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I did recently look at one of those comparison charts too. It seems we can have the same quality of life in maine with several thousands of dollars less than we have in Oregon.
Ok so the car fees go down significantly after about 4 years. That's good to know. I'm not actually sure how "cold" it gets here in Oregon. Before we moved, we were told the winters get pretty freezing and our area gets snow. Well it's a very off winter. The coldest it ever got was 30 degrees! I feel cheated. We were also looking at a house here, 2 bedrooms, 1 bath, nothing special, $209,000 and that's still the least expensive. So I looked up houses in East Millinocket, Maine. 4 bedrooms, huge houses for $50,000. That's unheard of on the west coast anywhere I've been.
The low price is because the towns largest employer closed it's doors last winter. It won't be back. You wait another year, the prices should be even lower.
Ok so the car fees go down significantly after about 4 years. That's good to know. I'm not actually sure how "cold" it gets here in Oregon. Before we moved, we were told the winters get pretty freezing and our area gets snow. Well it's a very off winter. The coldest it ever got was 30 degrees! I feel cheated. We were also looking at a house here, 2 bedrooms, 1 bath, nothing special, $209,000 and that's still the least expensive. So I looked up houses in East Millinocket, Maine. 4 bedrooms, huge houses for $50,000. That's unheard of on the west coast anywhere I've been.
Some websites you can look at, seem to focus on the highest cost regions of Maine.
If you can find employment [or if you are on pension], these low prices can be a boon for you.
As with any area recently hit with economic recession, you would expect to see more instances of the unemployed stripping pipes and wiring from abandoned houses. Anything for a few bucks. This is set in a scene where the state as a whole has had long-term economic struggling for many decades. Over all they are used to it.
Fewer jobs and lower wages allow for much lower priced homes and Cost-Of-Living.
If your income allows you to travel, then it can be a huge benefit to live in a depressed region.
Just keep in mind that the locals will be upset that: their wages are not higher, and there are so few jobs.
I did recently look at one of those comparison charts too. It seems we can have the same quality of life in maine with several thousands of dollars less than we have in Oregon.
That's good...I'm not trying to discourage you. I just don't want you to have any surprises.
We're considering moving to the PNW in a few years. When I compare the cost of living in southern Maine to the cost of living in Salem, Oregon. Salem wins by a hair.
BUT, If I compared Portland, Oregon to Houlton, Me., Houlton would probably win by a landslide.
Moving cross-country is an adventure and I do wish you luck.
Property taxes in Houlton are actually kinda rugged for what I would expect. We looked up there at one time. I think everyone can expect property taxes to go up quite a bit if the Governor's plan to eliminate revenue sharing with the municipalities succeeds (which it won't, hopefully). I know the tax on our small farm would be expected to double, at which point this kid reconsiders everything.
Thank you! Good luck to you too, although I will say, I've been to Salem Oregon once and it definitely was dirtier than I expected. Nearby Keizer would be a better place to live IMO. Thanks for being honest too. Ever since I was a kid, I've always loved reading about New England and it just seems so beautiful I'll definitely have to do a lot more research before choosing an area.
... We're considering moving to the PNW in a few years. When I compare the cost of living in southern Maine to the cost of living in Salem, Oregon. Salem wins by a hair.
BUT, If I compared Portland, Oregon to Houlton, Me., Houlton would probably win by a landslide.
Moving cross-country is an adventure and I do wish you luck.
We lived in Washington for a few years. That is a very nice area. We liked Greys Harbor and the Olympic Penn.
I hate TO BREak it to you, but LePage is not interested in eliminating the income tax. He only put that into his inauguration speech because discussion about further tax reform is stalled, and he knew that bringing out a subject like this would galvanize it. Going to a high sales tax would only put the onus on the people who can least avoid it.
So I looked up houses in East Millinocket, Maine. 4 bedrooms, huge houses for $50,000. That's unheard of on the west coast anywhere I've been.
HA!! Might wanna do some more research next time; East Millinocket is so cheap because it's an entire area of unemployed people (it's infamous; the paper industry there died off in the past couple decades and now it's so bad the town spends its little tax money on all this research to find out what they can do to not become an entire town of homeless people) and it has some of the worst schools in the entire state. So yes, you could live there cheaply... where you'd have no job and nothing to do and your kids would be getting lessons from 30 year old textbooks.
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I'll definitely have to do a lot more research before choosing an area.
