Ellsworth, Howland, Franklin, Pembroke, Eastport?? (Bangor, Augusta: oceanfront, condo, crime)

[mrs1885]

Looking for info on smaller towns that are coastal. It's going to be quite some time before we can build, but we'd like to buy a small piece of waterfront property that we can eventually build on.

We don't want some place that's touristy. Just a small town with friendly people. We moved out of Florida because of the tourism - don't want to deal with it again.

We also don't want tons of restrictions on what we build, where we build, etc. Definitely not a gated community type place - yuck!

And lastly - cheap. The towns I listed have property that's incredibly reasonably priced. I was shocked. Are they decent areas? I'm not too worried about crime as we're both retired law enforcement and don't care about schools as all of the kids will be graduated and moved out soon. Just decent - clean, friendly, etc.

I took a 3 week vacation about 5 years ago and toured the east coast. I loved Maine - especially the Bar Harbor area / wharf, dock, whatever you call it. But I wouldn't want to live in a place that busy, just close enough to drive there for a day.

Anyone have any ideas??

[AlisonL]

Howland is not on the coast, but its on a river.

[dramamama6685]

I'm not from Maine, but from my understanding Bar Harbor is definitely not in the "cheap" category. However, been eyeing the Eastport area for a while now(we went up 4 years ago) and it's awesome and reasonable. The people are too nice, ayuh!

[Duiji]

I am from Eastport and housing prices are on the rise but compared to what you are faced with outside the state or even in the southern part of the state the prices are still reasonable. It is more remote then the rest you have listed. It is about 2.5 hours from Bangor and 2 hours from Bar Harbor. Pembroke is only two towns away. If being remote does not bother you then it would be a fine choice. If you would rather not be so remote you should consider Franklin, Sullivan, Gouldsboro or Stuben area. I am not sure of housing costs but they are close to Ellsworth and only about an hour from Bangor (closest airport).

[deerislesmile]

Have you looked into the island of Deer Isle, or even the Blue Hill peninsula? Deer Isle is one of the last fishing communitites left on the coast, and the land, though on the rise, is still relatively affordable. Much of the same "charm" as the Bar Harbor are, but with smaller towns and fewer tourists.
Sedgwick, Orland, Penobscot, and some areas of Brooksville and Blue Hill may be worth a look into, and a little more expensive land in Castine, Brooklin, and Surry.

Deer Isle - Stonington Chamber of Commerce

Blue Hill Peninsula Arts Lodging Business

Town of Castine

http://www.sedgwickmaine.org/

Welcome to the Town of Orland

[mrs1885]

Thanks guys. We definitely want to be 'out of the way' - rural really. A 2 hour drive to Bar Harbor is fine for us. We'd just want to do day trips there and 2 hours isn't that bad. We're used to a 6.5 hour drive to do a day trip or weekend jaunt to Key West when we lived in Florida. Anything short of that is fine with us.

We're looking for property so we can build a house. We already have a floor plan picked out, so we need something that won't be a condo / gated community type thing that tell you what style, building material, etc you can build with. We also don't want neighbors so close we can hear their toilet flush. We want privacy, but still friendly neighbors.

A river is fine. We just want waterfront of some kind. I was raised on an island in Florida on the Gulf Coast. I just want to be able to sit on my porch and see water of some kind, short of a puddle from the last rain storm. River, lake, bay, ocean - whatever. Just water.

I'll check out the towns you've all listed. If anyone else has any other towns that sound like they may be what we're looking for, please let me know. I've got a good year to research towns and then come up for a couple weeks to make a decision.

Oh - and no froo-froo places. Not sure if you have them there, but I could be happy never seeing another Escalade with some little gang-banger wanna be with his windows down and bass thumping.

[Acadianlion]

Originally Posted by Duiji

I am from Eastport and housing prices are on the rise but compared to what you are faced with outside the state or even in the southern part of the state the prices are still reasonable. It is more remote then the rest you have listed. It is about 2.5 hours from Bangor and 2 hours from Bar Harbor. Pembroke is only two towns away. If being remote does not bother you then it would be a fine choice. If you would rather not be so remote you should consider Franklin, Sullivan, Gouldsboro or Stuben area. I am not sure of housing costs but they are close to Ellsworth and only about an hour from Bangor (closest airport).

Correction. The closest airport to Ellsworth, Sullivan, Gouldsboro and Stuben is The Bar Harbor Airport, also known as the Hancock County Regional Airport located in Trenton. The airport has many daily commuter flights to Boston, and also offers flights that land in Owls Head (Camden/Rockport), and at least one flight daily that lands in Augusta enroute to Boston. while it is a bit expensive to make connections out of Trenton, when consideration is given to the added 45 minutes needed to drive to Bangor from Ellworth AND the cost of parking in Bangor, Trenton is actually reasonably competitive if one's time is worth anything.

[forest beekeeper]

In my limited experience:

oceanfront property = tourists

And in Maine we also have 'un-organized townships' which ARE cheap and rural. Many of them also have riverfrontage.

[mrs1885]

From everything I've heard it sounds like Maine is exactly what I'm looking for. Maybe this fall I can get away for a week or so and get up there to check things out........

[MaineMathTCHER]

Try looking in the Calais area (about 30 minutes north of Eastport)-the St Croix river runs through it and there are several breathtaking sites all along the river-and Calais is a nice town with the basic services and stores that one needs.