Does anyone in this forum ever respond???? (Portland, Bangor: car registration, insurance)

[jena]

Hi All,

I was wondering if anyone could tell me about Winslow ME? How is the economy there, what is the cost of living, and what is the pay scale there? I'm currently working as an Imports Specialist and was wondering are there any jobs in that region for me?

Thanks
Jena

Can anyone tell me about the Mental Health system there? I have a handicap brother who I have guardianship over and that is one of the most important things to me. He is very important to me and I want to make sure that he can get the level of care that he is currently receiving here in MI

Thanks
Jen

Hi,

I was wondering if anyone could pease give me some information re: Vassalborol? I was wondering about the school system, taxes, cost of living & crime. How is the job market out there? I would be mainly looking for myself. I have 14 yrs experience in the Supply Chain/Logistics field.

My husband & I have been considering moving from Michigan to Central Maine. We have a young son and I want to make sure that any decisions we make will be benificial for him. I also have a handicap brother that I have guardianship over and would be taking with us. Does anyone know how the Mental system works there?

I have tried to pull up pictures but only a few come up. I would really appriciate it if someone who lives in the area could fill us in on life in lovely Maine.

Thank you
Jena

I have posted 3 messages and have no reponses. My dh will be taking a test next week to see if he qualifies for a job in Winslow, ME as a CNC Machinist and we are trying to get answers about the lifestyle there. I just don't want to p/u and move without knowing much about life in Maine. I will be leaving a career, I have a young son and a handicap brother (mildly autistic, non verable deaf mute) that I have guardianship over. This move will change all of our lives dramatically and I want to make sure that we are making the right decision. We currently live in Michigan so we are used to cold, snowy, icy winters (not that the icy part if fun) but I am well aware that it gets cold there. But I would truely appriciate if someone could answer my post. My questions are as follows:

1 - cost of living
2 - job market
3 - schools (which I did read some on line)
4 - mental health system

Thank you,
Jena

[pixieshmoo]

It's possible no one's responding because we already have threads like that going. Why don't you go into my thread "Thinking of Moving to Maine" or "Hard to Find Work in Maine?". They are rather large with some very helpful and insightful responses.

[Lehi]

Originally Posted by jena

1 - cost of living
4 - mental health system

I know absolutely nothing about Maine except that Stephen King likes to use it as a location for his stories and that I will be visiting for a few days this Fall. I did however find this website that might be helpful: [url=http://www.maine.gov/dhhs/bds/index.html[URL]

[pixieshmoo]

Stephen is FROM Maine!!!! When you go for your visit (depending on where you're going), if you're an SK fan, you should visit some of the towns he talks about in his books...some are fictional, some are real towns.

Anyway, that's getting off the subject, sorry.

[theqbaby]

Lehi,
Do I sence a Stephen King fan?

[Lehi]

Originally Posted by pixieshmoo

Stephen is FROM Maine!!!! When you go for your visit (depending on where you're going), if you're an SK fan, you should visit some of the towns he talks about in his books...some are fictional, some are real towns.

Anyway, that's getting off the subject, sorry.

Originally Posted by theqbaby

Lehi,
Do I sence a Stephen King fan?

I don't really know where I'm going to end up. I'm just going to drive around for three days and see the countryside. I used to be a Stephen King fan, but I don't suppose I can call myself that anymore since I haven't read anything of his for quite a while. My favorites are The Stand and The Dark Tower series.

Apologies to Jena for straying off topic....now back to the regularly scheduled programming.

[pinkpalace]

like Pixieshmoo said, there are a few threads that talk about most of what you're asking about. I'll summarize my feelings about each below:

1 - cost of living

In my experience, the price of houses is really cheap (unless you move to Southern Maine, around Portland). The real shocker will be when you start paying for heating oil and electricity. The cost of water and sewer is higher here too. We have a ~2300 sq ft 5br 2ba home, built around 1900. Nearly all of the windows have been upgraded to vinyl, and I have spent a lot of time plugging holes trying to cut down on energy costs. Regardless... last year (a mild winter) we burned somewhere between 1200-1300 gallons of heating oil. We were locked in at $2.79 per gallon, so we spent somewhere between $3300 - $3600 last year for heat and hot water. That averages around $300 per month (including summer months). This year, the price of oil went up, so we are locked in at $3.xx (can't remember), so our monthly oil bill was going to be $402 / month. (You overpay in the summer to make up for underpaying in the winter.) Don't know about you, but that was a major, major shock to our budget.

