Moving to Maine... and FAST! Need help! (Portland, Falmouth: rental, neighborhoods)

[Submariner]

Originally Posted by lrfox

I've lived in other parts of the country. Out of the 5 states I've lived in, Maine was the cheapest... by a long shot. ...

That agrees with our experiences.

[Submariner]

Originally Posted by Alaskapat528

I keep seeing references to excise tax on vehicles and the dreaded emissions inspections. If you live in Anchorage you have to get the inspection; however, if you live outside of the Anchorage area, as I do, you don't have to.

We do have a tax up here also on vehicles; it is determined by the year of the vehicle.

It is done like that in Maine too.

The year of the vehicle and it's MSRP.

A current year vehicle is taxed at the highest mil rate, then with each passing year the mil rate drops.

They multiply the mil rate against the MSRP of the vehicle.

So if you buy an expensive vehicle it's tax will be more than if you had bought a cheap vehicle.

If a person only drives current year vehicles, or if they only drive the expensive models; then they will be paying higher excise taxes.

If you drive 4-year-old to 20-year-old beaters than your excise taxes will be low.

[LauraLoo]

I currently live in the Farmington.

Maine has it's perks, such as Maine Med in Portland. They provide excellent care for my son who is special needs.

However, the taxes up here are absurd. People who have lived up here their entire lives seem to be okay with that. I've been up here for 5 years now, and it's getting worse. I should not be paying $2.70 for gas when my mother who lives in NC is paying $2.02. Again, taxes. I don't smoke. However, cigarettes are $7 a pack. Again, taxes. Our property taxes on our home is completely outrageous. We are paying TRIPLE what my parents pay while their home is twice as big as ours. In the next year or so, I will be on my way out of this state. Maine is beautiful, but the politics up here are slowing killing this state. It's a shame.

[Alaskapat528]

Originally Posted by LauraLoo

I currently live in the Farmington area and I can say that I agree with the entire post below.

Maine has it's perks, such as Maine Med in Portland. They provide excellent care for my son who is special needs.

However, the taxes up here are absurd. People who have lived up here their entire lives seem to be okay with that. I've been up here for 5 years now, and it's getting worse. I should not be paying $2.70 for gas when my mother who lives in NC is paying $2.02. Again, taxes. I don't smoke. However, cigarettes are $7 a pack. Again, taxes. Our property taxes on our home is completely outrageous. We are paying TRIPLE what my parents pay while their home is twice as big as ours. In the next year or so, I will be on my way out of this state. Maine is beautiful, but the politics up here are slowing killing this state. It's a shame.

Laura I just wanted to interject here that we are paying $3.28 a gallon up here for gas, cigarettes are $7 pack and roughly a home appraised at about $150,000, property taxes are about $2700 a year...does this property tax compare somewhat to Maine's? Don't mean to be off topic here, just wanted to make a brief comparison. So I quess hopefully prices in Maine wouldn't feel to outrageous to me if I ever moved there.

[Submariner]

Irfox, Maineah, Reloop and I; have each tried to express that Maine is varied and has completely different regions.

Some regions of Maine may well be expensive and cost prohibitive to live in; while other regions are less so.

All of Maine is not too expensive to thrive; but some parts are.

Often in other threads the phrase 'Volvo Line' has been used in an attempt to describe the line of demarcation which separates these two parts of Maine.

Alas some folks find that phrase to be insulting.

However the reality of Maine remains that there does exist two completely different regions.

One region where: land prices are high; taxes are high; and the cost-of-living is high.

And a different region where: land prices are low; taxes are not bad; and the cost-of-living is reasonable.

Originally Posted by Maineah

You CAN live cheaply most anywhere you want to.

... You will have to live like those who say it's cheap to live here.

How can they say that? They raise almost all of their own food. They have land that was considered less than desireable for development and paid very very little for it initially hence much lower property taxes. They have much of their land tied up in the Maine Tree Growth system which allows people to defer taxes on that land. They drive cars which are old enough the excise tax on them is the minimum. They burn alternative fuels like peat and cut wood for the rest of their fuel.

