Liberal and cheap New England? (Bangor, Belfast: house prices, employment, buy)

[GreenGene]

Originally Posted by lookingforhomeNE

My boyfriend and I are looking for somewhere in New England to move and perhaps eventually open a small organic/veg friendly restaurant. The most important things to us are that the cost of living (especially real estate costs) be low and for the population to have a fairly liberal bent. We also like to hike and climb, etc. so proximity to outdoor rec areas would be a big plus. Any suggestions?

My impressions, as one who has been researching New England for a while, looking for a nice spot to enjoy our retirement:

All states in New England are liberal - some more so than others. Your chances of finding yourself in a relatively conservative area increase as you get to more rural areas. But the more rural the area is, the less likely that it could support a specialized restaurant.

I'd go with northern N.E. - Maine, Vermont, and New Hampshire. Real estate would tend to be less expensive in Maine, as long as you avoid right on the coast. Southern Maine is more expensive than northern Maine, but has a larger population that would better support a restaurant.

Vermont is, right now, the more liberal of the three states, but people in northern New England tend to be independent-thinking individuals, and less likely to go with the "flavor of the day." New Hampshire is more conservative - actually, libertarian is probably more accurate.

All states offer wonderful access to the great outdoors. Maine and N.H. have the ocean, all have many lakes and rivers, all have hiking/biking trails, and so on.

In terms of existing restaurants, and acknowledging that I'm neither a restaurant critic nor gourmet, I've been more impressed and pleased by the variety of restaurants in Maine than in the other two states, especially when it comes to restaurants offering vegetarian choices (my wife is a vegetarian) and, of course, seafood.

When you start to narrow your choices somewhat, you may want to look at cities/towns with a college or university - they tend to be more liberal and also would, I think, tend to have a larger percentage of people who would support an organic/vegetarian-friendly restaurant.

Good luck!

[KenHWW]

I think in terms of opening a restaurant, I would pick Maine over Vermont. Vermont just has a very low population and it's very hard to run a business there outside of a couple concentrated downtown areas. And those are filled with businesses.

I think you'd have a lot of areas in Maine to choose from but I don't know enough to give you a well-educated answer. You'll want to look into the economics of the area--some are going into slumps, some doing better. We live in Bath, and I think it could use a restaurant of that sort, but there is competition.

[Submariner]

Originally Posted by lookingforhomeNE

My boyfriend and I are looking for somewhere in New England to move and perhaps eventually open a small organic/veg friendly restaurant. The most important things to us are that the cost of living (especially real estate costs) be low and for the population to have a fairly liberal bent. We also like to hike and climb, etc. so proximity to outdoor rec areas would be a big plus. Any suggestions?

Thanks!

What about Belfast?

[Submariner]

Originally Posted by Sunday1

Illegitimi non carborundum, LookingforhomeNE....

Maine is neither politically conservative nor unfriendly. I was worried when I first started visiting this particular forum, but thanks to the DM function, a number of very frequent and long-term contributors told me to just breeze through what they commonly referred to as the "far-right curmudgeon" posts.

Among others, Maine is full of highly educated, productively ambitious, open-minded, kind-of-heart moderates and liberals who enjoy being outdoors in four seasons -- many of whom would be pleased to try a new "organic/veg friendly" restaurant! Take a good long look at Portland and the surrounding area! It might be just what you're looking for.

Great post!

I agree.

There is a HUGE network of organic farmers and Farmers' Markets in Maine.

[BacktoNE]

Originally Posted by Sunday1

Illegitimi non carborundum, LookingforhomeNE....

Maine is neither politically conservative nor unfriendly. I was worried when I first started visiting this particular forum, but thanks to the DM function, a number of very frequent and long-term contributors told me to just breeze through what they commonly referred to as the "far-right curmudgeon" posts.

Among others, Maine is full of highly educated, productively ambitious, open-minded, kind-of-heart moderates and liberals who enjoy being outdoors in four seasons -- many of whom would be pleased to try a new "organic/veg friendly" restaurant! Take a good long look at Portland and the surrounding area! It might be just what you're looking for.

Exactly!

[teachertype]

OP, look into Bangor, it's gaining the reputation for becoming the hip and progressive small city in central Maine and not expensive. Otherwise, I'd say mid-coast, but somewhat more expensive.

[Northern Maine Land Man]

Maine is bigger than the other five New England states put together and we have about 1.3 million people. We are the oldest state. We took over that distinction from Florida three years ago. Most of the volunteer firemen in our small fire department have my hair color which is white.

[mainebrokerman]

you should open an organic/veg restaurant in portland,,,hit the whole foods crowd..

[moughie]

Originally Posted by Northern Maine Land Man

Maine is bigger than the other five New England states put together and we have about 1.3 million people. We are the oldest state. We took over that distinction from Florida three years ago. Most of the volunteer firemen in our small fire department have my hair color which is white.

Maybe dye it fire engine red and set a new trend!!

The tourists would come in droves!

[msina]

NMLM as a redhead,.................. I like it!!!