Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
Just want to point out to a Florida native that a Winter in N Georgia and a Winter in central New Hampshire are worlds apart. Not trying to discourage you, just making sure you realize you've never really experienced a Winter. Have you considered the Seacoast area of NH? Winters will be a bit more mild.
Burning a wood stove to take off the chill here and there and cutting, splitting, stacking 8+ cord is a whole other world too. lol
Very good point. I have lived in several states, both cold and hot.
NH winters are very, very long and harsh - especially the central and to the northern part of the state. Spring is pretty much non-existent - you go from cold, raw, damp to hot in just a few weeks. Autumn is very nice, but again, a short season.
Just to be fair for those critical of the NH winters, if you are looking at southern NH specifically those same comments extend to most of MA, RI and CT as well.
The local School District just landed a teachers contract that raised the wage scale here so that starting pay for teachers is $38K so you might want to look up the link below for job openings. I can get you a phone number if you want. The link is sau60.org
I am a landlord in Alstead where there are some quaint apartments (One 2 br open right now has a deck and abutts the town ammenities field which sports a basketball court and Baseball/ soccor fields. Its walking distance to the Primary School too~
80K disposable or is this your entire retirement account? anyone who thinksNH is the ultimate inexpensive area to livwe is in for a shock. I pasid almost 1400 to registered two cars and the bike. Real estate taxes are 7400 a year. Oil runs probably 3k a season. Utilities, gas as you will be travelling a distence to most jobs. As far as selling real estate, forget it.
Examine it all carefully. Unemployment lasts only so long and that length can easily be cut back. Teaching jobs? As a new resident, you would have to have some really outstanding qualifications to override all the residents already looking for those positions.
Think long and hard and examinie it from every angle.
(1) what other jobs are available in NH other than teaching? (my husband has a lot of experience working as a pizza maker too) I see that NH's unemployment is 4.8 now, whereas our county here in FL is 10.2. I'm curious about how NH maintains such a low unemployment rate. Do you have corp HQ/ manufacturing/ IT, etc? What's your "secret"?
(2) Have you heard a lot about a teacher over-supply in NH? We have way too many teachers looking for jobs in both FL and GA now.
(3) How much would utilities cost? (water, oil heat (?), electricity) We pay around $220/mo now for electric, $35 for water. I don't want to get hit with a $500 heat bill. (but my husband says the rentals he sees on CL have woodstoves) We don't like to "crank the heat up" - maybe 65.
So what should we do? He keeps harping on "let's move now" and get set up so that our kids can have the best future. Part of me says "let's just go for it" but part of me worries that we will end up sitting in a dark, cold rental house with temp/ part-time jobs and that will turn me (us?) against NH. (and of course, I'm just as worried about the winters as I am the job situation)
Any advice would be appreciated! All I know is we have to get out of FL for good this time.
My views, having grown up in Seacoast NH 1960-1983, then around the nation for jobs and Florida for 17 years, then back here 7 years ago to take care of an elderly relative. We too got sick of constant heat and humidity, and hurricane insurance went through the roof.
(1) The secret to NH's low unemployment rate is that the vast majority of the people here are retired, or have business income, and don't need jobs. There are very, very, very few jobs here, except in a few fields like health care. There are few large employers. You can work for government (but now they are laying off), or work in Boston.
(2) Yes, there is a teacher oversupply here. Of course, Exeter spends over $14,000 per year per student, compared to the $5,500 per year spent per pupil in my last hometown in Florida. Great if you can get a teaching job. But my property taxes on exactly the same value property were $2,000 in Florida, and $13,000 a year here in Exeter (much better services, like free unlimited trash disposal in Florida also).
(3) Utilities are very expensive. About $230 for electric for our house (except during A/C season), but the first year heating our house (propane) cost $1,200 a month over the first 6 months we were here. The rate was later lowered, but it is still over $900 a month on average to keep our house at around 67 in the winter. Over $200 for internet, TV and phone. About $2 for every bag of trash. Insurance is pretty high also.
Best case is to rent from someone who has two homes and is crushed by the crazy property taxes (many are in this situation now). This would be a cheap way to see if you can afford the area (add in property taxes when considering staying). The one thing you don't want to do is lock into a house you can't sell, high property taxes that will continue to increase and may bankrupt you, high cost of living, and a bad job situation. That's what we inadvertently did, and we kick ourselves everyday while trying to find a way out.
