Moving to Maine? Help! (Portland, Bangor: sales, assessor, refinance)

[forest beekeeper]

Originally Posted by AlisonL

... I will not miss the bitter cold and all when we move. I will finally be able to enjoy a winter because I will be able to breathe.

I was aware that arthritis patients have issues with cold, I did not realise that some people can not breath when it is cold.

May I ask [if it is not too personal] what ailment does not allow breathing when it is cold?

[AlisonL]

Originally Posted by forest beekeeper

I never go to Portland except for on the freeway going through it. No amount of money could drag me into Portland. I just stay on the freeway.

I would recommend the same to everyone else.

City; with urban issues. High taxes, crime and population.

I have lived in other big cities, and can not imagine why anyone would put themselves through that non-sense.

Geez you make Portland sound like its a hotbed of violence and whatnot. Its a nice small city, and I am not a city person. I've never been afraid to walk around Portland after dark and the same goes for Bangor and Auburn. Years ago we got lost in the Bronx in broad daylight. Now THAT was scary!!

[AlisonL]

Originally Posted by forest beekeeper

I was aware that arthritis patients have issues with cold, I did not realise that some people can not breath when it is cold.

May I ask [if it is not too personal] what ailment does not allow breathing when it is cold?

I have asthma and the cold aggravates it more than anything.

[umograd83]

Originally Posted by forest beekeeper

A fairly well insulated house with an attached garage, and maybe a small riding lawn tractor with a snow blower on it.

Your home is maintained warm and cozy.

Your car is free of snow and ice. It is warm and easy to start.

You can open your garage doors and drive the lawn tractor out to clear your driveway. So you need never even own a snow shovel.

Now our garage is not built yet, however that is our plan.

Been there, done that. I had a condo in Scarborough with a one-car garage. I didn't have to plow or shovel. I just don't like the drudgery of traisping to work in the cold and snow. And it takes so dang long to warm up - i.e., spring arrives so late. I took advantage of the winter when I lived in Maine. I worked at Sunday River on the weekends and was able to work in the morning and ski in the afternoon. I now enjoy living in the south and hibernating in the summer (well, not true hibernation. I live in a condo here and we have a pool in the complex. I do get out to the pool. I'm heading there after lunch.) I enjoy going outside without a jacket for eight months of the year rather than vice versa.

By the way, Forrest, DH and I moved so fast that we didn't have time to weed out our belongings. We moved with our snow shovels - we haven't used them to shovel snow, but have used them to remove dog doo-doo from our back lawn. Darn neighbor's dog.

[forest beekeeper]

Originally Posted by AlisonL

Geez you make Portland sound like its a hotbed of violence and whatnot. Its a nice small city, and I am not a city person. I've never been afraid to walk around Portland after dark and the same goes for Bangor and Auburn. Years ago we got lost in the Bronx in broad daylight. Now THAT was scary!!

Worse than the Bronx, is Naples.

Worse than Naples, is Cairo.

Many would say that Bangkok is worse than Cairo, but I vote for Cairo as being worse.

Did I mention that I was career military, before I retired, returned stateside and moved to Maine?

[AlisonL]

Where is the freeway in Portland???

[umograd83]

I-295 goes through the part of Portland which is near the ocean. It is close to where a lot of the businesses are - the downtown area. I-95 is to the west. As you would be moving from Dallas, you would find that the traffic on both I-95 and I-295 are not congested - except going south on I-295 during the evening rush hour. The road tends to backup at the second exit after the bridge, which is one of the exits to the Mall and the exit for the jetport.

[dramamama6685]

Somehow I believe that the traffic congestion wouldn't be in the same ballpark as the suburban sprawl down here in Ohio. Yet another reason to move!

[Sminthian]

Ok, texasgirl, I kinda know what you're going through. I lived near Philadelphia for 18 years, then got sent down to Abilene, Texas for 4 years with the Air Force, and then came back to Philadelphia. I liked Abilene. It's a smallish town with nice people and everything, but those 4 month long 100 degree summers with no rain were killing me. I was looking for a place like Abilene, but cold. So, I'm figuring on moving to somewhere in Maine in the next couple of years. Maine doesn't have any big cities, you go there to be out in the woods. And the cities that they do have are only like 10 square miles. I'm not saying that Maine's bad, but I don't think it's for city people.

[umograd83]

But for those "city" people moving to Maine, if they miss the city, they can take the train (Amtrak) from southern Maine and go to Boston for their city fix. You can go down and come back in the same day. I love Boston to visit (wouldn't want to live there).