I like MHT, but they don't have too many direct flights the last time I looked.

Getting to BOS isn't horrible-expect combat driving and occasional delays, but I've never parked a car there so there is that.

Here are the airlines and where they offer direct flights to: https://www.flymanchester.com/flights-airlines/airlines-serving-mht/

Getting to Logan is almost an hour from Manchester with no traffic. If it’s during rush hour you’ll need to give yourself plenty of time to get there. There are also buses to Logan I think.

Londonderry has a bus that goes to Logan for direct flights. It’s 5 mins from the manch airport. I fly out of both. My mom lives right next to the mall

Here is a list of departures from MHT. You’re the best judge.

https://www.flymanchester.com/flights-airlines/arrivals-departures/

What's the bus ride time in your experience to Logan? That sounds pretty good.

My wife and I are moving from TX to NH. I flew up last month to buy the house and had two airports to choose from: Manchester or Boston Logan. From Dallas to Marlborough through Manchester total travel time was almost 13 hours (ridiculous layover stop and 1 hour travel from the airport to Marlborough). Through Boston total travel was shy of 6 hours (4 to Boston, 2 to Marlborough). Saving 7 hours of travel time was more than worth the extra expense, MHT was $190 round trip, Boston was $400 round trip.

https://www.bostonexpressbus.com/stop/north-londonderry-nh/

It’s a park and ride also.

Of the towns you listed, Nashua is going to be your best bet. Neighboring Merrimack, right on the MA border so closest to Logan. MHT can be great but in general if you’re flying frequently you’re going to be at Logan a lot.

Avoid Nashua for schools. The other towns list are substantially better in that aspect.

Driving to Logan sucks in my opinion but I have good friends that do it weekly. I love MHT but only fly a few times a year and would rather the ease of traffic / parking / security vs Logan but direct flights are very limited.

Thank you!

MHT, after a great initial push, has dialed back flights quite a bit. I’m ~10 miles from MHT but end up flying out of Logan 95% of the time. Granted, I’m booking following the airline; if Southwest can get you where you need to go it might work. Otherwise, you’re better off flying out of Logan.

Thank you!

Funding for schools comes from property taxes, so towns with higher property taxes generally have better schools (generally, not always). All the towns you mentioned are pretty solid. Litchfield is a good choice to consider, as is Merrimack. I'd throw in Goffstown too, there are some really nice areas, good proximity to highway. Amherst / Bedford are the "it" towns with the best schools, but out of your price range for something decent.

That's good info. I don't know that I'm worried about the "it" towns. New Mexico is close to the bottom for education, so anything has to be a step up. I want her to have a good education, but I also don't want her surrounded by kids who get a luxury car for sweet 16. If that makes sense.

Just be aware that towns in New Hampshire have much of the power that counties do in the rest of the country. Everywhere is part of a town. So you might have vastly different zoning, taxes, and as others have mentioned, schools than folks in the next town over. And I do mean vastly different. The town next to us doesn't allow cable or fiber internet because it would "change the character of the town" .

That's very valuable info. Thank you. Sounds like my research plate got bigger.

Any areas to avoid? I know all cities have them, but it can be tough to figure out.

As long as you don't have to go to Logan during rush hour it shouldn't be too bad.

$400k is gonna be about the minimum to find a house south of concord these days. You should be able to find something decent in your price range

That's good to know. I've been shopping and it seems like 450-475 gets you a lot of house for the money.

I guess “the tree streets” but you’d be able to tell the area is kind of shitty the first time you drove through it. It’s a couple of blocks that are more dirty than dangerous, but they also happen to be right downtown bordering a beautiful Main St.

Looking at a map, it’s the area between St. Joseph Hospital and SNH Medical Center, and honestly like just that road and the streets immediately off it.

Goffstown is great! Great community as well. There’s a rail trail and a couple Mountains that make for easy hiking.

Thank you!! Adding it to the list to check out.

Yeah MHT was more competitive 10 years ago

It really isn't bad if you avoid rush hour(s), I got there from Concord in just over an hour my last flight out. Also easy to grab a bus there.

450K is going to get you a starter house in SNH. I’m not trying to be a jerk, just trying to give you accurate information

The Nashua/Salem/Londonderry/Derry/Windham areas will likely be a good middle ground for you both—I used to commute to Boston and Merrimack for different jobs and the commute really isn’t that bad, especially going to Merrimack even during rush hour

I can’t speak to housings costs, but others have already made their recommendations

You aren't. No offense taken. I've been shopping online a bit. I'm seeing plenty of 3-4 bedroom at around 2k square feet in that range. Interiors look nice. Things seem in good repair. Can you elaborate? I'm sure plenty won't show as well but they seem consistent in that range.

