New vs Old Houses in Maine, Gorham, Scar, Portland area (Lewiston: real estate, apartment)

[Moxie]

Introduction: Even though my ancestry on both sides comes from Maine I have never lived in the state other than staying in our ancient non-winterized cottage in the Sebago lake area. (Been in the family for 40 years, had outhouse, no elec, etc) We are planning to move to Maine in the next year. We will be selling both my parents and my home to afford a house there. We will have my parents (one Alzheimers, early stage) and four boys ages 3-10 and my husband and myself. I currently stay home with the kids and my husband is high school graduate, a general kind of worker, house painter, what ever to pay the bills. Our goal is to live in a house with an in-law for my parents and be close enough to take care of our old cottage and spend some time there.

An area I have not seen addressed on this site yet is the choice of an old vs new house. Is there much in the way of new houses there? With an already old place to take care of I am scared of my primary residence being hard to heat and keep up with maintenance costs. Are there existing energy efficient homes there?

Also, any comparison on areas around Portland? We are thinking of Scarborough or Gorham right now. With 4 kids, one with developmental delay, schools are important.
Thanks!

[MRVphotog]

Maine is just like any place in New England...you have old houses, new houses. You just have to check them out for yourself. I own an old apartment building, built in 1904 in Lewiston, My brother-in-law has one in Gorham and my in laws just moved to a nice new developement in Gorham from the Cape.

The Portland area has been growing fast but it is my favorite city. Gorham is kinda on the fringe of growth but will be taken over by the sprawl in a few years. Lots of traffic in the village, a big problem they are trying to fix.

BTW I recently published a new poster featuring Portland.
Photo Gallery Home - American PhotoArt Gallery (broken link)

[dlmskidmore]

Have you considered South Portland? Excellent school system with special ed teachers and student integration.

I have a four bedroom 2 1/2 bath house I am thinking of selling as my husband and I are ready to downsize. It was built in 1994 with a master suite addition over the two car garage built in 2004. Large lot with fenced back yard in nice neighborhood. Ten minutes from beaches, down town Portland, Maine Mall and airport.

Real Estate is not cheap here, but Scarborough is more expensive than South Portland. Gorham is hard to commute from due to roads designed back when there were fewer homes. Real estate taxes are slightly less in South Portland, but also something to beware coming from the South.

[Moxie]

Thanks for the insight on Gorham. We will be up to visit in about a month and are trying to narrow down how much we have to look around by doing some research ahead of time. We know we are very low tax here. 2200 sq ft house in the county is $1200 a year! Do you think having a newer house is more energy efficient? Is there less in the way of repairs due to weather? Or are older houses built better?
Thanks again!

[MRVphotog]

Originally Posted by Moxie

Thanks for the insight on Gorham. We will be up to visit in about a month and are trying to narrow down how much we have to look around by doing some research ahead of time. We know we are very low tax here. 2200 sq ft house in the county is $1200 a year! Do you think having a newer house is more energy efficient? Is there less in the way of repairs due to weather? Or are older houses built better?
Thanks again!

Depends on the house. In general it's alot like buying a car, a newer house should need less repairs than an older one. Before you buy a place it's very important to hire a private building inspector to check it out especially if it's an old place.

One recent positive change for Gorham is the new exit off of I95 which makes getting to South Portland/Portland alot easier. As we have mentioned the traffic thru the village is pretty bad but a two part bypass is about to begin construction. Gorham is also a college town as the USM campus is pretty nice.

Property taxwise will definately be more than what your used to paying.

[gottagetoutofmaine]

Hey Moxie, perhaps we should switch! We are thinking of moving to NC. Can I ask why you are leaving?

[Moxie]

I can't seem to spell on this forum! Maine!
We've lived in NC for 13 years. Been nice in a lot of ways and very affordable. We (family of 6) are combining homes with my parents and needed to make a choice of NC or Maine. Even though it will cost us a lot more $ we are looking forward to cooler weather and a less crowded life. The population has skyrocketed here in recent years. Both our families are from Maine so we do still have some cousins sprinkled around in NE. We have been fortunate to have a big house on a big lot and good charter schools for our kids. NC is similar to Maine with abundant trees, ocean, etc. Just every time we are in Maine it is agony to leave. Always counting the months til we return. Just feels like home.

[BacktoNE]

I can't address school systems, but when you are looking at houses I would certainly lean towards a newer home for some very specific reasons. You have 4 kids and you have an Alzheimers patient in the home. Remodeling or major construction will be very difficult on the family, and extremely confusing for a person suffering from Alzheimers.

Normally I am a huge fan of old houses but there are times they are just not practical.

Good luck to you, and keep in touch as you make your move north.

[ChristineL]

I live in a farmhouse built in 1779 and I'll put my house and foundation up against anything new today. As the saying goes "they don't build them today like they use to". I have done a lot of major updates over the years so now it is a solidly built house with
new and improved systems. My house has a lot of character and you don't always find that in a new house.

[Moxie]

Originally Posted by ChristineL

I live in a farmhouse built in 1779 and I'll put my house and foundation up against anything new today. As the saying goes "they don't build them today like they use to". I have done a lot of major updates over the years so now it is a solidly built house with
new and improved systems. My house has a lot of character and you don't always find that in a new house.

That's what we are drawn to, but the practical side says a newer house. Just saw a listing for an updated old house in Gorham. Very tempting. Still trying to figure out the best community for our family. It's so hard to know schools until you are in them. Test scores don't tell the whole story. 2 of our boys have special needs (ADD, LD & dev delay) the other 2 are quite gifted. So we need to find a place that has a good balance of educational approaches.
I was really hoping to pick a town before we pick a house. ARGGGG! At this point I am starting to feel overwhelmed by all the decisions we need to make!