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Hi everyone. I’ve been lurking here for a few years, reading every post and learning as much as I can about living in Maine, and now I’m finally ready to move. I’m so happy I can barely stand it
I’m recently retired, healthy and active and want to find a town that has things to do year round. Based on previous visits to the area and lots of online research I’ve decided on the midcoast region, within a reasonable drive to Belfast. I may have a temporary position housesitting in a couple of months, and that would give me a chance to get to know the towns before I bought a small house.
I’ve listened to your advice to rent for a year before purchase but my pot of money is limited and, let’s face it, I’m not getting any younger. I do know that the advice is good, but I’d rather avoid multiple moves and settle into a community while I still have the ability to contribute. Besides, I’m a gardener and I’m itching to start a new one.
One of the things I’ve noticed about the people on this forum is how friendly and generous you are with your comments and answers. It’s because of you that years ago I switched my search from New Hampshire to Maine. I want to thank you in advance because I’m going to have a lot of questions. Here are just a few to start:
1. Can anyone recommend a real estate agent who handles the Belfast area territory? Particularly if they only represent buyers, although that might be a big ask. If you’d feel more comfortable naming someone privately, please DM me.
2. Can a snow blower be handled by a woman who’s short and on the small side? If I have a long driveway I’ll hire someone to plow, but if the house is set close to the street I’d rather do it myself, at least if I physically can.
3. I’m less concerned about the cold than I am about the short winter days. How do you deal with them?
4. Please talk to me about gardening. What’s the soil condition? Is it rocky? Does anyone have a hoop house to extend the vegetable growing seasons? How long can you grow? Are there many nurseries to buy perennials and shrubs, or do you order online? I’ve attended several MOFGA online seminars and I’ll definitely join when I get there. I wish I could have attended this year’s fair, but next year!
5. Because of my budget I’ll have to buy a fixer. That of itself doesn’t daunt me, I’ve done it before. Supply costs are a concern, but so is the shortage of skilled plumbers, electricians and GCs. Do you still have to schedule work months in advance, or is it easing up? Does anyone have a crystal ball and can see when the lumber prices will return to earth?
6. I have to admit, when I read about shoveling snow off a roof I googled it to see if that’s a real thing. I spent the first half of my life in northern NJ, and even when we had a blizzard I didn’t see anyone doing that. How common is it there? Would I still have to remove the snow if I had a metal roof, or would it melt before it became a problem? And do metal roofs get ice dams?
I have so many more questions, but I’ll try to spread them out Now it’s time to get back to getting my home ready to sell so that I can pack up the car and head east.
How exciting for you to finally be at this point. I went through a similar journey, and my family and I moved to Maine last September. We rented for a few months and then bought a house - and with the way prices increased I'm glad we didn't wait a whole year. Where are you moving from?
In response to some of your questions -
Short winter days - get outside whenever you can! Especially on those beautiful sunny (and cold!) days. The natural light really helps.
Gardening - I'm still learning my way through this one (moved from zone 10 to zone 5b). I suspect the soil will vary depending on where you are, but expect rocks for sure. We are along a brook here and there are rocky outcroppings as well as many small rocks mixed in. The soil itself is rich and loamy though shallow.
Tradespeople - yes, I've had to wait on painters, plumbers etc. to fit me into their schedules. I'm in Washington County, but I expect it's not much different on the mid-coast. I rely a lot on DIY YouTube videos and reference books for more minor things and have been enjoying the learning process.
Belfast is a nice coastal city and is not swarmed with people, plus it has a Hannaford supermarket, a Hammond Lumber, a drug store, bank, and a community hospital, so you have what you really need close by for retail and services.
The University of Maine's Cooperative Extension also has a good deal of information on gardening and agriculture: https://extension.umaine.edu/
A snow-thrower is heavy, typically more than twice the weight of a lawn mower. But you want one that's self-propelled, and with electric start to make it less physically demanding to operate. You may still need to muscle it a little bit - e.g. pushing to help it get through the heavy plow berm of snow at the end of the driveway, or maneuvering in tight quarters. I *think* you can do it, but I am a good sized man, so maybe not the best judge of that.
