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Old 05-10-2006, 11:46 PM
 
Location: East Texas, with the Clan of the Cave Bear
3,245 posts, read 5,582,373 times
Reputation: 4709

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Look Pixie.......All you need is to find an income and then go for it.......you'll never know until you try it. All the visiting and other "investigations" just can't tell you the answers......sorry! All y'all lack are the jobs......you gotta have them....find some......if it doesn't work out then you're young and you can make another move......it's an adventure.....go for it!

Actually our first child was born there and I do miss living there at times (during our Texas summers)! I was online last week looking at realestate around Portland and Bangor (I miss the fishing!) but I couldn't sell what I have here and move into anything close to what I have here. Good luck and God bless!
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Old 05-15-2006, 10:09 PM
 
Location: Maine
55 posts, read 411,231 times
Reputation: 128
And then there is just the "charm" in living in rural Maine.......Friday night standing in a very crowded line outside an old movie theater and knowing everyone in line, talking while you wait to get in, and not even noticing its raining. Oh yes, and paying $5 to get in and your drink refill is 75 cents and the popcorn refill is free. Going to a local, and I mean local, not a chain, restaurant, where they remember your child's birthday without asking and put sprinkles in their pancake AND a birthday candle. Businesses that give out candy to kids on halloween night. Getting stopped by the police in town only to find out that you have been chosen the "guest prisoner" which means you get no ticket but a free over-night in a local hotel and meal vouchers for a local restaurant. A great local summer theatre that used to host the Broadway and Hollywood greats........a classic college less than 30 minutes away and a University of Maine at Farmington that was named the country's number 1 liberal arts college several years in a row. The local school district that started a small dance program called MDI which features EVERY child and makes them a star one day a year (featured on the Today show once!) Neighbors who take care of neighbors and families who have lived for months or years who offer help when needed. Drawbacks, yes, they are here, as they are everywhere, but if you have a job where you are, you will probably be able to find something here as well. AND teachers, keep your eyes and ears open there are dozens and dozens of positions available, keep looking! You won't make a fortune here, but you will make a life.
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Old 05-26-2006, 08:21 AM
 
16 posts, read 46,523 times
Reputation: 18
Default still single from NJ to Maine going back to NJ

I love Maine. It's great but for some crazy reason - aside from missing my parents and some friends - I miss NJ - if only Maine were closer to NJ - I'd stay without even thinking about it.
I bought my house in Sanford, Maine. Live here with a dog and cat. Once I head back I'm probably going to miss the quiet tree lined street and my farmer's porch. The only thing about Maine and this is very subjective, is the winter. Sure, you can ski and enjoy winter sports but man o man can it ever snow and get wicked cold. If you think you might be affected by the winter - well get some of those light bulbs that advertise to help against SAD and get plenty of Vitamin D. Summer is much more tolerable than NJ - I don't even own an air conditioner. Fall is wonderful, spring is muddy but once the flowers start blooming and you can go out and visit the great farms in the area - well you'll be glad that you're here. My neighbors are even so sweet. We help each other when the snow comes to snow blow or dig each other out. I hear my 65 year old neighbor at 5am snow blowing out my car so I can get to work on time - how nice is that? She just does it even though I've told her she doesn't have to - she says "well - I'm doing mine so it's not much more for me" Of course, she hates the fact that I'm not married and tells me so frequently - but its a small price. If I had kids - I'd like them to grow up around here. They can see trees the ocean, mountains and wildlife - on my way to work I see wild turkeys and majestic deer the size of horses instead of those puny ones that I see back inthe Garden state. I have still yet to see a moose though. Sure there's crime but nothing to concern yourself with really. It's a state with so much more to offer. I'm going to miss it. But I've said before, you can take the girl out of Jersey but you can't take Jersey out of the girl.
Best of luck to you - Mainers are great - even though you'll be "from away" for awhile - several generations probably therefore they don't say much initially. But show an interest, don't be all city like and appreciate what they've got here. Kindness doesn't come from words - actions and attitudes speak volumes.
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Old 05-26-2006, 09:55 PM
 
25 posts, read 158,651 times
Reputation: 50
Smile AZBound

AZBound--funny, but the place you describe sounds alot like my Tampa suburb. We might live in a major metropolitan area which has more people living in it than the entire state of Maine does, but it is still a small town atmosphere.

