Gorham questions (real estate, 2011, broker)

[Audry524]

I'm hoping someone can answer a couple of questions I have about Gorham.

First off, I keep reading about "Gorham village," "West Gorham," etc. I'm guessing that this is just names given by locals to designate certain areas of town. Am I wrong? And are certain areas more desireable then others?

What about the elementary school situation. I've read that there's some over crowding issues right now that will be resolved in or around I think 2011. Are they building another elementary school? Any idea what the student/teacher ratio is right now or what it will be?

Fire department is volunteer correct?

Any suggestions on a good real estate agent? We're not moving for 6+ months but I would like some recommendations.

Thanks a million!

[WhoFanMe]

Originally Posted by Audry524

I'm hoping someone can answer a couple of questions I have about Gorham.

First off, I keep reading about "Gorham village," "West Gorham," etc. I'm guessing that this is just names given by locals to designate certain areas of town. Am I wrong? And are certain areas more desireable then others?

What about the elementary school situation. I've read that there's some over crowding issues right now that will be resolved in or around I think 2011. Are they building another elementary school? Any idea what the student/teacher ratio is right now or what it will be?

Fire department is volunteer correct?

Any suggestions on a good real estate agent? We're not moving for 6+ months but I would like some recommendations.

Thanks a million!

Yes, like many towns in Maine, Gorham has a large land mass with a small population so there are different names given by the "locals." The village is the area surrounding the intersection of Routes 25 and 114, where the shopping is.

There is a new elementary school to be built replacing the White Rock School. There are 2 parcels under consideration, one very close to where I live and one closer to the "village" next to another school. We are rooting for the former.

I'm running out to an appointment, now and will get back to you on your other answers. As for real estate agents in Gorham, I have a favorite, but I don't want to violate the TOS. Send me a DM and I'll give you a hint.

[WhoFanMe]

Originally Posted by Audry524

I'm hoping someone can answer a couple of questions I have about Gorham.

First off, I keep reading about "Gorham village," "West Gorham," etc. I'm guessing that this is just names given by locals to designate certain areas of town. Am I wrong? And are certain areas more desireable then others?

What about the elementary school situation. I've read that there's some over crowding issues right now that will be resolved in or around I think 2011. Are they building another elementary school? Any idea what the student/teacher ratio is right now or what it will be?

Fire department is volunteer correct?

Any suggestions on a good real estate agent? We're not moving for 6+ months but I would like some recommendations.

Thanks a million!

Part 2

Federal Fair Housing rules prevent me from commenting about "desirable" areas, perhaps some others familiar with the town can share and/or you can drive through the nearly 60 square miles to form your own opinion before narrowing down your choice of neighborhoods.

According to a "great" website that rates "schools," the student teacher ratio in the three elementary schools is 13/1 at Narragansett (K-2), 14/1 at White Rock (K-2) and 15/1 at Village School (3-5). The plan is to replace White Rock in the fall of 2011 with a new school (K-5) and make the others (K-5), which as a taxpayer, makes sense to me. Gorham's School District has more than 2500 students, there will be no merging with surrounding districts required.

The fire department is not volunteer, the department's budget was up 13.2% last year, primarily reflecting the increased cost of the two Fire Fighter/EMT positions approved by the Town Council at its March 2007 meeting.

I hope that helps.

[gottagetoutofmaine]

I live in Gorham and love it. The fire dept in town is not volunteer. There may be a smaller volunteer dept as well, but we have a regular fire dept.

My son will start kindergarten in the fall and I have not seem much of an overcrowding issue, compared to other places we have looked into.

I live close to "gorham village" meaning I can walk to downtown. There are lots of subdivisions cropping up all over the place.
In my opinion, they are overpriced and too close together.

[WhoFanMe]

Originally Posted by gottagetoutofmaine

I live in Gorham and love it. The fire dept in town is not volunteer. There may be a smaller volunteer dept as well, but we have a regular fire dept.