It's easier said than done, as most houses don't have them, but if you can find a house with an attached garage, that's gold in dealing with winter - no car cleanup and walking on ice is much reduced. If it's oversized and has an electrical outlet so you can keep the snowthrower in there and just open the garage door, start it up and "drive" it out into the snow, that's all the better.
Last edited by OutdoorLover; 08-25-2021 at 06:27 AM..
A snow-thrower is heavy, typically more than twice the weight of a lawn mower. But you want one that's self-propelled, and with electric start to make it less physically demanding to operate. You may still need to muscle it a little bit - e.g. pushing to help it get through the heavy plow berm of snow at the end of the driveway, or maneuvering in tight quarters. I *think* you can do it, but I am a good sized man, so maybe not the best judge of that.
It's easier said than done, as most houses don't have them, but if you can find a house with an attached garage, that's gold in dealing with winter - no car cleanup and walking on ice is much reduced. If it's oversized and has an electrical outlet so you can keep the snowthrower in there and just open the garage door, start it up and "drive" it out into the snow, that's all the better.
This is spot on with a snowblower..... get one with electric start and self-propelled. The hard part is the turns, particularly at the bottom of a grade.... but you can just use the reverse and do 3 or 5 point turn. If you are going to get deep snow, get out early and blow it off after every 5-6" of accumulation. And don't bother with the small electrically powered snowblowers; they are just 'toys' LOL.
If you get a gravel driveway, you can get rocks picked up and jammed into the blades and that will break what is called a shear bolt.... Those are usually not hard to replace but you have to be prepared with some minor tools. Because of this, gravel drives require that you set the blower up so that it leaves a layer of snow a couple of inches deep to avoid constantly picking up rocks; paved drives are a lot more 'snowblower-friendly' and you can clean them up almost down to the surface. That certainly does not make a snowblower useless on a gravel driveway; you just can't clean it up as well.
Ice dams can occur with any type roof. It is mostly a matter of the insulation under the roof. If the heat from inside can reach the roof surface, then it melts the bottom layer of the snow on the roof, and that runs down under the snow to where it finds a below-freezing spot and then it re-freezes. This happens over and over to build up an ice dam. Steep roofs shed snow more readily, as do metal roofs, and ditto for house in more wind-exposed areas, and typically ought to have less ice dams issues. Ice dams can be damaging, but what I have seen in NW Maine is that they have been using ice shields under the roofing reaching 3-4-5' up the roof's sheathing from the eave. This keeps any ice dam build-up under the roof's surface from melting and getting into the sheathing and walls, etc. I would think Belfast is not as big a problem for this as up into interior Maine.
Snow shoveling of of roofs is a thing mostly for older buildings (regardless of the roof's surface material) , when the general knowledge and accounting for show loads was not lilke it is now, and roof designs were often 'ad hoc' by the builder or framing carpenters, and based on what they had done in the past in an area. Starting roughly the 70's or 80's residential roof designs got significantly better at accounting for snow loads. I've shoveled snow off of roofs in the past even in VA with the occasional big wet, snows but it was on older buildings from the before the 1950's.
If you get a house older than roughly the last 30-50 years, then the roof designs were probably 'ad hoc', and you may need to worry about it; the adoption of building codes in a given area generally is the trigger that drives to better roof designs. The last roof collapses I saw were in rural Idaho 4 years ago, in a county where codes have not been adopted. One was a very old barn, built long ago, but the other was a garage built <10 years prior to the roof collapse. The owner or builder probably just went cheap on the trusses, and probably had no clue on how to design for snow loads.
