Searching for new Town - First Trip to Portland, ME

[blueskiesforever]

As long as you have a housing budget of 600K or more, and are willing to wait a long time to find a house you like to come for sale.

[blueskiesforever]

Off4Fun, I have been looking to move to Portland for about 6 months now, and I can relate a lot to what you are saying. I have found a lot of frustration. I too have 3 kids, but my oldest is 12, and I cannot emphasize enough to you how important good schools and proximity to them is as your children get older. I have found it difficult to find a home that would fit my family. There are lots of options under 1500 sft, and you might find what you are looking for architecturally, but I think with the long cold winter, and the fact that you are working from home, you will find that is too small as your children grow. There are lots of homes over 3000 sqft., but I am guessing that may be larger than you would like. Those tend to be more recently built. Very little in between. We liked the vibe in Yarmouth ok, but there are not many neighborhoods there. What there is is state highway, with some private culs-de-sac where you would have to pay to plow and pave them, which are still just off the main drag and not in a quiet area well away from the road, along with the 2-3 neighbors you share them with. Cape Elizabeth, has more options that feel neighborhood like, but by more, I mean, not much available, and the houses tend to be raised ranch style, or 1960s ranches etc., which I don't think is what you were looking for. In Yarmouth, many houses I saw have really chopped up second floors in Cape style homes that do not have good use of space.

[newonk]

Hi - I'm happy to talk offline if you want to pm me; we bought in Cape in 2011, looking for something similar to what you describe, and then my parents bought a similar home nearby in South Portland late last year. We have lots of friends in a similar market in Yarmouth, Falmouth, Portland, Cumberland, Scarborough, etc - so some sense of the range of what you'll see balancing schools, acreage, proximity to ocean, etc depending on whats important to you. Cape has alot more inventory these days then it did when we were looking, and from what ive seen, houses tend to either go really quickly (if well located and priced) or sit for a long time. I hear similar things about Falmouth, especially in Foreside. Anyway - happy to chat if you want.