all about maine (Bangor, Augusta, Penobscot: houses, find a job, schools)

[mystique1983]

hello, we, thats my husband, me and our three kids are starting to think about where to relocate to after my husband retires from the military.
i would love maine, but of course there is many questions.
neither of us has ever been to maine.
i just liked what i read so far.
but the questions most important is if we'll be able to find a job.
my husband wants to get into human resorces and myself, i look for a job at a preeschool.
by then we'll need all schools from kindergarten to middleschool.
and for the house, we really would love to find something with 4 bedr and a little acreage. not more than 5.
how are the taxes, how expensive is gas?houses?just cost of living?
we live in california right now and because of the prices here we do not want to stay here.
thanks for all help.

[Maine Writer]

Your post from January is still open.

[mystique1983]

yes, i know, but now i really want to look into it a little deeper.like taxes and cost of living

[forest beekeeper]

Originally Posted by mystique1983

hello, we, thats my husband, me and our three kids are starting to think about where to relocate to after my husband retires from the military.
i would love maine, but of course there is many questions.
neither of us has ever been to maine.

I am also a military retiree.

We also decided to move to Maine after having never been to Maine.

You are not alone.

Welcome.

...
i just liked what i read so far.
but the questions most important is if we'll be able to find a job.
my husband wants to get into human resorces and myself, i look for a job at a preeschool.
by then we'll need all schools from kindergarten to middleschool.

Right now the economy everywhere is looking poorly.

Maine's economy has been depressed for many decades. So in this area they are not feeling the current market crash' in the same way as it is being felt in California and other places [sudden and un-expected]. Here it has been many decades since the last time that everyone was employed, and good jobs abounded.

Maine does have wonderful schools.

But few jobs.

... and for the house, we really would love to find something with 4 bedr and a little acreage. not more than 5.

There are many houses to choose from around here.

... how are the taxes, how expensive is gas?houses? just cost of living? we live in california right now and because of the prices here we do not want to stay here. thanks for all help.

I am from California. My mother, my siblings, all still live there.

To our perspective, coming from the West Coast, having lived East and West, as well as Europe and the UK; we have never lived anywhere that had such low taxes.

And for us, we have never seen such a low cost-of-living, as we enjoy now in Maine.

Jobs in Maine pay less. Mainers have seen a high unemployment situation since before the Great Depression of the 1930s. So they are used to it.

I am paying $2 even right now for gasoline.

Maine is a place where a guy working fulltime for minimum wage can support a family.

We have neighbors a mile away who both adults hold part-time minimum wage jobs and they have 2 teenagers they are raising.

Which would be impossible in San Diego.



We really like Maine

My Dw works part-time at the commissary in Bangor. We moved here in 2005, bought forest land and began building a house. A few livestock, a garden, planting an orchard. Kayaks in the water behind the house, this is 'the life'.

This is a place where your Dh's pension could support you both. Not high on the hog, but not bad either.

I do recommend that you both come out here and tour the regions of Maine. See what you think for yoruselves/

[mystique1983]

thank you so much, your answer was very helpfull to me.
i am actually from germany and i really miss winter and fall here in cali. my husband is from pennsylvania.
would you tell me which county you guys live in, just to have a little more of a smaller area i could look into.

[forest beekeeper]

I am in Penobscot county. If you look at my posts, on the right side it says my 'location'. We live in the township of 'Argyle'.

There is very little about Argyle on the WWW, so we really can not find very much info about it. Our town is so small that our freeway offramp does not list our town as being here.

However I was told that our town's primary claim to 'fame' is that in our town the Interstate freeway cuts through a section of peat bog. The only place where a US freeway cuts through and floats on a peat bog.

Woo Hoo!

Argyle is an "Unorganized township". Once it did have more people, they had Incorporated, they had a town clerk on salary, and a mayor and all that junk and were paying higher taxes. But then in 1935 with the Great Depression folks left. So the incorporation paperwork was disbanded. No body on the town payroll, means nobody to collect taxes here.

Most of Maine is like this. 52% of Maine is made of 'un-organized townships'. The state provides an office in Augusta, a small group of jerks to over-see us, a tax assessor, and whatever. As far as I know none of them ever drive up here to actually see these towns.

Penobscot county is very nice. We like it here