In many states, a buyer's agency agreement by itself offers very limited benefit, and the Maine statutes seem like that IMHO. If your expectation is that they can do some of the legwork for you, that may be true to a point, but you are ultimately going to have to do the final 'filtering'. They are typically under no obligation to work to find property problems, and I would not expect them to do so unless you were paying them separately for that duty. (Realize that 'looking for problems' can works against their ultimate interests if they are just going to be paid the sales commission.) And with this being a seller's market, unless you are offering something special, then I am having a hard time seeing the benefit to the agent of a buyer's agency... there are plenty of buyers around right now. My IMHO bottom line is to not worry too much about a buyer's agency agreement.
Lumber prices are already dropping rapidly at the stores, and have been for almost 2 months. (I have been tracking them closely in both the East and the West as we finish one garage build and get ready for a new build.) And non-lumber prices were not effected all that much anyway. So for most remodels, you can stop worrying; the lumber content for a remodel is typically low compared to the other parts. Some things that in the past were commonly stocked have become erratic in their availability. So you may run into odd availability issues and have to work around them. But lumber itself is not in short supply.
... 2. Can a snow blower be handled by a woman who’s short and on the small side? If I have a long driveway I’ll hire someone to plow, but if the house is set close to the street I’d rather do it myself, at least if I physically can.
I remember the biggest and brightest smile I have ever seen.
The winter after I first mounted a snowblower on front of my tractor, the day after a big snowstorm, I cleared my driveway and then I drove down the road to see if any of our neighbors needed help.
One elderly lady was out with her snowthrower. It was a self-propelled and electric-start unit that she kept in her garage alongside her car. All she had to do was to open her garage door, and turn the key to start her snowblower, then simply walk along behind it to steer it. The lady had the biggest smile I had ever seen. Her snowblower clearly meant freedom to her. It meant that she could stay living in her house, by herself.
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... 3. I’m less concerned about the cold than I am about the short winter days. How do you deal with them?
Stay active.
Maine has a huge network of sled trails. If I remember correctly we have over 16,000 miles of groomed sled trails that inter-connect every town, every landmark, and every vista in the state.
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... 4. Please talk to me about gardening. What’s the soil condition? Is it rocky? Does anyone have a hoop house to extend the vegetable growing seasons? How long can you grow? Are there many nurseries to buy perennials and shrubs, or do you order online? I’ve attended several MOFGA online seminars and I’ll definitely join when I get there. I wish I could have attended this year’s fair, but next year!
Maine is a big state. Some areas have rocky soil, my land has a lot of blue clay. My land is low-laying near a big river. Much of my land floods seasonally. At most locations on my land, if I dig down one foot and wait a day that hole will be filled with water. My land is not suitable for root crops. Although I dug a network of surface runoff ditches through out my orchard, to lower the level of the ground water enough so my fruit trees do not suffer from 'wet feet'. My land also supports berries real good, elderberries, blueberries, and grapes.
Most of my land is in 'treegrowth'. So its primary purpose most remain as woodlot. However even treegrowth land can still be used for other things [so long as you do not disturb from growing trees]. About 10 acres of my land produces fiddleheads, the same area has mature maples that I tap. Treegrowth land is great for pasturing pigs. I have been working to establish a wild colony of ginseng, and another colony of wild ramps.
We have friends whose land is a bald knoll. They experience a lot of wind, and they have a huge garden. We barter with them every year. We get their root crops [beets, onions, garlic, carrots] in exchange for maple, honey, whiskey, and herbs.
'Hoop houses' often called high-tunnels or low-tunnels are pretty common in Maine.
... 5. Because of my budget I’ll have to buy a fixer. That of itself doesn’t daunt me, I’ve done it before. Supply costs are a concern, but so is the shortage of skilled plumbers, electricians and GCs. Do you still have to schedule work months in advance, or is it easing up? Does anyone have a crystal ball and can see when the lumber prices will return to earth?