(1) The secret to NH's low unemployment rate is that the vast majority of the people here are retired, or have business income, and don't need jobs. There are very, very, very few jobs here, except in a few fields like health care. There are few large employers. You can work for government (but now they are laying off), or work in Boston.
(2) Yes, there is a teacher oversupply here. Of course, Exeter spends over $14,000 per year per student, compared to the $5,500 per year spent per pupil in my last hometown in Florida. Great if you can get a teaching job. But my property taxes on exactly the same value property were $2,000 in Florida, and $13,000 a year here in Exeter (much better services, like free unlimited trash disposal in Florida also).
(3) Utilities are very expensive. About $230 for electric for our house (except during A/C season), but the first year heating our house (propane) cost $1,200 a month over the first 6 months we were here. The rate was later lowered, but it is still over $900 a month on average to keep our house at around 67 in the winter. Over $200 for internet, TV and phone. About $2 for every bag of trash. Insurance is pretty high also.
Its all relative. Exeter is one of the most expensive communities in the state. My father has a small 3 bedroom home about a mile from downtown Portsmouth and he pays about $6,000 in property taxes per year. He lives in a very desirable area, and not everyone pay that much.
Utilities are high because the American Dream Home has become large. Homes generally are well above 2,000 square feet, or even 3,000 square feet. Of course, its going to cost a fortune if you air condition and heat a house of this size. Just choose your area and your home wisely and it can be much more affordable.
I have a few teacher friends who live in the Portsmouth area and are out of work. One opted to stay home with the kids - the other went for an entirely different field and is working. Then again, my cousin got a job as a sub with no teaching degree to speak of. Good luck with your search!
(3) Utilities are very expensive. About $230 for electric for our house (except during A/C season), but the first year heating our house (propane) cost $1,200 a month over the first 6 months we were here. The rate was later lowered, but it is still over $900 a month on average to keep our house at around 67 in the winter. Over $200 for internet, TV and phone. About $2 for every bag of trash. Insurance is pretty high also.
I have a 1978-era 2200 sq/ft house in Nashua, family of four, swimming pool, two window A/Cs, plenty of fans (ceiling and portable). Natural gas heat, hot water, dryer, range. Stay at home mom. No pellet/wood stove. No space heaters.
Local phone and DSL internet: $61/mo
Water: $61/mo (summer use for watering grass, goes down to $45 in winter)
Gas: $45 for June. Rarely goes over $200/mo in Jan & Feb
Electric: $76 for June rarely over $100. Much less in winter (no pool, fans or A/Cs running)
Sewer: around $40/mo
No cable- Netflix: $9/mo
Cell phones (2): $81/mo
Hmmm, lots to think about. We would definately like a wood stove and use that to keep the bills down. (we also keep the temp around 65 and could go lower) With the wood stove in GA, the living room was as hot as 80 degrees!
We just took a short trip back to the area of North GA where we spent the last 4 years, including a drive through downtown Atlanta. What a cesspool! The air was thick with brown haze all over. The trafffic was terrible. We won't be moving back there. (plus they have 50 applicants for a para-pro job and between 200 and 600 per teaching job!)
I'm calling around to some SAUs in NH to get a feel for the hiring situation.
One of the posts above mentioned a starting salary of $38k. My husband makes that now in FL, with 10 yrs experience. (and insurance is $800 a month, without dental, disability, etc)
I'm thinking about flying up by myself to have a look around again. We traveled all over the state 3 years ago, but I need to do some real research, and having the kids and husband in tow is too stressful and costs too much to get us there.
All I know is we have to make this work at some point soon. FL is going downhill fast. First, we had two home invasions in our neighborhood. Then we had the local teen who raped a girl on his bus. Then we had the middle schooler who set his girlfriend on fire. I could go on and on. You get used to it when you live here, but this isn't right.
My husband is "in the top 3" for a teaching job here, but things are very bad down here. (10% UE in our county)
Thanks for all of the great info.
