[Stoneman]

This whole 'NH has outrageous property taxes' can me misleading. Let's just put it into a bit of perspective: I haven't lived in Manchester in over 8 years. My last tax bill down there was $2400 for a 1200 sq. ft. townhouse. Again, that was EIGHT years ago...

Fast forward to now: 2500 sq. ft. 4 bedroom completely renovated house with75ft. of waterfront on a private lake. For taxation purposes, our property is valued 11% higher than non-waterfront homes in the same town AND we get a $10 surcharge for every foot of waterfront. Our last yearly tax bill was just about $3000 even. And we even built a new high school a few years back...

Location, location, location. Take a look at a map of NH. Draw a line from roughly just north of Keene, take that line up through the northern town line of Loudon & Chichester & Pittsfield, then bring it over to Maine, passing through Rochester. Anything south of that line is roughly where you DON'T wanna be paying property taxes...

I keep hearing from people that relocate from Mass that property taxes in NH aren't NEARLY what they thought they'd be. If ya want all the services that larger towns & cities have though, be prepared to pay...

Just outta curiosity, what are you folks from Mass currently paying for property taxes?

And when you're figuring out NH's tax burden compared to say, Mass's, don't forget to factor in no sales tax and no state income tax. Insurance rates - while not taxes - are generally lower in NH too. I hear a lot of transplants say that the general cost of living in NH is far lower than other New England areas they've moved from. And there's a lot of 'em up here now...

Not defending, just trying to put a little perspective on this...