--- title: The Questions I'd Ask Before Moving to a New Town description: Moving to a new town in Maine or New Hampshire? Ask these 10 questions about commutes, schools, taxes, community, and everyday life before choosing where to live. image: https://priscillaweston.com/hubfs/new%20england%20fall.jpeg --- [![2025logo](https://priscillaweston.com/hs-fs/hubfs/2025logo.png?width=85&height=85&name=2025logo.png "2025logo")](https://www.priscillaweston.com) [![](https://priscillaweston.com/hs-fs/hubfs/2025logo.png?width=250&height=250&name=2025logo.png)](http://Priscilla%20Band%20Weston,%20Realtor) [![](https://priscillaweston.com/hs-fs/hubfs/2025logo.png?width=250&height=250&name=2025logo.png)](http://Priscilla%20Band%20Weston,%20Realtor) This is a search field with an auto-suggest feature attached. - There are no suggestions because the search field is empty. - [Home](https://priscillaweston.com) - [Listings](https://priscillaweston.com/listing) - [About](https://priscillaweston.com/about-us) - [Contact](https://priscillaweston.com/contact1) - [Blog](https://priscillaweston.com/blog) This is a search field with an auto-suggest feature attached. - There are no suggestions because the search field is empty. # The Questions I'd Ask Before Moving to a New Town by [Priscilla Weston](https://priscillaweston.com/blog/author/priscilla-weston) | Aug 25, 2025 I think one of the most interesting things about moving to a new town is how little you can learn about living there from a photograph. A beautiful downtown. A historic church. A charming little coffee shop. A tree-lined street with gorgeous old houses. You can look at those things and immediately imagine a life. And sometimes, that imagined life is exactly what you find. But sometimes the coffee shop closes at two, the road you thought was quiet becomes a commuter shortcut every morning, and the charming drive to the grocery store feels considerably less charming in February. That's why I think choosing a town deserves at least as much attention as choosing a house. Maybe more. Because you can change an awful lot about a house. Changing the town around it is considerably more difficult. And while I love helping people discover beautiful places in Maine and New Hampshire, I think the most useful question isn't necessarily *Which town is the best?* It's this: **What would my everyday life actually look like if I lived here?** ## 1. What does an ordinary Tuesday look like? This is where I'd start. Not with the beaches, the restaurants, or the pretty downtown. With Tuesday. Where will you buy groceries? How long will it take to get to work? Where will you go when you need a prescription? How far away is the dentist? Where will your children spend their afternoons? What happens when you need to pick someone up unexpectedly? Those questions aren't especially romantic. But they have an enormous influence on how enjoyable a place is to live. A town can be absolutely beautiful and still make your everyday routines more complicated than you want them to be. And sometimes a place that doesn't seem particularly exciting at first turns out to be wonderfully convenient. I would spend some time thinking about the errands and routines that make up your actual life. Then I'd look at how they would work in the town you're considering. Because a good place to live isn't necessarily the one with the prettiest downtown. It's the one where your life works. ## 2. What happens to the commute in real life? I am deeply suspicious of commute estimates that begin with the words, "It's only twenty minutes." Twenty minutes when? At six in the morning? At five on a Friday afternoon? During summer tourist season? During a snowstorm? There's a difference between the drive you take to see a house on a quiet Sunday and the drive you'll make five days a week. If you're considering a town because it's within commuting distance of Portsmouth, Dover, Portland, or another employment center, I'd encourage you to test the actual route during the hours you'd normally travel. And if you work from home, I'd think about a different set of questions. Is reliable high-speed internet available at the specific property? Do you need to travel regularly for meetings? How convenient is the airport? What happens when the power goes out? The answers may not change your mind. But they're worth knowing before you buy. ## 3. Do you want a town you can walk around, or a place where you can spread out? I think people sometimes fall in love with two completely different versions of New England. One is the village. Sidewalks. Coffee shops. Libraries. Neighbors you recognize. The ability to walk downtown for dinner. The other is the countryside. Trees. Privacy. Gardens. Workshops. Room for dogs, projects, and the occasional ambitious vegetable-growing experiment. Both can be wonderful. But they offer very different daily experiences. If you dream of walking to a bakery every Saturday morning, buying a house on five acres fifteen minutes outside town may not give you the life you're imagining. And if you dream of quiet mornings with no neighbors in sight, a house