Anonymous wrote:Living in Maine is more expensive than one may think. Portland - and its suburbs have high taxes. It's cold so you spend a lot of money on heat. Outside of certain industries (e.g., medicine) salaries aren't allowing for large living. But it's a completely different way of life from DC and other major cities -- less bustle etc. Also, Portland, more than any other city/town in Maine, boasts some real diversity -- and you see that particularly in its student population. So if you are moving from a major city, suburbs are a sea of white. Portland is also definitely more left leaning than the rest of the state so if politics are important to you that's a consideration.

High taxes and left leaning. Now that's an odd combination!

Living in Maine is more expensive than one may think. Portland - and its suburbs have high taxes. It's cold so you spend a lot of money on heat. Outside of certain industries (e.g., medicine) salaries aren't allowing for large living. But it's a completely different way of life from DC and other major cities -- less bustle etc. Also, Portland, more than any other city/town in Maine, boasts some real diversity -- and you see that particularly in its student population. So if you are moving from a major city, suburbs are a sea of white. Portland is also definitely more left leaning than the rest of the state so if politics are important to you that's a consideration.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:After living in DC almost my whole life, I’m thinking of moving to Maine. I spend August in the Southern part of Maine, and love it there, but I’m a city girl and am wondering what Portland is like. Any suggestions on places to live, things to do? What’s good, and what isn’t?

Before you make this decision, spend Jan Feb there.

— native Mainiac.

You're not a native, If you were, you'd know it's "Mainer."

" Portland is crazy tiny. Like 60k people or something. Half the size of new haven, ct. "

Nobody lives in Portland, Maine, anymore. It's too Portlandia. Everyone moved to South Portland.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:One other caveat. If you eventually move to the suburbs like Falmouth, ticks are a scourge and Lyme disease is pretty endemic. I have two cousins with chronic Lyme, but they don’t think it’s unusual.

Yes, excellent point. So many ticks. We were visiting a friend there for a week and had to do nightly tick checks on each other.

That is terrifying.

You get used to the tick checks, like anything in the world. Havent heard a perp aboit Lyme in Maine since the Great Plague arrived.

I lived in Portland after college and loved it. At the time I wanted a bigger city and left but now that I’m older have often second guessed leaving.

If you want to live in Portland proper, check out the West End for more traditional living and the East End for more of a hipster feel.

Also look at South Portland - there are beautiful condos right over the bridge with water views.

Or if you have $$$$$ buy a multimillion dollar property in Cape Elizabeth or South Portland. Divine!

I live in Southern Maine. Portsmouth, NH is no different, very cold, lots of snow. Check out areas on Cape Cod. Winters on the Cape are mild, less snow. Friends play golf on the Cape almost year round, a little chilly, but still nice.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:One other caveat. If you eventually move to the suburbs like Falmouth, ticks are a scourge and Lyme disease is pretty endemic. I have two cousins with chronic Lyme, but they don’t think it’s unusual.

Yes, excellent point. So many ticks. We were visiting a friend there for a week and had to do nightly tick checks on each other.

That is terrifying.

Reiterating what others have said:

Winters are long and cold & dark. It’s already frosting overnight. It gets dark by around 4:15pm in the winter.
You will always be considered from away, no matter how long you live there.
Real estate is being bought up like crazy by out of staters - cash, sight unseen, over ask. Yarmouth, Falmouth, Cape etc will be ruined by out of staters.
Portland is awesome.

Anonymous wrote:One other caveat. If you eventually move to the suburbs like Falmouth, ticks are a scourge and Lyme disease is pretty endemic. I have two cousins with chronic Lyme, but they don’t think it’s unusual.

Yes, excellent point. So many ticks. We were visiting a friend there for a week and had to do nightly tick checks on each other.

One other caveat. If you eventually move to the suburbs like Falmouth, ticks are a scourge and Lyme disease is pretty endemic. I have two cousins with chronic Lyme, but they don’t think it’s unusual.

I work in Portland (hospital) and live 30 minutes north in Midcoast Maine. I like coming to Portland, and I like leaving it. It is SO small. There's the peninsula with cute restaurants and boutiques (especially Aristelle, the lingerie shop on Exchange!) and then some outer lying areas.. and then the sprawl of Westbrook and South Portland. I think I'd feel trapped if my world was just the little snow globe of Portland.

That said, I love Maine! And yes, the smaller population is a feature and not a bug. We moved from the West Coast. Love the lakes, the beaches, the hiking, the feeling of being 10 years behind the bigger cities.

There are not a lot of cultural events but there are certainly community events... the Christmas craft fairs are HUGE here and probably a remnant of the pre-Amazon, big box shopping days. People rely on eachother here, but you also must be resourceful yourself. Our power goes out 6-8x a year. You acquire quite a booty of tools in your shed to battle nature. I feel sometimes like we are in Lord of the Rings where the trees are plotting to creep closer and closer each year unless we bushwhack them back. A house's driveway can make or break your winter/spring!

There is also a reason it's called Vacationland and not Live Here Round-year Land - and that's the high cost of living and the lower wages. RN's make $24-26/hr. There's not much of a tech sector.

It's also an OLD state. There was a thread recently here about when you become invisible to men, and I'd say that in Maine you have 10 more years of being attractive than in a younger area, ha!

My brother (from DC, but not a "city person") lives in Portland with his wife, also from out of state. They love it but she's into craft/home canning/gardening and he's into hunting, camping, ice fishing. They both went to college in Maine so have a lot of friends and community but to this day he'll never be considered a "true Mainer," even though we all think he is! My point is it's a fit for some people but Mainers are sort of insular. I will point out Portland has the most restaurants per capita in the nation. I like it a lot but PPs are correct about the brutal winters.

Pluses: It is a real city (the metro area is close to 500,000 people, so not at all small), great restaurants, every type of store you could want, great tech community. 2 hours to Boston, nice little airport, and living on the ocean is amazing.

Downsides: Winter

We lived there for 5 years during a work rotation and yes it's gray in the winter, but the people are super awesome and you find things to do. The lack of traffic was great, being within an easy drive of anything we'd want to do, also amazing, and just a better way of life. We're back in Boston now and try to get up and visit friends multiple times during the year, yes including winter.

Anonymous wrote:Op here, thank you all for your honest answers.
Would moving to Portsmouth New Hampshire be much different? I’ve been there numerous times but ot in cold weather.
As you can tell, I would really love to live near the Ocean!

Less hipster, more crusty old people.