Within 30 min of Bowdoin Campus (Portland, Brunswick: for sale, lease, house)

[Sunday1]

I'd like to use time rather than miles since I'm not
familiar with traffic patterns to narrow down the list of towns that we should be considering for our relo early this summer. Is Cape Elizabeth too far south, for example?
Is Freeport the town we should use as the farthest away while within a 30 min commute to the southwest or could be living in Yarmouth and get to Bowdoin in 30 min? How about Wiscasset to the north? That's okay, right? I'd also like to know about the housing costs in each area. For example, is Yarmouth or Falmouth more expensive than Brunswick or about the same? Thanks!

[K-Luv]

Bowdoin will be within 30 minutes from Portland, Falmouth, Yarmouth, and Freeport. Freeport is obviously the closest, maybe only a ten minute drive, if even that, and Portland will be pushing in close to the 30 minute mark. All four towns are a straight shot to Bowdoin down 295 as Bowdoin is practically right off the highway.

Cape E. will take around 50 to 60 minutes as it is not 'conveniently' located near 295.

I have no idea about Wiscasset.

I could be wrong, but I do believe that Falmouth and Yarmouth are more expensive than Brunswick. Falmouth has some extremely large homes and both Falmouth and Yarmouth are almost entirely residential (yes, they both have a town center, but neither offers much more than the essentials). The median income for Falmouth is twice that of Portland. Bowdoin is a typical city with mixed residential and commercial. It definitely has it's money, but it is also largely working class/blue collar.

[Sunday1]

Thanks very much K-Luv. Sounds like we have a lot of choices as long as we stay north of Portland, or at least on the north side of Portland. We've visited the Bowdoin campus twice, but we were helping DD shop quite a few colleges in New England and weren't thinking about moving there at the time. We did so much driving throughout the region (RI, MA, VT, NH and Maine) that we can't seem to remember how far things and places were from Bowdoin. Now that we've decided to move to the area, we have all kinds of new and much different questions than we did during those trips!

[Mark S.]

Wiscasset is probably 20 minutes or so from Brunswick. Once you get much farther south than Yarmouth, you're really starting to push your 30-minute limit.

Yarmouth and Falmouth are both pretty expensive.

Slightly less expensive in Brunswick, Topsham, and Freeport.

Bath and Wiscasset are noticeably cheaper.

That being said, with the economy in its current state, it is definitely a buyer's market. Lots of homes for sale, and many have been on the market for a year or more. I don't imagine any reasonable offer would be refused at this point.

[Maineah]

Bowdoin College is of course in Brunswick. Any of the towns mentioned with the noted exception of Cape Elizabeth are within 30 minutes of the Bowdoin Campus. Your lifestyle will dictate which towns you will prefer.
If you have been considering Cape Elizabeth and are familiar with the type of town it is you will be happy on Falmouth Foreside or some of the upscale areas of Yarmouth, South Freeport, and even out as far as Harpswell. These areas, though generally much more expensive than most areas, offer high end homes and water views while being close to services and the cultural areas of Portland and the south coast. Property taxes are relatively high in these areas as the property values for most of the homes will be well in excess of $1M.

[moughie]

Consider Bath... .
There are lovely areas of Bath, some I believe ( to the West) where you are quite near to the water.

[Sunday1]

Thanks Mark, Maineah, Moughie & K-Luv:

This along with a bunch of help from the Mermaid, is exactly the info we needed. We're going to look for a lease intially rather than a purchase. Want to make sure DH's transfer puts him where he wants to be over the next ten years until retirement. DD is going to Bowdoin and DH's new division is New England as a region so it made sense to us to be near Brunswick. Now we just have to find a nice house that's available for rent or lease and your info will make our search efforts much sharper. Thanks all.