on a beautiful historic street may feel less private than you'd hoped. Neither is better. The important thing is knowing which experience you're actually looking for. And being realistic about the tradeoffs. ## 4. What does the town feel like when the tourists go home? This one is particularly relevant in coastal Maine and New Hampshire. Some towns change dramatically throughout the year. Summer brings visitors, busy restaurants, traffic, events, and activity. Then autumn arrives. Winter follows. And the rhythm changes. That can be wonderful. There's something lovely about having a beautiful coastal town become quiet again after a busy summer. But it's worth understanding how seasonal a place really is. Are your favorite restaurants open year-round? Does traffic become difficult during the summer? Are there neighborhoods with a large number of seasonal properties? What do residents do in the winter? Does the town feel lively enough for you in February? Or is that quiet exactly what you're hoping to find? I think a town's off-season personality is at least as important as its summer appeal. After all, you're not just buying the Fourth of July. You're buying February, too. ## 5. What will it actually cost to live there? Two houses with similar purchase prices can have very different ongoing expenses depending on where they're located. Property taxes are an obvious place to start. But I would look beyond the tax rate alone. Municipal assessments, exemptions, local budgets, and the way taxes are calculated can all affect what you'll actually pay. And Maine and New Hampshire have different tax structures, which makes comparing the two states more complicated than simply looking at property tax bills. I'd also think about utilities. Does the property have public water and sewer, or a private well and septic system? Is natural gas available? What heating fuels are common? Are there association fees or private-road maintenance costs? How much driving will you do? Will you need equipment or paid services to maintain the property? A town with a lower home purchase price might still come with higher ongoing costs. And a town that looks expensive at first might offer conveniences that reduce other expenses. I like to look at the full picture. Because the cost of living somewhere is much bigger than the mortgage payment. ## 6. What do you actually want from the schools? This is a question I think deserves more nuance than it usually gets. People often begin their school research by looking at rankings or test scores. Those can provide some information. But they don't tell you everything about what a particular school experience will be like. I'd encourage families to think about the things that matter most to their children. Academic programs. Arts and music. Athletics. Special education services. Class sizes. Transportation. Extracurricular opportunities. School culture. And the practical realities of getting children to and from activities. A school that works beautifully for one child may not be the best fit for another. I'd recommend speaking directly with school districts, reviewing available information, and visiting when possible. And remember that school assignments and enrollment policies can change, so verify the details for the specific address you're considering. I don't think there's a universal answer to which town has the "best" schools. I think there's a much more useful conversation about what your family needs. ## 7. What happens when you need something the town doesn't have? Here's a question that doesn't get asked nearly enough. How far away is everything else? If you need a hospital or specialist, where will you go? What about major shopping? An airport? A mechanic? A veterinary emergency clinic? A hardware store? If you have children, where are their activities likely to take place? A rural town might offer extraordinary privacy and beautiful land. But it may also require you to drive twenty or thirty minutes for things that were five minutes away in your previous neighborhood. That might be a tradeoff you're delighted to make. Or it might be something that gradually wears on you. There's no right answer. But I'd want to understand it before moving. ## 8. Does the town have the kind of community you're looking for? This is harder to measure. But I think it matters enormously. Some people want a town where there's always something happening. Farmers markets. Concerts. Community festivals. Library programs. Local sports. Volunteer opportunities. Other people prefer a quieter place where they can enjoy their property and choose when to participate. Neither preference is wrong. But it's worth investigating what community life actually looks like. Look at the town calendar. Visit the library. Walk through the downtown. Check out local organizations and public events. Spend time there when nothing special is happening. And talk with people who live there. Not just about whether they like the town, but about what they actually do there. Because a town's character isn't only its architecture or scenery. It's the experience of being part of