Broadly true aside from Aroostook County, Maine. Places like Ft Kent and Madawaska still have French in daily life

Great post but don’t sleep on 95, either. It’s pretty quick to get from many places in ME to Portsmouth

Agreed. OP you’ll hear people complain about Concord, which is a great thing. Sooner or later everyone is going to find out about their great open parks, cool down town etc and it’s going to be the next victim of NH’s unaffordability. Get in now while the getting is good!

OP- New Hampshire is actually a pretty rough place to start out. Property values aren’t in line with “young professional” expectations, property tax is not in line with what you get (UNH is one of the most expensive in state tuitions there is, many NHers go elsewhere because OUT OF STATE there is cheaper than IN STATE here). NH doesn’t have a thriving [insert xyz] scene here. This isn’t and never will be eg Silicon Valley or the Insurance Hub or the Port of Long Beach etc. if you succeed here it’s often despite your NH location not because of it.

That said, the Quality of Life here can be absolutely fantastic. We have world class rock climbing, our ski mountains have forged the likes of Bode Miller (and our skiing is literally the cheapest in North America, fantastic value) people use winter hikes up the Presidentials to prepare for Nepalese ascents. There’s fantastic sailing and camping. You can surf and ski in the same day. If you factor in “quality of life” aspects I haven’t found a single place better (Switzerland is close, but still not even NH). As such you should think about what you want out of a move.

“Picturesque Quaint Mountain Towns” try Hanover, Lincoln and Littleton. If you go to Littleton, you will like it. I’ve never, not one time, had someone take me up on a trip to Littleton and come back disappointed

“Happening Hip Places” there’s no NH version of Richmond’s “The Fan” or Bawlmoh’s Federal Hill, so adjust your expectations, but I genuinely think Dover and Portsmouth punch way, way above their weight class. Walk around portsmouth, you’ll see for yourself. Wonderful beaches are just down the road, you’ll love it

“I gotta work in Boston Metro” Portsmouth is still a solid option but consider Bedford.

“My job requires I work in Concord”. Good news! Concord is actually cool! I think it appeals more to the 30 something crowd than the 20 something crowd, but it’s refined and fun. Also check out satellite towns, like Canterbury. C-Bury is full of eccentric hippy types who: raise yaks, have ayahuasca retreats, make maple syrup and surf boards from their timber stands. Hell, we had our own hermit up until recently!

This is a great post and I second every word

Manchester is a wasteland.

I imagine you work along side police often. Do you see them, broadly, as part of the solution or part of the problem?

Are there more males or females in your job?

If we magically got rid of drugs overnight, how much would that change the caseload?

Have you seen someone you know’s kid? How did you handle that?

This in general. Even in a parking lot, what if I’m eg old/fat/carrying a baby/disabled? And where will I run, because I don’t know if my attacker is working in a group. Vermont is very rural, I could literally have to run miles before I found someone in many cases

Great answer, the Big Bean is an “A”, but it’s not even the best in tiny little Newmarket! The Great Hill Maples is the best in NH. Very small, literally a shack warmed with a potbelly stove, they only serve pancakes with real maple syrup they themselves make, and only open a few months a year. But it’s absolutely perfect

Bristol diner is an AMAZING time capsule and should be more famous than it is. Great building, absolutely amazing location (right on a river) great prices. They could charge double and get away with it. The Bristol Diner is the best gem in the state

Rural Maine is ABSOLUTELY another world from rural VT/NH. “Rural” VT has (very) rich NYCers up skiing for the weekend and “rural” NH has people coming and going from Dartmouth or Mt Washington. Towns like Gorham, NH which ought to be serving pancakes to lumberjacks have fine dining crudités.

