Hollis?Nashua? relocation advice (Manchester, Hudson: to rent, low crime, day care)
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Hi everyone - we will find out this week but more than likely my husband is going to take a job in Lawrence, MA. I have been researching areas and I've looked at the elementary school in Hollis and I like what I see. I have heard good and bad about Nashua but Hollis looks great. Any advice anyone can give would be great. We live on the west coast and will be moving to New Hampshire so we have no clue about area. We like to keep our kids active in recreational activities as well as we are active ourselves. Our main priority is a low crime area, nice community and great schools with parent involvement. Our kids are 8, 6, and 3 so they will be elementary age.
I used mapquest and Hollis will be a 45 minute commute for my husband. Is that a correct estimation? Any views on Nashua, Hollis or anywhere else would be helpful.
Hi everyone - we will find out this week but more than likely my husband is going to take a job in Lawrence, MA. I have been researching areas and I've looked at the elementary school in Hollis and I like what I see. I have heard good and bad about Nashua but Hollis looks great. Any advice anyone can give would be great. We live on the west coast and will be moving to New Hampshire so we have no clue about area. We like to keep our kids active in recreational activities as well as we are active ourselves. Our main priority is a low crime area, nice community and great schools with parent involvement. Our kids are 8, 6, and 3 so they will be elementary age.
I used mapquest and Hollis will be a 45 minute commute for my husband. Is that a correct estimation? Any views on Nashua, Hollis or anywhere else would be helpful.
Thank you in advance.
Tanya
I'd recommend east of Nashua rather than west. Hudson and Pelham are pretty nice towns. I don't know much about the schools though.
Hi thedquist,
Actually Hollis has marvelous schools, low crime, and lots of activities. There's been a thread lately about Brookline and Hollis (Brookline being the town west-ish of Hollis) - it's <https://www.city-data.com/forum/new-hampshire/261567-why-brookline-cheaper-than-hollis.html>
You should be able to get a lot of info about the town in there.
But all your shopping (short of fresh produce which you can get from at least two big farm stands on Broad St) would be in Nashua.
I've posted a lot of questions about Hollis lately. My family lives in NH, but much farther north and east. We're in CA and zeroed in on Hollis after considering other nearby towns (Amherst & Bedford) as well as the Seacoast. I was attracted by the great schools, the small town feel and the historic charm. My understanding based on nothing more than a few visits and a lot of reading is that Nashua is primarily residential. There are a lot of strip malls, chain stores, some good ethnic restaurants downtown and a big shopping mall, but there aren't as many cultural activities as there are on the Seacoast because it's not a tourist area. I wish there were a Children's Museum or Zoo! On a rainy day, you could take your kids to the See Science Center or Art Museum in Manchester (30 mins from Hollis?). If you go to the town website, you can see the various organizations active in the town (Boy Scouts, etc). I've heard that the Hampshire Hills Health Club Hampshire Hills Sports and Fitness Club is great for families, with summer camps and childcare while you work out. (It's in Milford.) Hope that helps! Maybe we'll be neighbors!
I'm going to assume that Ittiz probably made that recommendation based on location. Hollis, bring west of the Merrimac River, may be an "interesting" commute, about an hour each way. It does offer great schools, but you might find some of our recent conversations here at City Data interesting as well (BTW, good for you in researching before the job is accepted! Don't you love the power of the Internet??)
Have you considered any towns in Massachusetts? If you've been watching the conversations on the board, you may already know that if you live in NH and work in MA, then you will pay income taxes to Massachusetts on your husband's income.
I would recommend that, unless you have to buy immediately, that you try to rent for at least a couple of months, to get a feel for the area. Anyway, that's my "food for thought" post for you
Hi Thed-
I'm in Amherst, just north of Hollis. We've got it all here. Mountains, beach, and Big City Boston are all just over an hour away. All the mosquitos you could ever want and snow is always a wink away. (sarcasm)
Hollis and Amherst are both very expensive as are most of the towns around in regard to property taxes ($7500 per yr!). Yeah, I pay Mass income tax but it all comes back at tax time. Amherst is not very "community" like. But nearby Milford, NH, one town to the west has a very nice small town New England family feel.
I commute to Mass and if not for the "commerce row" it'd be fine. "Commerce Row" is may name for the burgeoning 7 mile stretch of plazas and restaraunts which separates us from the major highway. It's really filling up as the city moves in and it's the only direct route to Rt 3 for access to Mass. Check a map - it looks easy but there are two thousand fourty five traffic lights, 17 Dunkin donuts, 9 Muffler shops and and a pizza place on every corner. The other route is of course due south through Hollis which takes a few minutes more but it scenic enough to make it worth it through most of the snowless seasons. Hollis itself has no such congestion. But I don't feel anything that screams community orientation there either. Hollis has a supermarket, I think... oh, and a gas station. One Dunkins but it's hard to find because it looks like someones house. Zoning efforts to keep that charming New England appeal.
Gasoline is 3.00 per gal today - for ref.
Welcome.
Yes, I forgot - there is a small grocery in town as well as a tiny general store. There is a preschool, a day care, a State Beach (Silver Lake) which I'm told is really too crowded to use in the summer. There is a great patch of conservation land for hiking, X-country skiing, etc and some farm stands. Movies, Chuck E Cheese etc are 15 minutes away in Nashua. Bedford and Nashua have a lot of the chains - My Gym, music classes, etc.
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(BTW, good for you in researching before the job is accepted! Don't you love the power of the Internet??)
