After some preliminary research, the three counties I'm looking at (in order): Carroll, Belknap, and Coos. Carroll may have gone Biden in '20, but it was close, and the other two went Trump.

My preference would be to buy some property (5-15 acres) and then build a small house and range, but I could buy an existing house, too.

Any thoughts?

I would add Grafton county as well.  IMO, you can't really look at politics at the county level.  Instead it is a town by town thing.

I'm having a house built in SW Coos county on about 40 acres.  It is not the cheapest thing I have ever done and the project has been running for two years now.  IMO, buying an existing house would be cheaper and faster.

Reason I picked this area is it fit my needs with shopping in Littleton and some health care there as well.  Also, about the only ordinance in the town is a recently passed 'leash law'.  EVERY town will be different in their ordinances and you have to crawl through the town websites and meeting minutes to ensure you're not jumping into an HOA like town.  ETA:  There is state preemption on firearms laws so that limits what towns can do about firearms.

If buying so as to build, be familiar with the term Class VI road.  It is a privately maintained public road and require permission to build on.  Some towns, like Campton have extensive Class VI road policies(scared me away from a nice 84 acre lot there).  

I would kind of focus on what your area needs are and branch out from there.

Some random info:

22 tax rates:  https://joeshimkus.com/NH-Tax-Rates-2022.aspx

Now you can't really go by tax rates alone as some of the low tax towns jack the assessed value up and vice versa for the high tax towns.

2020 results with a town map:  https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2020/11/03/us/elections/results-new-hampshire.html

Senate district map:  https://www.gencourt.state.nh.us/senate/members/districtMap.aspx
*Match that up with the senate roster to see if it is reddish district:  https://www.gencourt.state.nh.us/senate/members/senate_roster.aspx

Great post, that's the type of information I'm looking for. Right now I'm working on a spreadsheet of town tax rates, county tax rates, and how each town went in the last two presidential elections. I can keep adding information to the spreadsheet, such as which towns are R vs. D controlled.

Not sure how to make it happen, but I'd really like to establish residency in NH, but still operate my business in northern CT.

ETA: also, I am leaning towards Carroll or Belknap counties because they are a little closer to my current home, but also because Belknap is still "red" and Carroll is a toss up. I'm not eliminating Coos county, however.

You could even looks towards the western side of the state with close access to I91 to zip back and forth.  Lots of rolling hills and stuff there.  This could also put you close to DHMC if future specialty health care is a concern.  

I am clueless on residency stuff.  I rented a place almost dead center of the state via a long distance deal so as to establish residency and a base with which to find a place to buy.  Here are some FAQs from the AG on establishing residency.  

I won't try to sway you either way with where you want to look.  I'm a trees and hills guy.  I find the Lakes Region where I live now(by Squam) to be too crowded and too filled with out of state plates.  That's just me personally.  The locals are cool and there are a lot of very well administered towns around here.  Plenty of good scenery and leave you alone type areas as well.

I started out with a disciplined methodology like yours, but eventually just let realtor.com guide me to the available properties and then investigated each individual town.  I did have a few no go towns where I wouldn't consider buying(Plymouth was one of them).

Anyhow--I'll let the smart folks chime in.  Here's a map I found on reddit.

Attached File

I'm a trees and hills guy, too. Ideally, I could find 10-15 acres off the beaten path (but not that far off) in Carroll, Belknap, or Coos counties where I could put up a very small dwelling and make a 200 yard range. That's my ideal. I could stray from that a little bit in terms of acreage and buy a small house instead of building one, but the ideal hopefully won't change (small house with a 200 yard range).

You'll be able to find acreage easily.  I know you have land, so you'll be able to picture it--10 acres isn't very big, so 200 yards may be a stretch.

Anyway, do not buy less than 12 acres and here is why:

NH has the Current Use program.  This incentivizes owners to keep their lots which are 10 acres or larger unimproved and you pay pennies for property tax.  My 40 acres cost about $40 last year.

Now that I'm building a house on it, I have to take that small section out of current use.  I am taking about 2 acres out of CU, but leaving the remainder in CU.  So I'll pay full value for the 2 acres+improvements and pennies for the 38.

More than likely any large lot you'll find will already be in CU.  

