Vacation home suggestions?

[Spanky25]

Originally Posted by slyfox2

If you want it all, then you need to be living on Mount Desert Island. I live within 2 miles of the ocean, 3 miles of hiking trails in the woods, 5 miles of climbing mountains, 2 miles of carriage trails for biking in the woods and mountains.

You can still get a very small house on MDI for $200K, but you will have to wait and watch.

Will definitely research. I go to Bar Harbor every July 4th.
Thanks once again!

[slyfox2]

Originally Posted by Spanky25

Will definitely research. I go to Bar Harbor every July 4th.

Funny you should say that! Starting in 1977, we(wife and self) visited MDI at least every third year in the summer. Starting in 1991 we(wife and self and kids) stayed for about 2 weeks. And in 2002 we started staying in a house instead of a pop-up camper. One day in the summer of 2007, the owner of the house who we knew pretty well by this time, asked us why we were not retiring to MDI instead of a 40 acre cabin we build in the western PA mountains, since we clearly loved MDI so much.

My wife and I turned and looked at each other. We both said at once, “We could actually live here?” it just never occurred to us. That caused a huge discussion for two days of driving all the way back to PA. At the end we decided to sell both our PA properties and buy a house on MDI and move after retirement, which was projected to be in the spring of 2011 depending on when we could sell the Western Mountain property.

I wish I could say it was easy. We had many many roadblocks to getting here, and at one point we were juggling taxes on three properties praying that something wouldn’t happen to lose our renters in Maine. Our friends and relatives never believed we would actually move until we finally closed on our house. But finally we sold both houses in the middle of the housing depression. And in the late fall of 2011 we finally moved in.

We have never looked back. There are only a few things we miss from PA. One was easy access to the symphony concerts only 20 minutes away. Here we have a wonderful symphony orchestra in Bangor(with a conductor who is also an accomplished composer), but in winter we can’t go if there is any chance of snow because the road back to MDI can easily be blown closed.

Living here in the winter is a bit different than PA, but its only one of degree. You do have to get ready for winter since it lasts 7 months, and can get quite cold(-18F on year).

But we live in an incredible place now, and our view out the living room window is spectacular. Before, our view was the house across the street. It was all worth it.

[svband76]

Originally Posted by slyfox2

Funny you should say that! Starting in 1977, we(wife and self) visited MDI at least every third year in the summer. Starting in 1991 we(wife and self and kids) stayed for about 2 weeks. And in 2002 we started staying in a house instead of a pop-up camper. One day in the summer of 2007, the owner of the house who we knew pretty well by this time, asked us why we were not retiring to MDI instead of a 40 acre cabin we build in the western PA mountains, since we clearly loved MDI so much.

My wife and I turned and looked at each other. We both said at once, “We could actually live here?” it just never occurred to us. That caused a huge discussion for two days of driving all the way back to PA. At the end we decided to sell both our PA properties and buy a house on MDI and move after retirement, which was projected to be in the spring of 2011 depending on when we could sell the Western Mountain property.

I wish I could say it was easy. We had many many roadblocks to getting here, and at one point we were juggling taxes on three properties praying that something wouldn’t happen to lose our renters in Maine. Our friends and relatives never believed we would actually move until we finally closed on our house. But finally we sold both houses in the middle of the housing depression. And in the late fall of 2011 we finally moved in.

We have never looked back. There are only a few things we miss from PA. One was easy access to the symphony concerts only 20 minutes away. Here we have a wonderful symphony orchestra in Bangor(with a conductor who is also an accomplished composer), but in winter we can’t go if there is any chance of snow because the road back to MDI can easily be blown closed.

Living here in the winter is a bit different than PA, but its only one of degree. You do have to get ready for winter since it lasts 7 months, and can get quite cold(-18F on year).

But we live in an incredible place now, and our view out the living room window is spectacular. Before, our view was the house across the street. It was all worth it.

Love the story. Being a fellow western PA, I'm hoping your luck rubs off on me someday. I really fell in love with Maine when I visited late Fall instead of the typical summer. Whole different experience. It can be lonely, but many love that. To be continued ...

[Spanky25]

Sly fox
“FUNNY YOU SHOULD SAY THAT!”

We also looked at PA. Poconos area a few years ago. Something that was closer than Maine. I don’t know what happened to that area! However, that’s another subject, lol.

Again, we visit Maine 2-3 times per year. My wife & I “looked at each other “ and said “This feels like home”. Forget PA!, we’ll just hold out until we are closer to retirement to get our vacation “home” in Maine.

[dthw]

We did just that--moved from PA to the Harpswell area a little over a month ago. We started out in western PA for 25 yrs, then central for another 25. And I can say the exact same: it never occurred to us that we could live here in ME, having visited a lot while falling in love with the coast. So when the opportunity arose for my husband to take an early retirement (and begin looking for some part-time work), we knew we didn't want to stay in PA.

It was after one of our last vacations in ME when we realized that people don't just vacation here. They live--and live well (in terms of living the life we were craving: nature-infused, no city hustle, peaceful...). So here we are!

People have been great. We're finding that everything we need is within a very reasonable drive. And all of this with a ton of natural beauty around. It's not nirvana. There have been hassles and set-backs, but we feel like we are exactly where we are supposed to be, which lessens the blow of the set backs. It will be interesting the longer we live here to see if we will miss anything about PA (except friends and family).

Maine has so much to offer. Good luck on your search!