Yarmouth and Cumberland (Portland, Lewiston, Brunswick: property taxes, showing, condos)

[overleaf]

Hello All,

I would like to know more info about ... Cumberland, Cumberland Forside, North Yarmouth and Yarmouth. What I want to know are these things....

What is the overall feel of the town?

What do the people tend to be like?

How good are Cumberland schools vs. Yarmouth schools?

Thank you in advance

[Maineah]

I grew up in Yarmouth and went to school there. They just rebuilt their High School there and it's quite nice. In fact all of the schools there are fairly new. Yarmouth is a nice, safe community. I went to High School with the Cheif of Police. He's been on the force since he graduated High School 33 years ago. If you drive fast you won't like Yarmouth very much as the town has a speed limit or 25 mph just about everywhere and they enforce it with vigor. People usually get used to it after their third or fourth ticket.
It's a pretty village as so many are along the coast. There are many large old sea Captain homes along Main Street which have mostly been converted to business uses these days. The Main Street area has a variety of small shops and stores along it ranging from barber shops to deli's. There is one small pub on the west end of Main st. There are several good reastaurants in the area. I always thought of Yarmouth as being in the absolute best location for access to everything around thie Southern Maine area. Portland is only 15 miles to the South, Brunswick is only 15 miles to the North, Lewiston is a quick ride to the Northwest. Both Route 1 and I-95 go through Yarmouth so it's very easy to get in and out of the town. It doesn't seem like much but its something to consider when you have to drive 10 miles or more over pot holed or ice covered roads to access the highway. Yarmouth has much more access to the ocean than Cumberland does. Cumberland has Cumberland Foreside which is a small restricted access area off Route 88 and that's it. Cumberland used to own Chebeague Island until Chebeague seceeded from Cumberland a couple of years back. Yarmouth has the Royal River which has a residents access to launch and haul boats. It's also a low tide launch area which is not all that common around here. It's a pleasant ride to the mouth of the Royal river at Lane's Island where the river opens up to the 365 islands of Casco Bay. Yarmouth also includes Cousisn's Island which is connected by bridge to the mainland. Cousin's Island has a public beach (not huge) and a large oil fired power generating station on the South end. The station is not pretty though people are used to it. In fact the folks in Cumberland and Falmouth Foreside have the worst view of it as it dominates the horizon from that vantage point. Yarmouth has several biking and walking trails. One follows the river and is very nice the other one follows Route one and actually connects to the river path. Yarmouth is host to the annual Clam Festival now in its 30 something year. It's the largest seafood festival in the State and is always the third week in July. Upwards of 60,000 people of more come for the parade on Friday night. It's a nice festival with a traveling carnival, arts and crafts, singers and dancers, firemen demonstrations, clam shucking and oyster eating contests, canoe races...the list goes on and on. Some folks (especially new residents) don't care for the conversion of the town into festival mode...but it's only three days and all of the non-profit organizations in the area really make the bulk of their funding during that weekend.
There are a couple of regional news papers or advertising papers that are published in Yarmouth. One is called The Notes. Google Yarmouth, Maine and Notes and you should find it ok. The other is The Forecaster which is actually out of Falmouth though it covers all of the small towns around Yarmouth including Cumberland. Get a few issues sent to you and you'll get a feel for what is going on around town and what the people are like.

[overleaf]

thank you so much for your reply, you confirm to me how great I thought yarmouth was...

[emu742]

sounds like a very nice place

[elston]

Originally Posted by emu742

sounds like a very nice place

Yes it does and I keep checking realtor.com for listings and don't find very much.

[Maineah]

Yarmouth is a very desireable place to live and as such houses don't last long once they hit the market. Yarmouth had a building boom during the eighties. The property tax burden was extremely low for a coastal town due to a deal with the power generating plant on Cousin's Island. Hence many people took advantage of the low property taxes and built some pretty expensive homes (for that era). The deal with the Wyman Station as it is called had expired and the power plant has changed hands from Central Maine Power to Florida Power and Light. With the change in the tax base came revaluation of the properties and a big spike in property taxes. This spike was kind of the catalyst that sparked growth in many of the more sleepy agricultural towns like Cumberland and North Yarmouth which up until the eighties were much more rural, spread out and not as upscale as Yarmouth. Developers saw the chance to do their stuff in Cumberland and to a lesser extent North Yarmouth and Pownal. They took advantage of low property assements and built some large subdivisions with some fairly expensive homes. Folks who were taxed out of places like Yarmouth and Falmouth flocked to these new upscale neighborhoods. As a result of the influx of wealthier residents the school system was revamped and brought up to date. Since then building in these towns has leveled off and the houses turn over as families grow out of the need or desire to maintain a large house and move on to condos or smaller homes.

[elston]

Originally Posted by Maineah

Yarmouth is a very desireable place to live and as such houses don't last long once they hit the market. Yarmouth had a building boom during the eighties. The property tax burden was extremely low for a coastal town due to a deal with the power generating plant on Cousin's Island. Hence many people took advantage of the low property taxes and built some pretty expensive homes (for that era). The deal with the Wyman Station as it is called had expired and the power plant has changed hands from Central Maine Power to Florida Power and Light. With the change in the tax base came revaluation of the properties and a big spike in property taxes. This spike was kind of the catalyst that sparked growth in many of the more sleepy agricultural towns like Cumberland and North Yarmouth which up until the eighties were much more rural, spread out and not as upscale as Yarmouth. Developers saw the chance to do their stuff in Cumberland and to a lesser extent North Yarmouth and Pownal. They took advantage of low property assements and built some large subdivisions with some fairly expensive homes. Folks who were taxed out of places like Yarmouth and Falmouth flocked to these new upscale neighborhoods. As a result of the influx of wealthier residents the school system was revamped and brought up to date. Since then building in these towns has leveled off and the houses turn over as families grow out of the need or desire to maintain a large house and move on to condos or smaller homes.

Thank you for all the history and information about housing in yarmouth. Now I understand why I only pull up 4 or 5 listings.

[WhoFanMe]

I'm showing a listing in Yarmouth on Friday to a family that had previously only looked in Cumberland. Yes, there isn't as much inventory in the two towns that the "media" would have you believe. Both towns have much going for them, and Maineah has done a terrific job in describing the local flavor.

[K-Luv]

Yarmouth and Cumberland seem to be places where people move to to plant roots. Not necessarily to raise a family or build community, but to establish themselves a home in which they will grow old in, then to pass it along to someone else. That is the impression that those two places give me, anyways.

I mean that in a good way.

[msina]

My Brother and sister in law live in Yarmouth. She is an elementary school teacher. They love it there.