Thinking about taking a job in Houlton and need advice ... (Limerick: houses, transfer)

[Konig]

I am thinking about taking a job at Houlton and was looking for advice concerning places to buy a house. I have a wife and a one year old. Most importantly, I would like to live in a family oriented city or town where my wife (who does not have a job) can meet friends quickly. I would also like to commute to an hour or less. Any advice would be helpful. Thanks.

[Northern Maine Land Man]

You want to commute way less than one hour with today's fuel prices. Houlton itself is a nice community with fine homes in several price ranges. Hodgdon borders Houlton and also has nice homes. Both towns have good schools.

[kellysmith]

I'd rate the Houlton school system quite a bit higher than Hodgdon's. Not a knock on Hodgdon's, just it doesn't have all the offerings that Houlton's does. Lowest taxes for rural community is New Limerick because of the mill there, but that's in Hodgdon school district. Lots of nice places not too far out of town (as well as in town) to be found in the Houlton area. There has been quite an increase in staffing at the Border Patrol facilities and port of entry and folks transferring in come with money from a house they've sold somewhere else and that's led to increased housing prices. Quite a few came from San Diego a few years back and it was insane what they paid for houses. Of course to them they were bargains. They had sold a house for $600,000 that was half the house they could buy in Houlton for $250,000. Problem was that $250,000 house wasn't selling for $125,000 before the house hunters with $$$ came to town. If you do look for a house in Houlton, don't fall in love with one of the beautiful, old, large Victorians. You will never be able to heat one of those now days.

[cynthia2]

Patten, ME is about 45 minutes southwest of Houlton. Patten is a VERY friendly town, which is one of the reasons my husband & I like it. We've spent quite a lot of time there during the past few months. We're buying some property there, and we'll be moving there from Massachusetts within a year or so.

Housing prices in Patten are extremely reasonable. At least, most people in the U.S. would think so. (Everything is relative.) You can get a pretty nice house for $50,000-$80,000, and you can get a so-so house or a fixer for $35,000 or less.

As someone else mentioned here, though, with gas prices the way they are now, and with the severe winters in Northern Maine, you might be better off living in Houlton itself.

Another town to consider is Smyrna, which is only about 15 miles or so from Houlton. It is beautiful there (take a drive along Route 2 - wonderful views), and you can get a house there for a very reasonable cost. I don't know as much about Smyrna as I know about Patten, but I do know one particularly interesting fact about Smyrna: there is quite a large Amish population there, and the Amish own and operate several businesses that employ quite a few non-Amish people that live in Smyrna.