You will have to work with your tax collector in order to take that section out so you can build.  This is completely separate from any permitting your town may have and will not stop you from getting started with the build.  It can be as simple as a back of the napkin sketch or professionally done.  I marked the corners with driveway markers, used a GPS, plugged in waypoints, and used the distance between waypoints for the packet.  I sketched it out on a couple PP slides converted to PDF and sent it in.  Each town may add their quirks, but as long as it is easy for the assessor to figure out you're golden.  Many/maybe most towns contract out their assessing work.

When you pull a portion out of Current Use, you will be assessed a Land Use Change Tax.  This is 10% of the ad valorem of that section without the CU discount applied.  You can guestimate it by looking at assessed values of neighboring similar properties within your town which are not in CU.  It shouldn't be a huge amount.

Hopefully I didn't lose you as the Current Use program is misunderstood by many folks.  The gist is to buy a big lot.

Contrary to some people's belief, you CAN post land in Current Use.  If a lot in CU is also receiving the 20% recreational adjustment it must be open for several activities.  The booklet at the link spells it out pretty clearly.

 

Most of NH is pretty transparent and easy to research lots by looking up the tax cards.  

Here are two different examples of tax sites you may see(these towns are right next to each other):

Holderness(gis):  https://next.axisgis.com/HoldernessNH/  
Click around the map and you'll see all the info on particular lots.

Campton(text only):  http://www.camptonnh.org/nh/assessing/  Scroll down and see the tax maps.  Then scroll up to the view assessing data(no way to direct link on Campton's site).

Lot#s are formatted by map#, lot#, and then sub lot#.  If the lot hasn't been subdivided, you'll just see the first two.

This is the lot I almost bought in Campton, but chickened out.  See the note about LUCT-they haven't turned that in but are already building.  Also see the assessed value under CU.  They paid $88 in property tax last year.

This is a good guide tothe tax cards:  http://www.camptonnh.org/nh/wp-content/uploads/2015/01/AVITAR.pdf

Even though it is all public info, I tried to redact it as much as I could while leaving it easing to understand.
Attached File


Attached File

something to keep in mind that in Northern Coos County large tracts of land are owned by power and timber companies, but they are all in current use(as said above) essentially making them like the BLM lands, with logging roads for access, snow machine and ATV trails throughout them. Great access for fishing, camping, hunting, 4-wheeling....kinda of do whatever you want land.


People up this way are like stepping back in time 30 years....I like it.


Milan and Dummer, would be my pick in your shoes, oh and Alder-brook in Dalton has a 1,000 yard range with steel plates, if you don't build your own or just go shoot in a sand-pit or the woods.

This is all good info, fellas. Keep it coming. I am honing in on a plan to make it happen, but I might be doing it in stages:

1. Buy a piece of land, minimum of 12 (thanks, FDC) acres that is out in the sticks, but not too far in the sticks. It needs to be able to have a 200 yard range on it.

2. I'd like to pour a concrete pad to park a camping trailer on it and perhaps put in a septic system (either legit...or not) to hook up to when we're there in the trailer.

3. Perhaps build a permanent dwelling when we are able to.

Questions: can someone "move" to NH and "live" in a trailer and be a resident? Would pouring that concrete pad and parking a camping trailer force me to take the land out of CU? Would a septic system force me to take it out of CU?

1.  can someone "move" to NH and "live" in a trailer and be a resident?  

Probably, but watch local zoning.  There is also a bit of don't ask, don't tell.  Camp out, get a 911# for the street, get a mailbox, and get a DL.  You're a property tax payer and they probably won't kick you out of the state.
https://seacoastcurrent.com/can-you-legally-live-in-an-rv-on-your-property-in-new-hampshire/
https://old.reddit.com/r/newhampshire/comments/ogzjqk/towns_in_nh_that_allow_full_time_rv_residence_on/
A town that won't allow it:  https://www.sanborntonnh.org/zoning-enforcement/faq/can-i-use-rv-recreational-or-temporary-housing


2.  Would pouring that concrete pad and parking a camping trailer force me to take the land out of CU? Would a septic system force me to take it out of CU?

IMO those would fall under a "betterment" as described in the CU booklet and force you to change that portion.  Also reading the CU booklet, your life would be much easier if you buy a parcel already under CU.  Kind of looks like a headache to put in CU and you also have the fact that the town will lose money when you do-they will be against it.

**************************************************

Since we're here.
NH state laws only require two permits.  Everything else is town by town.  The state required permits are septic and driveway.

