florida to maine (Portland, Scarborough, Benton: crime rate, houses, neighborhoods)

[bucsgirl]

my husband is looking into a job possibility in scarborough. i have lived in florida for the past 20+ years and have been thinking i'm ready to get out for a while now. it's not the weather, it's the horrendous crime rate and overpopulation. maine is appealing to my want for a safe community for my family (3 children elem thru high school) and room to breathe. plus it sounds beautiful.

i've been doing some reading and the cities around scarborough sound perfect, nice houses with some land. good schools.

my question is to anyone familiar with living in both states...what kind of shock am i in for? i realize that maine is obviously MUCH COLDER (don't know how i will handle that since i'm not fond of cold weather but my husband will love it, my children will love the season changes) and maine seems to tax you to death. can anyone give me some insight into how different life will be for my family? will the cost of living change be that extreme? does it really only average 80 in july??? can't imagine!

[flycessna]

Well I lived in Fla a long time ago for a short spell but I still do have family there and have researched the possibilities of going back. Orlando area. 1st Maine definately has way less of the violent crime compared with Fl and you will probably laugh at what makes the news here. Scabarough is a great town in a great location. Other than that when you come to Maine Just be prepared to pay more in taxes. And please, if you do move here, after a while let me know what you think of the tax situation here? I am curios to get an outsiders opinion, especially one from a State like Fl.

[WhoFanMe]

Originally Posted by bucsgirl

my husband is looking into a job possibility in scarborough. i have lived in florida for the past 20+ years and have been thinking i'm ready to get out for a while now. it's not the weather, it's the horrendous crime rate and overpopulation. maine is appealing to my want for a safe community for my family (3 children elem thru high school) and room to breathe. plus it sounds beautiful.

i've been doing some reading and the cities around scarborough sound perfect, nice houses with some land. good schools.

my question is to anyone familiar with living in both states...what kind of shock am i in for? i realize that maine is obviously MUCH COLDER (don't know how i will handle that since i'm not fond of cold weather but my husband will love it, my children will love the season changes) and maine seems to tax you to death. can anyone give me some insight into how different life will be for my family? will the cost of living change be that extreme? does it really only average 80 in july??? can't imagine!

Hello bucsgirl,

In Maine we have about 10 days of unbearably hot weather, which may be concluding today. Tomorrow's forecast is for sunny with a high of 76, very comfortable. The winter will be an adjustment, but with common sense (don't drive during blizzard conditions), you'll be just fine. Scarborough is a bedroom community of Portland with lots of activity. As for the cost of living, it's much less than a major city like Boston or New York with lower salaries to go along with it.

[warpedg]

Originally Posted by flycessna

1st Maine definately has way less of the violent crime compared with Fl

flycessna...You needed to make the words 'way less' in bold and ALL CAPS in that sentence.

I considered (and still do at times) moving to FL so I check out the papers there from time to time. I would easily say that the amount of violent crime you see on the news in Florida in one day is equal to what we have in Maine in maybe a two month period...maybe longer. Yeah we do have crime here but its the domestic disputes, juvenile crimes, occasional breakins, etc. Hold ups at banks, robberies and murders are the exceptions here. You have better odds of hitting a deer or moose and getting killed in this state then being killed by a fellow human being almost.

[bucsgirl]

i tried to explain to my 15 yr old daughter that there are places in this country where you don't hear about someone getting murdered almost everyday on the news. her reply was "really"????

[warpedg]

If you end up in a small town in Maine chances are you will have a local newspaper that will cover local crime. Now when I say local crime Im talking about who got a speeding ticket, who got a ticket for expired license....those types of things.

When something horrible like a murder does take place up here it makes the news for days because its not that typical. Ive seen the FL news on tv and shootings and murders get little blurbs because they are so common.

I love Florida, but the crime down there is insane at times.

[wither98]

WOW, I guess a lot of people from Florida are moving to Maine! My husband is from Maine, born and raised. he came to Florida in 94 which is when I met him. I visited Maine for the first time in 96 and knew I needed to live there. We finally bought 10 acres in Benton and have been slowly getting it ready to build and move my horse farm and training business there. We hope to be fully moved up by next year.
I HATE Florida weather, the people, just about anything about Florida ! Maine seems to have much more intelligent people, it is naturally beautiful (unlike Florida which is filled with developments and flat land) and MUCH better weather. Anything above 70 is too hot for me and I dispise any month in Florida other than January. The people are so different. Some are weary of outsiders but we have had a welcome reaction from 95% of the people. It will be a HUGE culture shock for you in a good way.
I don't know why I really wrote this, I have no point really! I just wanted to touch base with a fellow soon to be ex Floridian. What part of Florida?? We're coming from Brooksville north of Tampa. (Also a HUGE Bucs fan by the way!) We'll have to look eachother up when you make it up here! Good luck!! And get out of that damn state before it sinks or gets blown away by a hurricane!
Krissy

[wither98]

Hey warpedg - anything you want to know about Florida, let me know! Lived there my whole life.

[flycessna]

I have a different perspective on crime. I worked the majority of my life in Law enforcement. You can live in a high crime city say like Miami. And as long as you are isolated to the safer, more affluent neighborhoods you are more than likely no more in danger of being a victim of that violent crime than here in Maine. But here in Maine even though we do not have the violent crime we have lots of other types of crime related to the fact that we are a poor state. I think as a whole we in Maine are more likely to be victim of that petty crime, then in those selective areas in the high crime city. And people forget that the entire state of Maine’s population is less than some of these high crime cities.

In any case it’s a drag to turn on the TV and see nothing but shootings and gang robberies ect. All over the news and at least psychologically it feels much better in here in Maine and in some ways……….it is!!

P.S. This goes against what I truly believe but ever since that god awful home evasion in Ct a few weeks ago I’ve been locking all my doors at night!

[ljotis]

You've got to watch your kids. I loved maine as a kid, but alot of my friends were "bored" with maine, not much to offer them, they wanted to see stuff. There isn't a sense of anything there, except what you see on TV. No fashion sense, which is kinda nice, but kids do tend to do more drugs (not hard drugs, but drugs all and all) and drink with their friends. Yes it happens everywhere, I know, but like I said, just one of the things I noticed. Besides that, maine was great, small town life, not too hot, not too muggy (darned florida!) and not too many people you don't know hanging around, not a whole lot of tourists...I hope you enjoy, and your kids do too