Planning my move to Maine (apartment, rental, buying a home)

[citychik]

Originally Posted by OutdoorLover

Very cool- happy hunting!

Thanks! I've left a few messages, sent several emails, spoke to some very nice people, and made two more appointments -- one of them I'm super excited about -- and I'm continuing to scour the internet to find apartments. Hopefully, I'll be pretty busy while in Maine next week!

[october2007]

Originally Posted by citychik

Ok, never mind my previous post. I did some reading and don't think I'd be interested in Waterville after all, although there seems to be much lower rents there than in other surrounding towns/cities. Not that anyone wanted to answer, anyway! Hahaha!

I just hopped on here to say I am officially excited! I just made my 1st appointment to see a 1-BR apartment while I'm there for my Recon Mission! Making that appointment made my intention to move to Maine become more real. I've got more emails to send and calls to make, but... YES! I'M DOING THIS! WOOHOO!!!

Good luck! I’ll eagerly await your posts. I hope to get their by next spring.

[citychik]

So...

Mostly what I've been finding in my price range are apartments that have been created within a large private house, rather than apartment complexes. I'm fine with that as long as I have my own entrance, and privacy, and won't have to be concerned about noise (theirs or mine).

What I don't know is Maine's laws on housing, with regard to what to expect and what to watch out for. I searched on the state website but didn't find what I was looking for. Basically, what are landlords required to provide and what is not allowed? Also, what about fire safety in these big old wooden houses that have been divvied up into apartments? I haven't seen any mention of sprinkler systems in these ads, so I guess that's not the norm. Are landlords required to have fire extinguishers in units or do I buy my own? Any statewide building codes, housing laws, or tenant protections I should be aware of as a renter?

One of my appointments is to see an apartment on property that gets its water from a well. A first for me. What should I know about well water? When I go see it, should I turn on the tap and look or sniff for something in particular? Maybe a dumb question, but I never lived with a well before.

Also, some ads ask for 1st and last months' rent plus security; some ask for only 1st month plus security. Are both of these legal in Maine?

What I find odd is that the larger complexes want an application and a credit or background check BEFORE showing the apartment! That is not what I'm used to. I am not about to apply and provide my private information without even having seen the place!

.

[OutdoorLover]

Originally Posted by citychik

So...

Mostly what I've been finding in my price range are apartments that have been created within a large private house, rather than apartment complexes. I'm fine with that as long as I have my own entrance, and privacy, and won't have to be concerned about noise (theirs or mine).

What I don't know is Maine's laws on housing, with regard to what to expect and what to watch out for. I searched on the state website but didn't find what I was looking for. Basically, what are landlords required to provide and what is not allowed? Also, what about fire safety in these big old wooden houses that have been divvied up into apartments? I haven't seen any mention of sprinkler systems in these ads, so I guess that's not the norm. Are landlords required to have fire extinguishers in units or do I buy my own? Any statewide building codes, housing laws, or tenant protections I should be aware of as a renter?

One of my appointments is to see an apartment on property that gets its water from a well. A first for me. What should I know about well water? When I go see it, should I turn on the tap and look or sniff for something in particular? Maybe a dumb question, but I never lived with a well before.

Also, some ads ask for 1st and last months' rent plus security; some ask for only 1st month plus security. Are both of these legal in Maine?

What I find odd is that the larger complexes want an application and a credit or background check BEFORE showing the apartment! That is not what I'm used to. I am not about to apply and provide my private information without even having seen the place!

.

New England has some large apartment complexes, but not as many as for example, mid-atlantic states, so most will be in a big old house. There are also a fair number of apartments in old brick mill buildings that have been made over into apartments - these can be very nice, often with big windows and high ceilings that come with commercial level construction, even from the 1800s.

From the Maine A.G.'s office: "Chapter 14: Consumer Rights When You Rent An Apartment"
https://www.maine.gov/ag/consumer/la...shtml?id=27933

P.S. My first instinct was that if credit/background checks were common up front in the kind of places you are most interested in, maybe you need to comply... but then I thought about how renting scams are supposed to be common these days... certainly I wouldn't give any bank or credit card account numbers, and I wouldn't pay for a background check (at any time), that cost should be on the landlord, in my opinion.

