In town vs. country acres...living

[msina]

I guess it all depends on your needs. We ended up a bit further from "town" than we originally planned but, we also ended up with a home and property that far exceeded our expectations. We haven't met many "neighbors" although anyone that drives by waves hello and those we have met have been welcoming and informative.
It's a bit of a drive to shopping though most everything we need is in one area so a trip to town includes any errands. We have peace, privacy and lots of room for most anything we may want to do. NOW,.. If the weather would just cooperate a little.
We had a wonderful Realtor that went above and beyond duty to help us along. We have room for a garden, animals, water, plenty of wood to be cut and yes, there are atv trails!

I meant to add,... everyone in our "town" knew who we were by the time we moved in. Word travels fast in small towns.

[RHB]

We know our neighbors, but aren't real close (either in friendship or distance), but that's not where we live. We live in a very low populated area, and this is the lifestyle we all wanted, so we pretty much keep to ourselves. That being said, we do know them, they know us, and it's not uncommon when one is outside working to have a car (or truck and now some horses) pull up for a nice 5-10 min conversation with the neighbors -

As far as winter goes...when you look at a piece of land, you can always introduce yourself to the neighbors and ask them how often the road gets plowed in the winter, and where you are in the list of plowing. This might actually give you your first "feel" of your neighbors (and them of you), and you might learn a few more things about the area you are looking at. For us, a low population area, we don't have town plows, we rely on the state plows, we get one pass at the start of the storm, one lane plowed in the center of the road, when the storm clears they get back to actually clear the road. Again, one lane in the center sounds bad, but very few people live here, and most of the time I'm driving, I might only see one or two cars (if the weekend) on the road the same time I am.

[retiredtinbender]

There used to be a book called "One acre and Security" back in the 70's. It was a good read but I suppose now with inflation it should be 3 or 4 acres. Friends are easy to make as long as you get out, don't overwhelm folks, and are friendly yourself. We aren't as standoffish as folks say. But like everywher else, if you tell us we're wrong most of the time we get upset. But again there are exceptions. Some folks can be pains. Remember the bumpersticker; "For a small town the sure are a lot of a******s." Somedays I resemble that remark.

[Northern Maine Land Man]

Maine Writer reports:
"It's always a good day when you learn something. Does the town bill the town for the balance or is it a set amount?"

The town reports the value of each property as it would be taxed if not in tree growth. The state calculates the difference in tree growth and sends a check to the town based on that calculation. It varies by town and county.

forest beekeeper says:
"A great deal of Maine is forest. Since it is mostly privately owned, the only real thing protecting it, and keeping it forest is the 'Treegrowth' system. If it were taxed at a residential rate, the forest would disappear. As NMLM has pointed out previously."

We have gained about 77,000 acres of forest on average each year for the last 70 years. Yes; Gained! Maine's private landowners have done that. Only in towns with brutal taxes is it worthwhile to milk the system for tree growth credits to preserve your wood lot. Just be sure you know going in that the land is contaminated with a huge penalty if somebody wants to build on it in the future; like your grandchildren.

And 7th; People need to know this going in. Every now and then some buyer is told that the property he is buying is in tree growth. He thinks, "Yes, there are trees on it" and has no idea of the long term ramifications he is getting into.

[Acadianlion]

Originally Posted by gigglesjs

So this is one of the things we keep going back and forth on...sometimes we say 5+ acres so we can have lots of space for growing trees, have a garden etc.
My only reservation is do you get to know your neighbors?
How far from town would you want to be in the winter?

We are looking along the coast between Bath and Sullivan

Thanks for any imput

"Between Bath and Sullivan"....that's a huge, and hugely diverse piece of Maine. The "midcoast"...Bath to Camden...is very much the high rent district, with strong economic and population base compared to the rest.

Belfast and that area (Waldo County) despite the progressiveness of Belfast, is still a poor area. My daughter has a house for sale in Morrill that has about seven acres, a nice old time Maine type farm house and still close enough to the village center to know all the neighbors. Great price, too, and Belfast is a nice small city only about ten miles away.

Once further east into Hancock County, there is Bucksport, and Ellsworth. Mt Desert Island is closed: there is very little residential real estate with acreage available on "the island" and it is VERY expensive.

But east of Ellsworth is Hancock, Franklin, and Sullivan, and there is a LOT of land available all through this area. Ellsworth is a small and growing city that is insistant on killing itself with cheesy strip malls and big box stores, and soon the tax base in the City of Ellsworth will overwhelm many who live there. But east and north of Ellsworth are many small towns with acreage available that would fit your description well. A bonus is that Bangor is the big gorilla city nearby.

In your desriptive area there are NO ends of options in terms of five to ten acres not far from everything, and once you move into a small town, like Sullivan, or Appleton, or Morrill, it won't take long for you to know ALL your neighbors near and far, if you so wish.

You need to spend at least a month moseying around, trying to winnow down the breadth of geography into which you might move. If you piced one county you would find it much easier, but within your choice are Hancock Waldo, Knox and Lincoln counties which incorporates a huge area and a vastly different socio-economic mix one to the other.

Think of it as though you have just itemized all the things that you wish to have and have said that you want to live in Massachusetts....Bath to Sullivan is larger than that.

[gigglesjs]

Thanks everyone...we are trying to narrow it down a bit and it is looking more like Searsport, Belfast, Camden down to Rockport a few miles out of town with 3-10 acres. Hope to see some of you end of Oct. we changed out time due to family and we are hoping to catch a few snowflakes...we really miss snow :-)

[CoastalMaine]

Giggles, I love that whole area. I'm actually looking further downeast right now at a specific piece of property, but I'd be perfectly content in the area you've decided on. That's where my RV is. I'd love to meet you when you get to the area! Good luck!

[DreamworksSKG]

Why not try the Sebago Lake (about 20-25 miles from Portland), Gray ME--about 10 miles North of Portland - Auburn/Lewiston about 20-30 miles N of Portland..

???

it would be close enough to the city but you could still live in a quiet country area

Sebago Lake is especially nice and lake-front living

[gigglesjs]

Originally Posted by CoastalMaine

Giggles, I love that whole area. I'm actually looking further downeast right now at a specific piece of property, but I'd be perfectly content in the area you've decided on. That's where my RV is. I'd love to meet you when you get to the area! Good luck!

We are coming up last week of Oct.-first week in Nov. would love to get together...we are so excited, middle daughter just called and has shipped all her boxes to grandma's on L.I. so we can get it to Maine for her...
see you soon... I hope there will be snow...

[gigglesjs]

Originally Posted by DreamworksSKG

Why not try the Sebago Lake (about 20-25 miles from Portland), Gray ME--about 10 miles North of Portland - Auburn/Lewiston about 20-30 miles N of Portland..

???

it would be close enough to the city but you could still live in a quiet country area

Sebago Lake is especially nice and lake-front living

Thanks, we really want to be up north more and closer to the ocean, we have a sailboat, that we currently live on, but thanks for the suggestion, see you in Maine