The key is getting out and participating in the community, no matter where you choose to live. I don't think I have ever gone to the grocery store without encountering someone we knew. Our small gated neighborhood is anathema to some, but while my husband deployed as a Reservist to OEF/OIF from 2001=2003, my lawn never went unmowed and we were always invited to Thanksgiving/Christmas dinner at someone's home. We have block parties and community cookouts, and almost every night the kids are out playing kickball or flashlight tag, or in back swimming in someone's pool.

Rural Maine certainly does not have a monopoly on "community".

Florida is a state of transplants and we are forever collecting "strays" for holidays and just hanging out. In Maine, my husband wasn't invited for dinner once although the people were nice and pleasant as far as social interactions went. Strange.

I will give Maine props for the lack of traffic congestion, though!

Enjoy AZ. Now THAT is a truly great State. Enjoy the laid-back Western lifestyle, though. Don't try to impose Northeastern sensibilities on them.
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Old 05-26-2006, 11:30 PM
 
Location: Maine
55 posts, read 411,231 times
Reputation: 128
Gator-girl, its so nice to hear nice things about other places. I have lived in lots of places and surely appreciate that "community" exists everywhere. It sounds like Florida is very welcoming, your neighborhood in particular. Thanks for the good wishes in AZ, my husband and I are gleefully looking forward to the laid-back lifestyle. Hopefully we'll drop those northeastern sensibilities somewhere along the side of the road as we make our way across the country.
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Old 05-28-2006, 12:50 PM
 
3 posts, read 15,127 times
Reputation: 12
The areas of standish and buxton are beautiful. They are withing 30 minutes of south portland and downtown portland. However if you are from NJ you will be in for a major culture shock. These are towns with limited services. No crime, good schools and quiet are the positives.
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Old 07-06-2006, 09:17 PM
 
Location: Waldo County
1,220 posts, read 3,917,324 times
Reputation: 1414
Default Re: Sullivan, Maine

Quote:
Originally Posted by Navyblue
I'm a teacher living in Maryland who's been vacationing in Maine for 30 years, mostly on Mt. Desert Island. We're thinking of retiring to the area but can't afford the kind of house we want on the island itself. We saw a property we like in Sullivan, I guess about 30-60 minutes north of Ellsworth. Can anyone tell us anything about Sullivan?
Sullivan, Maine is a very small town east of Ellsworth about twelve miles. When I say "east", I mean up Route One toward Canada. Most people think that going up the coast of Maine is going north, but it is actually going east northeast.

Sullivan is a town that was formed around the granite quarrying business in the late 1700's, and in fact at one time had a very busy thriving granite quarrying business there. A lot of the paving stones used in some of the biggest eastern US cities were quarried in Sullivan's quarries. Today, the town has only one active granite quarry, and I am proud to be the one of the three partners who have developed this new part of Maine's industry.

Sullivan is a small town...population less than 1300...and serves as a bedroom community for Ellsworth, Bangor and other places with more commercial activity. It is a fairly rural place, with beautiful shoreline and scenic views across Frenchman Bay to Mt. Desert Island and Cadillac Mountain in Acadia National Park.

There is land available in Sullivan and there are small houses for sale there. There is a local elementary and high school. While I do not live there, I own property there and of course, the business and have been able to meet people in the town. Nice place, and if I were to characterize it with one descriptive phrase it would be that people there are "real" Mainers, who like their lifestyle to be quite simple and want it to stay that way. Along the shore are some expensive properties and there are people who have come to Sullivan from "away", but the majority of people in the town are from here.

I like Sullivan, and I especially like the feeling of genuineness that I have found in the people.
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Old 07-06-2006, 09:24 PM
 
Location: Waldo County
1,220 posts, read 3,917,324 times
Reputation: 1414
Default Re: Real Estate people

Quote:
Originally Posted by pixieshmoo
I was curious about something else, if anyone could answer or give an opinion. Real Estate. I am a realtor in NJ and I was wondering, should we move, how well will my career succeed in Maine. I've talked to realtors up there very briefly, but a salesperson is a salesperson, any broker would be happy to have me because they split my commission. I want a general opinion. Is the real estate business good up there (mainly the southern/seacoast, greater portland area maybe as far up as bar harbor)? How about properties selling for seasonal purposes (summer homes, etc.) and/or rentals? Do you, as Mainers, see a lot of homes being sold or purchased? Thank you.

Also, what about self-employment, such as construction and contracting. My husband has his own business and would rather do that there than throw it away to work for someone else. Do "handyman" businesses do well up there too? thanks again!!

For the past twenty years I have been involved in the real estate development business. In all of that time my observations of real estate brokers in the Downeast area comes down to basically one thing: They are bone lazy.

