New Hampshire Question

[FluffyChickenMama]

Im not sure if this is the right place for this question but my husband and I are looking to move to New Hampshire. I was hoping to find some helpful NH residents that can give me some info on nice rural locations that will be good for kids and animals. Im not finding alot of NH info so if you guys have websites that would be great too. We need to be within a couple hour drive of Massachusetts.

Thanks so much,

Renae

 

[BlacksheepCardigans]

What area of Massachusetts do you need to be within a couple of hours of? Pretty much the whole state allows you to get to MA within 2-3 hours, but if you mean Boston or the South Shore it's different.

The prettiest town in Southeast NH is Atkinson, in my opinion. Rural but ritzy-rural. About 90 minutes to Boston except at rush hour. Lots of open land, wonderful library, etc.

Animals-wise you should be in pretty good shape almost anywhere that's not the center of a city. NH has some very good laws that won't let towns restrict the number of animals that you can own. However, if you want or need a barn, make sure you either buy an existing barn as part of your property or have a wide enough property that you can build one. Our property in Plaistow is 200 x 675 or so - two and a half acres - but in Plaistow barns need to be no less than 100 feet from a property line. In order to build our run-in shed, which is where the chickens live right now, we had to get a zoning variance and we had to put it right on the center line of the property. So be absolutely sure you understand the zoning in the town you're looking in, and don't trust the realtor. Go talk to the town hall secretary, who is likely to know everything about everything. Every town is a small town up here; you typically cross into a new town by the time you go three miles, and every town has its own town hall and bylaws and zoning. So don't be shocked if you end up looking in five or ten town names all in the same very small radius, and you can't count on the rules of one town carrying over to the others.

 

[FluffyChickenMama]

Thank you very much. I really appreciate your help. I have been looking for places to rent in Atkinson and there is nothing I can find online. Any ideas of a specific place to look??

Thanks, Renae

 

[BlacksheepCardigans]

Up here rentals are rarely advertised. You may be able to find a realtor who is plugged in enough to find you one, but it seems that virtually all of them go word-of-mouth unless you're in an apartment complex.

I've also never heard of a rental up here that would let you have agricultural animals. I'd be shocked (and I really mean SHOCKED) if you could find one. We had a house fire a few years ago and we had to move out of our house for ten months, and even after months of looking we couldn't find anything that would let us bring all of our dogs. We ended up having to board most of them and just have one with us. During that time (if we had had chickens) we would have had to either cull them all or come feed them on the property every day.

http://www.farmsandbarns.com/farms.html is the best directory I know of for ag properties for sale. I'd maybe contact them to see if they have good leads on who to talk to in terms of realtors who might work miracles and find you an ag rental. I also don't know your budget, but in southern NH right now I'd plan on $1500/mo unless you're really lucky. With everyone losing their homes due to foreclosure, rentals have gone up. It's a real tragedy. We bought here in 2005 and thought we were super lucky to find a property for 300K (and we were!). That was the absolute low end of the market, starter-house fixer-upper price. This year, our next-door neighbor was foreclosed on and the starting bid at auction was 140K - and nobody even nibbled. Everybody in the state is in the same boat - can't afford the high mortgage that seemed easy seven or ten years ago, but can't move. All of which to say - if you can afford it, BUY now. It'll be cheaper than renting.

 

[FluffyChickenMama]

Thanks for the info. We have been looking around up there and were figuring on about $1500 a month rent and about $300,000 to buy. So we had the same figures in mind that you gave. Thats still around the prices in Massachusetts. Im not really even interested in Mass. My husband plans to go up there for a few days to do some job hunting and going to NH and house hunt. I dont want to buy right now because what if Im not satisfied there and locked in a mortgage. Thanks for link I will be keeping an eye on it. I am very grateful to you for all of your information. Your a wealth of knowledge about the NH area and I really appreciate your time.

Renae..