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Thank you very much for answering each of my questions "forest beekeeper". I can tell you right off the bat that here on Long Island we pay far more in electric bills. We are near 25 cents per kwh WITHOUT figuring in the extra fees here. Supposedly we are so high since they built a nuclear power plant in Shoreham her on Long Island. Once it was built they decided never to get it up and running and the the power authority simply raised the fees to cover all of the money they spent on the unused project.
Well, I do agree with building as many nuc plants as we need, though the political powers that have recently been refusing to allow them to operate, seems counter-productive to me.
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... As I have stated, I have been to every state in New England on numerous occasions with the exception of Maine. I do plan on taking a road trip there soon. I have seen many pictures and it looks like a beautiful place. Thank you again for answering all of the questions.
During my career I was stationed in Connecticut numerous times. I even did one tour there doing LEO duties. We have dear friends who own a home, with a pier, on an inlet to the Long Island Sound, they do a great deal of sailing in the Sound. We have sailed there a few times as well.
I do not know if you ever spend any time on the water, but you are in a great location to do some sailing.
I used to visit my cousins in Port Jeff. Long Island is very nice, with some great beaches
When I retired and returned stateside, we lived in Connecticut. From there I began shopping for land in Maine. 3 hours got me to Kittery bridge and another 3 got me to here.
I would recommend making a trip up 'NOW', before the summer is completely shot.
About 10 yrs ago, I had the wonderfull opportunity to go home with a college roommate to a very small town in ME, East Waterboro. I stayed for a week and since E. Waterboro is so small(200 ppl), we went to Sanford and Biddeford several times. I was shocked to recently find out that the cost of living and real estate in that area is so high. Granted I loved it but found many people out of work and the economy somewhat depressed. The town was so small that there wasn't even a traffic light except for one yellow blinker and no grocery store or pharmacy, ect. Comming from Ft. Lauderdale this was definetly culture shock, lol. My question is why is this area so expensive? Oxford Co. does not seem to be nearly as steep eventhough it's a neighbooring county.
I will try to not be mean, in answering your query. There are at least a dozen tiny towns like E. Watrboro in the area (I lived in North Waterboro briefly, seven years ago.). By this I mean within an hour of Portland and/or within two hours of Boston. Simply: the folks moving there are almost all upscale, educated, moneyed folks from Maine or the other 49 states who read things like "The Newest Hip Places to Live" articles in any number of magazines. Portland area always makes the list. So they come. And they drive up real estate prices. It really is that simple. A few of them CAN'T afford to live in this imagined "shangri la", and end up getting in financial trouble after buying a home there. But most just work in Portland (HUGE commute times) or from home or do interior design for their neighbors or are retired or have trust funds or hop on the Amtrak and work in southern NH or Boston Metro (HUGE commute times) etc. etc. etc. Ironically, in about 20 years, the "idyllic" little towns that they loved so much will look far from what they once were...............because of the buyers themselves. (You see, this whole dynamic first happend 20-30 places in places like Gorham, Windham, Buxton, Yarmouth, Standish, etc..............which eventually became "overrun", thus necessitating the NEW crowd looking at places like East Waterboro, etc.----------------further and further further out.)
I was AMAZED that there were properties in places like Lyman, Limington, Casco, Waterboro, etc. that cost 3 or 4 times what I ended up paying for the house we bought two years ago in northern Maine. ASTOUNDING difference. (And my commute is 4-5 minutes!)
Hello to all. I was actually thinking of starting a new thread but started reading this one and figured that to open another thread would be silly since I would basically be reading the same posts that are here already anyway. I have actually been starting to look into relocating from Long Island in New York. I am not sure of exactly where I would relocate to but obviously someplace where the cost of living is cheaper than here. This should not be hard since I believe Long Island, NY is one of the most expensive places there is to live in this country as far as taxes go. I do know that I do not want to go south since I lived in Florida for a short time when I was in kindergarten and then again when I was 16. I hated it due to the constant heat and humidity that prevails all year round.
I spent the majority of my years growing up in the five boroughs of NYC. I became a New York City police officer at 21 years of age. I bought a house here on Long Island when I was 26. After 14 years with the NYPD I had a heart attack at the ripe old age of 34. I had a stent put in that holds two arteries open. I am now retired from the NYPD with a disability pension and also receive Social Security disability benefits. As of right now this is fine and I am able to pay all of my bills and live here. I do know that with the way taxes and utility bills rise here on Long Island it will not be too many years before it gets tougher and tougher to live here. I would prefer to find someplace with a lower cost of living.
Maine is really the only New England state that I have not been to yet. I have actually always wanted to go there and plan on taking a trip there at some point this year. It seems to be that Maine is probably the most rural of the New England states. I know that there are cities of course but from looking at maps it seems to have the largest amount of rural area for the states size as compared to the others. Is this a valid assessment?