From my experience, every native Mainer thinks he is a licensed carpenter, plumber, electrician. I have been approached by many men wanting to do construction work for me. Some will insist that there is no such thing as a plumbers license in Maine.
My house is in an Unorganized Township, there are no inspectors. Do what you will.
But I also own a commercial building in town, nextdoor to city hall. The Building Inspectors office [in Maine they use the phrase Code Enforcement] is less than 10 paces from my building. His office window and the town selectmen conference room windows all look out at my building. ​So I can't get away with anything. Every person who does work on that building must have a license on file with the city.
We live in the most forested state in the nation. Though when you go into home depot to buy lumber it is all imported from Canada. All of our mills have been shutdown. ​Why is it like this? Is a political discussion that would get this thread closed.
To ride in to save us from our own politics, is the Nine Dragons. They sound like a Chinese Triad out of a bad KungFu movie. But they have been buying old mills and re-equipping them to produce forest products once again.
Who knows, maybe the Chinese can fix our messed up politics and breath fresh life into Maine's lumber industry.
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... 6. I have to admit, when I read about shoveling snow off a roof I googled it to see if that’s a real thing. I spent the first half of my life in northern NJ, and even when we had a blizzard I didn’t see anyone doing that. How common is it there? Would I still have to remove the snow if I had a metal roof, or would it melt before it became a problem? And do metal roofs get ice dams?
It is an issue for old style asphalt composite shingle roofs.
Most homes in my township have been shifting to metal roofs, so raking is no longer needed.
My house has a metal roof. Metal roofs last much longer and they do not have ice dam issues.
What they do have is falling ice issues.
When you get a foot or more of snow on a roof, it will melt and refreeze every day into a huge block of ice. Sitting on metal where the ice can not secure a solid grip the ice will slide, slowly like a glacier. It might slide one foot in a day so there is one foot of ice hanging out in the wind on your eaves. Eventually that free hanging ice will break off and it will fall to the ground. May God be with anyone foolish enough to be standing at that spot when 3 tonnes of ice fall on them.
How exciting for you to finally be at this point. I went through a similar journey, and my family and I moved to Maine last September. We rented for a few months and then bought a house - and with the way prices increased I'm glad we didn't wait a whole year. Where are you moving from?
In response to some of your questions -
Short winter days - get outside whenever you can! Especially on those beautiful sunny (and cold!) days. The natural light really helps.
Gardening - I'm still learning my way through this one (moved from zone 10 to zone 5b). I suspect the soil will vary depending on where you are, but expect rocks for sure. We are along a brook here and there are rocky outcroppings as well as many small rocks mixed in. The soil itself is rich and loamy though shallow.
Tradespeople - yes, I've had to wait on painters, plumbers etc. to fit me into their schedules. I'm in Washington County, but I expect it's not much different on the mid-coast. I rely a lot on DIY YouTube videos and reference books for more minor things and have been enjoying the learning process.
Good luck with your move!
Thanks for your reply. I'm in CA, about an hour NW from Los Angeles, so I'll also be moving from zone 10 to 5b. It will be a whole new kettle of fish, but I'm excited to be able to grow some of the plants that need chilling. I'm thinking of starting a go fund me account to buy lilacs. Peonies, and mock orange too
Thank goodness for YouTube. It seem that whatever I want to learn about, there's a video for it. My latest rabbit hole is how to build a farmhouse table. I'll be searching for tools as soon as I get there. Again, I cannot wait!
Submariner, thank you for taking so much time to respond. Your report of your senior neighbor and the snow thrower made my day. What a relief!
I’ve never been on a snowmobile, but the idea of riding through the woods is appealing. In general, are clubs welcoming to beginners or are they more suited to experienced riders? I’d love to try, but I need a place to learn. Are the trails only open to snowmobiles, or are they also used for cross-country skiing and walking your dog? I apologize for what probably seem like silly questions, but we don’t have many sled trails in SoCal
I’m so looking forward to learning about how to successfully grow flowers and food in Maine. You gave me a new term today. Blue clay? Had to google it. Despite its drawbacks, I bet it’s fertile. And water a foot down? Coming from a state that always seems to be in a severe drought, I can’t imagine. Then again, it’s one of the reasons I’m leaving CA and moving to ME.
