A Cape in Chelmsford

Price: $600,000

Bedrooms: 2

Bathrooms: 1.5

Square feet: 1,409

Lot size: 0.17 acres

Estimated annual property taxes: $6,668

PRO: An easier commute

CON: Less square footage

A budget of $600,000 can net you a charming Cape-style abode in Chelmsford, Mass. This recently sold home measures roughly 1,400 square feet and offers two bedrooms, one full bathroom, and one half bath. Among its selling points are a newly renovated kitchen, a finished basement, a new roof, new windows, a one-car garage, and a fenced-in backyard.

Life in Chelmsford is pretty pleasant, according to listing agent Emily Medwar with Barrett Sotheby’s International Realty. Licensed in both Massachusetts and New Hampshire, she highlighted the value of free school busing for children who live more than 2 miles from their school.

“I think Chelmsford is a highly desirable location because the town provides excellent value for housing but also boasts a top-rated school system,” she said.

Other perks? The town offers free trash and recycling pickup, robust programming for seniors, and commuter rail access in nearby Billerica that can get you to Boston in roughly 35 minutes.

While some of her buyers opt for New Hampshire because there is no income tax (Though New Hampshire residents working in Massachusetts must pay Massachusetts income tax), others are turned off by the increased property taxes in the Granite State. Still, they tend to even out, since home prices in New Hampshire are typically lower than in Massachusetts, Medwar said, explaining that it’s the daily commute that plays a bigger role in the decision.

“Many buyers weigh the trade-off between affordability and commute time, often choosing to live in New Hampshire for the lower home prices while accepting a longer drive to work in Massachusetts,” she said.

Room to roam in Weare

Price: $600,000

Bedrooms: 3

Bathrooms: 2.5

Square feet: 2,117

Lot size: 5.69 acres

Estimated annual property tax: $7,620

PRO: More space for your money (plus acreage to grow food)

CON: Higher property taxes

If you’re the buyer who doesn’t mind a long commute, you’ll get more for your money in Weare, N.H., which is about an hour and 15 minutes from Boston via I-93 (on a good day). This newly sold home flaunts lots of room both inside and out, offering over 2,000 square feet of living space and almost 6 acres of land with flourishing gardens and a potting shed.

“The seller had every single vegetable, every single herb, every single spice [in her garden],” said listing agent Niki Loiko with Keller Williams Metropolitan, who’s licensed in Massachusetts and New Hampshire. “And she had chickens.” That could be considered a cost-saving measure as egg prices continue to tick up.

Inside the home, there are a slew of new upgrades, including a primary bedroom with an en-suite bath, twin dressing tables, and a deck.

The town of Weare has benefits, too, with free trash and recycling pickup, free school busing for grades K through 8, free extra-curricular activities after school, and fantastic farmers markets, according to Loiko.

“We do not have income [or sales] tax, which is wonderful when you’re shopping and working here,” she said. “But when it comes to our property taxes, I have to make sure when I’m helping my clients search for houses, I tell them, ‘Before you even get excited and look at the photos, we should look at the taxes first.’”

New construction in Wells

Price: $600,000

Bedrooms: 3

Bathrooms: 2

Square feet: 1,447

Lot size: 0.8 acres

Estimated annual property tax: $3,181

PRO: Free school busing and after-school programs

CON: No town-sponsored trash pickup

Built in 2023, this recent sale came move-in ready — and assuaged any fears about outdated heating, cooling, or electrical systems. Open-concept living, a laundry nook, a primary suite, and a two-car garage are among its standout features.

While this house offers a bit more square footage and acreage than the home in Chelmsford, it does not come close when compared to the one in Weare. It’s about the same distance to Boston as Weare — via I-95 — but proximity to the ocean and hiking trails is unique to this property.

“If you’re someone who likes to be outside, especially at beaches, Maine has a lot more oceanfront than New Hampshire,” said Troy Williams, the listing agent with Williams Realty Partners. He’s licensed in both Maine and New Hampshire, and added that even registering your boat is more expensive in New Hampshire than in Maine due to the state’s tax structure.