it. ## 9. What are you willing to give up? I think this might be the most revealing question on the list. Because almost every town involves a tradeoff. You might get more land but a longer commute. A beautiful downtown but less privacy. Lower purchase prices but higher maintenance costs. Easy beach access but summer traffic. A quiet rural road but fewer nearby services. A wonderful historic neighborhood but an older house that needs attention. And that's okay. The goal isn't to find a place with no compromises. I'm not sure such a place exists. The goal is to understand which compromises you genuinely don't mind. I would make two lists. The things you absolutely want in your daily life. And the things you're willing to live without. Then I'd be honest about which towns can realistically offer that combination. Sometimes the town that looks less impressive on paper turns out to be the one that fits you best. ## 10. Can you picture yourself there in February? Here's my final test. Imagine it's a Tuesday in February. It's cold. The roads are messy. The holidays are over. There's no festival happening downtown. Nobody is posting beautiful foliage photographs. You're just living your life. Getting groceries. Going to work. Walking the dog. Making dinner. Maybe shoveling the driveway. Maybe heading to the library, meeting a friend, or settling in for a quiet evening. Can you picture yourself being happy there? Not every minute, obviously. Nobody loves every minute of February. But does the place still make sense? Do the routines work? Do you have access to the things you need? Does the community feel right? Does the house support the way you want to spend your time? Because if the answer is yes, I think you're onto something. ## Don't choose a town based on someone else's idea of a good life I love living in New England. I love the old houses, the rocky coastline, the small towns, the changing seasons, and the fact that you can find such different ways of living within a relatively small geographic area. You can live in a walkable historic downtown. A quiet neighborhood. A coastal village. A rural property surrounded by trees. A small town with a strong sense of community. And those places can be remarkably different from one another, even when they're only a few miles apart. That's part of what makes this region so interesting. But I don't believe there's one best town. There's the town that fits the life you're trying to build. And figuring that out requires looking beyond the beautiful photographs and the rankings. It means asking questions about your ordinary days. Your priorities. Your routines. Your budget. The things that make you feel at home. So by all means, fall in love with the picturesque downtown. Enjoy the historic architecture. Imagine the summer evenings and the beautiful autumn walks. But before you decide to move, picture an ordinary Tuesday in February. Because that's the life you're actually buying. And I think it deserves to be a good one. - - - - Topics:   [Life Here](https://priscillaweston.com/blog/tag/life-here) Recent posts [I Have Trust Issues With Freshly Painted Basements (And Other Things I Notice at House Showings)](https://priscillaweston.com/blog/i-have-trust-issues-with-freshly-painted-basements-and-other-things-i-notice-at-house-showings) [Apparently, This Is the Best Week of the Year to Buy a House](https://priscillaweston.com/blog/apparently-this-is-the-best-week-of-the-year-to-buy-a-house) [A Small House for Someone With Big Plans](https://priscillaweston.com/blog/a-small-house-for-someone-with-big-plans) [I Wish I Could Clone My Last Seller](https://priscillaweston.com/blog/i-wish-i-could-clone-my-last-seller) [The Best Homes Leave Room for Possibility](https://priscillaweston.com/blog/the-best-homes-leave-room-for-possibility) Keller Williams Coastal and Lakes & Mountains Realty 750 Lafayette Rd. #201 Portsmouth, NH 03801 [O: 603.610.8500](tel:317-234-5678) [C: 207.218.0240](tel:317-234-5678) FOLLOW ALONG [Follow us on Facebook](https://www.facebook.com/priscillabandweston) [Follow us on LinkedIn](https://www.linkedin.com/in/priscillabandweston/) - HOME - [LISTINGS](https://priscillaweston.com/listings) - [ABOUT](https://priscillaweston.com/about) - [CONTACT](https://priscillaweston.com/contact) - SEARCH © 2024 Priscilla Band Weston, REALTOR |  Privacy Policy ```json { "@context" : "https://schema.org", "@type" : "BlogPosting", "author" : { "@type" : "Person", "name" : "Priscilla Weston", "url" : "https://priscillaweston.com/blog/author/priscilla-weston" }, "dateModified" : "2026-10-28T14:15:55.904Z", "datePublished" : "2025-08-25T21:45:00.000Z", "headline" : "The Questions I'd Ask Before Moving to a New Town", "image" : [ "https://priscillaweston.com/hubfs/new%20england%20fall.jpeg" ], "mainEntityOfPage" : { "@id" : "https://priscillaweston.com/blog/the-questions-id-ask-before-moving-to-a-new-town", "@type" : "WebPage" }, "publisher" : { "@type" : "Organization", "logo" : { "@type" : "ImageObject", "url" : "https://priscillaweston.com/hubfs/2025logo.png" }, "name" : "Priscilla Band Weston, Realtor" } } ```