Driveway permits on state roads are approved by the state and town roads by the town.  In my case on a town road, I got fancy with some SWAGed dimensions, handed it to the road agent and he's like-it's all good as long as you use a 15" pipe(culvert).  

Septic permit is really an approved plan good for five years.  In order to get this the installer and designer have to get together where the drain field will be.  You'll sign something saying you're the land owner, designer will submit to the state and a couple days later the plan will be approved.  Installer will then install, likely adjusting the plan based on terrain.  The designer will adjust the plan to "as built" and submit to the state.  Within a couple days the as built will be improved and one of the state's regional subsurface guys will bless off on it.  That evening the state website will have your approval to poop listed.



In my town, the 911 numbers for the road are a thing between the road agent and Concord.  He drops a stake, state folks drive by and give him a number which he gives to me.  Probably varies from town to town like everything in NH.

On the road # bit, raw land real estate listings can sometimes be difficult to translate as there is no convenient street number.  Lots are sometimes listed with just the road name, some randomly add the tax map #, some a 0, or in my case a 00.  It can make it difficult to do a map recon and often requires a drive by.  On that aspect, some realtors are much better than others at marking their lots.  I spent months and many miles checking things out.

Well, it looks like I'll be searching for a piece of property that is under CU and is at least 12 acres in size, preferably 15ish.

I found these sites helpful when I bought my camp in Grafton county

https://www.landwatch.com
https://www.landandfarm.com

I do like Dorchester.  You're right, there is nothing there.

I almost bought a 32 acre parcel on the Rumney/Dorchester line on 118, but backed off due to the sawmill and all the back up beepers from trucks and equipment.  Further into Dorchester would have been glorious.  

My plan was to use Plymouth as a shopping hub with its Walmart, shiny new Market Basket, and a Hannafords.  Somebody said they were putting a Lowes in next to the Fairfield Inn, but I don't believe it as it is all wetland.

*****************************
Speaking of wetland that is obviously something to watch out for when choosing a lot.  There is a decent wetlands mapper here:  https://www.fws.gov/program/national-wetlands-inventory/wetlands-mapper


For realtor sites, I used a combo of the stuff matm listed and also realtor.com and redfin.  I found those updated much faster than zillow.  One of them also has flood zone overlays.

I'm renting next door to Plymouth by Squam, so I do most of my shopping there.  In the last few years there has been a lot of growth.  Fairfield Inn and Market Basket aren't on google earth yet.  They just put that stupid Aroma Joes on Boulder Point on the way to WMT.  All of Boulder Point just got clearcut, so something is going in there.  Rumors of Lowes.  Peabody and Smith listing oodles of commercial property.  Tenney Mountain reopening.  3 Lakes Landscaping becoming a Husky dealer.  etc etc

Liberal town but a good hub.  Good food downtown when PSU isn't there.  I need to get back to Biedermans for a reuben.

Tagging for interest.

Found a piece of property that seems to check all the boxes. It's a larger parcel than I was looking for, but I think is exactly what I'm looking for...except there is a right of way on the property to get to two parcels behind it, so in theory two different landowners would be traversing this property to get back forth to/from theirs. Not a fan of that, so not sure if I'm going to pursue it.
Too bad, it's a stunning piece of property and a fair amount bigger than I was interested in.

Depending on how the ROW runs through the property, it might not be a dealbreaker for me.  I probably wouldn't pursue something that either has an ROW in it or is accessed by an ROW.  Not only do you lose control of that portion, you have to deal with people.


That said, I bought my property and it has a gated road from from the street to the powerlines in the back corner.  About 1500' long.

It runs along the far left boundary and probably hasn't seen a full size vehicle in 50ish years.

I bought the property with the full assumption that that was a historic easement or ROW for the power company to build and access the lines.  I can't find anything at all on it.


I almost do want them to use it as it needs a bunch of work to make it passable to anything other than a UTV.  

This property is 29 acres with road and river frontage. It's roughly the shape of a rectangle and the ROW is in the top part, about 20% down. The way I look at it, the ROW makes it two properties, with a larger parcel on the south side of the ROW and a smaller parcel on the northern side. Not optimum, but certainly not nearly as good as no ROW.

Rectangular lots with hard boundaries likes streets/rivers/walls are really nice.  Even though I have nine survey markers, my lot is roughly rectangular--stone walls left/right and the street in front..  

River frontage would be cool with the caveat that you'll see folks there if it is passable/capable of freezing solid.  I would be fishing non stop.



