Portland Questions (Falmouth, Bath, Lincoln: apartments, townhouses, neighborhoods)

[LazySherpa]

We relocated to Maine about a year ago and have been living in Bath while we look for a house to buy. We've settled on the Portland area, or perhaps Falmouth. Wondering if anyone can offer any insight into the different neighborhoods of Portland. People seem to rave about Deering Center, but it seems like you get more house and yard in North Deering. What's the difference between the two?

We're a couple with a 2 year old.

[genmomto5]

Don't know much detail about the different neighborhoods. We ended up on Munjoy Hill primarily because of accessibility needs for my husband. It is definitely a different type of place for us but we love it. The East End School is wonderful.

[Parrotpaul]

Originally Posted by LazySherpa

We relocated to Maine about a year ago and have been living in Bath while we look for a house to buy. We've settled on the Portland area, or perhaps Falmouth. Wondering if anyone can offer any insight into the different neighborhoods of Portland. People seem to rave about Deering Center, but it seems like you get more house and yard in North Deering. What's the difference between the two?

We're a couple with a 2 year old.

Not much...North Deering is a relatively new..20-25 years...area. The houses are a little more modern, and the streets a little wider. It is a bit more up-scale than other areas of the city except maybe for the West End. Deering Center on Steven Avenue has been around for many many years. It was a working class community with some lovely homes where physicians lived and worked. It is about the only area in the entire country where your children can walk to their schools and be able to go from kindergarten through college on the same street....all schools within a mile stretch and you can even toss in a private Catholic girls school as well.

Munjoy Hill is on the peninsula and dates to before revolutionary times. It once housed the large Italian and Irish immigrant community, and it has burned to the ground at least once that I know about. I lived in the Munjoy South Townhouses in 1975-76 when a two bedroom rented for about $140 a month...they paid the heat.

Over the years, the older places and apartments have been bought up and renovated. Many are now quite valuable, and it has become a very nice part of the downtown area in which to live. If you go to Sheridan Street and ask some of the old-timers who still live there where John Ford, America's most prolific filmmaker, lived, they will show you the house where Ford grew up. He played football for Portland HS.

A friend of mine was Ford's nephew, and when BackJack died back in the 70's I believe, he inherited a trunk load of all Ford's baseball hats...Ford wore them wherever he went.

[WhoFanMe]

Originally Posted by LazySherpa

We relocated to Maine about a year ago and have been living in Bath while we look for a house to buy. We've settled on the Portland area, or perhaps Falmouth. Wondering if anyone can offer any insight into the different neighborhoods of Portland. People seem to rave about Deering Center, but it seems like you get more house and yard in North Deering. What's the difference between the two?

We're a couple with a 2 year old.

Hello Lazy Sherpa,

Depending upon your budget, I would recommend finding several houses in each area, and you also might like the Rosemont/Capisic area (convenient to the Maine Turnpike), the Stroudwater area, the Baxter Boulevard/Back Bay area - I did an open house there today and was busy almost continually for 2 hours, and then driving by to see if you like the areas that the houses you've picked are located in.

Good luck!

[Parrotpaul]

Originally Posted by LazySherpa

We relocated to Maine about a year ago and have been living in Bath while we look for a house to buy.

Where in Bath. I spent 18 years at 10 Park Street. North end.

[LazySherpa]

We're on Front Street near town. It's a great spot!

[Parrotpaul]

Front Street used to be the back way to walk home from the movies...Uptown theater...long gone. It was across the street from the A and P close to the park. My Aunt lived on Pearl Street, and we used to go swimming off an old dock near the fish factory...it burned a couple years ago.

I spent many summers running my 14 foot flat bottomed skiff around that river. Great place to grow up.

Both my mom and dad worked at the BIW.

[oceanfit185]

North Deering is a newer area. It is kind of more of sprawl... not that we have much in Maine. It feels a little more isolated to me. If you live there I think you get to pick between Deering High or Portland High.

Deering Center is a bit older of a neighborhood. So the houses tend to be older and need more work. But most people put in the effort and it really looks nice. If you live in DC you are very close to schools. Longfellow, Lincoln, and Deering are all pretty much next door to each other.

ND has the reputation of being more upscale than DC. Take that for what its worth.

I personally like DC over ND. But I am bais. I just love walking around the neighborhood in the summer.