Thoughts On Going It 'Alone' In Maine (Freeport, Ellsworth: sales, 2009)

[CoastalMaine]

Hi Everyone,

New poster here. Just read threads for the last two hours on all of you moving to Maine and now many of you posting whether you're happy or not with your decision.

I've had a love affair with the downeast coast of Maine since 1984. I live on Cape Cod and have owned my home here for 30 years. I've watched the property along the coast go from next to nothing to now being higher priced than the Cape. Blows my mind! lol

I found a beautiful home in Searsport that hadn't had any activity on it in two years. I put an offer in and the next thing you know, there's a bidding war. It was the week the government decided to tell us we were in a he** of a financial pickle and then the stock market crashed. lol Talk about timing, 'ey? haha Well, because of the economic situation and my financial picture in the short term, I wouldn't go over the 2nd bid I put in, so I lost the house. Now I'm sad that I lost it as it's a magnificent setting and had about 99.9% of what I'd like to have in Maine.

I just found another one tonight through the net, but it's in Steuben. Steuben isn't quite the end of the world, but you can see it from there! lol I'm wondering what those of you from out that way think of living so far out in the hinterlands... do you get good tv and internet reception? Do you experience long power outages in the winter? Do you have generators?

As beautiful as the countryside in Maine is, I have a love of the coast and I can't imagine moving up there to enjoy the beauty of the water and ending up sad about it, but I am questioning my sanity a little. lol I'll be 52 in a few more weeks and I wonder if I'm crazy to buy a house up there and have to worry about plowing etc. What say all of you?

Thanks for any and all of your input in advance! Looking forward to getting to know some of you!

[corgis]

Steuben is only a little north of Ellsworth and Bar Harbor - a lot of us live way further north, some of us in Eastport, Washington County and some of us live up in the "county".

I don't consider Steuben "out in the hinterlands" at all. We are about 90 miles north of Steuben on the coast and we get really good TV and internet reception, some of us have generators and yes, if there's a storm, the power can and probably will go out.

As far as plowing out your driveway in the winter, there are lots of people who do plowing, heck even they'll do it for free sometimes.

52 isn't a great age, wait until you're my age.

[Maineah]

I can't speak for the Northern or extreme Southern part of the coast but will tell you you'll need very deep pockets to live along the mid coast region around Casco bay and up toward Penobscot bay.
My inlaws have a camp on the water in South Freeport. It is a fairly small seasonal cottage with a deep water dock. Their taxes on that place are over $11,000 a year. The folks who lived next door finally sold last year as they just could not afford the taxes anymore. The place had been in their family over 50 years.
Anything with a door and windows on the water will cost you at least $500,000 up front (around here)and I already stated the tax situation.

You may love the coast but be prepared to spend a lot of money to live near it!
Perhaps the high prices have not reached the Steuben....yet.
Though I'd hate to see you forced out in 10 years when the prices catch up to that area too.

[Shuffler]

I'm in the same boat as you, albeit considering a move from Colorado.

We all have our reasons and are looking for certain things in Maine, but the basics should be the same:

- know what you can afford
- know what your taxes and cost of living will be
- get to know the area so the inconveniences don't catch you off-guard
- have secondary and tertiary plans in case things don't work out

Personally, the more I research things and consider the economy, the more inclined I am to stay put. I've got it damn good here in Colorado and I don't think 'my' lifestyle can be equally as awesome in Maine...talking specifically about dirt biking, mountain biking, skiing, hiking, jobs, and of course all my family and friends are here.

The problem is my girlfriend is in Maine, 'going it alone' while she waits for me to make a very difficult decision. It's a long story...

[Maine Writer]

You can hire someone to plow. It's how a lot of people earn their living in the winter. I live more rurally than Steuben and will have a second choice for wireless internet by the end of 2009. I don't know what's offered there but it is spreading across rural Maine. The phone company might offer high speed net. If there's cable that might be an option too. If you call the Steuben town office they'll be able to tell you.

Make sure you have something to do. I think the people who are first to go stir crazy are those who don't get out to enjoy the winter. Take advantage of all there is to do year round. The growing season is longer on the coast than inland. If you enjoy gardening, or want to try gardening, you can take advantage of that.

[Maineah]

Originally Posted by Shuffler

I'm in the same boat as you, albeit considering a move from Colorado.

