Where are you going? (Portland, Lewiston: houses, employment, construction)

[Elcarim]

For those who have decided or are still trying to decide, in the research process or have already found "IT", I'd love to hear where you are likely to end up in Maine and a little about why you chose that specific place. Care to share with the classs?

[elston]

I am pretty familiar with the area from Portsmouth NH up to Portland Maine. I have never lived there but have grown children who do and who are part of the reason we are looking to relocate. My parents also ended up in Biddeford but were originally from Portland and had also lived in Pittsfield, Eastport and Dexter. I used to regularly drive from Laconia NH up to Ogunquit and to visit the folks in Biddeford.

We started looking in Scarborough and Saco, OOB and Gorham and the towns around Portland. We then shifted our focus to Auburn/Lewiston where we found great houses (and high taxes) but had lots of advice that we might not find compatibility in that community. Next we looked in the Bangor area but it seemed remote from family and I was aware of the brutal murder of a gay man there some years ago...and that sorta spooked me. Then we looked in Brunswick and Topsham, which still appeals to me, but are deciding that for us the amenities of Portland would make a difference during the long snowy winters. We just might like to get out for a meal or to a concert or movie without worrying about road conditions either getting there or getting home at the end of the evening. So right now we have our eye on some properties in Deering, OOB, the Back Cove and South Portland.

Of course as you well know Elacarim....the first order of business is to sell this house!!!! We do have two showings lined up for today

[Bydand]

elston, there was more to the murder of the man in Bangor than his sexual orientation.

[Elcarim]

Congrats on the continued showings! That's half the battle, I believe. I'm anxious to meet with our realtor Tuesday and address all my nagging questions and decide while we're talking if we're going to be able to get out of our contract and move on to someone more interested in selling our house.

Good luck with the showings!

[Eastport4me]

All-rightee then...back on topic...

Bydand,

Where are you and why did you decide to live there?

[BacktoNE]

We are still trying to decide where to land when we come back.

Where we want to live is way too expensive; the really affordable areas would present employment issues; we need to find a happy medium which is why I still think the Bangor area will be our likely target.

[lovemaine]

We're also leaning more toward the Bangor area. We'd like to live in a rural area, but not too far from shopping, hospitals, employment, etc. I'd say within a 30 minute radius of Bangor. Still trying to narrow that down though. Also Belfast and Rockland are places we're interested in.

[maineorbust]

We thought we had our minds all made up.

We are wanting close to Canada and close to the coast but now we find that there are other considerations that we wish to explore.

Time for a road-trip.

[maine4.us]

I was a bit surprised to learn that Bangor was the 2nd largest city in Maine. We have traveled through there a couple of times on trips. We drove the Airline highway (9) as they call it, to Calais one time, and the other trip we were heading to Eastport. I love the way Maine highway construction just might have a bulldozer parked in the road that you have to drive around. They were repaving/widening the highway the first trip, and the last trip, wow, it was in great shape. It is a beautiful drive!

Bangor seems to be just enough of a town to have everything you want, without being spread out all over the place!

[Bewitched]

We are already here, but we chose the mid-coast region simply for geographical reasons. It allows us to be able to travel pretty much to any spot in the state without a long trip. We figure it will be a plus as we take a year or two to decide where we want to throw down roots

It's also cool that we can be at any state event be it a concert in Freeport, or a fair in Frye, or hiking up at Baxter state park with a day trip