In Wells, trash pickup is not included — instead, you’re tasked with bringing trash to the town transfer station, where a vehicle sticker costs $5 annually, plus added fees for select items. School busing is free, however, as are after-school athletics and programs for kids. As a homeowner or renter in Wells, you can buy a seasonal beach parking sticker for $40. In addition, depending on where your home is located, you’re eligible to get your electricity from Kennebunk Light & Power, a local and cheaper alternative to Central Maine Power, the dominant utility provider in the state. As a commuter, you may end up paying between 50 cents and $7 in tolls on I-95, depending on your trip length and whether you have an E-ZPass transponder.

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The pros and cons for each option are many. Deciding where to move may involve a cost-benefit analysis, or it could just come down to personal preference.

MANCHESTER, N.H. (CNN) – A New Hampshire man says he was detained for hours at the northern border while returning from a weekend trip to Canada.

Bachir Atallah, a U.S. citizen, says he was coming home with his wife Sunday night after visiting family for Palm Sunday. He says without providing a reason why, a U.S. Customs and Border Protection agent at the Vermont checkpoint reached for his gun and told him to step out of the car.

“He’s like, ‘Step out of the vehicle right now.’ I said, ‘Okay, I’m stepping out,” Atallah said. “I really felt like a criminal.”

Atallah says he was held in a freezing cold cell with no shoes or jacket for hours.

In a statement, CPB officials called Atallah’s claims “blatantly false and sensationalized,” saying officers acted in accordance with established protocols referring a traveler to a secondary inspection.

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Every other Tuesday, the team behind Civics 101 joins NHPR’s All Things Considered host Julia Furukawa to talk about how our democratic institutions actually work.

Wherever you go to get the latest weather update – be it your phone or here on NHPR – that information comes from the National Weather Service. But like many other federal agencies, the National Weather Service has been the target of deep cuts and significant changes by President Trump’s administration and DOGE.

Civics 101 senior producer Christina Phillips joins Julia to talk about the role of the National Weather Service and how its work affects public safety, food production and even national security.

Transcript

First, can you tell me more about the work and research of the National Weather Service?

Yeah. So the National Weather Service is a government agency that is the foundation of meteorology and weather modeling in the United States. So it manages and collects data from satellites and other weather instruments. It synthesizes and studies that data, and then it shares that data with local and federal government agencies, private companies and the public. And the National Weather Service is also the epicenter for responding to severe weather, such as hurricanes and tornadoes. They track it best and they share that information with everyone else.

Okay, so how does that work exactly intersect with other agencies and interests at the federal level?

Yeah. So if you think about it, understanding the weather is essential for everything from farming to national defense, to trade, to travel, as you said. So as a result, agencies like the Federal Aviation Administration, the military, FEMA, the Department of the Interior, the Department of Agriculture, they are all in constant communication with the National Weather Service, and they depend on information they get from them. It’s also worth mentioning that there are dozens of regional offices around the country that provide information to local governments and the media, and there’s an international component, too. So the U.S. is part of the World Meteorological Organization, where 193 countries share data and research with one another.

As we said at the top, the Trump administration has made some significant cuts to the National Weather Service, including firing staff. Are we seeing the politicization of weather? What’s been the fallout there?

Yeah, I think we’re still in the early days to know exactly how this might affect us. But in the short term, we’ve seen several things, which is the loss of expertise when the administration fired those career scientists. We’ve had an interruption in communication about weather events. For example, the National Weather Service ended a contract with a company that translated weather alerts into Spanish. And [we’ve had] an interruption of regular weather monitoring, such as the launch of weather balloons. I think the idea that you can maybe move this to a more private industry, it’s definitely a political lean here. But I think it’s a little difficult to imagine, because weather science has never existed without government investment, what it would look like if it moved more private.

What’s really at stake here, Christina?

Yeah. So the equipment that collects this information is expensive. And I spoke with one scientist who said that if the government doesn’t pay for it, who would? The National Weather Service is designed just like it sounds. It’s a service for everyone. That includes other agencies. It includes the public, and it includes private companies. So less resources and staff at the federal level means a loss of expertise and data and less preparedness for extreme weather. And I think on a more day to day level, it could impact the ability of, say, an airport to safely get airplanes on and off the ground, or for a hiker to know whether or not it’s safe to hike in the White Mountains, or a ski slope to monitor avalanche risk. And here’s one final example I want to leave you. It could also impact the ability of towns and cities to adjust their building codes, or where they put things because they have less of an understanding of rising flood waters or how severe storms could affect infrastructure.