ETA:  99.7% sure I found that parcel.  Is it just me, or is the ROW kind of cutting the large part off from the river?  Still won't prevent you from going there and fishing.  Between the survey on the listing and the tax card one the town's site, it looks like an acre has been taken out of current use for a camp.  Google earth imagry is from 2013, but you can see the camp up front towards the ROW, river, and road.  Not too many contour lines on that lot, so isn't bad other than the lack of a natural backstop.  Using realtor.com'sfloodplain look the only flooding is no kidding on the ROW and right on the water's edge.  There is a wetland on the NWI mapper, but it mainly looks further NE of that lot.  Rest of the lot looks dry from my laptop.

Just a thought, for the amount of added money your going to spend on a "larger" parcel of land you do have the option to lessen your acreage want, and expand your buying possibilities by not building a range and just joining a local gun club. TONS of great gun clubs all over NH. Reguardless when you move to a "free" state you will become overjoyed at the simplicity of firearms ownership !

You see, right now I've got a 200 yard range here in CT on our farm. When I go to NH, I'd like to still have a 200 yard range. It's so convenient to be able to shoot up to 200 on your own property. If I can't do that, it'll be like going backwards in some respects.

There's a parcel in Sugar Hill that has caught my eye. I did some research on the town and found a few things out:

1. According to the 2020 census, the population is 647.

2. Interestingly, 469 people voted in the 2020 presidential election. That's a huge turnout percentage.

3. Unfortunately, FJB won the town 316-153, a 2-1 ratio. This tells me Sugar Hill is probably a liberal town run by democrats.

Anybody have anything good or bad to say about Sugar Hill? GTG...or stay away from it?

Driving through a few times a month, it looks quiet and pretty.  

It's a well located town convenient to I93 and sort of to I91 with nothing really in it except for Polly's Pancake Parlor.  Has a small daytime PD and a volly FD.  I believe their ambulance support comes out of Littleton.

IMO Sugar Hill, Franconia, and to a lesser extent, Bethlehem, lean D.  The 2022 election results show that as well.  Sugar Hill seems more D than others.

How much that interferes with local policies I do not know.  They do have a pretty comprehensive noise ordinance.  Oh, and a 70+ page zoning ordinance which seems excessive for a small town.  Considering they also have an alarm ordinance, I would bet there are a lot of part time homes there.

I know 3 different people that live in Sugar Hill.  All of them are MA transplants and VERY liberal.  Too bad, it’s a really beautiful town.

Shame about that. The piece of property is nice and access is decent (maintained dirt road). 18 acres with not much around it. I want to shoot, not put up with a town that will fight me on everything.

On that note, NH does have state preemption on firearms matters.  A town may get annoying, but there is only so much they can do.

RSA 159:26

 159:26 Firearms, Ammunition, and Knives; Authority of the State. –
I. To the extent consistent with federal law, the state of New Hampshire shall have authority and jurisdiction over the sale, purchase, ownership, use, possession, transportation, licensing, permitting, taxation, or other matter pertaining to firearms, firearms components, ammunition, firearms supplies, or knives in the state. Except as otherwise specifically provided by statute, no ordinance or regulation of a political subdivision may regulate the sale, purchase, ownership, use, possession, transportation, licensing, permitting, taxation, or other matter pertaining to firearms, firearms components, ammunition, or firearms supplies in the state. Nothing in this section shall be construed as affecting a political subdivision's right to adopt zoning ordinances for the purpose of regulating firearms or knives businesses in the same manner as other businesses or to take any action allowed under RSA 207:59.
II. Upon the effective date of this section, all municipal ordinances and regulations not authorized under paragraph I relative to the sale, purchase, ownership, use, possession, transportation, licensing, permitting, taxation, or other matter pertaining to firearms, firearm components, ammunition, firearms supplies, or knives shall be null and void.

A Lowes would be great there. They did clear the land back in the fall. So hopefully it will get built soon. Have you looked near the Holderness area?

I drove by it yesterday and there is nothing done, although I think there is a new pile of dirt and gravel all the way back.  

Holderness is a good well administered town with $5 dump stickers, but the zoning issues are insane and cost of entry is steep in the area.  Not to mention it is blueish.

We are headed up there today to look at a piece of property.

Gorgeous day for it!

Safe travels.

Man I really hate those guys! For two weeks it is miserable outside.

So far they haven't harassed me this year.

I do have some sort of annoying biting fly on my place up north though.  Things are like tiny horseflys and hurt.

