Mass Railfan Relocating to Maine Vs. NH

I've just gotten a job at the Portsmouth Naval Shipyard in Kittery, Maine, and I'll be looking to relocate from Massachusetts to the Portsmouth area in July. My goal is to eventually buy a house, but for now I'm sticking to apartments. Anything within, say, 20 minutes of the Shipyard is fair game as far as I'm concerned, although closer is better. The area's proximity to the mainline is a HUGE plus; living near the tracks in Portsmouth so that I may see PH-1 from my window would be an added bonus

Does anyone have any recommendations for me as far as apartments go? Also, would anyone care to weigh in on the age-old "living in Maine vs. New Hampshire" debate? I'm not sure how the taxes work, and, since I'll be working in Maine, I'm not sure about whether or not I'll be at a disadvantage living in New Hampshire or vice versa. Any advice would be very much appreciated. Thanks in advance. I know that this isn't directly relevant to PAR, but I figure there are a lot of people on here with precious insight on this subject that I can't get anywhere else, particularly the railfan aspect of it!

You will be paying income tax either way since the physical address where you will work is Maine. So for renting - doesn't really matter since you won't be paying real estate taxes, unless you are worried about sales tax, which New Hampshire does not have, and Maine does.

As for when you buy, think about where you can find the lowest real estate taxes close to where you will work. I know NH real estate taxes are cheapest down that way - but I believe Maine's are cheaper and you're already paying into the state with income tax.

It's all a trade-off.

When I was growing up in Wells (about 20 minutes north of Kittery/Portsmouth), most of my friends' fathers worked at one of two places: the shipyard, or the Pratt & Whitney plant in North Berwick. I doubt the shipyard employs as many people today as it did back then, but I'm sure there are still plenty of shipyard workers living in Wells. It's my hometown so obviously I'm biased, but it does have one of the lowest property tax rates in southern Maine (perhaps THE lowest), it's conveniently located on the PAR mainline and I-95, there's little crime, the public schools are some of the best in the state, it has 7 miles of sandy beaches, and real estate prices in the part of town west of Route 1 tend to be reasonable. That's my 2¢.

Edit: there aren't many apartments available in Wells, especially if you're not of retirement age, so it might not be an option for you right at this very moment. Worth thinking about in the future, though. You'll find more apartments in places like Portsmouth, Dover, et al.

I wouldn't worry too much about the sales tax issue. Everybody in that area of Maine makes all of their big-ticket purchases in NH anyway. For everyday stuff like groceries there's no tax in Maine, and the 5¢ tax you'll pay on household stuff like toilet paper isn't going to break anyone's budget.

In Portsmouth, it would DO-1 (or DO-2 at night) that you'd see.

I live in Kittery, very close to the shipyard. There's a shortage of both apartments and homes for sale in Kittery right now, but if you can find something, it's a great place to live. As newpylong said, you'll be paying the income tax to ME anyway, so you're probably better off in Maine when you do decide to buy.

When you get here, shoot me a message, I'll show you foamer sites!

Thanks, guys, for the info. So, the general consensus is that, from a financial point of view, it doesn't matter too much whether I rent in Maine or New Hampshire. I took a ride over to North Berwick today, and followed the tracks from there to Stratham, passing through Rollinsford, Dover, Madbury, Durham, Newmarket, and Newfields. Man, there were all kinds of awesome spots to see the tracks. I'm looking forward to checking out the area more.

EReuter, I've seen your stuff on Facebook. I'll take you up on that offer!

If you get a place overlooking the tracks, even if it is just the Portsmouth Branch, please consider hosting Robot Foamer! It needs a new home.

http://shawsheen.com/RobotFoamer/notice.html" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

JUST the Portsmouth Branch?!?!

ereuter wrote:JUST the Portsmouth Branch?!?!

I'm a big fan of the Portsmouth Branch and it is doing very decent business lately, but I think we can agree it doesn't compare to the traffic volume of the mainline.

i'm sure others have said this, you are much better off renting in southern maine. cheaper and then you still can shop in NH

Keep in mind that southern maine and new hampshire are vacation places in the summertime (may -early oct); this is especially important if you gets a rental on Rt 1 itself, daytime traffic can be heavy ( for this region) at times. might take a day or two to get out of your driveway. In terms of costs, if you end up 10 miles away from any water ( e.g, ocean), you will probably pay less. The more affordable places in maine are likely the berwicks and sanford or inland, in new hampshire out towards where the roads are few, maybe dover or south, excepting durham [a college town]. just my opinion. and good luck at the shipyard, one of the best places anywhere to work. They has there own railroad on the yahd.

that's true. my uncle lives on rt 1 in york (cape neddick) and in the summer there can be bumper to bumper traffic towards ogunquit. but that's usually only on weekends

Route 1 summer traffic can be annoying but it's not unbearable. I grew up with it, and typically on a bad day it might take you 15 minutes to get to your destination instead of the usual 5 or 10, but that's only during the day and mostly on the weekends. It's pretty tame compared to year-round Boston-area traffic.

mr. mick wrote:Keep in mind that southern maine and new hampshire are vacation places in the summertime (may -early oct); this is especially important if you gets a rental on Rt 1 itself, daytime traffic can be heavy ( for this region) at times. might take a day or two to get out of your driveway. In terms of costs, if you end up 10 miles away from any water ( e.g, ocean), you will probably pay less. The more affordable places in maine are likely the berwicks and sanford or inland, in new hampshire out towards where the roads are few, maybe dover or south, excepting durham [a college town]. just my opinion. and good luck at the shipyard, one of the best places anywhere to work. They has there own railroad on the yahd.

There are myriad ways to get to the shipyard without having to travel on Route 1. (the entrance to the base is off Route 103 ) Rental in Dover can be tough because there are more options for UNH students than can be found in Durham.