Blue Hill, ME - cost of living comparison (Eastport, Washington: sales, real estate)

[Wald]

Hello,
In the profile for Blue Hill, Maine, the cost of living comparison indicated the Blue Hill had a much higher cost of the living than the US average. I am curious as whether or not this comparison is factual and has some basis. Or is there some mistake? If residents of Blue Hill think this might have some validity, does anyone have some ideas of the contributing factors? And, are there ways and lifestyle and home choices to help mitigate this high cost of living, if in fact it is true. I have been visiting Blue Hill at various times and for various reasons for a number of years and in the latest visit for over a week, the grocery and gasoline costs were not out of line from what I have experienced in my current home area in the northern Shenandoah Valley of VA/WV. Are there other components of one's personal and home budget in Blue Hill that would appear to be out of line: energy and what type of source; basic land and house costs; house construction/repair costs; car, health, and personal insurance; utilities; cost for health care; real estate and sales taxes; earned and unearned income taxes; retirement income taxes; and anything else that comes to mind in one's personal and home budget? Any comments on the character and quality of the local government and how it conducts itself and the public business and services would be beneficial. From my observations as a periodic visitor, I find Blue Hill to be a very attractive community with some key features including: a beautiful setting, historic character, an indication to a degree of wanting to maintain the quality of life, the George Stevens Academy, the local land trusts, the cultural scene, an educated population, and a collection of the basic vendors of day to day needs - grocery store, pharmacy, banks, local retail, food coop, local radio station, hospital, and health care providers. Any well-thought comments will be much appreciated, thank you.
Wald

[slyfox2]

I don't live in Blue Hill(about 16 miles due east as the crow flies, and my wife is visiting friends the today) and I came from Northern Maryland.

But I can tell you that EVERYTHING us cheaper here. My taxes are less; I didn't pay my car insurance for 8 months since I was paid up that far; food is cheaper; trash pick up is cheaper.

We have way more money left at the end of the month that we had there. Even total taxes are less.

Can't speak for West Virginia, though.

[Wald]

Thank you for the message to my posting on the cost of living in Blue Hill and vicinity. I appreciate your thoughts on the matter.

[mainebrokerman]

blue hill is a nice little town along the coast- on the deer isle peninsula, not far from bar harbor, its a bustling town in the summertime- an "artsy" town

but like many towns along the coast-if you move into a neighboring town, taxes can be a third less...

most maine coastal towns are a tale of two backgrounds, those that can afford ocean front property are often folks from away - they may live 'year round, or just in the summer

the other folks are the working folks, many are fisherman, builders, painters, etc. their families may have lived in the area for generations
and for the most part- they get along well with newcomers- they know more people brings more monies...that help them all out-not just tax wise, but for the mechanics, landscapers, painters small stores, etc,
their is a decent grocery store right in blue hill, called tradewinds, an independently owned store supplied by hannaford,
there is also a store called merrill and hinkley, its literally been there well over 100 years- it was also in a few movies(scenes) in the 50's and 60's




take a drive down thru blue hill, also check out penobscot, castine, stonington,,,,all nearby pretty towns on the water

[AustinB]

If you don't have waterfront property, it's not expesive at all.

[slyfox2]

Even if you want to live on "an island", the prices for property is not off the wall. Of course it is relative.

[corgis]

Originally Posted by slyfox2

I don't live in Blue Hill(about 16 miles due east as the crow flies, and my wife is visiting friends the today) and I came from Northern Maryland.

But I can tell you that EVERYTHING us cheaper here. My taxes are less; I didn't pay my car insurance for 8 months since I was paid up that far; food is cheaper; trash pick up is cheaper.

We have way more money left at the end of the month that we had there. Even total taxes are less.

Can't speak for West Virginia, though.

What about West Virginia? Taxes are slightly higher in Eastport, car insurance is lower, food is about the same, trash pick up is much cheaper in Eastport. Total taxes are about the same.

[Wald]

Hello Everyone,
Thank you all for the replies and advice/thoughts. The Blue Hill peninsula is quite special with its several towns and the beauty of the landscape/seascape scenes.

On local governmental matters, when we were visiting recently I was picking up discussions about the different towns and the different way of operating each town has, so to speak. I understand that Blue Hill has no zoning, as compared to Castine where there was much public discussion about changes in its town zoning and particular for the "off neck" area of the town.

I am curious about the differences in property taxes in the different towns on the Blue Hill peninsula - where I live in the Shenandoah Valley of far northwestern Virginia the local property tax is somewhere around 51-55 cents on $100, so a $100,000 house would have a annual property tax of somewhere between $510 and $550. But, for this the local government is the "county" as there are no towns or townships such as one finds in New England and the states due west of New England. My local county government's mode of operation is high commercial and industrial tax base along the interstate highway, very good public schools, public water and sewer service, volunteer fire departments, local sheriff and his/her deputies, and you as homeowner hire private garbage collection or else drive your trash, recycling, and yard waste to the county recycling/landfill facilities (which are well managed and designed). This may all sound good, but unfortunately from my perspective I live in the one area of this Shenandoah Valley county where intense urban/suburban development is planned and so the two lane road in front will probably become 4 or 6 lanes and the residential zoning of quarter acre lots will become 10 to 16 dwelling units per acre! Most of the rest of the county will stay as farmland or mountainous wooded ridges. The motivating subtext of all my queries is that I do not like such intense development and population growth with lots of exurbanites from Washington, DC pouring in to buy these townhouses and condos, but rather I am interested in finding a more stable area with good characteristics.

Another question I have is about the difference in costs between using fuel oil versus propane for one's winter heating and the difference in forces air versus hot water as the transfer medium?

Also, are there people and contractors who do geothermal wells for tapping the earth's underground constant temperature for heating and cooling (using the earth's subsurface constant temperature as your "heat pump" source)? I know the bedrock on the Blue Hill peninsula would be hard granite I presume and thus well drilling costs would be high. Also, some geothermal systems can use deep bodies of water as their "heat pump" source and I wondering if anyone is doing that? And what are the state regulations on such systems?

Thank you for any comments/thoughts.

Wald

[AustinB]

You could buy a lot of fuel for the price of drilling for geothermal. Very few do that. Some have the pipes buried in the yard, but then the yard will most likely freeze up. Haven't heard of anybody using a body of water for a heat source.

The taxes will be higher up here.

[slyfox2]

Originally Posted by AustinB

You could buy a lot of fuel for the price of drilling for geothermal. Very few do that. Some have the pipes buried in the yard, but then the yard will most likely freeze up. Haven't heard of anybody using a body of water for a heat source.

The taxes will be higher up here.

You drill a normal well. The water temperature never drops below about 50 degrees, so you can extract a lot of heat from it with a heat pump, and the you let the water go back into the earth. In places where where oil prices are high, certain commercial operations like school districts might do this. Local people generally do not because the cost of drilling a well may be as much at $10-20K. However where I live the water table is only 30 feet down so its easily feasible. I don't know whether I could get a permit to do it though, since I would be introducing colder water back in to the ground.

here's a source that calls itself WATER FURNACE: http://www.waterfurnace.com/resident...FY-Z4AodkAQAAw

I don't own the company or have anything to do with it, I'm just sharing something I found with google.