Lisbon falls area question... (Portland, Lewiston: apartments, rentals, good credit)

[doozer]

Hello everyone,

I have found mixed opinions about the Lisbon Falls/Lisbon area. I am trying to get a feel for whT it may be like. We are looking for a house to rent and will be working near Portland. Obviously the cheapest rents are in Biddeford, but so far the things I read about that area have not been good. I have found a couple of houses for rent in the Lisbon Falls area that are on the cheaper end. But of course that makes me question why? We are a family with 2 elementary school girls, want a decent place to live. How does the Lsbon area compare to Biddeford and other areas around? And would it be a hassle to commute to the Maine Mall area of Portland from there. Especially in the winter?

Thanks

[island mermaid]

Lisbon/Lisbon Falls/ Lisbon Center all used to have a pretty bad rep. Don't know if anything has changed within the 16 months since I left Maine. Cheap housing yes, not so nice an area as so many others. Schools are just okay. It's a little suberb type place of Lewiston. I'll probably get my ass ripped out here, so I'll try to be gentle... I wouldn't raise my kids there. My kids won't even go there. It's a little town, closest city as I said is Lewiston. (Factory town) Also not such a nice area. Referred to as "The dirty Lew".
The commute to Maine Mall wouldn't be bad. Maybe 40 miles, so your talking about 40 minutes. Hope this helps.

[doozer]

Thanks for the input. Just the fact that there is some "question" in the quality of the area is enough to put me off. Although Im sure there is someone here that will say they live there and its the best place around. I wil just have to see for myself.

We will be up there for just a few days in Oct. We wont have alot of time to look around, but we will have to do our best. I will drive through some of the questionable towns and try to get a feel of the area for myself.

We have been looking for a nice house to rent near portland but havent had alot of luck in our price range. I think we are being a little picky, but hey, it will be our home for a few years.

Is Biideford the same? I have read on here somewhere that it is one of the "armpits of Maine". It seems there are alot of apartments there on the lower end of the rent price range, which is usually an indication of the area.

This may offend some people, but when I hear of a "bad area" I immediately think of there being alot of minorities. Only because all of the "bad" or poor areas that I have seen myself in the places I have lived were always that way. But because Maine has such a small percentage of minorities does that mean that the bad areas in Maine are mostly "white trash"? I hope I didnt offend anyone, I am just trying to get a feel for the area and demographics up there.

[Mark S.]

Originally Posted by doozer

I have found mixed opinions about the Lisbon Falls/Lisbon area. I am trying to get a feel for whT it may be like. We are looking for a house to rent and will be working near Portland. Obviously the cheapest rents are in Biddeford, but so far the things I read about that area have not been good. I have found a couple of houses for rent in the Lisbon Falls area that are on the cheaper end. But of course that makes me question why? We are a family with 2 elementary school girls, want a decent place to live. How does the Lsbon area compare to Biddeford and other areas around?

I don't know anything about Biddeford.

Lisbon Falls is not that bad. It's definitely working class, but it ain't the 'hood. I certainly never feel unsafe in any neighborhood there.

It's certainly a small town. Not much there in terms of night life, etc. But it's very close to both Lewiston and Brunswick.

I have heard mixed things about the schools though. Some people say they are terrible. Some say they're fine. Some say so-so. I've never had anyone tell me they are good. That being said, it's all hearsay. I have no firsthand experience.

[Mark S.]

Originally Posted by doozer

This may offend some people, but when I hear of a "bad area" I immediately think of there being alot of minorities. Only because all of the "bad" or poor areas that I have seen myself in the places I have lived were always that way. But because Maine has such a small percentage of minorities does that mean that the bad areas in Maine are mostly "white trash"? I hope I didnt offend anyone, I am just trying to get a feel for the area and demographics up there.

I think it depends more on what you mean by "bad area." I have been to real "bad areas" in places like Seattle, Tacoma, Dallas, and Los Angeles. There is NO WHERE anywhere in Maine like that. The closest you'll find places like that are in Boston.

When we moved up here, we initially though my wife was going to be working South Portland, but we wanted to live farther north. Now that we're up here and I've spent a little time looking around, I've found that Portland isn't that bad. I wouldn't choose to live there myself, but I'm just not a city person. A town with more than 5 stoplights is too big for me. But as cities go, Portland is a nice place.

