Rental market near Portland??? (Saco, Westbrook: real estate, rentals, condo)

[doozer]

Hello, My wife and I are coming up to visit in a couple weeks, I have a job opportunity in the Portland area.

I have been searching the internet to see what is available as far as houses for rent. We are interested in the surrounding towns of Portland, Falmouth, Westbrook, OOB, maybe Saco area as well. Or any other towns around there I have not mentioned.

I have contacted a few real estate agents in the area but none seem to interested in helping me, they only want to sell me a house (understandibly). I just dont know how the rental market works up there. I know down here in Florida most rentals are listed on the local MLS system, and most real estate brokerages handle property management. Houses for rent here are very easy to find on the MLS, I cant seem to find a good listing source for rentals. There are some on Craigslist, but thats more of a want-ad type of advertising.

Do I need to find stand alone property management companies there? The only thing I can find alot of is winter rentals, and to be honest I thought about moving into one of those and then in the mean time find a permanent place. But all of those are fully furnished, and that makes it awkward for us. I dont want to keep all of our stuff in storage that long, and with 2 young girls, I think after moving so far away they might feel more at home with their own furniture.

If any of you have a local paper for these areas, can you take a look and tel me if there are good number of rental houses listed? Maybe there just arent many in the areas I am looking.

Thanks for the info!

David

[AlisonL]

Try a search for the Portland Press Herald. Should be plenty of rental listings in there.

[msina]

here's a link you can try
http://rentals.mainetoday.com/action.php

[Northern Maine Land Man]

Try the Maine Sunday Telegram on line. Maine has the highest rate of home ownership in the nation. The flip side of that situation is that we have few rentals. For short term rentals many people in transition use Embassy Suites type rentals. In the winter you can get better rates than what they advertise. Negotiate yourself a good deal.

[moughie]

When we moved to Maine back in the mid 80's, we rented a condo on OOB, fully furnished. It was wonderful be right on the beach in the Fall! We did pay for short term storage of our stuff. After 3 months of renting ( mnth to month), we bought a home and moved in. It worked out great for us! However that was B.C. ( before children!)

Good luck!

[doozer]

Thanks for the info! There are a few places listed, I hope to find something when we head up there soon. I cant wait to get out of Florida!

[houseinme]

We have a house that we've rented in the past about 25 minutes outside of Portland. We've always posted it on Craigslist.