Rentals in Augusta (Portland, Bath: real estate, apartment, motel)

[angelo129]

We're considering accepting a job offer in Augusta, but need help to make the decision. Can anyone tell me what the rental situation is like and, most importantly, where can I go to find rental listings? I've gone to the sites for the Kennebec Journal, Portland Press Herald, every newspaper in Maine. I found precisely two rentals in Augusta. There was nothing at all on rental sites on the web (for Augusta). Is this indicative of the actual number of rentals? Is it hard to find a nice rental house? Or ANY rental in Augusta?

We've already had the experience of accepting a job in a place where we then couldn't find a rental and had to eventually accept (in desperation) something that wasn't at all what we wanted - but there just weren't any rentals! We don't ever want to be in that situation again. There seem to be plenty of houses to buy in Augusta but we haven't turned up a single decent rental house. Any information will be appreciated.

[NJ2ME]

Have you tried craigslist? There are usually a ton of rentals on there for all over.

[canyontothesky]

Do you have to live right in Augusta? Why not find a place in a surrounding town.

[angelo129]

Originally Posted by NJ2ME

Have you tried craigslist? There are usually a ton of rentals on there for all over.

Yes, I've looked but there was almost nothing. I have no way of knowing whether there's just nothing on craigslist or whether it's really representative of Augusta rentals.

[angelo129]

Originally Posted by canyontothesky

Do you have to live right in Augusta? Why not find a place in a surrounding town.

Yes, we'd be on call and really need to live very close to work. If that proved impossible, we'd rather turn down the job.

[canyontothesky]

How about this?

[canyontothesky]

Here's another thing. Post an ad in the wanted section of real estate on craigslist Maine. Describe what you want and where you are looking and I think you'll get replies that way.

[mainebrokerman]

id call vallee property management out of hallowell, they should have a pulse on rentals in the augusta area

also double check the kennebec journal..on sunday

[corel]

Check out Uncle Henry's
Uncle Henry's

[angelo129]

Originally Posted by canyontothesky

Here's another thing. Post an ad in the wanted section of real estate on craigslist Maine. Describe what you want and where you are looking and I think you'll get replies that way.

Maybe I didn't express my problem very well in my initial post. I'm trying to find out whether Augusta is a place with a good selection of rental properties or a place where, if we accept a job there, we might get stuck living in a house or apartment that we hate because it was the only thing available in the time frame.

Where we live right now, for example, if we needed to move I could pick up the paper and look at fifty suitable properties TODAY, and choose from among them. It's a city about the size of Augusta, but there are plenty of great rentals, plenty of choices.

In the place we lived before (Portland, Maine) we got stuck living in a motel for a month because we'd taken jobs there and couldn't get a rental. There were many listings, but every one we called was taken EVERY TIME, and we found out, to our great distress, that the housing market was incredibly tight and it was almost impossible to get a decent place unless you knew somebody. After hundreds of desperate phone calls, we took the first place we called that wasn't already taken. We took it sight unseen because we were desperate. It was expensive, dirty, and unsuitable in every way, and we were stuck in it for two years. We never want that to happen to us again, and would rather turn down a very good job offer than take a chance.


So, I'm not looking for a lead to an individual property that could and very well may be unavailable by the time we accepted the job. I just want to know if Augusta is, in general, a place where there are a reasonable number of rental properties to choose from at any given time. And, if so, where the heck are they posted. The listing I was directed to showed ONE house listed in the entire month of June - not very promising. We have to make a decision on a job offer, and our decision will be based not on the job (which we know is a great opportunity) but on the rental situation. We can't afford to accept the job and then start posting want ads in the hope of something turning up - if it doesn't, we'd have no options.