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Old 10-21-2007, 06:01 AM
 
Location: Maryland
36 posts, read 91,718 times
Reputation: 37

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We are trying to remain positive about a potential move to Maine within 4 years or bust!!!

I keep looking at cost of living calculators, they get higher and higher each time I look. And can any one elaborate on healthcare? Do most companies (medium to large) offer healthcare? Is healthcare in ME good? That is what is important. It is escalating in all areas, but research does point to higher than average healthcare in Maine.

We currently live in one of the lowest cost of living areas of the US (I think), but that also comes at a cost for employment opportunity.

No word on the jobs I have applied for, I am positive - but not an agressive type. I am freaked out about phone interviews, but really enjoy face to face.

My husband will be unemployed in about 8 working days. So change is upon us. We both love our current jobs and enjoy working in general (provided we work with a fairly pleasent group of people).

I rant - as you can see mind/moving wise we are in limbo. Neither of us are excited about a December/January move. Maybe I should hit the pavement harder come spring.

Life is good for now. But moving to Maine is on our horizon

Beautiful Weekend here in MD! Hope every one is out there enjoying themselves... It is now leaf peeper season here
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Old 10-21-2007, 07:12 AM
 
Location: Maine
5,054 posts, read 12,418,445 times
Reputation: 1869
You have to be careful with the cost of living calculators, as they typical only list the major metro areas in each state from what I've seen. And you can buy a house for $400,000 in Houston, then come up my way 35 minutes and buy the same house for $100,000. You'll make $14.00/hr for a position in Houston and the same position only pays $10.00/hr here. That has been my problem with comparing our current COL to anywhere I want to go. And the only choices on most calculators for Maine are Portland and Bangor. If you've found a more comprehensive site, please share with the class!

Those things are too generalized, IMO.
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Old 10-21-2007, 08:16 AM
 
Location: Forests of Maine
37,443 posts, read 61,352,754 times
Reputation: 30387
Quote:
Originally Posted by Elcarim View Post
You have to be careful with the cost of living calculators, as they typical only list the major metro areas in each state from what I've seen. And you can buy a house for $400,000 in Houston, then come up my way 35 minutes and buy the same house for $100,000. You'll make $14.00/hr for a position in Houston and the same position only pays $10.00/hr here. That has been my problem with comparing our current COL to anywhere I want to go. And the only choices on most calculators for Maine are Portland and Bangor. If you've found a more comprehensive site, please share with the class!

Those things are too generalized, IMO.
I agree.

We have also played with those calculators.

But then you look at the situation that we have found here in Argyle, it just does not fit into anything that those calculators say.

Maine has 414 unorganized townships. Low populations in all of them. Low taxes, lots of forestry and farming. These are just completely different places than Portland / Bangor.

For $100k you can possibly buy a slum 1bdrm in Portland;
or a run-down shabby 2bdrm in Bangor;
or a five bdrm farmhouse with a dairy barn on 50 acres in Levant;
or 300acres in the township of R-11 [okay fine I just made up the R-11 township, I know that a bunch of the unorganized townships have no names just a letter and a number, so I used R-11 as an example of one such township].

Your own mileage will vary.

By the way, my DW works in Bangor, at a grocery store on the loading dock / warehouse, and she makes $16.40/hour part-time. We live in a neighboring town where you could have a 1bdrm cabin on 10 acres of forest with riverfrontage and pay $30/year property taxes.

Where does that reality fit into those calculators?

It doesn't.

May God bless you
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Old 10-21-2007, 09:31 AM
 
19 posts, read 82,161 times
Reputation: 19
Quote:
Originally Posted by quelly View Post
We are trying to remain positive about a potential move to Maine within 4 years or bust!!!

I keep looking at cost of living calculators, they get higher and higher each time I look. And can any one elaborate on healthcare? Do most companies (medium to large) offer healthcare? Is healthcare in ME good? That is what is important. It is escalating in all areas, but research does point to higher than average healthcare in Maine.

We currently live in one of the lowest cost of living areas of the US (I think), but that also comes at a cost for employment opportunity.

No word on the jobs I have applied for, I am positive - but not an agressive type. I am freaked out about phone interviews, but really enjoy face to face.

My husband will be unemployed in about 8 working days. So change is upon us. We both love our current jobs and enjoy working in general (provided we work with a fairly pleasent group of people).

I rant - as you can see mind/moving wise we are in limbo. Neither of us are excited about a December/January move. Maybe I should hit the pavement harder come spring.

