  Of course, a bit rough is probably pretty calm compared to NYC!  I live on the EAST side almost in Auburn and it is all single family homes and the local elementary school is excellent.  I have a 4 bedroom and it would probably go for about $250,000 about now.  Lots here tend to be small---but if you go to any of the outskirting towns you can get quite a bit of land but you will pay a bit more.  East, North and parts of West are all good.....some South Manchester parts.  Hard to know--sometimes you can go a block one way and it is a 'not so nice' neighborhood. 

If I had a choice of where to live?  Bow --- that is a small community between Manchester and Concord.  Auburn-- Which is a small community just outside of Manchester.  Those would be my two top choices. 

Or I would say any of the seacoast communities like Dover, Portsmouth, Durham, Exeter would be excellent.  I have a friend that just moved from the seacoast---her only issue is that there is a majority of affluent people there and they always felt 'not good enough' because they were middle income.  Just her perspective. 

thanks so much for your imput...and yes I really have gotten a lot of info. :) I'm glad you mentioned the "gang" info, I currently work with adolescents on probation, and the gang population here on Long Island is getting out of hand. Kinda scary..
Thanks...Angie

I'm a mental health counselor, working with kids ages 10-17.  I work in Hampstead, and a lot of the people I work with live anywhere from Nashua to Portsmouth and farther out.  There's a lot of group homes around too that are always looking for good people, as well as the hospital I work for.