I also have a number of questions where answers would be greatly appreciated. I have many and will actually list them below:
1) Can anyone tell me what property taxes are in certain areas and what services you get? For example, I live in Yaphank which is in Suffolk County on Long Island. I have just under one acre of land and pay about $7,000 a year in taxes. This number will increase dramatically each year. When I first moved here around 11 years ago the taxes were closer to $2,000. We do not have sewer systems so I have a septic tank. We do have garbage pick up which is included in the taxes.
2) Are there many areas with a large amount of crime? Are there any areas that you can suggest to stay away from due to high crime?
3) Do the more rural areas have police departments or do they rely on state police?
4) Does anyone know the average response time for the police if there is a crime that occurs?
5) Is the majority of the fire department volunteer such as here on Long Island?
6) I have read a bit about power outages in the winter in this thread. Is this a common occurrence throughout an average winter? If so, what is the normal amount of time an outage lasts? A few hours, days, weeks?
7) Are there a lot of town rules regarding people's property? For example, where I live now you can only have one shed and it has to be a certain size; you are only allowed one unregistered vehicle in your driveway and it must be covered, you can't park vehicles on the grass next to your driveway, your fence can only be a certain height and you can't fence in the front of your property, etc.
If you do have too large of a shed (more than 8 X 8) or two sheds a neighbor can call the town and they will come and tell you to take it down and if you do not they will fine you. The same thing will happen for the other things I mentioned.
8) I have read people post that they pay around 17 or 18 cents per kwh for electric. I believe here it is around 25 cents. But on top of that we get fuel surcharges and other nonsense in our bills that raise the electric bill even further. Do you get a lot of extra charges in your electric bills as well?
9) I know all people are different but are people generally friendly towards others moving to the neighborhood from someplace such as NY or do they treat them as if they are an outsider invading their territory?
10) Again, I know that all people are different but is it common for neighbors to help each other out with stuff if they can or do they simply tend to keep to themselves? As an example, I work on cars and trucks and gladly fix my neighbors' vehicles free of charge with no problem. There is a guy that lives up the block that works on boilers and will gladly come to help out anyone with a problem with their boiler free of charge.
I have other questions but do not want to get too crazy and list fifty all at once so I will wait and see if these get answered before asking others. Thank you in advance to anyone whom responds to my post.
(I'll quote you, as my booze-addled brain will NEVER remember your questions:
Property taxes vary widely. Some parts of Maine (especially any place on the ocean, as well as houses in about a dozen other "hip" areas in southern/coastal Maine, as well as any place on a lake in large parts of southern, central or western Maine) have VERY high property taxes. Other places are really reasonable (ex: my 1890 Victorian, with 2,000 square feet, half an acre in a good part of town, and with many updates, is about $1,300 or so.)
Crime: STAY AWAY FROM LEWISTON! That's all I will say about THAT! (Mainers on here will know exactly what I'm talking about). Also, the Portland area is spiking due to Massachusetts folks, etc, moving up to what they see as a "vulnerable" area with wide open crime possibiliteis. This includes some gang activity. (I lived in many parts of Portland over the last 10 years so I really DO know what I am talking about here).
Downeast Maine has a really bad drug problem, even worse than the rest of the state.
Police: Most really small rural towns have State Police only. Response times can be pretty long (it's a pretty big state). Fire depts. are about half and half, between professional and volunteer (but there is a big "firefighting mentality" in Maine, so firefighting is good even in the volunteer areas).
Power outages: a few places seem to get hit hard a lot. Most places don't have much problem. Just a minor pain in the neck now and then.
Rules: Maine is a "live and let live" kind of place. But people from away have taken over some towns, and have changed that culture. Ugh!! I would never live in such a place. I'm a live and let live kind of guy lol
Electric bills: :they are simply high in Maine.
Attitude: Being from away is not a death sentence in Maine! It truly is ALL in your attitude towards Mainers who already live here! If you want to know more about THAT, I'd be glad to share a few tips.
Good luck!
Last edited by maineguy8888; 08-23-2009 at 08:16 PM..
Thank you to all that are answering my questions. It is greatly appreciated. I would never move to an area thinking that where I moved from was much better so I do not see that as being a problem. I also do not try and get into the business of others but am always willing to help people out however much I can without looking for anything in return.
I am not sure of just how rural I would be willing to look into but I am definitely not looking to be in a city environment or even a suburban community just outside of a city. I would definitely look for a more rural area but not to the point that I am the only house for miles around either.
I would not mind living near the water but I would also not want to pay super high taxes for the privilege of doing so. That being said, I would not mind living far from the water. If anyone can give any specific names of areas that may be worth looking into that would be somewhat rural, nice and easy on the taxes would be greatly appreciated.
Again, I thank you all for taking the time to answer my questions.
