Tell me about New Hampshire

Everything seems to be baseboard heating or forced electric. And electricity rates look super high there. Does everyone just eat a $500/month electricty bill in the winter?

How's summer? Humid as hell? Black flies bad all around?
Heating in NH is predominantly forced hot air by oil or propane. Less popular is hot water basedboard either oil or propane fired. Electric heat is rare, too expensive. In the cities you can find natural gas but everywhere else it's oil or propane or electric.

Electricity is somewhat expensive.

I think summers are fantastic but I don't mind humidity. Bugs aren't really a problem. Nothing like Maine whose state bird is the mosquito.

I wouldn't recommend Plaistow. Bedford and Rye are much better choices. Stay away from Manchester, Nashua and, to a lesser degree, Salem.

Property taxes are the biggest negative. However it varies greatly by town. Rye is very low because it's a wealthy town. Bedford is also very wealthy but I don't know the tax rate. No income tax and no sales tax more than offset the property taxes in most cases though. There is a meals tax.

The government is pretty efficient and doesn't overspend like all the other states around us. Roads are generally excellent considering the climate. You can always tell when you pass the Mass. state line because the roads turn to sh*t. In the winter our roads are plowed by the time we wake up in the morning while Mass. roads are barely passable. There's a running joke about Mass.: what's big and orange and sleeps three? A Mass. state plow truck. If you haven't guessed I hate Mass. Toxic politics, rampant corruption and taxation out the wazoo. Moved away from there about 15 years ago and don't miss it a bit.
 
Heating in NH is predominantly forced hot air by oil or propane. Less popular is hot water basedboard either oil or propane fired. Electric heat is rare, too expensive. In the cities you can find natural gas but everywhere else it's oil or propane or electric.

Electricity is somewhat expensive.

I think summers are fantastic but I don't mind humidity. Bugs aren't really a problem. Nothing like Maine whose state bird is the mosquito.

I wouldn't recommend Plaistow. Bedford and Rye are much better choices. Stay away from Manchester, Nashua and, to a lesser degree, Salem.

Property taxes are the biggest negative. However it varies greatly by town. Rye is very low because it's a wealthy town. Bedford is also very wealthy but I don't know the tax rate. No income tax and no sales tax more than offset the property taxes in most cases though. There is a meals tax.

The government is pretty efficient and doesn't overspend like all the other states around us. Roads are generally excellent considering the climate. You can always tell when you pass the Mass. state line because the roads turn to sh*t. In the winter our roads are plowed by the time we wake up in the morning while Mass. roads are barely passable. There's a running joke about Mass.: what's big and orange and sleeps three? A Mass. state plow truck. If you haven't guessed I hate Mass. Toxic politics, rampant corruption and taxation out the wazoo. Moved away from there about 15 years ago and don't miss it a bit.
So figure out how to shit on Mass. and you’re telling me I’ll fit right in? :tearsofjoy:
 
I absolutely love New England. I've lived on or near the NH border (in MA) for the last 25 years, and if you like the outdoors (trail running, skiing, hiking, kayaking, etc) it's a fantastic place to live.
 
My two cents on New England. Never lived there, visited a couple of times and it is beautiful. I know nothing of the local governments or taxation. However, something I do know a little about is electricity having spent over 33 years in the power generation business. Electricity in New England is in short supply due to the huge amount of coal fired generation taken off the grid in the last 5 to 10 years. The rush to "go green" with no real plan and no diversity in electric generation is dangerous and has left the United States grid shaky at best and downright dangerous at worst. The New England ISO, or independent grid operator is forecasting shortages for the winter for the near future. If I lived there I would invest in a generator as no doubt many have due to long outages as a result of winter storms. Just take a look at what is happening now in the state of California as they rushed to be "ahead of the curve" and go green. This summer CA has experienced rolling blackouts during heat waves as a result of a generation shortfall brought on by the government outlawing fossil fuel. Look, I whole heartedly support being kind to the climate. But you have to face facts, the sun does not shine 24/7 and the wind is not blowing 24/7 no matter what Alexandria Ocasio Cortez says. You need a diverse electric supply grid so that all your eggs are not in one basket.
 
