Hello Everyone,
My name is Brad Lewis (Might change the last name to Freeman). I have been Liberty Minded for about 5 years now. I started to listen to FTL about 6 months ago, which is where I heard about the Free State Project. I can't find anything I disagree with the FSP about. I have never been to New Hampshire, or anywhere else on the East Coast.
I was born in Sacramento, California. I left there in 2003 to seek out more freedom in Arizona. I stayed there until 2009, when I moved my family to Colorado. Compared to California, Arizona was a step toward freedom. Compared to Arizona, Colorado was an improvement as well. This time, I want to make my final destination in life a place that has more freedom potential, than any other state in the Union.
I believe as most of you do that Human interactions should always be voluntary, and Government should be extremely small, or non-existant. I believe in private property rights, personal responsability, and the Sovereign Rights of the Individual.
I do have a few questions for anyone kind enough to take the time to answer them.
1. I know the Winter in NH is cold and wet. Does that cause a lot of power outages? Colorado gets about 4ft of snow, and can be cold, but it is relatively dry here (even the snow).
2. I have a 16 year history of retail management in the home furnishings / mattress industry. Does anyone know how difficult it would be to find a $50,000/yr job in any related industry there? I have taken work outside this industry, and am willing to do so again if necessary.
3. My wife operates a home-based Daycare. Currently, she watches 2 Babies and 1 3 yr old. She has chosen not to participate in the State's licensing scam, but enforcement is very light here. Does NH require the State's permission to operate a home daycare there? Is enforcement tough there, or can we "Fly under the Radar"?
4. I know that we are going to have to visit before we decide where to move in NH. I am aware that Keene and Manchester have larger concentrations of Liberty-Minded people. Are there any other areas you would recommend? Also, are there any towns / cities to avoid? Why?
5. We have 2 small well-behaved Dogs. How difficult would it be to rent a 3bd Apartment or House?
Thank you in advance for taking the time to answer my questions.
Brad Lewis
Shire Bound
It depends where in NH you go. The "cold and wet" thing is the southern/seacoast area.
Up in the mountains, the air is plenty dry.
Have you considered posting all of these questions to the FSP forum as well? You might get more fulfilling answers.
I will say this, though. I recently moved from Northern California to New Hampshire and don't regret it one bit. New Hampshire is definitely the best place in the country. It's nice to live in a state where liberty folk are fleeing TO instead of FROM.
My answers apply to Keene:
1. The state had some major power outages a couple years ago and Keene did not have as bad of a time with it. Being in a valley provides us some protection from wind and snowfall. That said, power has gone out for a few hours since I've been living here the last five years. Caution is advised.
2. Not sure what the salaries are, but there are some furniture stores around. Try "Syd's Carpet and Snooze Room" and "Plotkin's Furniture". There are also mattress stores.
3. Home based business are more tolerated in NH it seems. Though, I'm not familiar with enforcement in that specific area - I have no experience.
4. There is a lot to do politically in Concord, so that may be worth considering.
5. That will make it more difficult, but I imagine an offer of a good-size cash deposit will change some landlords' minds.
Welcome to the forum.
[quote author=elkingrey link=topic=5892.msg57066#msg57066 date=1326397029]
Have you considered posting all of these questions to the FSP forum as well? You might get more fulfilling answers.
I will say this, though. I recently moved from Northern California to New Hampshire and don't regret it one bit. New Hampshire is definitely the best place in the country. It's nice to live in a state where liberty folk are fleeing TO instead of FROM.
[/quote]
It's probably not a bad idea to post on the FSP forum, but for the record, this forum has had twice the traffic as has the FSP forum this month.
[quote author=FTL_Ian link=topic=5892.msg57069#msg57069 date=1326400813]1. The state had some major power outages a couple years ago and Keene did not have as bad of a time with it. Being in a valley provides us some protection from wind and snowfall. That said, power has gone out for a few hours since I've been living here the last five years. Caution is advised.[/quote]
Also, depending upon how important electric power is to your life, and where you live, generators can offer a cheap option to power things. Not really an option in the cities, in many cases, though. For apartments and the like, if you just need to power the basics, quality battery backup systems can be had for $2k or less (or more, depending upon how much capacity you want) - think computer UPS, but bigger, with multi-day run time.
[quote author=FTL_Ian link=topic=5892.msg57069#msg57069 date=1326400813]5. That will make it more difficult, but I imagine an offer of a good-size cash deposit will change some landlords' minds.[/quote]
Yup. Also, multi-month terms. If someone wants to pre-pay for a three month block at a time, instead of monthly (for example), the added security of knowing that the landlord won't be chasing rent for the next couple months (hopefully, not ever, but landlords have to price rentals based upon the risk that it will sometimes happen) can help to offset the risk that a pet poses.
I wanted to thank everyone who replied to this post. I wish I could pick up and move there TODAY. Sadly, I have a few things to take care of here before I can move my family there. We've tentatively targeted our move between October 2012 to February 2013.
I also wanted to thank Ian for all he does. I listen to the podcast of your show 7 nights a week, and find it to be very thought-provoking and informative. Even though I have been "Awake" for about 5 years now, your show has put everything in to context for me, especially when you advocate for all Human interactions to be voluntary. I also listen to Alex Jones, but sometimes he can have a meltdown on air, and I feel that takes some of his creditability away for some people.