Nearly impossible to find a job in Maine? (Portland, Bangor: credit, house)

[WouldLoveTo]

Originally Posted by maineguy8888

I don't know about that: we live about as far "upstate" as you can get, and whenever we call our plumber, or electrician, or heating guy, or general contractor, we are usually asked if we want them to come that morning or if it can wait until afternoon.

It is a true story of that plumber for that home in rural VT. I'm sure there are others out there that would have been a little quicker. Either way, it's a different life! Personally I would've gotten ouy the yellow pages and started calling but my ex didnt want to make waves with the family and the guy that had been watching over the place for years I guess.

Nep, I don't know how to multi quote here. But I make well under 50K and live in your state. I own a house. I have savings. I can take a vacation. It can be done. I'd sure have a lot of savings at 50k, it's certainly not poverty wages!

[Three Wolves In Snow]

Originally Posted by nep321

Really? I'm renting a small 1 bd apartment right now in Norwalk, CT for $1,550 per month, no utilities included. I make $75,000 and get by just fine, but even so, my budget is very fragile. I have a hard time believing that even in Maine, a single person can get by on just $50,000 a year. I mean, that's poverty wages!

If you believe, truly, that you must make $50,000 to live comfortably in Maine, then maybe Maine is not the place for you.

[nep321]

Originally Posted by WouldLoveTo

It is a true story of that plumber for that home in rural VT. I'm sure there are others out there that would have been a little quicker. Either way, it's a different life! Personally I would've gotten ouy the yellow pages and started calling but my ex didnt want to make waves with the family and the guy that had been watching over the place for years I guess.

Nep, I don't know how to multi quote here. But I make well under 50K and live in your state. I own a house. I have savings. I can take a vacation. It can be done. I'd sure have a lot of savings at 50k, it's certainly not poverty wages!

You make less than $50K in Connecticut and still have money to do stuff??? Wow. Where do you live....Putnam? Lol.

[beltrams]

Originally Posted by nep321

How come Maine in general has a very weathered landscape and appearance compared to other states? It looks very rugged and sometimes just plain dirty (no offense, I think it's a beautiful state). Many of the neighborhoods and shopping plazas look fairly gritty and weathered down. And many of the roads look beat up. How come?

It's like Three Wolves just said - no money.

The longer answer is that CT, like my home state of MA, is currently *exuding* corporate and government money and the velocity of that money is much faster than in a place like Maine. In MA, I know of a whole bunch of towns that have built new 50 to 70 million dollar high schools using mainly state money and they tore down high schools that were only 40 to 50 years old to do it. The same towns have built completely new libraries at 5 to 10 million dollars each and pave like 10 percent of the town roads every year. On the private side, houses only 40 or 50 years old routinely get torn down in the Boston suburbs so the buyer/builder can get his hands on a house lot to build a new house (that is usually at least twice the square footage and three times the price of what he tore down. 'Sorry prospective first home buyers.) The velocity of money in such places not only allows a shopping mall to totally rebuild/redecorate/reinvent itself every decade or two, it *demands* as much just to stay competitive. People (including family I have back in MA), routinely redecorate their homes every decade or so, throwing out entire rooms of furniture, all the kitchen appliances, and gut a bathroom or two just because, in HGTV parlance, said rooms look "tired."

I HATE all that ridiculous waste and thank goodness I could move to Maine. But it does make for a "gritty" appearance (especially when people in MA and CT send all their building and redecorating refuse to another state for burial .)

[WouldLoveTo]

Originally Posted by nep321

You make less than $50K in Connecticut and still have money to do stuff??? Wow. Where do you live....Putnam? Lol.

I wish!!!! I'd have some land if I did

Feel free to PM me if you want some details.

[beltrams]

Originally Posted by Three Wolves In Snow

If you believe, truly, that you must make $50,000 to live comfortably in Maine, then maybe Maine is not the place for you.

I agree. Nep321, do you have any idea how far $50,000 a year would carry you in a place like Houlton, Presque Isle, or any of the smaller towns in that area?