We all have our reasons and are looking for certain things in Maine, but the basics should be the same:

- know what you can afford
- know what your taxes and cost of living will be
- get to know the area so the inconveniences don't catch you off-guard
- have secondary and tertiary plans in case things don't work out

Personally, the more I research things and consider the economy, the more inclined I am to stay put. I've got it damn good here in Colorado and I don't think 'my' lifestyle can be equally as awesome in Maine...talking specifically about dirt biking, mountain biking, skiing, hiking, jobs, and of course all my family and friends are here.

The problem is my girlfriend is in Maine, 'going it alone' while she waits for me to make a very difficult decision. It's a long story...

Send her a plane ticket!

[Shuffler]

Originally Posted by Maineah

Send her a plane ticket!

She's flying out for Thanksgiving week!

I have her prepped to go pheasant hunting with us on the 28th...an experience I hope she'll enjoy enough to consider taking hunters safety and learing how to shoot

[Maineah]

Originally Posted by Shuffler

She's flying out for Thanksgiving week!

I have her prepped to go pheasant hunting with us on the 28th...an experience I hope she'll enjoy enough to consider taking hunters safety and learing how to shoot

You Casanova you!.....any Maine girl would love that experience.....or Sarah Palin.

[CoastalMaine]

Taxes on the properties I've been interested in are in the 3-5k range right now. How do the property taxes work in Maine? Here in Ma, they base on the sale price or the assessed value if you've owned awhile. It's 100% market value at 6% on each 1k.

Re things to do... I'm an artist and keep myself busy with lots of things art related, but I would also enjoy the idea of a seasonl gift/craft-Made in Maine sort of place... any thoughts on that type of store? Do they make it or go out of biz up in that area? Am I better off to consign or sell my things to a successful shop in Bar Harbor or the like?

Taxes on my house here on the Cape are $2400... but I bought in 79... God only know what Patrick will do to it if the voters vote to get rid of the sales tax.... they'll be looking to make up 14BILLION instead of cutting ridiculous unneeded programs from the state budget. Oh God, don't get me started! rofl

[Bydand]

Originally Posted by CoastalMaine

I just found another one tonight through the net, but it's in Steuben. Steuben isn't quite the end of the world, but you can see it from there! lol I'm wondering what those of you from out that way think of living so far out in the hinterlands... do you get good tv and internet reception? Do you experience long power outages in the winter? Do you have generators?

As beautiful as the countryside in Maine is, I have a love of the coast and I can't imagine moving up there to enjoy the beauty of the water and ending up sad about it, but I am questioning my sanity a little. lol I'll be 52 in a few more weeks and I wonder if I'm crazy to buy a house up there and have to worry about plowing etc. What say all of you?

Thanks for any and all of your input in advance! Looking forward to getting to know some of you!

You owe me a keyboard . Either that or I need to stop drinking Pepsi while on the computer. A warning should be put on posts about choking hazards when something like this is stated. (Just Kidding) Coming from just about anyplace in Mass, and the Cape in particular, Steuben may very well seem like the boonies. The last 20 years I lived in Washburn and to go to Steuben was a 200+ mile drive almost due South, and if you could take a direct "as the crow flies" route it would still be around 160 miles almost directly South.

To answer your questions though, I cannot imagine you would have many times the power goes out. The last couple of years living WAY further in the sticks, I never fired up my generator once. Cable was reliable and Internet was fairly fast. Not fiber fast, but 6-10 Mb/sec isn't slow either. I regularly send 4 and 5 megabyte items to a graphic artist friend up there still, and it takes him all of 10 or 15 seconds to download them. As has already been stated, plowing is almost a non-issue if you want to have somebody else plow your driveway for you. There are plenty of people who plow all winter and not too bad for price either. I had a guy come by all last winter (which was a bugger for snowfall, almost 200") and used a combination of plow truck, tractor and tractor mounted snowblower to keep my drive clear and it ran me about $200 for the entire winter.

Also make sure you do your homework thoroughly also for comparing one area to another. Make a list of ALL bills you have right now and plan on duplicating those in your new place as well. Check into ALL of them no matter how minor they seem where you are at now, because every little thing adds up and while $10 here and $20 there doesn't seem like much, when you have 25 things that are $10, $20 or $50 difference it can make a lot bigger change. Sometimes for the good, other times for the bad.