My son will start kindergarten in the fall and I have not seem much of an overcrowding issue, compared to other places we have looked into.

I live close to "gorham village" meaning I can walk to downtown. There are lots of subdivisions cropping up all over the place.
In my opinion, they are overpriced and too close together.

Interesting comments, there is a large supply of inventory in Gorham. I'm headed out on a Gorham Broker Tour that I organized to view 11 homes this morning. The last Absorption Report I looked at from November (and little has changed since then) showed 8.7 months of inventory, meaning if no other houses came on the market, it would take nearly 9 months to sell those that are available. There is also more new construction, approved by the Planning Board, but not on the market yet.

[Boomerang]

Originally Posted by gottagetoutofmaine

I live in Gorham and love it. The fire dept in town is not volunteer. I live close to "gorham village" meaning I can walk to downtown. There are lots of subdivisions cropping up all over the place.
In my opinion, they are overpriced and too close together.

This summer, I was back in Gorham for the first time in awhile, heading towards Sebago, and didn't recognize the first section of route 114 north leading out of the village at all. There sure has been development. I miss the open space.

[Audry524]

Originally Posted by WhoFanMe

Part 2

Federal Fair Housing rules prevent me from commenting about "desirable" areas, perhaps some others familiar with the town can share and/or you can drive through the nearly 60 square miles to form your own opinion before narrowing down your choice of neighborhoods.

According to a "great" website that rates "schools," the student teacher ratio in the three elementary schools is 13/1 at Narragansett (K-2), 14/1 at White Rock (K-2) and 15/1 at Village School (3-5). The plan is to replace White Rock in the fall of 2011 with a new school (K-5) and make the others (K-5), which as a taxpayer, makes sense to me. Gorham's School District has more than 2500 students, there will be no merging with surrounding districts required.

The fire department is not volunteer, the department's budget was up 13.2% last year, primarily reflecting the increased cost of the two Fire Fighter/EMT positions approved by the Town Council at its March 2007 meeting.

I hope that helps.

Thanks a ton for all of the info and answering a bunch of questions! I have other but will DM you directly when I have more time because I don't think they belong here We *might* wait to move when my oldest graduates next year but that's up in the air right now and may be moved to June/July of this year. We're definitely interested in new construction (I've live in an old house way too long) so I'm happy to hear we may have our pick of places.

As for the fire department, thanks there for the info. I actually called them directly myself because I had thought they had some volunteer. That's a make or break thing for us because we're heavily involved in our volunteer department here. I was happy to find out that it's a combination of both paid and volunteer so that's good news! I guess it's how you view it. CT has very little in the way of combination fire departments, it's mainly either all volunteer or all paid.

And I hope someone can help with specific areas of town. I understand your position. We drove up there a couple of months ago an like all of what we saw.

[Audry524]

Originally Posted by gottagetoutofmaine

I live in Gorham and love it. The fire dept in town is not volunteer. There may be a smaller volunteer dept as well, but we have a regular fire dept.

My son will start kindergarten in the fall and I have not seem much of an overcrowding issue, compared to other places we have looked into.

I live close to "gorham village" meaning I can walk to downtown. There are lots of subdivisions cropping up all over the place.
In my opinion, they are overpriced and too close together.

Thank you so much for the info! Although I have to say the "gottagetoutofmaine" name concerns me, LOL! I'm happy to see that you love it though.

I'm actually unterested in not living in a subdivisions. We've lived in one for 10 years and while our neighbors are absolutely wonderful we want a change and want land and privacy. Any section of town you can suggest?

[CTTOCA]

Thanks for posting this info about Gorham. We are relocating to Maine from CT, after the school year. Gorham is one of the towns we are interested in.

[Audry524]

Originally Posted by CTTOCA

Thanks for posting this info about Gorham. We are relocating to Maine from CT, after the school year. Gorham is one of the towns we are interested in.

We're in CT also. Best of luck to you! It's really nice area.