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YOUR MOVE STARTS HERE
Two states, dozens of towns, and one bridge between them. Here's how to figure out where you actually belong.
WELCOME TO THE SEACOAST
Most people find the Seacoast the same way. You come up for a long weekend, you walk around Portsmouth on a Saturday in October, and somewhere between the waterfront and dinner you think: people actually live here.
Then you get home, open a search on Zillow, and it stops being simple. Maine or New Hampshire? Which side of the bridge? Why is that house in Kittery two hundred thousand less than the one in York that looks the same? What’s the commute to Boston really like in February?
I grew up in Londonderry and have called the Seacoast home for the last 18 years. My wife and I now live in South Berwick. I’ve spent the last six years helping people move here, and I’ve made a few hundred videos about these towns for people doing exactly what you’re doing right now.
ONE REGION, TWO STATES
It's one river. You can stand in Kittery and see Portsmouth. But the two sides are meaningfully different places to own a home, and the difference isn't really about the houses.
NEW HAMPSHIRE has no broad-based income tax and no sales tax. It makes up the difference in property tax, which runs higher. If you're still earning — especially if you're a high earner, or keeping a job in Massachusetts — the math tends to favor the New Hampshire side.
MAINE has both an income tax and a sales tax, and generally lower property tax bills on a comparable house. For retirees, for people with more house than income, and for anyone whose money is mostly already made, Maine often comes out ahead.
Our Areas
Explore the communities of Southern Maine and Seacoast New Hampshire, learn what makes each area unique, and find the place that feels right for you.
PLAN YOUR DAILY ROUTE
If your job is in Boston, be honest with yourself about the number. Portsmouth to Boston is roughly an hour with no traffic, and nobody commutes with no traffic. Plan on 75 to 100 minutes each way in the morning, more in bad weather. There's a bus from Portsmouth and Dover that a lot of people swear by, and the Downeaster runs from Dover, Durham and Exeter into North Station.
The people who make it work are usually in the office two or three days a week, not five. The people who don't make it work are the ones who trusted the map's travel time and never drove it on a Tuesday in January. If your job is at the shipyard, Pease, Wentworth-Douglass or UNH, none of the above applies and you have a very short commute and a very good life.
THE HONEST VERSION
It's not Buffalo — the coast moderates it. But February is long, and the people who struggle are the ones who moved here for July and never made a plan for February.
Route 1 and Route 1A get genuinely difficult from late June to Labor Day. If you buy in a beach town, you're buying that traffic as part of the house.
Good houses in good towns still move fast and still see multiple offers. Being pre-approved and ready to look in person isn't optional here.
We do a lot of video walkthroughs and FaceTime showings and they work — but we'll tell you when a house needs to be seen in person before you write on it.
RELOCATING TO THE SEACOAST
Before we send you a single listing, we want to know what you're leaving, what you're moving toward, and what your timeline actually is. Half the time that conversation changes the town list.
Not all sixteen. Usually three or four, with an honest case for and against each one.
For anything you can't see in person we'll walk a house for you and tell you what the photos are hiding.
Lender, inspector, attorney, insurance, contractors. Out-of-state buyers get beaten in this market by not having these ready.
If the right house isn't here this month, we'll say so. We're not in a hurry to put you in the wrong one.
FREE Relocation GUIDE
Town-by-town breakdowns, what your money buys where, the Maine versus New Hampshire tax picture, schools, commutes, and the things people only find out after they move.
BEFORE YOU MAKE YOUR MOVE
Get straightforward answers about when to start, buying from out of state, finding a rental, and moving forward when your plans are still taking shape.
Neither. Most of our relocation clients are somewhere else entirely when we start. We're licensed in both states, so we can help on either side of the river without handing you off.
Six months is comfortable. Three is workable. Under thirty days is possible, but you'll have less choice.
Unfortunately we don't work with rentals and recommend people go directly to zillow or furnished finder.
That's most people at the start. Take the guide, watch the videos, and reach out when it gets real. We're not going to chase you.
Whether you’re buying, selling, or relocating, the Signature Homes team is here with local insight, personal guidance, and support every step of the way.
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