I don't believe that there are more than a few real estate brokers who can actually sell anything unless the buyer walks up to them and demands to use their pen.

If you want to come to Maine and really work in the real estate sales business, and especially if you have had success selling real estate in a more populous and pressurize state, you can do really well here.
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Old 07-06-2006, 09:52 PM
 
Location: Waldo County
1,220 posts, read 3,917,324 times
Reputation: 1414
Quote:
Originally Posted by pixieshmoo
None of you are helping me!!!!!!!!!!!!! No, you all are, but I'm still back and forth. I know your sales tax is higher than ours, double I think. So cost of living is probably not as good generally speaking. $500/year to register your car? That's insane, we pay $68 per year in Jersey!!!! From what I've seen on the internet, property taxes are much cheaper than here, and for the most part you get more for your money on homes and property size. But again, that sales tax and the cost of living..... however, I thought Maine was a much closer comparison to it than NJ. I've been doing research for over a year. I suppose you could say "Well, you asked for it, pixie", but I'm glad I'm finding out the realities of Maine. I guess my heart is getting broken, but I'm better off knowing what I know now so that even if we decide to go for Maine, we don't go into it with blinders on. We know more about what to expect now. And it is still considered one of the best places to raise children. Depending on what we, as adults, do for our children, that will set the course for the kind of people they grow up to be and how well they prosper. Maybe all of the people looking to relocate there will help Maine grow to be a more "prosperous" place while maintaining it's nice reputation and quaintness. (No intentions of offending anyone, just basing it's financial prosperity on what I've heard in here).

I'm an outdoors person too, but unfortunately right now, I get the impression that that would be the only thing Maine and I have in common.
I think that you are wasting a lot of your time trying to draw a comparison between living in Maine and living in New Jersey. There really is no comparison.

I have read a lot of opinion about outrageous taxes in Maine. Well, quite possibly. But a lot of the information floating about is just plain wrong. Registering a car in Maine involves several steps. There is a state excise tax that is paid annually. The excise tax is a form of personal property tax and is based on the original book price of the car being registered multiplied by a depreciation factor. Add to that is a registration fee that covers the cost of registration of the vehicle's license plates. Depending on the cost new of the vehicle, the registration process and excise tax can be quite expensive, but comparing to another state is foolish, unless that state's process is the same.

Maine has a state sales tax. It is 5% and does not include basic food groups, although it does include "junk" food or snack items.

The cost of heating in the winter is high or not high depending upon how well insulated one's house is, and the type and age of the heating system being used. Most central heating systems in Maine burn fuel oil, and a very high percentage of older homes are not well or thoroughly insulated. Many have heating systems that are fifteen or more years old,a nd are quite inefficient. Modern houses and modern heating systems are much more efficient and less expensive to heat.

Health insurance is very expensive in Maine, but there is a substantial movement to reopen the health insurance business to competition, and the current state of health insurance will change. It is in an unfortunate state as of now, but that is not a permanent situation.

From reading a lot of these posts people are trying to make a what is a major lifestyle change seamless, swapping only the scenery and the social climate without any risk or negative experiences. About ten years ago, I met a wonderful woman who was a lawyer working in Manhattan. She hated her job with a great passion, and having found coastal Maine while on vacation some time before, was thinking about moving to Maine.

She had figured out that she could take a leave of absense from her position,a nd could spend a year living in Maine. She asked me if I thought she could live on $30,000 for one year in Maine. I told her that she could come to Maine and spend a year living like a queen on $30,000 while she figured out if it was what she really wanted to do. She never did it at that time, and we lost track of each other.

Recently, I learned that on the day that the World Trade Center towers went down, she was late to work. Her office was on the 106th floor of one of the towers, and because she was late, she lived. She resigned her position, and I was told that she now lives in the Blue Hill area, and has passed the Maine bar.

My point here is that you need to come here and learn about the place and its people. Pick an area and visit for a week or so. Talk to a lot of people and learn first hand what they sound like, what the taxes are, and what it seems to take to make it through the day. You may find the good outweigh the bad. And you may find that the congestion of New Jersey is just like home.
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Old 07-22-2006, 03:41 PM
 
2 posts, read 12,029 times
Reputation: 10
Default Wanting to Move To Maine

I have recently decided after a trip to maine that it is definitely the place I want to live. However, I do not know how to get started. I am recently a college graduate and would love to have a job up there, but I am worried about having to move up there, with no where to live. Are there job/resident placement places in the portland area? Or any area for that matter?
Thanks
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