Thank you! That's what we were thinking but verification really helps.

Do tell where that is so we don’t look there!

Correct me if I'm out of line, but 2k SQFT isn't exactly "a lot of house"

I see where you're coming from. It's my wife and our daughter. So it's plenty. We live in 2k even right now and a few hundred extra or a more open floor plan would be perfect. I've found lots that fit what we are looking for. We could go bigger, but I'm aware that property taxes can be quite high. I also like having a large amount of disposable income.

We take the Boston Express to Logan Airport for most flights. There are two routes. We use the Western one that stops in Nashua.

I live in Londonderry and fly MHT when I can, but my wife and I always use the buses when we fly Boston. Service is very good. More importantly have you been studying for your Red Sox exam?

There's also a Boston Express bus stop in Tyngsboro, MA (5-10min south of Nashua). It's the last stop before heading to Logan so it's the shortest bus ride time out of NH.

You’ll understand better when you start looking into those homes priced in that range. What towns/areas are you looking into? Could be priced lower based on the neighborhood. Could be that there are issues they aren’t advertising.

For example, we bought our house in 2019 (before housing markets went crazy). 2k square footage, needed lots of things done that you wouldn’t see on a search online. It’s a starter home. We paid $350k. Our house is now valued at around $575 due to the housing market insanity. So u/cosmicsurffarmer is correct.

Depends by whose standards.

It's plenty of space for a family, it's just not huge in American terms.

No vacancy. Check MA.

I would add French Hill to the list.

French Hill is the area around Margaritas heading towards Hudson.

It's nothing horrifying at all, but the bad areas of Nashua are like "Make sure nothing valuable is in your car" sorts of areas, not "don't walk around in the evening" sorts of places.

Northeast Nashua (north of French Hill) is pretty nice, though.

With a 450k budget you're not going to get stuck in a bad area. Whoever said "starter homes are 450k" is exaggerating the housing market here by a fair bit. Things are expensive though.

If you want convenience, go near the highway. If you want a quieter area, Nashua is still pretty damn convenient but you won't be out in the sticks.

OK, I travel for work and live in Nashua. Nashua is ~45 minutes from Logan almost always, unless you have to get to or from there in the heart of rush hour. Manchester airport is a UPS hub more than a passenger airport, it has only a few direct flights and as such never has directs to where I need to go (major cities in the US, Europe and Asia).

Nashua is a great place for food, provides easy access to the entire region and will provide an easy reverse commute for your wife's job. Most neighborhoods are great, just avoid living right downtown, south of the Nashua River, and you're fine. Happy to provide more insight, if you want details.

Southern NH has some Real Estate availability issues due to the now-waning covid housing boom, but prices are sliding slowly now.

For you, but for this family it sounds like it is. Everything is relative, not everyone needs a McMansion.

Parking is fine, if you're reimbursed for it. You can buy ahead of time for a discount, too.

The bus from Londonderry takes about 1:15. It stops in Salem and then goes to South Station before Logan.

Make sure to check property tax rates!

Derry has a good school system and a great high school (Pinkerton Academy).

Getting to BOS is easy enough if you stay near the 93 or 3 corridor.

I would try to stay on the west side of the river if I worked in Merrimack. Getting from Derry/Londonderry to Merrimack is better now that they built another bridge but it still takes about 20 minutes and Rte 3 sucks at rush hour.

It will throw your Merrimack commute off but have you looked at the western side of state in the Keene area? Bradly International in Hartford is a little over an hour and it is a much easier drive in and out than Logan.

Nix Nashua for living. The rest would be fine, but I'd also add Bedford, Hollis, and Amherst to your list. The market here is still kind of high, so hopefully, New Mexico hasnt dropped yet, or they're giving you a decent relocation package.

Keep in mind that pretty much everything you do here is going to be about a 30-minute drive outside of your close to home stuff.

You will end up flying out of Logan 9/10 of the time. Manchester just doesn't have good choices for direct flights and is more expensive.

Yeah, 450 isn't a lot of house for the money our here. At that price, it will need some updating for sure or be small/small property. Just want to set your expectations, especially for the areas that are more developed.

Also, keep in mind there are a lot of houses for sale on double yellow roads here. When we moved, that was an immediate no for us as we had a 3 year old as well.

2k sqft isn't large by any means. Small bedrooms mid-size living room. You're looking at 3-4 bedrooms, so average family with no office or craft/play room... usable good space, yes, large, absolutely not.

I live within walking distance of the Fidelity facility and it's still empty most of the time. I also play tennis there in the summer with one of the employees. It's very easy to get to as it's just off Exit 10 on the Turnpike.

