Calais and Washington County. Please help. (Eastport, Jonesboro: real estate, rentals, good hotel)

[mollysmiles]

Paulc I hope your trip next week is an enjoyable one! If you have time I think a couple of us could get together for a cup of coffee with you

[Maine Writer]

Originally Posted by Centaurmyst

Some small businesses can do well...and they have a better chance if they are run by the locals who know the area. This is someone who has never even visited yet. Providence is a very wealthy area where people spend a lot more money. It would be a huge transition and very, very difficult and hard work. If he's willing to bust his butt he might be able to do well enough, but he'd have to be very realistic and really know the area better than he does.

I'd never been here until I was moving here. I'm not familiar with a successful business owner who hasn't busted butted, myself included. I sold my first business to focus on my second. He's not coming into this blindly. In case you missed it, he is coming to the area to get to know it better.

Have you actually lived here?

[peachie_in_maine]

Originally Posted by Paulc1383

I have never been to Maine but am visiting next week and will be traveling all around the beautiful state.

As Mollysmiles said, if your up our way in Washington County we could all meet for coffee and tell you what we know of the area if you would like.

[willb]

Just returning from a trip to the sunny southland where life is easy and everybody has 100 dollar bills falling out of their pockets. The trouble is; it takes 5 minutes to make a left-hand turn, the noise of machines goes on 24 hours a day, the stars are almost invisible at night and in 7 days of walking up and down the beach, I only saw 1 crab, no other sea creatures (they are probably moving to Eastport). South Carolina now has the 2nd worst employment situation in the USA and Maine isn't in the bottom 10. My in-laws lost 20% of their retirement fund in the last 2 weeks. People are having a hard time figuring how they are going to make the 5,000 dollar a month payment on their 9th floor condo now that nobody is renting and there is a half million dollar balloon payment coming up. Back home in Eastport it seems like people are giddy that fuel oil and gas prices are plummeting, which should mean a similar drop in goods prices here. I'm sure the credit crunch will crunch us as outside money dries up, but most people here don't live on credit so it wont be as bad as other places. I wouldn't want to be anywhere else but here.

[Elcarim]

Great post, Will! Are you sure you weren't in Texas? Folks down here even make their house payments with credit cards! Scary!! My parents just bought a new $700 a month car, and they've already paid their first payment with their Discover card. Instead of living paycheck to paycheck, more and more people are living credit card to credit card. What happens when they're all full? I guess you just apply for another one.

I do hope life in Eastport is vastly different for us!

[willb]

Trying to open a business is tricky. A bar or restaurant would be tough anywhere, but here would be very hard, the demographics are a little too old and a little too broke to support more bar/restaurants. Back in the 80s Lisa and I had a Bakery/Cafe/Used book store for 5 years, in a much bigger city, and I think something like that could work here. If you were not looking to get rich you could probably have some fun and make a living. Bgrasser mentioned the LNG guys, but I think the Quoddy Bay guys have reneged on their lease and disappeared in the night, and everybody is suing each other, so it won't happen in Eastport. I don't really think the other two have a chance of getting anyone to loan them a half a billion dollars on such shaky logistical propositions especially given the credit market. An open water terminal in Cutler or further down the coast might work, but the Canadians have a terminal in St Johns opening up pretty soon and even Irving Oil doesn't know where it's going to get the LNG. You might want to look at Machias also. Good luck!

[maureengld]

Originally Posted by Centaurmyst

There is a massive difference between Providence and Washington County Maine. Life is hard there and people don't really have a lot of money to spend. If you just want a second home to visit and you can afford that it's a very beautiful place. If you are hoping to start a business so you can live off the income it's probably not all that advisable.

There are very few opportunities here unless you work for state, gov't, or the medical field. What we all do is adjust to living on what we do have which isn't much in comparison to other areas. There is no amount of money that you can pay for "no traffic", the beauty of the area and simplicity of life. One needs to weigh these things out before making a decision.

[Ezlivn]

Well Paul.....I have to agree with the rest that there certainly is a need for a decent restaurant/sportsbar in Calais. There are a few but like Molly said.....they are nothing to brag about. Good luck to you

[Casper1212]

Originally Posted by maureengld

There are very few opportunities here unless you work for state, gov't, or the medical field. What we all do is adjust to living on what we do have which isn't much in comparison to other areas. There is no amount of money that you can pay for "no traffic", the beauty of the area and simplicity of life. One needs to weigh these things out before making a decision.

After more than a year since this was posted, I hope things are still like this in Washington County. The more I read on this forum, the more I look forward to moving up there. I know the weather is a drastic change from West Texas. But I used to live in the midwest. I think I can handle it. My husband is hoping we don't get our relocation date too soon. I'm hoping it's by Christmas! If anyone knows of a small house for rent (unfurnished) that allows pets, would you let us know? I think we get to make a house hunting trip, so we get to come up and visit before the move. Out of town is fine. We're used to peace and quiet, and I want to be able to have a garden and flower beds. But that can wait until we buy a house, I guess. The company provides two months in a hotel until we settle in. I'm thinking a rental cabin might be more suitable, given that we have the dogs to deal with. You guys are really helping us to feel more and more like we've made a good decision. Hope we can meet some of the local forum members once we're there.

[CoastalMaine]

Originally Posted by Casper1212

After more than a year since this was posted, I hope things are still like this in Washington County. The more I read on this forum, the more I look forward to moving up there. I know the weather is a drastic change from West Texas. But I used to live in the midwest. I think I can handle it. My husband is hoping we don't get our relocation date too soon. I'm hoping it's by Christmas! If anyone knows of a small house for rent (unfurnished) that allows pets, would you let us know? I think we get to make a house hunting trip, so we get to come up and visit before the move. Out of town is fine. We're used to peace and quiet, and I want to be able to have a garden and flower beds. But that can wait until we buy a house, I guess. The company provides two months in a hotel until we settle in. I'm thinking a rental cabin might be more suitable, given that we have the dogs to deal with. You guys are really helping us to feel more and more like we've made a good decision. Hope we can meet some of the local forum members once we're there.

About the only thing that's changed up that way is the date on everyone's calendars. And that's a good thing!!!!!!!!!!!