small town life is what we love. . .please give me some help (Portland: real estate, sex offenders)

[cmacyman]

we are thinking very seriously about moving to maine. but where? inland, east, north.....where.
living in a small town with sweet people that are community involved and kind to each other is what we want. the town i choose will be the place that i will live out the rest of my days. (And someday have grandchildren visit.) so many cities have been changed by progress in the past 15 years. along with it, people and families have changed, and not for the better. just my opinion. most don't even know their neighbors. AT ALL !!

i have talked with fred dobbs, realtor, and he was so nice and helpful, not to mention honest.... and i am a firm believer that the quality of the town is the sole responsibility of its residents. where there is a town filled with loving and kind residents, then that town is all the better for it. (even in those long winter months when it is gray for weeks at a time, there is a friendly neighbor to have a hot cup of something with. we are good folk....maine has good folk, will somebody out there reach out and give us a friendly opinion? thank you......so much

i do have 2 qestions though.
1. the blow fly
2 the wind turbines
thank you again

[Northern Maine Land Man]

We don't have blow flies in Maine. We do have black flies. They are small and for a three week time every spring they are a real nuisance. We have about four wind power sites in Maine and we will soon have many more. Every one of them means less money leaving the country to buy fuel. If you don't like to look at wind turbines, the other 99% of the homes in Maine will be perfect for you.

You have us pegged. We have small towns with friendly people. The FBI says we are the safest state. I believe the FBI.

[cmacyman]

black flies....thank you. and i am very much in favor of the fuel alternative. can you please help in giving me a few names of towns. we are looking in the 60,000. range and the number of sex offenders is a deciding factor. there is so much info on line i've been at it for a week day and night. i am also thinking i should buy a 4 wheel drive truck here before we move .
thank you nmln. for writing so quickly
c

[Northern Maine Land Man]

The further north you go the lower you'll find home prices.

Check out Lincoln. Untitled Document Lincoln is the economic center of the region with seven banks, a credit union, hospital, VA clinic and more churches than you can count. The surrounding towns have lower prices than Lincoln itself.

A 4WD drive truck will help. It is the safest vehicle in Maine and very useful.

[cmacyman]

thank you again. i will check out the surrounding towns of lincoln. but how about a town called danforth. zip code is04424. and are the back flies more inland? also, is it super $ to hire someone to fix things in a home or take down a wall? i of course want to try to find a home that is older, they really made well built homes in the 40's and 50's. and i would like a 2 car garage, and a basement. so far the most real estate i have found is in the county in the north east.
thank you again,
c

[Northern Maine Land Man]

Danforth is an economically depressed area. The lakes are popular with many seasonal camps, but work opportunities are very limited.

Nearly all homes in Northern Maine have cellars.

[Acadianlion]

Originally Posted by cmacyman

black flies....thank you. and i am very much in favor of the fuel alternative. can you please help in giving me a few names of towns. we are looking in the 60,000. range and the number of sex offenders is a deciding factor. there is so much info on line i've been at it for a week day and night. i am also thinking i should buy a 4 wheel drive truck here before we move .
thank you nmln. for writing so quickly
c

Sixty-thousand WHAT? People? Trees? Black flies?

There is one city in Maine with a population of 60,000, and that is the city of Portland. (Portland is larger than that, but no other city is close).

I am not sure what number of sex offenders in a given area will make that area good or bad in your eyes. Since the sex offender registry was initiated and the numbers, names and locations of convicted sex offenders has been made public, people assume that one town or another is good or bad because there are fifteen or fifty sex offenders in that town.

The truth is that the dirty laundry of this and many other "cultures" is it's sex offender population and child abuse in general. Before the light of publicity was shown into that dark corner of societal malfunction, they were hidden, yet always there.

It's a horrible problem just like drug use that exists in this culture as in every other part of this country. It speaks volumes about how we care for our young and I do not believe it to be a pretty sound.

Maine is probably the safest place to be, to raise a family and to live a quiet life enjoying basic qualities of the nature of the state. But make no assumptions that the small towns of Maine possess some sort of magical societal quietude. Maine people are still people, and possess all the same sorts of frailties and imperfections that they possess in other places. I think that life is a bit simpler in Maine, probably because there is so much less money flowing around in the state than there is in major population centers.

If you ever have the chance to speak for a while and chat with a Maine State Trooper, you will find out that Maine has all the same sorts of problems and issues that exist everywhere else. But in Maine they are widely separated by distance, and perhaps subdued by the cold.

[gf2020]

Originally Posted by Acadianlion

Sixty-thousand WHAT? People? Trees? Black flies?

I think she means 60,000 dollars.

I don't know what kind of house you can buy anywhere in Maine for $60,000 but I'm pretty sure most people would not want to live there. Prices in the Northeast, even in rural Maine, are much higher than other parts of the country. You probably need to expand your budget by a fair amount.

You make no mention of the need for employment. Do you work? It seems to me that accessibility to a job would be one of the drivers for your choice of where to live.

[Submariner]

Commonly home prices in Maine start at $30k.

I recently saw one that went for $17k.

When we were recently house hunting for a friend, a line was drawn and we did not look at any homes for less than $40k

[corgis]

There are several houses in Eastport for under 60K if you want a fixer-upper.