Keep Us In The Loop! (Portland, Bangor: renting, hotels, vacation home)

[mollysmiles]

I thought it would be nice to have a thread for those moving to Maine to post and share their experiences. This is a place to share how you came to your decision, what you're currently doing to get ready for the move, how the job search is going (if there is one), and maybe share some of the information you learned during research! AFTER you get here, you can come back and let us know how it's going, and post any "words of wisdom" you may have!

[doozer]

Good idea for a new thread! so many of us are thinking of moving up to Maine. My wife and I are coming up there on Oct 11th for a few days, just to check out the area and talk with my potential employer.

My wife has never been on an airplane and I know shes scared. We have to take 2 planes to get there. The first one is a 737 to Washington, than a much smaller plane to Portland. I dont have the heart to tell her about the much smaller plane. We might have to atually walk out on the tarmac and climb up the planes steps... I think shes gonna faint when that happens. And then we have to do the same on the way back! It doesnt bother me, but I know she wont like it!

We cant wait to get there and just take a ride up the coast. I really want to see the old cemetary and church that dates back to 1755, and all the poeople buried there are my ancestors from that time. My last name is Penley. Its Penly corner church, on Penley corner rd. in (or just outside) of Auburn. Very exciting. I saw it when I was a teenager, cant wait to show my wife.

[Lynn and Russ]

Lynn and I have been to Maine 6 times now so we would recommend that anyone planning to move there to visit for at least a week and check out different places in order to get any sense of community and the people that live there. Well, the people are friendly just about every where and you only need a few moments to know that but each town/area is so different for the most part that you really need to explore and drive around.

Also, Bango is such a lovely little city but we had a hard time finding some of the routes that branch out from there, especially Route 1A. There wasn't alot of route markings but that would be my only minor gripe about Bangor. Thank goodness we had a map of the area and that Lynn can read. LOL!

It really doesn't take long to feel at home and welcomed no matter where you are. That is why it is time for us to finally move there.

Lynn and Russ

[Elcarim]

We were welcomed and felt right at home with our first stop at the rest area after crossing the big bridge. We didn't even get back to the car before a sweet lady stopped us in the doorway and had to know where we were from, what we were doing there and just why the heck we came during the cold and snow! She then took an additional 10 minutes (freezing our *sses off by then) to tell us about 10 places we "just had to see" while in Maine. She sent us off to warm up in the car with a hearty "You'll find just what you're looking for here!" What a welcome! No-one in Texas has ever greeted us like that when visiting their town.

Well, the sign went up yesterday, got all the pics taken and the MLS listing is active. We had our first showing impromptu style when an agent from our realtor's office just stopped in this morning. Fortunately, the house was already clean and me and the kids fully dressed - amazing! I guess it was a good first day!

We're STILL *almost* finished with getting all the details taken care of. This next 4 days of DH being home, we should be able to knock out the last little details. It's only a matter of time and you folks will be having to talk to me face to face - especially YOU Forest!! I'm going to be on your door step bright and early one day to get some fresh produce.

[BobTex]

Alright Molly and Mainers! Not moving yet (Wife has gotten cold feet when I started talking seriously), BUT, I'm flying in to Bangor on Thursday night the 27th for a week of R&R with my dear friend and bestest fishing buddy who now lives in the Levant area! Only bad thing is I'll be on the "redeye" coming in at 11:15PM .... yuk! Got an excellent ticket price though!

How cold are the mornings now ... or maybe I should use the term "cool"? (rarely gets in the 20's here in East Texas). Any freezes yet? I remember fishing a tournament a few years back in late Sept. on Alamoosook Lake out of Bucksport and the temp at the start was 27* with a 15mph wind .... brrrrrr .... wasn't even acclimated for that!

See y'all soon! I'm excited!

[Elcarim]

Aw, Bob! Can I stow away in your biggest suitcase????? Pleeeeeze!!!!!

[Elcarim]

Wow, I had to really dig to find this thread!

Ok. I officially would like to SPIT on my realtors ALREADY. Sorry MBM! You'd think when you're going to be paying someone thousands of dollars to do something, you'd get a little service.

How the heck do you get them out to take the pics you've requested and to correct their errors on the MLS listing??? Been asking for 5 days now. It's been "passed" along to the guy who handles that sort of stuff. So when will it be done?

I can tell this is going to be a long and grueling process for me of little patience!!!

[Submariner]

Originally Posted by Elcarim

Wow, I had to really dig to find this thread!

Ok. I officially would like to SPIT on my realtors ALREADY. Sorry MBM! You'd think when you're going to be paying someone thousands of dollars to do something, you'd get a little service.

