Thinking of moving to Maine (Portland, Lewiston: housing, rent, lease)

[NewDad]

Hello all,

My wife and I are thinking of moving to Maine next summer. We are looking for a nice place to raise our kids that has all four seasons, good schools, low crime rate and lots of outdoor recreational activites. I am 34, about to graduate with a bachelor's degree and currently working as a computer programmer. My wife will be looking for a high school teaching position in biology and earth/environmental science. We will be visiting the beginning of next April.

We are looking at the portland area mainly because the likelyhood of finding and maintaining a software developement job elsewhere in Maine is slim.

I don't really have any specific questions as of yet other than does the Portland area offer all of these things and is it a great place to raise a family?

Just introducing myself and hope to be a resident soon.

Cheers,

James

[ljotis]

Have you looked into caribou/Limestone? The have the DFAS (military pay) system right there as well, large houses go for under 120k, and the high schools are combining up there, and looking for more teachers. Just a thought, but if you like the southern part of the state, its also beautiful!

[NewDad]

Originally Posted by ljotis

Have you looked into caribou/Limestone? The have the DFAS (military pay) system right there as well, large houses go for under 120k, and the high schools are combining up there, and looking for more teachers. Just a thought, but if you like the southern part of the state, its also beautiful!

I would live anywhere in Maine. Preferably a small town if it offered a C#/VB ASP.Net job. It seems like the most likely place to find this is Portland. I looked yesterday on careerbuilder.com and there were only three positions posted in the last 30 days for my programming language and all of them were in Portland. I know there are probably some more out there directly on company websites and such but from a quick feasibility search three in Portland is what I found. I'm not discouraged though, I will prevail

yes I've looked at Caribou. I like it!

[mainegirl]

James,

I just sent you a pm with some information on the Portland area. Hope it helps.

[mainegirl]

Originally Posted by ljotis

Have you looked into caribou/Limestone? The have the DFAS (military pay) system right there as well, large houses go for under 120k, and the high schools are combining up there, and looking for more teachers. Just a thought, but if you like the southern part of the state, its also beautiful!

James,

I found this website for you. Maybe you'll find something here.

Telecommunications, Computer, Tech & IT Jobs in Maine: Search Telecommunications Careers, Employment, Postings, Listings in Maine

[NewDad]

Originally Posted by mainegirl

James,

I found this website for you. Maybe you'll find something here.

Telecommunications, Computer, Tech & IT Jobs in Maine: Search Telecommunications Careers, Employment, Postings, Listings in Maine

THAT'S GREAT!

Thanks for your help!

[mainegirl]

You're very welcome, best of luck to you !

If you make it, I'll need some of your good vibes so I can finally have my dream come true too.

[Let's tell the truth]

Originally Posted by NewDad

Hello all,

My wife and I are thinking of moving to Maine next summer. We are looking for a nice place to raise our kids that has all four seasons, good schools, low crime rate and lots of outdoor recreational activites. I am 34, about to graduate with a bachelor's degree and currently working as a computer programmer. My wife will be looking for a high school teaching position in biology and earth/environmental science. We will be visiting the beginning of next April.

We are looking at the portland area mainly because the likelyhood of finding and maintaining a software developement job elsewhere in Maine is slim.

I don't really have any specific questions as of yet other than does the Portland area offer all of these things and is it a great place to raise a family?

Just introducing myself and hope to be a resident soon.

Cheers,

James

Hi someone posted you about living in Caribou or Limestone. Let me tell you Caribou is not the palce to be! Your wife is a high school teacher well we had a coach from our high school a very few years ago kill his wife, 2 children, and then set fire to there home and kill himself! We also had a girl killed inside our Tim Horton's a couple of year's ago! The police are told who has been robbing homes and they finally do something after being told about 10 times by 10 differant people who have been robbed! People are arrested with cocaine, pot and herion but by the time it get's report by the police there was only pot! Wonder where the rest went! Now this is the real Caribou.I do not think it's fair to lie to people. Try going on the web and typing in Drug arrest's in Aroostook County you will see and we only are a town of about 9,000 people

[Coaster]

Oh please. You've made it plain you hate the Caribou area in other posts, but using a couple of isolated tragedies to paint the entire area as some kind of crime-infested hellhole is dishonest. Compared to most places, Aroostook County is a walk in the park on a sunny day with an ice cream cone. I've had family members who have gone to school up there, have friends who live up there, and their only complaint is how quiet it is. You can't use a few drug busts and B&Es to condemn the whole place. By that standard, everywhere is miserable.

[iris_917]

I would defiently stay in Southern or Central Maine. Limestone/Caribou is way out of the way. There's lots of computer and teaching jobs in southern/central maine. Check out Brunswick, Yarmouth, Falmouth, Portland, you could also look in the Lewiston/Auburn area (more inland but lower cost of housing). When looking for jobs you should check out JobsInME.com - Local Maine jobs, careers and employment (Home). This is probably the best local jobsearch website. Also check out the local newspapers, Portland Press Herald, Maine Sunday Telegram, and the Sun-Journal. Maine is a great place to live and play, but there are very high taxes. Best of luck.