mrzar97

mrzar97 t1_j9xwa2m wrote

You know that you're literally part of the reason NH natives are being priced out of the market, right? Domestic migration has been driving down vacancies and driving up rent and real estate, royally fucking over most of the youth that was born here (and would like to stay here).

You're not some kind of hero keeping the state alive, you and people from all across the country who want to flock here are directly (though obviously not intentionally) contributing to the slow death of the state's local culture.

The rent here may look like peanuts compared to higher COL locales, but for locals - particularly younger people - the options are increasingly narrowing down to "live with your folks" or "leave the state", neither of which any of us want to do, nor should we have to.

The state Economic Development authority is far too focused on attracting new residents and businesses from other states, and seems to care very little about seeing all the money invested in their youth through to prosperity. I know way too many young people in the southern half of the state who feel like they've been flat out left in the dust.

I specifically mention the southern half because, from N. Conway to the border, it's by-and-large either federal land managed by National Parks or constitutes some sort of tourism around the Whites and Mahoosuc, and that's been the case since the state's paper industry started winding down a few decades ago. Of course there are a plethora of individual exceptions but that's generally a good rule of thumb.

Add to this that most out-of-staters who move to SNH/Seacoast have the same sort of obnoxious, pretentious NIMBY attitude that has kept this region down for 2-3 decades (rejecting the vast majority of affordable/workforce housing projects, endorsing an untenable bias in favor single-family housing developments)...

You could be making $500k/year and maxing out your credit limit each month at local businesses, and you'd still be a part of the microeconomic problem. The core issue is that the state would rather pander to you and every other prospective transplant taxpayer on high-value real estate (because they have to make up for no sales tax somehow) more than it would like to support the innovative upstarting youth it's already invested so much of that same taxpayer money into.

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