Can't wait to get to Maine! (Bangor, Hope: real estate, apartment, rental)

[bignhfamily]

Hello to All,
Just needed to let everybody know how anxious we are to get to Maine and how fortunate those of you who are already there are (like you need to be told)
My family and I have been looking for our farm in Maine for several years now. We have narrowed down our search to 50 miles or so North/West of Bangor. We took a big leap last year when we sold our house here in small town NH and moved our family of 6 into a 2 bedroom apartment. No turning back now!
I am a contractor who specializes in historic renovations. I travel all over Northern New England with my projects. I currently (since September) have been renovating a early 1800's era house on the North Shore in MA. I was there for the snow storm on Thursday night. What a huge bunch of lunatics! I was never happier to get into the truck and head home on Friday. My time there has completely reconfirmed my decision to move to rural Maine. Not that our home here in NH is bad, but the trend of developing is smothering us here. We have lost so much of our workable farmland to houses.
I solemnly promise not to try to change the town that we move to. We just want a place to raise our kids and animals. No politics, no posting properties, just simple rural living.
It's been a busy weekend - cut down the Christmas tree, had church dinner and Pageant Saturday (kids were shepherds and angels and I was a wise man) and 3rd Sunday of Advent today (our families week to light the advent candle - though hardly anyone was there because of the Nor'easter). Unfortunately I must head back to MA in the morning for part of this week. But the great news is that I should be done by Wed and this is the last trip down. The rest of the winter I will be working near home.
We hope to make another couple of trips up to Maine over the holidays and the kids winter vacation in Feb. We have set June 2008 as our absolute latest date to get up to Maine. It's been real tough having 4 kids (10yrs, 8yrs, 5yrs and 6 months) in a 2 bedroom apt for almost 2 years especially for DW when I'm out of town with work, but it will all be worth it when we find our piece of Maine.
Thanks for listening and God Bless!

[dramamama6685]

I think we will only be about 4 hours or so away once we're all up there.. I feel a party coming on! Good luck in your hunt for a farm.

[bignhfamily]

Originally Posted by dramamama6685

I think we will only be about 4 hours or so away once we're all up there.. I feel a party coming on! Good luck in your hunt for a farm.

Thanks dramamama,
Always love a good party and best of luck with your move as well.

[mollysmiles]

Good luck finding your property! Hopefully someone here can help with some leads and you'll be on your way soon Have a wonderful Christmas!

[bignhfamily]

Originally Posted by mollysmiles

Good luck finding your property! Hopefully someone here can help with some leads and you'll be on your way soon Have a wonderful Christmas!

Thanks molly, I am already getting some great leads that I'm looking forward to pursuing. Merry Christmas to you as well!

[forest beekeeper]

Come on up and enjoy

[Trailmonkey]

I hope you have a very merry Christmas. We lived with 5 kids and an exchange student in a small apartment while we were building our current house. It can be done when you can see the goal. Let us know if we can do anything to help.

[elston]

I keep seeing wonderful properties, that I fall in love with. Since I have no set destination I get distracted by real estate searches on line that yield exciting possible future homes. I go thru all the mental exercise of researching the area, imagining a life there and then when it goes off the market or I hear a discouraging word, I move on....but one of my all time favorites JUST returned! So once again I am constructing a fantasy life around that one. When I sell here I can get up there and get serious.

[mollysmiles]

Elston I can see how easy it would be to do that! Are you going to stay with your son while you "shop", or try to rent first? I can't remember if you said Being here will definitely help narrow things down even further for you. Are you making a list of the properties that you especially like? Hopefully when the times comes you'll be able to see them, at least some of them!, in person

[elston]

Originally Posted by mollysmiles

Elston I can see how easy it would be to do that! Are you going to stay with your son while you "shop", or try to rent first? I can't remember if you said Being here will definitely help narrow things down even further for you. Are you making a list of the properties that you especially like? Hopefully when the times comes you'll be able to see them, at least some of them!, in person

Both of my Maine sons have really small homes, really just enough room for them--and one son has house mates sharing his little place. We are hoping that we can skip the middle step and find and close on a suitable place and move directly in. I know that that really puts the pressure on and I appreciate the old adage, Act in Haste, Regret at Leisure; however that is our plan.

I just dread the thought of moving everything, storing all our stuff, or even worse, packing and unpacking and moving again within the year, and moving into a rental with 2 dogs. I keep seeing such fantastic homes that unless they are next door to the piggery or down the street from the gas works, I would be happy to live in with full pride of ownership...that I anticipate being able to move directly. We will have to do some fast flying and shpping but that is our plan. We do see houses that appear to be vacant at the present time or that we know have been on the market for 3 mos or more....so those owners are probably ready to move quickly too (I hope).