I'm partial to "the County" lol..........that would be Aroostook. Biggest county east of the Mississippi. But it is a very unusual place. Most can't handle how different it is.
It is rural, nice and easy on the taxes, and many, many other things......
I will pre-empt those who will slander my dear County by saying, "yeah but there are only 8 people there!" lol...............by saying that there are towns of 9,000, 8,500, 7,000, 5,000 (with 2,000 more Canadians right across the bridge), and 4,500 (with 17,000 Canadians right across THAT bridge!)
I will try to not be mean, in answering your query. There are at least a dozen tiny towns like E. Watrboro in the area (I lived in North Waterboro briefly, seven years ago.). By this I mean within an hour of Portland and/or within two hours of Boston. Simply: the folks moving there are almost all upscale, educated, moneyed folks from Maine or the other 49 states who read things like "The Newest Hip Places to Live" articles in any number of magazines. Portland area always makes the list. So they come. And they drive up real estate prices. It really is that simple. A few of them CAN'T afford to live in this imagined "shangri la", and end up getting in financial trouble after buying a home there. But most just work in Portland (HUGE commute times) or from home or do interior design for their neighbors or are retired or have trust funds or hop on the Amtrak and work in southern NH or Boston Metro (HUGE commute times) etc. etc. etc. Ironically, in about 20 years, the "idyllic" little towns that they loved so much will look far from what they once were...............because of the buyers themselves. (You see, this whole dynamic first happend 20-30 places in places like Gorham, Windham, Buxton, Yarmouth, Standish, etc..............which eventually became "overrun", thus necessitating the NEW crowd looking at places like East Waterboro, etc.----------------further and further further out.)
I was AMAZED that there were properties in places like Lyman, Limington, Casco, Waterboro, etc. that cost 3 or 4 times what I ended up paying for the house we bought two years ago in northern Maine. ASTOUNDING difference. (And my commute is 4-5 minutes!)
For my money Southern Maine has much more to offer than Northern Maine. Isolation is fine on vacation though all year round it gets old quick. Having to drive for hours to civilization is not my idea of fun. Sure it is nice in Northern Maine and we like to visit often. I could even see myself in Greenville or somewhere in between Greenville and I-95 someday but no further north than that. The County is pretty but depressed and Washington County is suicidally depressed. I could not imagine trying to eek out an existence way up there. The housing is cheap because there in nothing there and nobody wants to live there. If you buy a home around the Southern Coastal areas there is a good chance it will build a nice amount of equity for you as you pay it off. Our home has grown in value over 300 percent in 20 years,that's nothing to sneeze at ,and it is holding it's value even in this depressed housing market. Few other areas can make that claim! There is a real good reason why people congregate in certain areas and not in others. To condemn the majority of home buyers for being out of touch because they don't consider East Millinockett to be their idea of nirvana is disingenuous. Value begets value. If this were not the case houses in the great north would be the same price as they are here along the coast.
For my money Southern Maine has much more to offer than Northern Maine. Isolation is fine on vacation though all year round it gets old quick. Having to drive for hours to civilization is not my idea of fun. Sure it is nice in Northern Maine and we like to visit often. I could even see myself in Greenville or somewhere in between Greenville and I-95 someday but no further north than that. The County is pretty but depressed and Washington County is suicidally depressed. I could not imagine trying to eek out an existence way up there. The housing is cheap because there in nothing there and nobody wants to live there. If you buy a home around the Southern Coastal areas there is a good chance it will build a nice amount of equity for you as you pay it off. Our home has grown in value over 300 percent in 20 years,that's nothing to sneeze at ,and it is holding it's value even in this depressed housing market. Few other areas can make that claim! There is a real good reason why people congregate in certain areas and not in others. To condemn the majority of home buyers for being out of touch because they don't consider East Millinockett to be their idea of nirvana is disingenuous. Value begets value. If this were not the case houses in the great north would be the same price as they are here along the coast.
It doesn't help to totally dismiss entire towns or communities (the only place in Maine that I feel deserves such treatment is Lewiston, due to its 50-year old pathological crime/drug/prostitution/etc. problems, that have RUINED a once proud area).
You should not be so defensive, as the poster was asking about the East Waterboro area, an area I know pretty well from having lived there. And I was just answering his question about why prices in those kind of towns in that area have skyrocketed in the last decade or two. Why you would take my answer as an opening to dismiss an entire County as "nothing", I do not know. But there is lots I could say about your town and others like it, out of my frustration towards what seems at times to be a willingness to toss out meanspirited inaccuracies. However, I won't. I'll refrain. Because there are large numbers of people in your town and others like it who would not deserve what I might say.
Suffice to say there is alot going on in my town. Last night the DW and I went to a very nice ball. Excellent social hour, dinner, dancing to a 17 piece big band, etc. etc. A fun time.
Just another good night in the County.
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