I'll tell you. $50K a year in Aroostook County would be akin to 200K or more in most of suburban Boston or CT.

Edited to add: It's not your fault Nep321, but coming from southern New England, your sense of what money and the good life is, is very skewed, like my sense of such things also were, coming from the Boston area.

CT and MA in particular, are loaded with corporate, venture and governmental money. The life experience there is so unlike not just Maine, but a good deal of the US, outside of Boston, NYC, and California's Bay Area. Much of the rest of the US is *struggling* with poverty, suburban poverty, but poverty nevertheless. The pay outside of those major metro areas is less, but so are the costs of living.

The downside is less turnover and rebuilding of the infrastructure, housing stock, and nearly everything else. I'm not talking just Maine, but most of the rural South, rural (and urban) Midwest, upstate New York, the Plains states.

No, CT and MA (and parts of CA) are a world apart from the rest of the US - for now anyway, heh.

[nep321]

Originally Posted by beltrams

I agree. Nep321, do you have any idea how far $50,000 a year would carry you in a place like Houlton, Presque Isle, or any of the smaller towns in that area?

I'll tell you. $50K a year in Aroostook County would be akin to 200K or more in most of suburban Boston or CT.

Edited to add: It's not your fault Nep321, but coming from southern New England, your sense of what money and the good life is, is very skewed, like my sense of such things also were, coming from the Boston area.

CT and MA in particular, are loaded with corporate, venture and governmental money. The life experience there is so unlike not just Maine, but a good deal of the US, outside of Boston, NYC, and California's Bay Area. Much of the rest of the US is *struggling* with poverty, suburban poverty, but poverty nevertheless. The pay outside of those major metro areas is less, but so are the costs of living.

The downside is less turnover and rebuilding of the infrastructure, housing stock, and nearly everything else. I'm not talking just Maine, but most of the rural South, rural (and urban) Midwest, upstate New York, the Plains states.

No, CT and MA (and parts of CA) are a world apart from the rest of the US - for now anyway, heh.

I still have a hard time believe it lol. Well, here in CT I need serious money just to live a middle class lifestyle. In my county, a household income of $80K is considered middle class. Most families make over $100K.

[slyfox2]

Originally Posted by nep321

So there's only like two months of summer? Hmm....that' kind of short man. And 81 is considered hot? Whaaaaat? Here in CT, summer really starts around June 10 and ends around Sep 10. So that's 3 solid months of warmth. And we get plenty of nice days in the 90's with high humidity that lingers overnight, which I like. And usually a few days in July where it's in the 100's with humidity. Does Maine ever get days like that? Please say yes.

Not where I live on MDI. It got to 90 degrees once. Maybe in the south, near Portland. In Portland the average high is 79 in July. It got to 103 once--- in 1911. No plenty of days in the 90's with high humidity. Nope. Not a chance.

[slyfox2]

Originally Posted by nep321

I still have a hard time believe it lol. Well, here in CT I need serious money just to live a middle class lifestyle. In my county, a household income of $80K is considered middle class. Most families make over $100K.

Only the very very rich make that kind of income. Heck, even people who live in the wealthy areas of Maine don't make 100 grand a year. Of course, my taxes are pretty high at $2200. I bet you pay $20000 a year in local and school taxes though. And I bet that you can't deduct those taxes right off the top of your state income tax can you?

[slyfox2]

Originally Posted by WouldLoveTo

It is a true story of that plumber for that home in rural VT. I'm sure there are others out there that would have been a little quicker. Either way, it's a different life! Personally I would've gotten ouy the yellow pages and started calling but my ex didnt want to make waves with the family and the guy that had been watching over the place for years I guess.

Nep, I don't know how to multi quote here. But I make well under 50K and live in your state. I own a house. I have savings. I can take a vacation. It can be done. I'd sure have a lot of savings at 50k, it's certainly not poverty wages!

I can get my plumber to come the same day on MDI. But It might take a week to get my car fixed, or longer. And getting an appointment at the dentist even in an emergency is two weeks.