OK, just got back. We went to Canaan to look at 29.4 acres. Asking price is $137k.

First off, Canaan was a pleasant surprise. What a nice little town. Definitely rural with a small town center. I could choose to live there, easily. The land was...iffy.

The good: it has 200' road frontage (dirt) and 300' stream frontage. That means "water source."

The bad: the land is rugged. Really rugged. It already has a rudimentary 100yd range of sorts, but it's more for hunting than target shooting. Getting any more than that will require a lot of effort (read: $$$). The woods are very dense and the ground is very rough with boulders and rocks. There's a little swamp there, too.

The ugly: there's a small dip/ravine on the property that was partially filled in, but if you go out in the woods in the right direction, you can still see some debris sticking out from the gravel/fill. There's also a little bit of standing water there (as it is a small ravine), and it looks like there's stuff leaching out of the fill into standing water. Don't know if it's petroleum products or chemicals of some sort, but there's definitely something going on with that.

So the verdict is...I don't know yet. My goal is to find "the" piece of property and buy once, even if it costs more than I want it to. I don't want to buy and "settle" or get something that I'll regret later.

Selectively snipped.

I've driven through Canaan a few times, but never really gotten out.  I seem to remember it being a pleasant area.  It's quiet, but close to stuff.  I do know that outside the pizza place was one of the few places I got ATT coverage when I took a trip through there about 5ish years ago.

RE rugged land, that is kind of NH in some spots.  After walking around my 'yard' yesterday, I kind of came to the conclusion that I would do a clover lawn as there are too many large rocks on it and it would take a lot of time to move out of the way.  My woods are super dense after being selectively logged about 15-20 years ago.  Now it is just a few big mature trees and an almost impenetrable wall of younger ones that are starved for sunlight and die.  That is one of the things I want to fix on my land, and may eventually bring a forester out to help with a plan.

The swamp could be a real thing, a hidden vernal pool, or a result of the proverbial 40 days and 40 nights of rain we just had.  I had standing water where their shouldn't have been standing water and it stayed a few days.  Using my place as an example again, there seems to be an underground spring that runs into my driveway.  It isn't on any wetland mapper and the vegetation isn't classic wetland.  The dirtwork guys are going to run a culvert under the driveway and me/my builder were even thinking 2x24" culverts.  At least it dries up in the summer.  If that swamp would at all interfere with your build, you know it might cause problems.

I recommend you do not settle for something that may not work out for you.  There is plenty of land out there and that market moves slower than the housing market.  Once I had all my searches down to a good area, I would get new listings a couple times a day(early 21 timeframe).

Sorry for throwing in the examples of my property, but I figure the vignettes fit in places.   Happy hunting.

I appreciate all the feedback and help I've gotten in this thread, and you've provided more than anyone.

I think I'm going to pass on this one. I'm not in love with it, and that's a problem.

Then you add in the Superfund issue....

To this point, know the laws and if you're not breaking them you'll be fine.

Short story. Years ago was shooting on some private property (7acres) in a very liberal yet rural town. The property recently had a development go in near by. We started shooting at this property for an hr or 2 occasionally on the weekends, sometimes some pretty high volumes of fire. One day about a half hour after we had stopped a shooting session local part time LE showed up and said they'd had a complaint about it. I explained to the officer that we were we on private property and firing the weapons in a safe direction and manner and it was within state law and offered to take him to show where we were shooting and what direction. Officer was very polite and agreed, we shook hands and he left.

We immediately reloaded everything and went back out for another hour.

For a bit more cash, an 82 acre spot just opened in north Littleton.  Great road albeit dirt.  Has spectrum run down it.  Can get out either taking a left or a right depending on where you want to go.

Has to be something wrong with it as it is 3.5 per acre.

*Littleton is a large town and probably won't have the whole sense of small town community unless you were born there.

Yep.  I like it.  One of the reasons I'm building nearby.  Good food downtown.

It's pretty big(4 exits on 93)-north and west Littleton is plenty rural.

My builder was born and raised there, so I'm grabbing all sorts of local tidbits from him.

I am partial to the areas along 16 Ossipee up to Berlin area for a mix of rural and accessible amenities.  Remote up north Errol is lovely.

-P

I'm Partial to Millsfield/Dummer and Errol....but its only 15-30 minutes for me up 16 .

And I can leave my house on my RZR and get anywhere up there.