Need info on Lewiston area (Portland, Bangor: low income, real estate, apartments)

[primrose]

We may be relocating to the Lewiston area from Wisconsin, and I have some questions on the area:

- What towns are within a 30 minute commute to Lewiston? We are looking for at least a 3 bedroom house for $175k or less. Acreage would be nice, but isn't necessary.

- Is the area family-friendly? Are people generally welcoming and accepting?

- Do the towns have good resources for residents like libraries, park programs, etc?

- What is the availability of good medical care? I need to have a great gastro & allergist for a medical condition I have. I'm willing to drive.

- Is the area friendly to homeschoolers? We homeschool and would like to know that there are others in the area so we can participate in some groups.

Any information is greatly appreciated! Thank you so much!

[island mermaid]

Originally Posted by primrose

We may be relocating to the Lewiston area from Wisconsin, and I have some questions on the area:

- What towns are within a 30 minute commute to Lewiston? We are looking for at least a 3 bedroom house for $175k or less. Acreage would be nice, but isn't necessary.

- Is the area family-friendly? Are people generally welcoming and accepting?

- Do the towns have good resources for residents like libraries, park programs, etc?

- What is the availability of good medical care? I need to have a great gastro & allergist for a medical condition I have. I'm willing to drive.

- Is the area friendly to homeschoolers? We homeschool and would like to know that there are others in the area so we can participate in some groups.

Any information is greatly appreciated! Thank you so much!

In my opinion, Lewiston is not the best place to raise a young family. While it does have a few nice neighborhoods, I would suggest looking at the smaller towns outside of the 'city'. Search for smaller towns like Greene, Leeds, Wales,Turner and the Topsham/Brunswick area. There are other small towns as well within 30 minutes. All are family friendly and Mainers are very open to homeschooling. The state provides a great educational program that helps parents in many ways to accomplish their goals. You will find homeschool groups in most areas.

Central Maine Medical Center in Lewiston is pretty reputable and has many great docs within their network, including allergists and gastro docs.

Others here in the forum are more familiar with your real estate needs and will offer you more info in that regard.

Libraries and park programs are available, if you live in one of the smaller towns you might have to drive a little to find a bigger program.

Good luck with your search!

[flycessna]

I am from Ma and lived in Lewiston for 10 yrs. I currently live in Lewiston’s sister city, Auburn. I was involved in LE and owned rental property their. There is no more crime in Lewiston then in any other city in Maine. In fact their crime rate is now lower than Bangor and Portland. My wife grew up in Lewiston, was educated there, and went off to college as did all her friends. Just about all of them have returned and built homes to raise their children there. All her family still live there and work there. Some own their own business’s and all are educated. I find Lewiston to have a rich history with a very bad and undeserving reputation. I know so many people from some of the small town’s outside the city or from southern Maine that have no idea what the city is really like. The outskirts are just as quiet and residential as any other suburban neighborhood. Their downtown is less than 1 square mile if mix use business and mixed low income apartment buildings and probably less than 40% of that areas residenceI could be considered rif raf. But still hardly and area where I would lock my doors on my car if I drove through.

The city has changed so much in the last 10 yrs. Once an a huge Mill town with a rich history the town suffered greatly when the Mills started closing their doors. The last ten years though the city has experienced its own renaissance and there has been HUGE investments into the city.

Off the top of my head, since 2000 there has been over 350 MILLION dollars in new investment (construction) creating thousands of jobs including but limited to; Wal-Mart’s 500,000 SF distribution center, Central Maine’s Medical Center’s multi million construction of a new cardiovascular center, TD Bank North’s renovations of Mill’s 7 and 6 bringing over a 1000 jobs to the city, Oxford networks head quarters, Northeast bank, Andover College, and much much more are ALL new to Lewiston.

You can ultimately research all this information. The city provides affordable housing (3br 2ba 175k…nice neighborhood, no problem) There are 2 major hospitals CMMC and St. Mary’s, we have one of the best gastro in Dr. O’Conner (70 bates st), and a 30 min drive can bring you from Portland to Augusta .

So, if you are seriously considering a move to central Maine, and are looking for what you mentioned…how can you not consider Lewiston. It is at least worth a closer look

[juststoppinby]

I agree with flycessna. I lived in a small town outside of Lewiston/Auburn for many years. I then moved to Lewiston. I lived in a nice neighborhood. flycessna you are right, Lewiston often gets a very undeserved reputation. I homeschooled my daughter for a year and went through a program in Lewiston. It has been a few years but I believe it was called Homeschool of Me. I remember going there and having them help me with all of the legalities, they helped with lesson plans and with all of the state requirements. They were great.
I have since moved from Lewiston but go there often to visit family and friends. I would move back there again if I could.
All cities and towns have a good side and a bad side. It is up to us as individuals to seek out the good and contribute to it. I think if more people, myself included, tried to help take care of some of the bad it might make a difference.
Lewiston has a downtown area that has low income apartments. It has a bad reputation and some of it is true, however, not all of the people living there are bad people. They are just people in a bad situation. I would not hesitate driving there at night or walking there for that matter.
Some of the smaller towns outside that area are very nice also. If you are set on choosing a smaller town, make sure to consider, Hebron, Minot, Poland, and Oxford. Those are all smaller towns within a 30 minute drive and are beautiful towns. Good luck to you!

[primrose]

Thanks so much for the feedback, it is very helpful!

[DreamworksSKG]

Towns to consider are:

Buckfield, Hebron, Otisfield, Oxford, Gray, Sebago Lake, Norway, Hebron, Paris, Waterford, greenwood, Sumner, Hartford, Livermore, Canton, Leeds, Wayne, Turner, Monmouth, Winthrop, Gardiner, Litchfield, Wales Corner, Sabbatus, Webster Corner, Richmond, Bowdoinham, West Bowdoin, Durham, Cumberland Center, Falmouth, Yarmouth, Topsham, Brunswick, bath, and Freeport.

The best areas would be Sebago Lake , Freeport, Minot, hebron, Litcheifled, Gray, Durham, Brunswick, Yarmouth, Oxford, Buckfield, Poland, and Monmouth. in my opinion

Freeport would be close to midcoast, and coastal maine as well as on the highway to portland. And you could take 136 through small maine towns to get to lewiston about a 10 mile commute.
plus you'd be near the shopping areas and the beaches.. in summer time

Sebago Lake is beautiful too and about 14-15 miles from Lewiston/Auburn area also close to Southern Maine and Portland.

Monmouth area is between Augusta and Lewiston/Auburn and is a nice lake area...for recreation! Also not far from the midcoast.

Topsham/Brunswick and Bath would be about 12-18 mile commutes to Lewiston....right close to eh midcoast...and within easy ride to augusta and portland.

-Jeff
Winchester, MA