Relocating to Maine (Portland, Lewiston, Brunswick: college, living in, restaurants)

[JMahoney]

Thanks for the reply Sunday1. I think we will look at the Hilton Garden Inn maybe as a base. Going to try out the Trip Advisor and see what we can get out of it.

[Maineah]

JMahoney. The house across the street from us is for sale and has been for almost a year now. They dropped the price from $600,000 to $499,000. Two Bedrooms, nice yard. May be even cheaper if it sits any longer.

[CalieCat]

Originally Posted by JMahoney

Maineah,
Thanks for the advice so far, it is a great help. We will add in the Brunswick area to our trip. We have been looking at B&B's or a place to stay for 2 to 4 days while we are up there and there are a whole lot of them, too many to go through. Does anyone have any suggestions on places to stay (the wife prefers a B&B). I figured that someone who lives in the area might have a heads up on some of the nicer/cleaner places to stay. We are looking to stay somewhere around Bath and then drive around to the towns we are making a list of from there.

If you are interested in staying at at B&B in Freeport, I am casual aquantances with the owners of White Cedar Inn (whitecedarinn dot com). Sorry, not enough to get you a discount

There's also The Tipsy Butler in the Newcastle/Damariscotta area (thetipsybutler dot com) and they have a sister/brother inn: Eggemoggin Oceanfront Lodge in Brooklin (eggemogginlodge dot com). These 2 might be further than you are looking at though.

There's Pomegranate Inn in Portland's Western Promenade (pomegranateinn dot com). These are a few that I know you wouldn't be dissapointed in!

[JMahoney]

Thanks CalieCat, I will check out those B&B websites tonight and see what they are like. I appreciate the suggestions.

[peachie_in_maine]

Originally Posted by JMahoney

Both of us dread summertime coming here. They are way to long and way to humid, anything over 75 degrees is just too hot, we are aware of the longer winters and both agree it should not be a problem (neither of us mind that time of year). We are also aware of the higher amounts of snowfall, but are convinced we can manage. I have not read much about the black flies up there, but we have plenty of annoying mosquitoes and "chiggers" here to deal with all summer long, so we are sorta used to the insect annoyance. We are mainly concerned with a low crime rate area and an area with good school systems.

Well ... if your open minded that no matter where you live, there's different pro's and cons.
We had a long winter this past year and yes I wanted it over as soon as it started. Now,... I'm ready to be outside.
Pollen is bad, but it passes, and we have our buggy time, and that passes. ( if you live where I live, it's buggy for a month with the black flies, but if your a native you learn to layer yourself with bug "dope".
I still love Maine. I was born here, lived in many states.. but nothing to me beats it.
It has what I want. Everyones wants~ are different. So, it may have just what you want and more.

[maja]

Hi Josh! Would have posted sooner but we have been extremely busy packing up for our big move from California to Maine! We will be moving in July and are very excited to be moving to the great state of Maine! We have visited in the Fall, Winter and Spring and enjoyed each season. We checked out Cape Elizabeth, Yarmouth, Falmouth, Cumberland and North Yarmouth fairly extensively and finally decided on Yarmouth, mainly because it has an actual town and we liked the schools the best (the H.S. has made Newsweek's top 100 list for the past five years; plus they are small in size, beautiful and seem very personal and offer so much. ) But, we also visited the Falmouth and Cumberland schools and they also seemed very, very good and we have heard nothing but good things about Cape Elizabeth's schools too. We ruled out the Cape basically because there is a bridge that you have to cross over that can add some time onto a trip into Portland, etc. All of these areas are very clean, safe areas. Crime doesn't appear to be a problem. While visiting, we have stayed at the Embassy Suites in Portland (by the airport) and at the Holiday Inn Express in Freeport (just outside of Yarmouth.) Both places were very clean with pleasant staff and I would recommend either of them. One trip, we stayed at a place in Ogunquit, which is beautiful to visit but kind of far if you are trying to explore the Portland/Yarmouth/Falmouth area on a daily basis. Anyway, hope this helps a little bit. Good luck!

[frogcreekwoods]

Originally Posted by Maineah

Don't pay any attention to the negative nannies on this forum. They are bitter retired folk who live to discourage young folks from coming to Maine. Maine is and always will be a great state to raise a family. ......

Agreed!

Originally Posted by Maineah

You can literally live anywhere in the state with your income potential.
.

Since you are a web designer, you might just want to be careful to check on the availbility of DSL in the areas that you are looking, if they are far outside of the city limits. I think some areas are better than others in terms of DSL and Cable internet availability.

[gigglesjs]

[quote=dramamama6685;9035715 P.S. the property taxes where I want to move are markedly cheaper than what I pay in small town Ohio.[/quote]

Hi mama,
we contacted a realator today We can't wait for Aug.
we hope to find a small home near Rockport/Camden area, where we can rent the home out (for three summers) while we live on our little sailboat during the summer and live in the house during winters to save money. Eventually we hope my dear MIL can live with us, she is so sweet, gave me a wonderful gift (her son), she has not had an easy life and for her to be with us would be wonderful.

[dramamama6685]

Originally Posted by gigglesjs

Hi mama,
we contacted a realator today We can't wait for Aug.
we hope to find a small home near Rockport/Camden area, where we can rent the home out (for three summers) while we live on our little sailboat during the summer and live in the house during winters to save money. Eventually we hope my dear MIL can live with us, she is so sweet, gave me a wonderful gift (her son), she has not had an easy life and for her to be with us would be wonderful.

Hi there, giggles. I'll be passing by you in mid September. Only for a trip though.

[gigglesjs]

Hi mama,
wish we would still be there in Sept. DH has a contract down here that he has to finish first so we will be back down here, we really hate Fl. to hot, way to much crime, and people do not wave to say hi...But next time up hope we can have a cold one together or warm (Tia Maria with coco and marshmellows) if it is a bit chilly out