Now I’m convinced that if I have a shingle roof I should replace it with metal. I can’t see myself shoveling the snow off, and salt pucks wouldn’t work since I can’t throw to save myself. Between the electric start snow thrower and metal roof, it seems that dealing with Maine winters is all about being prepared. Add on snow tires and a wood stove, not to mention warm clothing and a generator, and I should be ok.
Thanks for the Cooperative Extension tip, OutdoorLover. It's a valuable resource and will keep me occupied for quite a while.
I can't figure out why more houses don't have garages, but it's definitely on my list. That, or an attached barn I can use to park my car. Where do people put their tools and stuff?
Submariner, thank you for taking so much time to respond. Your report of your senior neighbor and the snow thrower made my day. What a relief!
I am glad that you liked my story.
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... I’ve never been on a snowmobile, but the idea of riding through the woods is appealing. In general, are clubs welcoming to beginners or are they more suited to experienced riders? I’d love to try, but I need a place to learn. Are the trails only open to snowmobiles, or are they also used for cross-country skiing and walking your dog? I apologize for what probably seem like silly questions, but we don’t have many sled trails in SoCal
Trails are maintained by regional clubs. I am not a member of any of these clubs, but I would imagine that if you began attending and always make a habit of bringing a platter of brownies to share, you will be welcomed by all.
We were recently in Corinna, we found that they have posted signs that explain in detail who has right-of-way on their trails. From hikers to Cross-Country skiers, to dog sleds, horses, ATVs, and snowmobiles. It surprised me as over the years I have heard that some clubs refuse to allow ATVs or dirt bikes on their trails. I assume that each club is allowed to decide who / what can use their trails.
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... I’m so looking forward to learning about how to successfully grow flowers and food in Maine. You gave me a new term today. Blue clay? Had to google it. Despite its drawbacks, I bet it’s fertile. And water a foot down? Coming from a state that always seems to be in a severe drought, I can’t imagine. Then again, it’s one of the reasons I’m leaving CA and moving to ME.
I am also from California.
Mainers do whine about droughts. A Maine drought is a statistical anomaly when one year has a slight drop in recorded precipitation. To me, drought means the grass turns yellow in May, by June the grasses are all dead, and in August trees begin to die.
I have standing water on parts of my land with peat bogs. It is hard to accept the idea of drought in a peat bog. There is too much water, the ground can not accept any more water, because there is simply too much water, but it is a drought.
The Maine Forestry Service has some great maps where they show which regions are experiencing the worst drought, as those websites explain the drought is purely a statistical phenomenon from data mining.
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... Now I’m convinced that if I have a shingle roof I should replace it with metal. I can’t see myself shoveling the snow off, and salt pucks wouldn’t work since I can’t throw to save myself. Between the electric start snow thrower and metal roof, it seems that dealing with Maine winters is all about being prepared. Add on snow tires and a wood stove, not to mention warm clothing and a generator, and I should be ok.
You can download the realtor.com app
For free and set up searches
I will also add a buyers agent works on behalf of the buyer
And guides the process to the terms in the offer
And most of the time it’s 100% free
They get paid from the listing brokers commission split
It’s a no brainer to use one
They can also set you up on an auto search from the mls
I’d also look at towns … that may not be right on the coast but near it … real estate is much less and so are the taxes … speaking of taxes
Different towns have different tax rates some vary greatly!!
Be sure to look at annual taxes when doing searches .. ( I’d be paying 3 times my annual amount if I was in the neighboring town
You can operate a snowblower… most are easier today than yrs ago
Even in this inflated market … their are some good deals
Look on YouTube many real estate companies will list
Their properties ..
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