I just wish my parents would sell their property and abandon this sinking ship. For pete's sake, local kids are setting houses on fire and stealing anything that isn't nailed down. (and my parent's watch dog was killed by a wild hog)
There is a thin veneer of civilization down here and it is fraying fast.
Hmmm, lots to think about. We would definately like a wood stove and use that to keep the bills down. (we also keep the temp around 65 and could go lower) With the wood stove in GA, the living room was as hot as 80 degrees!
We just took a short trip back to the area of North GA where we spent the last 4 years, including a drive through downtown Atlanta. What a cesspool! The air was thick with brown haze all over. The trafffic was terrible. We won't be moving back there. (plus they have 50 applicants for a para-pro job and between 200 and 600 per teaching job!)
I'm calling around to some SAUs in NH to get a feel for the hiring situation.
One of the posts above mentioned a starting salary of $38k. My husband makes that now in FL, with 10 yrs experience. (and insurance is $800 a month, without dental, disability, etc)
I'm thinking about flying up by myself to have a look around again. We traveled all over the state 3 years ago, but I need to do some real research, and having the kids and husband in tow is too stressful and costs too much to get us there.
All I know is we have to make this work at some point soon. FL is going downhill fast. First, we had two home invasions in our neighborhood. Then we had the local teen who raped a girl on his bus. Then we had the middle schooler who set his girlfriend on fire. I could go on and on. You get used to it when you live here, but this isn't right.
My husband is "in the top 3" for a teaching job here, but things are very bad down here. (10% UE in our county)
Thanks for all of the great info.
I just wish my parents would sell their property and abandon this sinking ship. For pete's sake, local kids are setting houses on fire and stealing anything that isn't nailed down. (and my parent's watch dog was killed by a wild hog)
There is a thin veneer of civilization down here and it is fraying fast.
I know exactly what your talking about. It's not pretty down there.
Our situation is almost like yours. Except we are stuck in Nevada! We also shell out over 800 a month in health insurance, same-no dental, no eyes! Sad!
Where in NH are you focusing on? What towns? City?
Quote:
Originally Posted by MovedfromFL
Yes, I realize that the winters will be different. I'm scared that I will get SADD and not like the dark/ cold. I don't like the idea of it getting dark at 4:30PM at ALL. My husband loves the wood stove, but I wonder how many rentals will have one of those? (we're talking a rental single family home, not apt, because we need a garage for all of his stuff - ugh)
The seacoast would be nice, but the cost of living is higher. We're looking at towns around Lake Winni because we like being close to a lake, and we didn't really like the area over by Keene/ Sunapee when we were there. Towns like Gilmanton or Pittsfield seem like they have affordable rentals and are close to the lake and Concord/ Seacoast.
Again, the jobs factor is a big concern for me too. I don't want to spend that money that we have and then come back to FL broke and jobless. We won't have $80k because we just met with the real estate agent here and we're going to (of course) take a loss on this house. We might have around $60k best case now. Then we have to buy snow tires, snow removal equipment (?), etc. We certainly will not have spare money to spend driving all over NH and doing any fun stuff. (and no money to buy snowshoes, skiis, etc to get out in the snow either unless we somehow manage to land a decent job up there fairly quickly)
Our chances of getting teaching jobs in NH are slim to none for the coming school year. So what could we do besides sub, work in a pizza joint, or try to find an HR job for me. Again, we would end up barely making ends meet or tapping into the emergency fund. (which we would need if we had to come back to FL)
What I want to do is take a trip to NH this December and see the winter first hand. Last time we visited, it was late September so we did get to see some nice weather and fall colors.
The other concern I have is my parents and brother live in FL. We would never see them (we can't afford to fly the family down and don't want to fly for other reasons as well). They can't afford to fly up much either and I don't know that they want to drive 20+ hours being age 67.
My husband has an interview here tomorrow, but the competition is stiff for the few teaching jobs. If he gets it, of course we'll stay for now and get a better plan together over the coming year.
Oh and to make matters worse, we don't really own any "winter" clothes!
Please register to post and access all features of our very popular forum. It is free and quick. Over $68,000 in prizes has already been given out to active posters on our forum. Additional giveaways are planned.
Detailed information about all U.S. cities, counties, and zip codes on our site: City-data.com.
Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