Portland, Auburn, Lewiston, Augusta, and Bangor all have neighborhoods that seem a tad icky to me. But again, nothing like bad parts of Dallas, LA, Tacoma, etc.

Are you looking to rent an apartment or house? We found that the best places to find rentals are either in the classifieds section of the local newspapers (most of which can be accessed online) or the Maine section of craigslist.com.

[doozer]

Thaks for the info Mark. I have to be careful not to get any preconceived notions about the area, after all I havent been in Maine since I was about 10 or so.. I really need to just wait until we get up there for a visit and see for myself. We will be there on Oct 11 for only a few days. I wish we could stay longer, but cant afford to right now. I know I will love it, I just have to give my wife a chance to see the area, she has never been any farther north than Upstate NY. Although I can tell you, I think she is just excited to get the @#$ out of Florida. Im not built for the heat. Im so done with it, I want to shovel snow for a change!! If I get a truck when I move up there I might just get a plow for it and try to make some money plowing the snow!

We are looking to rent a house when we move, I really want to stay under 1200.00 a month, there are some on craigslist, but the affordable ones are just a little to far out there... I would love to live out away from civilization, but I have to keep my wife near a Mall! She needs to be able to go shopping! I suppose we will just have to compromise on that one. (in Other words, do whatever she wants.. Gotta keep the wife happy !

We have been told by several people that the best thing to do right now is to move into a winter rental for now, than find a place when we are here. I think thats a great idea, but my wife is very nervous about it... "what if we dont find a place?" I say the hell with it and go for it... it will be much easier to find a permanent place once we are already there.

We will see how it goes after we have our little visit.. Its gonna be nice for just the 2 of us to get away for a few days without the kids... As long as my wife can relax, she is terrified of that plane ride. Shes never been on a plane before!!

[MRVphotog]

Lisbon Falls is a blue collar town but I have seen improvements over the years. The part by the falls is the mill part and the small downtown show it but I don't think it's all that bad and the area by the high school is pretty nice and the rehabbed area by the river north of that looks real nice.

It's more than 40 min to the Maine Mall tho ...the fastest way is to get on I95/I295 is to drive to Freeport and that takes nearly 30 min, tough road and your not on the highway yet. Once you get on the highway it's another 30 min to the mall.

For 3 years I drove from Cumberland to Lewiston thru Lisbon Falls twice a week. In the winter it can be a bear that's why I used a 4wd pickup.

If you drive thru Biddeford on US 1 it does not go thru the nicest section of town. Lots of people think Saco is nicer, it's on the other side of the river from Biddeford. Personally I think Biddeford is like alot of seacoast mill towns but being so close to the ocean makes it pretty cool in my view. Definately much closer to Portland and the mall than Lisbon Falls.

[Mark S.]

Originally Posted by doozer

We have been told by several people that the best thing to do right now is to move into a winter rental for now, than find a place when we are here. I think thats a great idea, but my wife is very nervous about it... "what if we dont find a place?" I say the hell with it and go for it... it will be much easier to find a permanent place once we are already there.

Craigslist always has lots of rentals in and around Portland. Once you get past that, finding a rental can be... "interesting" depending on where you want to be and what your needs are. We thought we'd find a place in a few days, and it took us almost three weeks. But part of that was that we were fairly particular about what area we wanted to be in, and we have a large family so we needed a larger place.

[Zymer]

"We are looking to rent a house when we move, I really want to stay under 1200.00 a month, there are some on craigslist, but the affordable ones are just a little to far out there..."

$1200/mo? Rent? Is there any particular reason you wouldn't want to BUY? My figures may be a little off, but if you have good credit, that ought to put you into (somewhere in the neighborhood of) a $150k mortgage, maybe a little less if you have no money to put down, due to PMI.

Someone can correct me if I'm off.

[gottagetoutofmaine]

I grew up in Biddeford. There are some very very nice neighborhoods there.
If you find a rental, let me know the address and I can tell you if its good or bad.
The downtown is kind of skanky, but they are trying to improve it.