Electricity is outrageous. Before we moved to Maine, we were paying 7 c/kwh. Now, it's 15c /kwh. They charge 8.4c/kwh for the electricity, then another 6.5c/kwh for the "delivery" of that electricity. Check out your electricity bill to figure out how much your electric bill will go up if you move.

Water and sewer costs are specific to each town. There's a site on maine dot gov that lists the costs of water for each town. Sewer isn't listed, but it isn't as bad as water. (Heating oil and electric service are much worse than water and sewer.)

Car registration is expensive too, or at least it was to me. Could be that Michigan has expensive car registration, so it won't be a problem for you. Our 2006 Toyota Sienna was $650 to register, our 1997 Toyota Camry was $250. You can guesstimate how much your registration will be here: http://www.ci.bar-harbor.me.us/vehicle/extaxcal.html (broken link)

Property tax is generally cheap, unless you buy something on the ocean or a lake. Then it'll be really bad. We were set to pay $1053 this year. Last year was around $1200.

In a week and a half, a moving truck will be moving us from Maine down to Georgia. Even though our mortgage will almost double, we expect to save $300 every month thanks to cheaper utilities.

2 - job market

I'm lucky enough to have a good job where I just work from home, so I don't have first hand knowledge. From what I've heard, the health care market and education market are fairly strong. Other markets are not so good.

3 - schools (which I did read some on line)

We've had nothing but good experiences with the schools we sent our kids to. Your mileage may vary.

4 - mental health system

Our 7 year old son was getting PT, OT, and Speech through the school. The services were good, and the people in the district and the school really listened to us, and what we thought he needed. We didn't get the same experience in Idaho... they just treated us like "dumb parents".

[pinkpalace]

oh man, I'm sorry. That came across as really negative!

Let me add some balance...

Maine is a wonderful place to raise a family. Everybody we've met has been extremely friendly. We moved here w/o knowing a soul. We didn't have anybody to help us move our stuff out of the moving van and into the house. While it was raining... a neighbor stopped in front of our house, and came over to help us move our big stuff into the house. Did I mention it was raining? And he just came over w/o us asking for help?

Later in the same week, I was mowing our 1/2 acre lot with my pitiful push-mower. A different neighbor came over with his riding mower/tractor and helped me finish. He said he "couldn't bear to watch me struggle any longer." NEVER saw that happen once in Idaho (lived there 30 years). Other neighbors came over to help over and over -- just people being nice. I've read notes about how people "from away" aren't treated very well... all I can say, is that I was from 2900 miles away, and people were helping me left and right. I can't say enough nice things about everybody I met in Maine.

There isn't any traffic. Never. Even when traffic is bad (like around the mall close to Christmas) it isn't as bad as nearly every other place in the country. Again, I came here from Idaho. We don't have traffic in Idaho either (although people like to complain about it).. but traffic here was sooo much better. That's one really nasty thing about moving to Georgia. Traffic is going to be bad everywhere. I've been seriously spoiled with the great traffic up here.

I was also very impressed with how well they keep the roads cleared up here after a snowstorm. Car registration is a fortune, but you get what you pay for. Every 20 minutes, I could hear the snowplows running down the road in front of my house.

The emotional side of me ABSOLUTELY LOVES Maine. It's just that the part of me that writes out the energy bills can't take it any longer. It's a shame.

[pinkpalace]

Originally Posted by Lehi

I don't really know where I'm going to end up. I'm just going to drive around for three days and see the countryside.

Lehi -- doing all of this in three days would be a stretch, but here are a few "must sees" while in Maine:

* the old port in Portland
* Bar Harbor / Acadia Nat'l Park
* Moosehead lake near Greenville
* All the old "lumber baron" mansions in Bangor. Who knows? Might even see a house you recognize
* Camden - the perfect coastal town
* Freeport - LL Bean, and lots of other cool outlets

[jena]

Thank you for all the info. I truely appriciate it. I have read a lot of forums and didn't find any that were close to where we are looking at nor the mental health issues. When we move, we too will know no one but that's o.k. When I first moved to this pit called Michigan, I new no one either but over the years have gotten some pretty great friends. Things here are so expensive as well. Our auto insurance is $2474 a year to register my 2006 Toyota Camry, my husband F-250 and our 5th wheel camper but that is about $75.00 every 3 months which isn't bad. Everything else is just as expensive and we live about 25 miles from what is called the "Little Middle East" which doesn't bring me much comfort with all that is going on today. So I would stomach higher fuel costs if it means that I can raise my child in a safe and moral place. Good luck in Georgia.

Sincerely,
Jena