How the heck do you get them out to take the pics you've requested and to correct their errors on the MLS listing??? Been asking for 5 days now. It's been "passed" along to the guy who handles that sort of stuff. So when will it be done?

I can tell this is going to be a long and grueling process for me of little patience!!!

Keep in mind not all realtors are idiots. In our dealings with realtors we would only want to spit on 29 out of every 30. Get a big enough group of realtors and eventually you can find one that is okay [not decent just okay].

If you insist on going through a realtor, it is just something that you get used to. Very much like used car dealers have a reputation for being, only I have found that many more used car dealers are actually decent folk, unlike realtors.

[mainewannabe]

Have a wonderful and safe journey. Tell your wife that I am pleased for her to have such a loving man who cares to show her what's important to him.

That's just awesome all the way around.

Originally Posted by doozer

Good idea for a new thread! so many of us are thinking of moving up to Maine. My wife and I are coming up there on Oct 11th for a few days, just to check out the area and talk with my potential employer.

My wife has never been on an airplane and I know shes scared. We have to take 2 planes to get there. The first one is a 737 to Washington, than a much smaller plane to Portland. I dont have the heart to tell her about the much smaller plane. We might have to atually walk out on the tarmac and climb up the planes steps... I think shes gonna faint when that happens. And then we have to do the same on the way back! It doesnt bother me, but I know she wont like it!

We cant wait to get there and just take a ride up the coast. I really want to see the old cemetary and church that dates back to 1755, and all the poeople buried there are my ancestors from that time. My last name is Penley. Its Penly corner church, on Penley corner rd. in (or just outside) of Auburn. Very exciting. I saw it when I was a teenager, cant wait to show my wife.

[mainewannabe]

Originally Posted by mollysmiles

I thought it would be nice to have a thread for those moving to Maine to post and share their experiences. This is a place to share how you came to your decision, what you're currently doing to get ready for the move, how the job search is going (if there is one), and maybe share some of the information you learned during research! AFTER you get here, you can come back and let us know how it's going, and post any "words of wisdom" you may have!

Elcarim, please don't spit on your realtor. yet. LOL.

Molly this is the coolest idea ---
So far I have almost bought a house -- it's still out there. I'm not worried about the job hunt --- we may travel some before we actually live in Maine but maine is where we're coming home to when we're done. Please don't misconstrue that we will be on cruises through here and there and staying at five star hotels ... we will be seeing europe on a teeny tiny little shoe string ... bits of it at a time.
We feel like we already live in maine and are exhibiting real impatience with the surroundings we have mentally left behind.
In fact, we took a family vote and said ... will we just BOLT or hack it out a bit longer???

We want to come NOW for the weather but if we don't then it would probably be in February --- if we come then we are afraid April will scare us ... but we'll probably end up there sometime between Christmas and April. Or next week. LOL !!!
My house has been 'sold'.... there are people crawling through the bushes at night taking measurements of the acreage they are so desperate for this particular property.
There's one teeny little problem: THEIR idea of fair (LOL) isn't even CLOSE to what the property is worth so we're just staring at each other over the fence now. More or less.
This could go on for years so we finally just decided to close it up, hire someone to watch it ... bolt with lesser money ..... keep it for a primary residence and buy a 'vacation home' in maine which we will call a secondary residence so as not to be tax cheats but just live in it more. We're not putting up with this heat another year. IF I were still here by this time next year it would do bad things to my mental faculties. Every day we talk about how beautiful it would be right now in maine. And, yes, in fairness we also talked about the few really beautiful airy days we've enjoyed here lately. Very few. It's very very very hot this year.

Let's see --- I'm half mad. (as in crazy, luv)
Half packed. No plans for anything that's sensible.
Molly comforts me because she'll understand this. seat of the pants and such.
We'll be able to live pretty well but we'll come with a bunch of stuff and nowhere to stash it as I had planned so that will mean the whole deal with storage and renting and moving ..... I just wanted to go from house to house -- none of the inbetweeny stuff.

In the end, it will all work out fine. I'm just hoping that while we're abroad some little town with big-eyed children and scenery singing to be painted and people who make us feel loved does not distract us from our Maine.
We have very firm resolve and beliefs that every little thing is working out just fine.
And, who knows? Before I finally say ... OKAY, pack the truck --- maybe I'll find a house that I love without all the side details of storage, etc....
If that happens I'll consider it perfect.
Any other little snags --- I'm going to consider as an opportunity for learning.
I'm feeling very peaceful and absolutely correct ...