[nm9stheham]

The upfront info and paid-for credit check is not unheard of when occupancies are high, and/or sudden demands arise. It is not so much a matter of opinion. Not bearing the repeated costs of credit checks as a landlord is not completely unreasonable.

Retrofitting older residential buildings with sprinklers is a local code matter. In less urban areas, it would not be common to require that.


For the well:
- Taste the water; it will not be treated water; it may be wonderful water or brackish in a marshy or coastal area or mineral-ly or even sulphur-y tasting in some areas. Treat the water's taste as a factor of whether you like it or not.. like if you like the view or the neighborhood.
- Ask if there are any limits on water use. (To see if the well is a slow flowing well.)
- Ask if the water is hard, or if there is a treatment system or softener. Look in the showers, tubs and toilets for mineral deposits. Hard water will put mineral deposits in tubs and showers and toilets, which need regular cleaning and maybe sprays to break up the deposits; water with iron may stain clothes in washing. Hard water will not lather up well at all.
- Other than that, if the well is up to standards, then it will rarely not be safe or any real issue. I've lived on well water most of my life, and our present well is the best water you have ever tasted. A former one we owned in IN had super hard water, required treatment, and was not so good tasting.
- And for humor, if you were wanting to rent in Grant or Hardy counties in WV, then I'd advise you to fill a half glass of water, let it sit for 15 seconds, drop in a lit match, and see if it burns. LOTS of gas in the groundwater there LOL

Good link above from the Maine AG....

Good luck with the trip!

[citychik]

Thank you for the link to Maine's AG website and also the info on well water. And thank you to the folks who suggested AirBnB as a source to find a place to stay while looking at housing in Maine. I am enjoying my "little cottage by a lake" experience. Although it's pretty buggy here and even when I slather on the bug repellant, I get bitten.

I looked at an apartment yesterday - ugh, not right for me. I have two appointments today and hoping to hear back from calls and texts I made.

I have to say I am getting discouraged already, but maybe the places I see today will perk me up. It's just that, looking through listings online, the rents seem way overpriced for the kinds of apartments being offered. I feel like maybe I should look again at Iowa, which was on my list of possibilities.

<sigh>

Well, I'm here through the 28th, so I will continue to look and see what the possibilities are.

[nm9stheham]

Patience is the watchword, so just keep your head down and keep plowing forward through whatever you can find. When we have house shopped, we have seen several that we just walked in and walked right back out LOL. And, it sometimes takes a few looks to get the perspective of what you can find in a market; I suspect that will go double for you as you are making quite a change in environs. We have been traveling around for 3+ years now looking for the next place and all of that looking has helped us to focus on a few areas.


Make the most of your time there!

[svband76]

Pickup local newspapers and look in there.

[citychik]

Dammit! The appointment I had for this evening was just cancelled because she's had such an overwhelming response that she doesn't want to show it to any more people. And that was the one I was most excited about. <grumble>

[OutdoorLover]

Originally Posted by nm9stheham

Patience is the watchword, so just keep your head down and keep plowing forward through whatever you can find. When we have house shopped, we have seen several that we just walked in and walked right back out LOL. And, it sometimes takes a few looks to get the perspective of what you can find in a market; I suspect that will go double for you as you are making quite a change in environs. We have been traveling around for 3+ years now looking for the next place and all of that looking has helped us to focus on a few areas.


Make the most of your time there!

I am with nm9stheham - don't be discouraged and don't give up, try to stay positive and keep digging. You can call up any realtors in the town you're in (or neighbor town if that's bigger) and see if they handle any longer term/leased rentals - some do... if the one you call says no, ask them if anyone else in town does... local property managers *definitely* handle longer term rentals, so that's another kind of place you can ask, just google property managers. Don't throw in the towel until your time is up!

For example, I just googled - property managers rockland, maine - and a few places came right up, like these... just do the same googling with your desired town name substituted in
https://www.midcoasthome.com/
https://coastalmainere.com/midcoast-maine-rentals/