Straight talk on mortgages from a loan officer who's done it for 10+ years.
New Jersey doesn't usually make anyone's list of "affordable" states. Sitting next to New York City will do that to a state's reputation. And the statewide numbers back that reputation up, the median home sale price in New Jersey recently sat around $533,700, solidly above the national median.
New Hampshire's pitch to buyers is famous: no state income tax, no sales tax. It's a real draw, especially for people moving up from Massachusetts. But there's a catch that catches almost everyone off guard, and it can quietly reshape what you can actually afford: New Hampshire has some of the highest property taxes in the country — and the rate you'll pay swings dramatically depending on which town you buy in.
New Hampshire has a reputation as the affordable New England alternative — no income tax, no sales tax, and lower home prices than Massachusetts. Relative to its neighbor, that reputation holds up. But "affordable" is carrying a lot of weight in that sentence, because the statewide median single-family home price climbed past $530,000 in early 2026.
Here's a scenario I run into all the time: someone working in Massachusetts is eyeing a move across the border to New Hampshire. The pitch sells itself — "New Hampshire has no income tax." Live free or die, keep more of your paycheck, buy more house.
Talk to Nate directly — no forms, no call centers, no runaround.