Jason -
The wife and I are both from New England but before moving to Meredith we lived in NYC for 6 years and then San Francisco for 7 years. We moved here because we wanted to start a family and didn't like what we were seeing in the cities.
I'm not going to say living in Meredith is perfect but I think overall its a wonderful place to live and raise kids (we've got one so far). Its incredibly safe and despite what a certain jackass might say there is very little in the way of substance abuse problems. The Meredith school district is phenomenal up until high school and then good at that point (but we do have 3 great private schools in the area). Moultonboro is very good but its definitely more rural. Friends with kids in Mboro seem to either love it or hate it. If the kids play a sport a Mboro it seems to be a better experience.
My wife and I got feed up with the small town life last weekend and headed to Boston to wander around malls and go to Whole Foods. We get to live in a place where hiking, skiing, boating, snowshoeing, kayaking etc are all 10 or 15 minutes away. If we want to go to a mall its a full day trip and a long drive. For us that is better than living in mass and spending every weekend at the mall and having outdoor activities as an occasional special treat.
We've also found people to be incredibly friendly and welcoming. Once we moved off the water and into an actual neighborhood we built a great group of local friends.
As to the waterfront living I'd think long and hard about that. We really wanted (and purchased) waterfront when we first moved here. We've since moved twice and lost a lot of money learning our "life lessons" Here is what we learned:
1. When you live here the lake is a part of your life - you don't need to live on it to enjoy it. In fact, you start to take it for granted! Plus, living on the the lake in January is friggin depressing!
2. Your neighbors are almost all summer people and retirees. It makes it harder to become a part of the community.
3. Its EXPENSIVE!!! You can get a lot more value by spending you money on other things.
Sometimes at this time of year we wish we had stayed in California but within a month the weather will start getting better and we will love it again!!
Its not perfect but its a pretty darn nice life if you can pull it off. The hardest part is making a living but if you've got that covered you are 90% there. If you want, PM me and I'm happy to talk real estate. Its a bit of a hobby of mine...
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