Moving To Maine (Portland, Cape Elizabeth, Yarmouth: real estate, apartments, chapel)

[Coastofmaine]

Can anyone tell me about the Freeport, Maine area? We have two children and are looking at this town. We have also looked at Yarmouth, but feel Freeport is more genuine in it's character and people. I have read good threads about Cape Elizabeth and am wondering if we should consider this town. Schools are very important of course and I am very well aware of school consolidation happening in Maine. I know Yarmouth and Cape Elizabeth chose to be exempt. We are looking for a community that is genuine and real, not a "keeping up with the Jones's" type of town. We are currently living in North Carolina and can't wait to move back home to New England. We have been down here 2 yrs now. My husband and I use to sail off the coast of Maine before kids and are anxious to get back to the beautiful coastline. The coastline down here is NOTHING compared to New England. We know that now. We really want to pick the right community surrounding the Portland area. Any feedback would be most appreciated

[WhoFanMe]

Welcome Coast. If I were working with you, I'd advise you to find the type of home you're looking for (bedrooms, baths, sq. feet, age, lot size, etc.) in several different towns surrounding Greater Portland and look at all of them. Good luck and keep us posted!

[msina]

Welcome to the forums! I think a lot of young people benefit by travelling and living in differant places. It does give you a new appreciation of home and you learn so much! I hope you find your perfect home.

[Coastofmaine]

Originally Posted by WhoFanMe

Welcome Coast. If I were working with you, I'd advise you to find the type of home you're looking for (bedrooms, baths, sq. feet, age, lot size, etc.) in several different towns surrounding Greater Portland and look at all of them. Good luck and keep us posted!

We are very familiar with the are. I am looking for more insight on these communities that you don't get from looking at statistics. Can you offer any of this insight I am looking for with Freeport vs. Yarmouth vs. Cape Elizabeth vs. Cumberland? I visited the middles schools in Yarmouth & Freeport. To be perfectly honest, they were more accommodating and welcoming in Freeport. I didn't get that genuine feeling in the Yarmouth school, more like "all business" and no nurturing for the whole child, just numbers. Is my gut feeling right? Would appreciate any honest input you could share. Thanks

[mollysmiles]

For me personally I'd choose Yarmouth over Freeport in a heartbeat. I'm not a traffic lover, and I can't see myself tolerating the main street in Freeport well at all. I like the feel of Yarmouth....in many parts it still feels like the small town that it once was, with the downtown area, the skating pond, the old mill, the old houses....and definitely the old train station. I don't get the same feeling when I'm in Freeport, I get lost in the retail hub-bub of the area. I have been outside of the main street, and do appreciate the waterfront and those areas, but the over all feel isn't for me. I haven't spent a lot of time in Cumberland.....or Cumberland Foreside....but DH, who grew up in Yarmouth and lived there until '02, enjoys the feel of those communities. I'll see if he'll hop on here later and send along some insight. His sons all went to Yarmouth schools, now two of them are teachers in different areas. He also has a sister still living in Yarmouth, and both her children have been through Yarmouth school, both YHS and NYA more recently--one is a senior this year and one graduated two years ago.

[island mermaid]

I've got to go with Yarmouth too. IMO, the summer and holiday traffic in Freeport is unbearable. I couldn't even imagine what it would be like to try to get into that town or out of it on a daily basis, just to do my errands or get to work, schools etc. The outer areas maybe towards Flying Point Rd - towards Wolfsneck maybe. Perhaps the other side of 95 towards Pownal, but never close enough to town to have deal with the shopping tourists.

IMO, Yarmouth has more of a community feel to it also.

Good luck in your search!

[WhoFanMe]

Originally Posted by Coastofmaine

We are very familiar with the are. I am looking for more insight on these communities that you don't get from looking at statistics. Can you offer any of this insight I am looking for with Freeport vs. Yarmouth vs. Cape Elizabeth vs. Cumberland? I visited the middles schools in Yarmouth & Freeport. To be perfectly honest, they were more accommodating and welcoming in Freeport. I didn't get that genuine feeling in the Yarmouth school, more like "all business" and no nurturing for the whole child, just numbers. Is my gut feeling right? Would appreciate any honest input you could share. Thanks

Coast, since I don't represent you, I have to extremely careful about what I say, in order to keep in compliance with Maine Law and the Real Estate Commission. In addition, we are also advised to let clients and customers form their own opinions about schools rather than have us open up to the liability issues that could arise from a recommendation about a school system. As one of my early trainers says, "talk about houses, not about people." We've been instructed to help you find the information on schools that you need, which you are already on top of. City-Data is a fantastic place to get this information from non-licensed real I hope you understand that I'm giving you the run around, I'm just staying in compliance with the rules and regulations I live with everyday. Sorry I couldn't be more help.

