Hi,
We have been planning our move for two years now and time is getting near. Dh is almost done with school and in 7 months we will be moving to Maine!!
Dh is from there but he hasn't lived there since he was a teenager. His dad lives not far from Lewiston. We are thinking Dh will be hired in Brunswick, Augusta, Bath, or South Portland. There may be more fire dept. hiring but these are the ones he has been in contact with that are hiring and sounded promising.
Anyone have insider info on any of these towns? I have done as much online information gathering as I can. I really like what I have seen of brunswick and bath. I want to live out in the country once we buy a house, but at first we will be renting whatever we can find.
any specific areas to find rental houses? I HATE apartments and we have a big dog and two cats and prefer to avoid them if possible. I have had no problem in the past finding houses to rent in North carolina and was hoping it would be the same in Maine.
How are schools in those areas? Spinner is in sixth grade.
Anything else anyone wants to share would be appreciated!
THANKS!
Storm
__________________
When the people fear their government, there is tyranny; when the government fears the people, there is liberty.
Thomas Jefferson
My sister in law was born and raised in Brunswick and I lived there every summer for four years through college. Bowdoin college is there so it has a bit of a college town atmosphere. It has a beautiful main street with lots of little shops and resteraunts. The schools in town have a good reputation and you're right on the water I've heard that it is pricey to live there. One of my good friends still lives in Brunswick and his dad works for the fire dept there, though I'm not sure his rank. I love the town myself and would move there in a heartbeat.
__________________
Stefanie
Wife to Brendan, my best friend
Mama to Elizabeth 4/28/02 and lovin' it!
Benjamin Timothy has arrived! 9/1/05
Teacher to my talented third graders
Location: ~Maine...but temporarily living in texas, going to midwifery school
Posts: 1,379
My family moved to Maine 6 months ago but my parents have lived here in Portland for 5 years so we have spent a good amount of time here. We live in Portland right in town. I really like Brunswick and Bath. South Portland near the water is really nice, but on the expensive side. If you move to the Portland area there are many options for renting and there are affordable properties West of town in Gorham, Limerick, Standish... Bath is a small, vearing towards hip, town. It has some more affordable in town properties because the economy is somewhat depressed, there are not many jobs. Brunswick is a college town and has all of "that" but also has some beautiful expensive water properties too. I don't know a lot about the land around either of these places though. I know nothing about Augusta but it's reputation is that it isn't that nice, but affordable because of that.
Sorry I can't help with schools but if you have more questions about Portland feel free to PM me.
__________________
heather
soulmate to simon, mama to liam, maeve and wee lad, finnian.
"now I see the secret of the making of the best persons. it is to grow in open air, and to eat and sleep with the earth." - walt whitman
We visited Christmas before last and while in maine we drove around to as many areas as we could but back then not having a better idea where we would end up, we went to all the wrong places, lol
Now, how far are Brunswick and Bath from each other? from what I have found I am thinking they are neighboring towns, very very close, only a few minutes in between, is that right?
They are both coastal towns right? I am used to southern coastal towns from living in NC and FL... Are Bath and brunswick tourist towns in the summer?
Brunswick actually clears out a bit during the summer because a lot of the college crowd goes home. YOu get more action on the water as people put their boats into the water. Bath and Brunswick are close to each other, next to each other in fact.
So, my next question is... party college town or "artsy" college town? I have lived in both and really got tired of drunken frat kids wandering down the streets in the middle of the night Woo HOOing. Artsy college town is great though
and thanks so much for putting up with all my questions. I found a great website from the chamber of commerce that had a lot of good stuff about local businesses and weather and activities. I really like what I have seen so far!
Storm
Brunswick is a great ARTSY college town! I lived there for two years and just loved it. We lived right intown and in two years of having our bed practically on the sidewalk I only heard drunken kids once or twice. The apartment rental scene can be tight at times. I never rented a house there though so I am not sure about that in particular.
We now live about 20 mins south of Augusta. It's definitely a different vibe than Brunswick. The Augusta downtown is nowhere near as nice but there is tons of big box shopping and the cost of living is much lower there than Brunswick or Portland. Oh, I have heard bad things about the Augusta school system but have no experience with it myself. We actually live in the Gardiner area and I love it here. Nice combo of a thriving downtown with lots of small businesses and rural livin'!
We lived in two spots in Brunswick, one right behind teh college and the other on a side street across from the college. In neither spot did I ever have to deal with noise or obnoxious college kids. Never really had any issues with the college crowd at all, even in the local resteraunts and pubs. It really is a lovely town. We rented a house both times but I wasn't responsible for the rent so I can't give you a figure on rent. My SIL lives in West Gardiner now and loves it there as well. I think any of the towns in the area would be beautiful places to live. I enjoy it up there immensley, although I'm too much of a city gal to survive up there long term
Oh boy, now you're in trouble - Maine is my true love! I am from Harpswell (a small island community south of Brunswick - I'm from one of those families with a road named after us and people know who your parents are by looking at you) and graduated from Morse High in Bath. I currently live in CT but am in Maine at least once a month. Brunswick can be pricey and Harpswell is outrageous. Bath has good sections and bad but you can also live in the towns over the bridge (Woolwich, Arrowsic, Georgetown and Five Islands or Phippsburg, West Bath). Brunswick crosses the bridge to Topsham, Bowdoin, Richmond, etc. I love the entire area. I have to go cook dinner but just wanted to let you know how lucky you are and give you some options of surrounding towns. If you have specific questions I can always whip out my handy phone book for numbers LOL.
Hi - I'm new here but couldn't resist replying. I'm in Windham, Me, which is right outside Portland. I worked in Portland before my son was born last fall.
Both Bath and Brunswick are very nice towns in a great area of the state. Brunswick has an AWESOME farmers' market every Tues and Friday, I think. It's definitely Artsy college town. Bowdoin is a great school and I am sure it has its share of parties but the kids are smart and pay a lot to go there. They have to be somewhat capable with a brain in their head to be there. It's close to Portland but not too close. It's just up from Freeport.
Anything that close to the ocean is going to be pricey. That's kind of how we ended up in Windham. We loved the Freeport/Yarmouth/Brunswick area but it was just out of our price range then we found this house in Windham and jumped on it.
I agree with Gardiner being really nice. One of my best friends is from there and I love it up there. And it's only an hour from Portland.
Anything that close to the ocean is going to be pricey.
welcome! thanks for replying. And happy already/almost(?) birthday to your son!
I would prefer being out a bit more in the country, less neighbors, more acreage, but it won't be possible at first.
dh has been researching his job options and the towns I asked about are the fire depts. he thinks are most likely to hire him. There are others but he wants to be within easy driving distance to family. We are going to find out about living restrictions, we may be required to live in city limits for him to work so we are doing our looking for now based on that. If he is not required to live in city limits we will probably end up just finding a place to rent for a few months/a year in town anyway while we look for a place we love in the country to buy.
Linear Mode
