Employment/rent rates in the Camden Area (Portland, Rockland: fit in, real estate)

[slpowell]

My husband, children and I are considering relocating. We have narrowed it down to small towns in the north east. The next thing I need to investigate to narrow it down further is employment for my husband. He is a finish carpenter by trade. Does anyone know how construction (new or remodeling) is going in the Camden / Rockland area? Also does anyone know about rental house rates in the area? (3 bedroom?)Thank you!!

[MidCoast Guru]

Hi slpowell,

Things a pretty slow around here right now but picking up. You can checkout the classifieds below for work & housing.

(Knox) - VillageSoup


Good luck, and bring warm weather with you please...........

[BrokenTap]

Its pretty bad.

The boatyards are laying off in record numbers with some of the biggest boatyards having laid off 30-50 percent of their work force in this area. This means boatbuilding carpenters are looking for work. Being from away your husband might have a hard time getting work when so many are looking for employment and come from the area already. It is clanish here.

[Acadianlion]

Originally Posted by slpowell

My husband, children and I are considering relocating. We have narrowed it down to small towns in the north east. The next thing I need to investigate to narrow it down further is employment for my husband. He is a finish carpenter by trade. Does anyone know how construction (new or remodeling) is going in the Camden / Rockland area? Also does anyone know about rental house rates in the area? (3 bedroom?)Thank you!!

Where are you coming from?

Will you have enough money of your own to live for at least six months without any income?

What kind of employable skills do you have because you may need to become the principal bread winner for the first year or so.

When you mean "Camden/Rockland" and you intend to rent a 3br home, I assume that you will be prepared to live as far as 25 miles from either of those two towns. Of the two, the best bet is to rent in Rockland and the areas to the west and north, although those towns are very, very small.

The timing of your move will be very important. If you have not been to Maine recently, I suggest that you make a trip here. NOW will be a very good time to make your visit happen. We have quite a lot of snow, and it has been pretty much regular, REAL Maine cold since December. This will be an excellent time to come and visit both of the towns you mentioned, to talk with people "with your boots on the ground", and think real, real hard about whether or not you really, really want to move to Maine NOW, in the near future or at all. By all means make one stop on your visit to the grocery stores in the towns and do some comparison shopping.

Maine is in the grip of a very severe recession just like the rest of the country. Another carpenter moving to town will be last in a long line of carpenters, fishermen working as carpenters, real estate brokers masquerading as carpenters, plumbers saying that they will be carpenters, Welcome Wagon ladies saying that they will be carpenters....you get the picture?

Maine is a great place to live for a young family with children who are interested in living and growing WITH their children. But Maine is a relatively big state with 1.3 million people or so, which means we have very small towns, and a very small economy. Without family or other connections, it may take a year or three for your husband to establish himself as a carpenter and longer to earn a true living.

[dmyankee]

MaineToday.com | News Update: 524 applications for 15 jobs at Oxford store

This pretty well sums up the employment situation, state wide!

[Shuffler]

My fiancee is in the process of trying to sell her practice in Camden. I was considering moving to Knox County and bringing my job with me until the economy tanked. The job situation in the area is bleak, at best. Camden is expensive - pay attention to property taxes on places you might be looking at. It is beautiful, but you will pay a high price. Google Camden Accomodations and you will see what they have for rentals.

I've noted a lot of contractors in the area, doing various stages of remodels etc., so your husband might have a lot of competition in the area since these guys are likely not seeing the same amount of business they might have been the past few years.

We might find ourselves there someday, but it won't be anytime soon under the current situation.

[slpowell]

Thank you all so much for your time and your help.

[FloridaFlatlander]

In 1976 I did exactly what you want to do. My family has been in Florida since before Maine became a state, but I decided to make the move. So far as raising our three children it was the smartest thing we ever did; financially, it was the dumbest. My daughter, son-in-law(he's a Mainer from Camden) and two grandchildren still live in Maine, so I go visit several times a year. After my wife died in '03 I returned to West Palm Beach where I was born and raised. Heed the advice the others have given. It is straightforward and honest. Maybe not what you wanted to hear, but it is the truth. There are people living in Maine who seem prosperous, but most of them made big money somewhere else, not in Maine. Clannishness? Read "Lobster Gangs of Maine." It will give you an idea. The people in Maine were almost always nice and friendly to us, but you'll never really "fit in." It's the same way most places. You'll be considered as someone "from away." Funny thing is, every Mainer is decended from someone what at one time in history was "from away," but they seem to think they've been there in Maine since the Garden of Eden closed.Good luck in your search. I can empathize with you.

[Sunday1]

slpowell,

Do not get scared off about moving in general. If moving is something you want to do, keep doing the research and you'll find the right place to make a new home.

I really liked florida flatlander's candor, but the one thing I must disagree with is the statement about never fitting in....that "it's that way most places."

I've moved alot more than most people and I'm here to tell you that we've made friends for life in many different towns and cities across America -- in Anchorage, Seattle, San Francisco, the MidAtlantic, the South and now here in Chicago. The first year we were in Anchorage I had 17 people over for Thanksgiving dinner -- all of them "holiday orphans". In Northern Virginia, we started a tradition of open houses on Christmas Eve and for seven years had a house full of people for twelve hours straight. Again, no relatives - just good friends and a lot of holiday orphans who couldn't travel to be with extended family during the holidays. I've yet to move to a town or a city in this country that really turned its back on newcomers.

The bigger-than-life "from away" attitude is a little bit fact and a lot of folklore from what I've been told by many lifelong Mainers. Portland didn't get named a "2009 Best Places to Live" by Fortune Mag because its inhabitants won't let newcomers fit in.

I don't care where people are from. I care where their hearts are.

[FloridaFlatlander]

It's the FloridaFlatlander again. Sunday1 is right. You will make lots of friends and meet very friendly people. But what I meant by clannish is that if it comes down to a few jobs available you will not be at the front of the line. Someone else on this website mentioned the same thing. That's all I was trying to say about clannish. I do love Maine, and I love their five seasons (mud season included). But you have to know that it may take a long time to establish a "network." Portland is a nice place to live, and you may want to look there. I worked at Maine Medical Center before I retired, but they have been reducing staff for the past ten years, and they were one of the largest employers. Keep researching. Especially the Maine Sunday Telegram -- where you'll get an idea of job opportunities. I have travelled all over the state and I can honestly say I would only live along the coast. Jobs inland are especially hard to come by. Having said all that, Maine is an easy place to fall in love with. I stayed for twenty-seven years.