Life is good for now. But moving to Maine is on our horizon

Beautiful Weekend here in MD! Hope every one is out there enjoying themselves... It is now leaf peeper season here

On the job front - not a lot of employers contacted us until we actually had a Maine address so don't be dicouraged. We temp. moved in with friends in the state after our house sold so we were able to use their address for our job applications while searching for our new real estate in Maine.
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Old 10-21-2007, 03:21 PM
 
Location: God's Country, Maine
2,054 posts, read 4,577,484 times
Reputation: 1305
Default healthcare in ME

Quote:
Originally Posted by quelly View Post
We are trying to remain positive about a potential move to Maine within 4 years or bust!!!

I keep looking at cost of living calculators, they get higher and higher each time I look. And can any one elaborate on healthcare? Do most companies (medium to large) offer healthcare? Is healthcare in ME good? That is what is important. It is escalating in all areas, but research does point to higher than average healthcare in Maine.

We currently live in one of the lowest cost of living areas of the US (I think), but that also comes at a cost for employment opportunity.

No word on the jobs I have applied for, I am positive - but not an agressive type. I am freaked out about phone interviews, but really enjoy face to face.

My husband will be unemployed in about 8 working days. So change is upon us. We both love our current jobs and enjoy working in general (provided we work with a fairly pleasent group of people).

I rant - as you can see mind/moving wise we are in limbo. Neither of us are excited about a December/January move. Maybe I should hit the pavement harder come spring.

Life is good for now. But moving to Maine is on our horizon

Beautiful Weekend here in MD! Hope every one is out there enjoying themselves... It is now leaf peeper season here
Be prepared. If you're employer does not carry a good health care plan in Maine, you might be budgeting $8,000 and up to $17.000 per year, depending what kind of plan you want.
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Old 10-22-2007, 05:19 PM
 
Location: Northern Maine
10,428 posts, read 18,673,204 times
Reputation: 11563
There are essentially two medical insurance carriers in Maine; Blue Cross/ Anthem and Humana. Blue Cross is called Anthem in Maine. A family of four can buy medical insurance in New Hampshire for 1/4 the cost of Maine. How come? In New Hampshire there are dozens of companies and plans to choose from and they have a wonderful thing called competition to keep their costs down.

Maine's government will not allow competition.
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Old 10-22-2007, 05:29 PM
 
378 posts, read 1,030,561 times
Reputation: 101
Default thanks forest

i learn SO MUCH from you



Quote:
Originally Posted by forest beekeeper View Post
I agree.

We have also played with those calculators.

But then you look at the situation that we have found here in Argyle, it just does not fit into anything that those calculators say.

Maine has 414 unorganized townships. Low populations in all of them. Low taxes, lots of forestry and farming. These are just completely different places than Portland / Bangor.

For $100k you can possibly buy a slum 1bdrm in Portland;
or a run-down shabby 2bdrm in Bangor;
or a five bdrm farmhouse with a dairy barn on 50 acres in Levant;
or 300acres in the township of R-11 [okay fine I just made up the R-11 township, I know that a bunch of the unorganized townships have no names just a letter and a number, so I used R-11 as an example of one such township].

Your own mileage will vary.

By the way, my DW works in Bangor, at a grocery store on the loading dock / warehouse, and she makes $16.40/hour part-time. We live in a neighboring town where you could have a 1bdrm cabin on 10 acres of forest with riverfrontage and pay $30/year property taxes.

Where does that reality fit into those calculators?

It doesn't.

May God bless you
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Old 10-22-2007, 06:46 PM
 
Location: Forests of Maine
37,443 posts, read 61,352,754 times
Reputation: 30387
Quote:
Originally Posted by Northern Maine Land Man View Post
There are essentially two medical insurance carriers in Maine; Blue Cross/ Anthem and Humana. Blue Cross is called Anthem in Maine. A family of four can buy medical insurance in New Hampshire for 1/4 the cost of Maine. How come? In New Hampshire there are dozens of companies and plans to choose from and they have a wonderful thing called competition to keep their costs down.

Maine's government will not allow competition.
We use Martin's Point Health Insurance Co.
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Old 10-23-2007, 05:33 AM
 
Location: Virginia
6 posts, read 15,353 times
Reputation: 10
Thanks everyone for responding to my post - it sounds like there are a lot of different viewpoints on living in Maine but many indicate the risk is worth the reward.
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Old 10-23-2007, 05:51 AM
 
Location: Forests of Maine
37,443 posts, read 61,352,754 times
Reputation: 30387
It is well worth it.

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