Rural Maine, on the other hand, is RURAL. Aint no one going through WashCo or Dover-Foxcroft on the way to anywhere. Also, many of these places are FAR from other states. Like, a rural NH dweller has been to ME and VT and has passing familiarity with them. When your state is tiny, you just end up in other states. When I worked in ME, I’d call people to set up appointments on my 603 number and get no answer. When I met them in person they’d say, “everyone I know is 207 so I figured it was a wrong number”. You could live your whole life in eg Houlton and NEVER need to leave ME. I think rural maine competes with, like, rural Wyoming or something where as rural NH is like, “gotta drive 45 minutes before you can go to a restraint with kale”

I’d go to the stealership if resale value is a concern for you. Any services done outside of their Vaunted Castle Walls will get heavily penalized on resale.

Having said that, if resale isn’t a concern the stealership often isn’t the best choice. It’s a sort of “guaranteed B” type outcome. They will not mess shit up and they will do it by the books. But a good Indy shop is better.

Depending on your definition of “local” Luxury Auto Barn in Maine is a great choice. The owner is a 20 year BMW master mechanic who went out on his own. The prices are slightly above what you’d find at a dealer but often the overall bill is less (dealer will sit down with a book that says, “if X light replace y part. If that doesn’t fix X light then z part”. A good Indy will look at the problem in toto and say “X light might be z part” and save you the price of y part)

Also, try RB Auto Imports Services in Alton Bay, NH. Roger was a mechanic for, amongst other things, the Mercedes F1 team. The upside is there is no one better, the downside is he can be quite slow (good, cheap, fast…pick 2)

Can’t go wrong with the OG, Woodstock brewery

This is a very under-rated comment. I priced out finishing the attic and while I could afford the remodel no problems, when I ran the associated costs it wasn’t worth it anymore

In another lifetime I used to do this exact job. It’s a very small world and I likely know, professionally if not personally, the person who would be doing this appraisal. Some thoughts, in no particular order:

If you don’t let them in they assume. They often over-assume because it’s easier. If you then object to your new appraisal (and you likely will) you’re now back at square one but you’ve wasted their time so it’ll be more…fraught

Most ppl are dicks to them. It is an incredibly stressful job. Everyone wants nice schools but no one wants to pay the property tax to get them. If you’re nice, it will go a LONG LONG way.

Go to your town’s property tax/assessor’s database. (Likely will be vision or avatar based). Read over your property tax card and make sure it’s right. It says your basement is finished but it’s not finished? It says your attic is not finished but it is? Etc. Decide from there what you want to do.

If you have any specific questions feel free to dm me

Ragged or cannon but Loon on the right day is unstoppable

Grain surfboards (Lee NH and OOB ME, iirc)

Was in a similar boat, here’s some thoughts:

The prop tax is outrageous. Sure, it’s coming off of a low base number (ie cheap housing stock) but still…. Also, there is no good news in sight. Many people left, many businesses left, the property tax cannot help but rise

The water utility rate is astronomical. Really sorry down with a spreadsheet and crunch the numbers. I live in seacoast NH and my water bill is basically nothing (maybe a few hundred?). Berlin is like 5 to 10x what you’re used to. I haven’t had it sufficiently explained to me just what the deal is, but REALLY do your diligence

Much of the housing stock is in disrepair. A cheap house or an expensive house both have the same cost to reshingle the roof or put a new water heater in. The costs don’t change because the purchase price was low. Many houses are effectively scrap, the cost to properly fix up is more than the property is worth. Be smart and honest about your initial investment and how much you’d need to put in it

The local environment is not suitable for children. You may disagree but I was not able to imagine sending my kids to the local school. It’s not bad per se but it isn’t going to be suitable for high iq or ambitious students. There, I said it

It is shockingly poor. Crime is very low (anyone not from NH laughs at us when we discuss “crime”) but tawdriness and a sort of pervasive hopelessness abounds. Many “important community figures” are the people running the rehab support group, not the small business association. Many renters are on some form of government assistance

Having said THAT, it’s next to snow mobile trails, not far from some solid hiking and skiing and overall a “B+” outdoor destination for “D-“ prices. It is very possible you’re buying into The Next Big Thing (TM)

Also, the scale is nice. If you have big ideas you realistically could matter there, whereas a Manchester or Dover you’re just another dude. There’s opportunity, I think, for a certain sort of go-getter