DHMC area - Cost of Living

RNmaria · Aug 2, 2004

Hello!

We relocated here 5 years ago for my husband's work. We were living in Ohio and were shocked at the cost of living and no available apartments. We are now very comfortable and have a home about 20 minutes from DHMC. The are is very beautiful and I would say go to the DHMC web site for employment info and see the Valley news for housing and good luck!

barefootlady, ADN, RN · Aug 7, 2004

Daughter lived there several years ago. Too expensive for her and her hubby is a doctor. Housing, food, utilities were HIGH. Housiing was hard to come by and in poor condition in a lot of areas. Good luck but they were glad to leave. He was at DHMC for quite a long time. Says it is an O.K. place to work but there are better.

EwwThat'sNasty · Oct 4, 2004

i'm a new rn in nh, having just passed my boards not too many weeks ago. dhmc's wages seem decent from what i've seen, though not as high as say parts of ca.

as far as home/property, "high" cost of livivng is such a relative term. a "nice home, and i little land" can be had from $15000 to $500,000. same home, same land, but one must consider just "where" the location is. some consider 40 minutes a reasonable commute, and others ten minutes. (bring up a map with lebanon at the center in mapquest.com.) but even with in twenty minutes consider that the same package in hanover not too many minutes from dhmc's lebanon) is at the high end...after all, you have dartmouth; and yet not too many miles in the other direction at white river junction prices are low. some communities like woodstock, "across the river into vt," have "hooty-tootie" value...and i mean it in $$$'s. at the high end you have hanover;woodstock, vt; and parts of grantham. at the low end you have windsor, vt, claremont, nh; and newport, nh. why? nh's "live free or die" mentality is such that property taxes in lower per-capita value towns will be much higher, even though school amenities may be lower. claremont, newport and windsor are relatively "poor" areas. hanover, woodstock and gratham are per-capita "richer" areas.

it is complex. one must consider too, that if you buy in vermont, you must pay vt income tax. there is an amazing medley of "flavors," to different communities. claremont is harsh (in my opinion) compared to some of the vermont areas such as hartland, where one might encounter a horse drawn buggy on a back road (driven by some "gentleman farmer," with a luscious spread. it is so complex i'd suggest renting for a year, before buying.

if you have a two family income, you'll do fine. rent, find a community you like, and build. if you have a one person family, it'll be rough.

just my opinion, others may see things differently....

EwwThat'sNasty · Oct 4, 2004

This is the link that DHMC offers in their package to people considering on relocating. It might be a good place to start....

http://www.housingsolutionsplus.com/buyers.cfm

Bean RN · Oct 22, 2005

Hi,

My family and I are interested in relocated to NH originally from Southern New England, How is DHMC, honestly. DO you know how the New Grad Residency program is and is it possible to find a home with some land within 1/2 hour that costs less than $250,000.

I really appreciate any feedback.

Bean

barefootlady, ADN, RN · Nov 12, 2005

Like many have posted, there is a lot of variety in some of the communities and then they are the same in the fact the New England independence comes shining through. I am sure you can find something, it will take lots of looking and maybe a fixer-upper, but it can be done. Good luck.