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Old 09-18-2006, 12:49 PM
 
26 posts, read 88,952 times
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I live and have lived in Florida all my life. I have always wanted to move to a more northern locale and in recent years I decided Maine was the place. I have now been offered a Job with the state and am planning on moving to Augusta. I have a 6 day trip planned in early October to check the area out before making a solid decision and looking for a rental as I would like to know the area better before buying. I have read some other posts on this site and I do consider Maine to be an idyllic place to raise a family compared to where I live now. So, if you don't mind, tell me what I do not know and why I might be disappointed. Any info is appreciated. I know nothing about the area except the statistics I have read, which would make it appear that you have almost no crime compared to Florida.

Florida news today www.local6.com

Thanks
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Old 09-18-2006, 03:46 PM
 
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You will have to mainly adjust to the winters- and coming from Florida-where you have lived all your life- it will be somewhat of a drastic change.

Augusta has a real New England 4 season climate- and in New England there are many variations on weather and climate.

Southern New England is relatively 'temperate' with shorter winters and warm to hot summers, with long autumns.

Augusta wil see winter begin in mid November and end in early to mid April. Snowfall will be heavy, and temps below zero very common. Springs begin late, summers are very pleasant, as are the autumns.

If you have a job lined up- you will be very pleased by the very low crime rate, good schools, low traffic, pleasant local towns and Augusta, plus be close to the Sea and incredible recreational opportunities within 1-2 hours drive.
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Old 09-19-2006, 09:22 PM
 
Location: oklahoma
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yeah, I would say the most difficult thing to do is adjust to the climate change. If possible, try to get a garage with your house so you dont have to constantly wipe snow off your car, plus you can get into a nice warm car without going outside.

Augusta is definitly a safe place, not much crime. I'm not sure what you like to do, but if you are an outdoors person there is plenty around such as canoeing, fishing, hiking, skiing, etc. If you like to go to clubs, sports games and those types of things you will be mostly out of luck. Lewiston and Portland are all cities with more nightlife/events/things to do. Lewiston is about a 35 minute drive though. (50 minutes to portland)
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Old 09-20-2006, 12:31 AM
 
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Maine is probably one of the safest places you could raise kids. My sister has 3 kids in Maine and they're really well adjusted and happy - very active in school and sports/hobbies, etc.

If you have a solid job lined up, you've got the biggest challenge out of the way. Yes, the first winter might be cold and utilities might be high but just like anything you get used to it. I personally love the snow and having four seasons, although black flies, I'm no fan of those little buggers.

If you're planning on staying long term, the only thing that might disappoint you is that your kids will most likely leave the state when they come of age. There's not a lot of opportunity in Maine for young people, and overall, not a ton of excitement. Many do return to the state though after spending their 20s-30's in other places.
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Old 09-20-2006, 07:35 AM
 
26 posts, read 88,952 times
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Thanks everyone that is exactly the kind of information I was looking for. Hunting and Fishing are my primary hobbies. I need no nightlife or city activities, I would occasionally like to see a movie on the big screen, but that's about it. I am really excited about the Hunting as I have read the Augusta area has 45 deer per square mile average, whereas we have less than 15 per square mile and your Deer are rather large compared to ours.

The Company I currently work for sends me to Kingston Ontario for 3 weeks every February and I will take the extreme cold over our extreme heat any day. It is not at all unusual here to be sweating outside on Christmas day and I for one am fed up with it.
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Old 09-26-2006, 12:24 PM
 
33 posts, read 188,773 times
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Quote:
Originally Posted by asalligo View Post
It is not at all unusual here to be sweating outside on Christmas day and I for one am fed up with it.

Hey, we are moving to the Augusta area too. In fact, my husband is already there - I am leaving in the morning to go house hunting. You will be pleasantly surprised by the housing prices coming from Florida. We are moving from Alabama. This is my second house hunting trip and we have three or four specific towns close to Augusta or within easy reach of Augusta via the interstate in mind. I'd be glad to share with you.

I am criminal defense attorney and when my husband (not a lawyer) said he got a job offer in Maine - I told him I would have a hard time finding work as I primarily represent people charged with death penalty offenses and Maine does not have a lot of murders each year. Unlike where I live now, 3 or 4 a weekend. :-( But it's a living I guess. So after getting past that hurdle, and announcing I'd rather be doing anything but what I'm doing now, there is the whole it's always hot and I too am sick of my clothes sticking to me 8 months out of the year.

My family is from CT and NY so I have a concept of cold weather. I am looking forward to joining my husband in Maine soon. Now to just sell my Alabama house.
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Old 09-26-2006, 12:28 PM
 
33 posts, read 188,773 times
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I forgot to add - many of the houses we are looking at this week and next have one and two bed apartments - one nice on in Augusta as a matter of fact.
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Old 10-01-2006, 01:00 AM
 
Location: NC
1,251 posts, read 2,569,676 times
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The only problem with 45 deer per sq mile is that they are on private property and getting permission is like pulling teeth I grew up in that area and large parcels of land are almost non existint nowadays
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Old 10-01-2006, 11:48 PM
 
Location: oklahoma
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well who would want someone hunting in their yard?
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Old 10-02-2006, 08:48 AM
 
26 posts, read 88,952 times
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Florida is like that now. Large tracts of public land have disappeared over the years. I am in a hunting lease here. 20 of us pay a landowner yearly to hunt his 10,000 acres. At the risk of being one of those people "from away" that Mainers hate so much, I plan on buying 100 or so acres in Maine just for hunting. Buying 100 acres here is not a possibility for me as land in this area is running 15,000 to 60,000 and acre now.
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