[Maineah]

I have to agree with Mollysmiles on this one. Look for an older post called Yarmouth and Cumberland. I grew up in Yarmouth and wrote about it in that post along with other folks who know the area. Having said all that I live in Freeport. There is no small town feeling here at all in my opinion. The downtown retail shops took away that feeling (if there was one) many years ago. They still keep building more and more retail stores even though there are empty buildings throughout the town. I know there has to be places for retail and as long as I can find the town office for licenses and registrations that's all I need. Freeport was never the post card little New England town Yarmouth, Wiscassett,Camden and some other coastal towns are. Freeport was a shoe shop town filled with a number of large,old run down shoe factories. These places were as close to sweat shops as you're likely to find anywhere. Development happened in the early eighties with high end retailer Cole Haan shoe buying the old hardware store on Main Street across from LL Bean and it just exploded from there. Some may argue, though I believe the retail boom in the town has made a vast improvement in the overall appearance and property values in Freeport. It really was an old beat up mill town before the early 80's. The value of the properties under the old shoe factories was far in excess of the actual factory's value and one by one they were sold off to LL Bean or developers and torn down. The land was worth more as a parking lot. A great many old houses were converted from residential homes to retail space. Which in a way is too bad but who wants to live next door to Abercrombie and Fitch or The Gap anyway? People saw the value of their main street property skyrocket and did the American thing...they sold out..Even the old town library was sold for retail space.
Many old sea captains houses in Yarmouth suffered the same fate though instead of retail they were converted to apartments,doctors offices,lawyer's offices and even restaurants. Through it all Yarmouth has maintained the small village feeling due mostly to an intact down town area which still has a centralized village green, the town office, police, library, skating pond and an old log cabin which belongs to the American Legion.

We were fortunate to get a really good deal on an old farmhouse on property owned by my wife's family. Otherwise we'd probably be living in Yarmouth. We live on the west side of I-95 so we're in the country so to speak. I don't shop much so I rarely go to downtown Freeport for any reason.

[Coastofmaine]

Originally Posted by mollysmiles

For me personally I'd choose Yarmouth over Freeport in a heartbeat. I'm not a traffic lover, and I can't see myself tolerating the main street in Freeport well at all. I like the feel of Yarmouth....in many parts it still feels like the small town that it once was, with the downtown area, the skating pond, the old mill, the old houses....and definitely the old train station. I don't get the same feeling when I'm in Freeport, I get lost in the retail hub-bub of the area. I have been outside of the main street, and do appreciate the waterfront and those areas, but the over all feel isn't for me. I haven't spent a lot of time in Cumberland.....or Cumberland Foreside....but DH, who grew up in Yarmouth and lived there until '02, enjoys the feel of those communities. I'll see if he'll hop on here later and send along some insight. His sons all went to Yarmouth schools, now two of them are teachers in different areas. He also has a sister still living in Yarmouth, and both her children have been through Yarmouth school, both YHS and NYA more recently--one is a senior this year and one graduated two years ago.

Thank you so much for your input. We've been looking around Freeport, but I feel I need to rethink this and look more at Yarmouth. We love the South Freeport section, and have seen some possible, affordable homes. I really want to find the right community with good schools in the Portland area and am willing to pay a little more. My son who starts high school next year is a straight A student and I feel he is not being challenged down here in NC. I sometimes get weary of all the accolades I read about Yarmouth. Living here in Chapel Hill, NC the schools here get all kinds of accolades which I believe are very overrated. They are also overcrowded. The high school age group are extremely pressured by grades and affluent parents who put a lot of pressure on the system. That is a big reason why we want to come back to New England with smaller communities that pay attention and know their students by name. Maybe I am being too harsh on Yarmouth because of my experiences down here. I understand Freeport has a solid high school but the middle school is questionable. My daughter will be starting middle school. As a concerned mother I really want to do what's best for my children and have them live in a community where they feel welcome and a part of something. As you mentioned, if DH could offer me any insight that would be most appreciated. I really want to get this going and move back HOME!!! Thanks again

[Maineah]

I have a son who will graduate from Freeport High in June. It has been a challenge for us to keep him interested in his studies. He's a bright kid and he's been bored to tears in Freeport. He breezes through all of his courses and though he could have easily attained straight A's he won't put the effort in to it. He's content with all B's and doing whatever he needs to do at the very last minute. His mother told him she'd never nag him about grades if he would just prove to her he could actually do A work. He did it for two semesters then told her he was going back to B's and not to nag him anymore. This lack of motivation and challenge trickles down to everything he does. He's a great kid but motivation and enthusiasm is just not there.
My daughter who graduated From Freeport four years ago struggled to maintain a high "c" average. She thought Freeport was plenty challenging enough for her. She graduates from Champlain College this May and said that Freeport had prepared her very well for college. So there's my kids experiences ,hope it helps. I'm not saying Yarmouth would be any better and it probably is not really much different. All kids are different. Some find school a challenge and some just show up and do very well.