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Originally Posted by dogcrazy
Well of course i want some place with a low cost of living 
I've been on the Maine forum before and i've also heard how their taxes are high. I've browsed the real estate websites and do not consider the property taxes high, but i also have not researched the many other taxes. |
All of Maine is drawn out in a grid work of townships, everywhere you go in Maine you are in a 'town'.
Most of Maine is rural.
52% of Maine's towns are unorganized, they have no local government. No city clerk, no building inspector, no city hall; so all of those municipal services which would be paid from higher property taxes, are missing.
As you go into more highly populated towns, you get into some that are 'organized' and provide a wide array of municipal services, which cost money. That money comes from property taxes.
The adjoining town that borders my town on our West side has a property tax mil-rate that is twice ours. Their city hall is a steel warehouse with offices inside, 2 clerks, and a selection of town officials all drawing pay-checks.
The adjoining town to our South has a mil-rate that is triple of ours. Their city hall is a nice new brick building, they have a brand new Police Department and Fire Department. They provide sewer treatment and water treatment, they have a Rec department, and lots of folks on city pay-roll.
Generally as you travel South in Maine, you see higher population densities, towns that provide more layers of services and have more folks on pay-roll, and therefore they tend to have higher taxes.
I have over-heard some folks referring to this phenomena as the 'Volvo-line'. A line where on the North side life is rural and taxes are low, but on the South side the population density is much higher and taxes are higher.
My town is an 'Unorganized Township' [UT]. We have no body on pay-roll. We pay our property taxes directly to the state, who provides stuff county-wide to us. Our town was once organized, but the residents burned their charter, because they did not 'want' those higher taxes.
Aside from that I bought forested land. Maine also has a series of legal status' that land can be in which lower the assessed value, to protect that type of land. Forests or any land which focuses of growing trees, is in 'Treegrowth' status and each acre's assessed value is set at a very low amount.
Maine has the same types of programs for farmland, open space, and working waterfront. To keep these type of properties from becoming too developed.
My forested land is in 'Treegrowth' status. I can have wood-lot, or fruit orchards, or Christmas trees, or a tree nursery.
It is possible to live in Maine and to pay less than a dollar per acre for your property taxes.
It is possible to do this in most of Maine.
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... I know about the excise tax but thats about it.
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Yes the excise taxes are based on the vehicle's MSRP and it's age. A set percentage for the year of manufacture, and with each year the vehicle ages the percentage decreases.
New or expensive vehicles pay higher taxes [as high as thousands of dollars the first year], while cheaper or older pay lower taxes [as low as $5 /year].
Which goes back to the Volvo-line. Folks South of it are known for driving newer and more expensive types of vehicles. Whereas North of that line, well you get the idea I am sure.
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... I've only been to Maine once and it was absolutely breathtaking. I don't really hear positive things about the economy there though. Even before this recession.
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True.
The housing bubble never really effected Maine, so the housing bust has not effected Maine either.
Maine's economy busted when they invented refrigeration and the ice-block shipping industry went flat.
They have had many small industries come and go, but none of them have been able to bring 'prosperity' back to Maine.
Maine has been experiencing a depressed economy for decades.
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... Like i said, i browse the real estate websites for different states all the time and i ALWAYS find hundreds of homes in Maine for VERY cheap. It seems that state is LOADED with old homes just bursting with character. I just don't want to have my heart set on Maine if its not going to be realistic.
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Yes, I see 3bdrm homes selling for $40k.
But it has no connection to the current recession, it is just Maine.
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... I've never even considered Jersey. I don't know if i would. Thank you for the suggestion though.
Pennsylvania has crossed my mind but haven't looked into in too much. I guess if money wasn't an issue i'd go with upstate NY or Maine. You only live once so why not find that special place that makes you happy.
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I like rural.
The option of having chickens, goats, sheep, horses, hogs, bees.
Kayaks in the water right behind my house. I can hunt from my porch. I can fish, I can trap beaver. I have been planting ginseng on the forest floor, and greenhouses and raised bed gardens.
For me, it is great.
But rural is not for everyone.
I have a pension, so I do not require a job. This is a low cost place, where my pension can support a family.
There are few places where my small pension could support a family.
Here a minimum-wage income is enough to raise a family. In my travels across the nation, that is rare.
A low cost-of-living starts with low taxes.
If there were high paying jobs in abundance, then instantly folks who move in and demand lots of municipal services. New roads would get paved with storm drains and sidewalks, and new schools would be built, and hundreds of new LEO and Firemen would be hired to protect and serve. Parks would be built with play grounds that had 24/7 lighting. Shopping malls would move in, and our windows would begin shaking from the muzak screaming from kids cars.
Our home prices would soar and our taxes would too.
No thanks.
Land here can be bought for $300/acre, homes begin at $40k, and some highschools have less than 100 kids in their graduating classes.
Let me give you an example of life here: I took my car in today for the brakes to be serviced. I parked in the lot, went inside, sat down and got into a conversation with another guy waiting, he had finished smoking a batch of deer sausage and gave me some. After a while a mechanic came out to say that my car was done, he asked if I was going to pay now or if it would go on a tab, and he asked when I was going to bring in my wife's car. I had not been in that shop for over a year. But he knew me, and he knew what needed to be done to my car. I have never ran a tab anywhere, but this is a different kind of place.
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