It IS possible to live cheaply in Maine. However you will not find a huge number of people living off the land in Southern Maine. These are the over taxed in the state and the ones with the most to gripe about.

I agree.

Originally Posted by reloop

Agreed.

Lifestyle choices vary vastly from one end of this state to the other.

Southern Maine is more expensive IMHO.

Typically the more rural you go, the less it costs for land/property taxes;

... I'm in Central Maine. If I were to do the math, there's no way I would live in Southern Maine because I can live the way I want for much less up here.

... I guess all and all, it's a matter of personal preference as to what services you want and what kind of things you want in your town, and what you have for employment. Maine is hurting in that department, but if you have something lined up, then all the better.

I would never, ever, suggest for even one moment that someone move up here either "sight-unseen" or without a line on gainful employment. But then again, I think that mentality would apply to Anywhere, USA in this economy.

I agree with both of them.

[Submariner]

Originally Posted by Alaskapat528

... a home appraised at about $150,000, property taxes are about $2700 a year ... does this property tax compare somewhat to Maine's?

It depends on which of the two Maines that property where to be located in.

Southern / urban Maine does have very nice homes which can fetch as much as half a million dollars or more, and their taxes may likely be high. A home valued at $150k is really at about the bottom of the barrel.

While Northern / rural Maine has homes beginning at $40k, where the taxes are fairly low. So a home valued at $150k might be one of the nicest homes in the entire town.

I do not think that it really compares well to look at homes of the same market value, when one area is expensive and the other area is depressed.

The state of Maine has both of these types of areas.

In my township the mil rates just went up, the mil rate is now 0.01055

So a house valued at $150k would be taxed $1582.50

[Comicbookmommy]

Hello!! Just a quick update! Found a PERFECT place in Cape Elizabeth today!!! SO EXCITED! It's just perfect for us. It has absolutely everything we could want in a place for our family, and we know we'll be happy there, and settle for a long time. Our sons will get to go to a fantastic school, it's very close to the beach, it in a nice secluded neighborhood AND it's not much more than we're paying now for our home here.

The landlord is insanely nice, he allowed all our pets with no deposit, broke up our sec. deposit into two payments to ease our move, AND lowered the rent $200 in exchange for not having to update things that we thought were perfectly fine. We put down our first and 1/2 deposit today. THEN to top it off, I made friends with the State Farm Insurance guy in Portland while on the phone switching policies. I know I've said it before, but Maine people are so....NICE!

Anyway, everything is in place, just have to pack and move. Crazy excited here!

And thanks for everyone's posts, it's wonderful to hear all sides of life in Maine! It all helps a lot! Thank you!

[Comicbookmommy]

Oh! And as for the taxes in Maine, which ones are supposedly higher? Just need to compare to Kansas. The home we almost bought here for 100,000 had a property tax of 1150 a year. Gas is 2.69 as of today. Taxes on everything, including groceries is %7 -something percent. Any other numbers that may effect things?

I know I am probably over-thanking, but THANK YOU!

[dramamama6685]

Originally Posted by Comicbookmommy

Oh! And as for the taxes in Maine, which ones are supposedly higher? Just need to compare to Kansas. The home we almost bought here for 100,000 had a property tax of 1150 a year. Gas is 2.69 as of today. Taxes on everything, including groceries is %7 -something percent. Any other numbers that may effect things?

I know I am probably over-thanking, but THANK YOU!

There is a feature on city data where you can check the cost of living in an area by zip code. I did where I live now then I did Eastport.

Of course, this is in the regular part not the forums.

Just thought that feature might be of use.

[LauraLoo]

Originally Posted by Alaskapat528

Laura I just wanted to interject here that we are paying $3.28 a gallon up here for gas, cigarettes are $7 pack and roughly a home appraised at about $150,000, property taxes are about $2700 a year...does this property tax compare somewhat to Maine's? Don't mean to be off topic here, just wanted to make a brief comparison. So I quess hopefully prices in Maine wouldn't feel to outrageous to me if I ever moved there.

It's expensive in Alaska! No, it wouldn't. There are people who move here from CA and think it's cheap.

I've been all over and know that compared to TN, NC and even FL, the taxes up here are too high. I'd like to be able to save money and retire.