If I lived there I would invest in a generator as no doubt many have due to long outages as a result of winter storms.
I live in CA and have invested in a generator as a result of PG&E being a poorly run shit show. ¯\_(ツ)_/¯ It is one of the reasons we're considering leaving. Fixing the PG&E mess will be born by us, not the people who let it decay -- they're all dying off.
 
This summer CA has experienced rolling blackouts during heat waves as a result of a generation shortfall brought on by the government outlawing fossil fuel.

With all due respect, that greatly oversimplifies the cause of the rolling blackouts. CAISO cited a combination of factors. But, if you're in the field you know perfectly well we may never know the precise cause. I think most people would be dismayed if they learned how low-tech the ISO diagnostics capability is.
 
I live in the lakes region in nh ,Lived here all my life . Sanbornton ,love it around here .pretty close to a lot , 20 minutes to concord , 2 hrs to Boston (if you like it there) 1 1/2 to Maine . My electric is about 100.00 dollar a month, small house .Im old school heat with wood ,I have 8 cords sitting in my yard waiting to be stacked ,keeps me in shape(yea right).Heating oil is probably the cheapest to heat with.

Like every where else , it's getting more populated ,every body from mass. is moving up here or buying a second house . Taxes aren't bad, depending where you live ,Mine 3600.00 year with an acre ,guy across the street on the lake 12000.00 postage stamp property . I love winter when it starts and then 3 months into it I can't wait till its over . A lot to offer around here ,skiing , boating ,snowmobiling, nascar races
 
I lived in Derry, NH.

They have some of the best roads in the northeast. They build thier roads placing and compacting the dense subbase in 6" lifts.

There's two NH's. Theres the area outside of Boston and Massachusetts boarder, and then theres the rest of the state. Lots of people commute into Massachusetts to work... due to the points you've made ...so the real estate is expensive in lower NH. They got to get you somewhere..
 
Timely topic as we (wife and 2 teenage girls) are kicking the tires on a move out of MA to southern NH. We really, really do like where we live now, yet everything mentioned by Cliff in his last paragraph of post #41 is sort of forcing our hand to look out of state, and I don't see it getting any better in the future. The good news is that there are plenty of people not put-off by the pervasive MA taxation/political mindset, so we'll have no problem selling our home if the right opportunity comes along.
 
20 yr ago firm I was working for was hired by the feds to oversee the Route 3 reconstruction between 95 and NH. It was a big deal. MASS HWY dot was not happy about it at all. Was a design build and the first major project after the big dig. Modern Continental was the contractor for the project..who was also one of the many contractors involved in the big dig. We threw the book at them...by the end of the project. The owner of the Modern Continental died of a heart attack....they were going to go bankrupt..and another contractor swooped in to buy there equipment up..and I believe eventually absorbed the company.
Subcontractor Aggregate Industries the asphalt supplier project. They got busted cheating the mix. They had a crusher and screened out two different blends of RAP..which constitute 15% of the virgin mix. Well..they screened out two different stockpiles...one that would pass the gradation requirements per Mass Hwy specs..and one that did not. When the state was on site during production..they would pull from the approved pile...when they left..they would pull from the other..this allowed them to decrease the AC content required for the virgin mix..and achieve densities in the field with less effort.
After the big dig..the fed mandated that every Mass Hwy employee needed to take a bunch of NETTCP construction certifications..and over half the department failed the test...which is why the feds hired a outside firm... from out of state..NY to be involved representing the feds.
This is why your roads in Mass are shit..that and the volume of traffic
 
Dem Boomers.... :(

Happy to be one of 'Les Invisibles' (Gen X) and not involved in the Boomer/Millenial blame war....

Silly Boomer, don't you know that to a Millenial anyone older then them is a Boomer? Hell, to Zoomers even Millenials are Boomers. And the Millenials are targeting our fun stuff too. NO FUN FOR YOU!!!
 
I live in Northern MA and worked in NH for years, have a million friends in NH, and gig a lot there.

PM if you want to talk some shop. I'll tell you all the good and the bad.
 
Back
Top Bottom