Good school districts are Bedford, Amherst, Wyndham, Hollis.

You can find childcare at the Nashua-Merrimack YMCA. They may be the largest daycare provider in the area as they take care of a lot of kids because small childcare operations were decimated during COVID.

Logan is a pain when there's a lot of traffic. I usually try to get really early flights. If I need to go to Boston, I leave at 4:30 AM or after 9:30 AM. There is the option of driving to Lowell and taking commuter rail in. You can park there but it's easiest if you have someone drop you off and pick you up if you're going to be gone longer than a couple of days.

I'm take a hard look at that. I hadn't considered.

Unlikely to find a home in their price range in those towns, unfortunately.

Bedford, maybe Amherst and hollis are less likely, but I was more suggesting adding those to his list. I think derry and londonderry are their best option.

NH isn't worth it. Reconsider. Fidelity has locations in much better places with better education infrastructure and medical care.

Property taxes will price you out of many homes if that's your full budget.

Can you elaborate? Not disagreeing, just curious and want to understand better.

There's no simple factor. Addiction is at the center of multiple factors that currently influence the overall sense of hopelessness people are feeling. NH in particular lacks the mental and physical healthcare resources that might help to prevent addiction. It also lacks resources that would prevent the most vulnerable of NH's population from seeking relief through drug use or suicide (namely the lack of housing access and jobs that pay a living wage with benefits). This article (particularly the second half unrelated to the pandemic) highlights some of the major factors and the influence they have. https://www.cnbc.com/2021/05/10/51percent-of-young-americans-say-they-feel-down-depressed-or-hopeless.html

Things like the economy, the climate crisis, and unaffordable housing/education/healthcare are leading to unprecedented levels of depression/anxiety/hopelessness. All stressors that precipitate impulsive relief-seeking behaviors. With opiates currently being more affordable/accessible than cannabis (which is at the very least non-addictive) it's become the drug of choice, sadly. I lost my best friend to opiates in 2018; and many other close friends before and since then. After going to countless AA/NA meetings trying to help my friends find or stay in recovery I learned a great deal. Try attending NA/AA meetings in your area and you can hear many people share the path that lead them to addiction. I hope this was helpful.

Sort of? I empathize with how you feel and recognize this is a real struggle nationally. Nothing stands out as unique to NH though. At least not in comparison to Albuquerque. Albuquerque consistently ranks close to the bottom in everything that matters.

It's not. That's what I can do with 20% down and still have 50k left over for moving, improvements, and appliances. I can spend up if I have to.

Thanks. That's helpful! I've been watching the housing pricing for months. So I didn't think I was far off. I'm seeing plenty in my take that fit our needs.

That's good info! I'm thinking the buses will be the way to go. I have not. Not much of a sports guy unless it's hockey. Looking forward to seeing the Bruins.

That's not bad at all. I looked and the schedule and the 1:30 to 1:40 out of Nashua looked rough. An hour is super reasonable

Concord to Logan?

I should add that the return schedule is based on terminal A, so add a few minutes per terminal. The noon bus at terminal A is more like 12:10 at terminal C.

Yup you can hop right on the bus in Concord.

Depending on traffic/time of day the drive could be anywhere from just over an hour to 2+ hours. I used to commute to Somerville daily and it was a BITCH.

Sorry thought this was a reply to a different discussion specifically about addiction. NH has terrible infrastructure (roads, schools, internet quality, cell phone reception, medical quality care, electrical grid). While having outrageous property taxes that vary wildly by town. NH is also close to the bottom of the list in many areas; particularly with salaries compared to cost of living. We have one of the highest Pkwh rates in the country for electrical; anticipate $500+ monthly bills, also anticipate absurd heating costs regardless of the fuel type. Expect to spend significantly more on vehicle maintenance due to bad roads and heavy salting. https://livingcost.org/cost/united-states/nh

The quality of education sounds like it will also be a concern for you: https://www.concordmonitor.com/NEA-New-Hampshire-education-rankings-40170762

Property taxes are a constant monthly/yearly expense and will continue to rise aggressively. Make sure you are accounting for the tax rate in every single town you're shopping in.

They seem to be 10-15% higher than where I live and seem to go up 4-10% a year based on the town.

Interesting reads. Thank you. The lack of income tax makes a huge difference for me. Doing the math based on this, it'd actually be about the same cost of living, maybe a smidge higher.

The education piece tells me it's highly dependent on the town.

The lack of income tax is why everything else (including vehicle registration) is more expensive and tends to have lower quality unfortunately. It brings the standards down by divestment.

I won't argue that it's impact will very greatly on income level.