Thinking about moving to Maine from Alberta.

okotoks guy said:

My wife and I are considering a move to Maine. My wife is a Registered Nurse and is going to look at
Maine to do a travel assignment. We have 2 young daughters aged 19 months and 4 years old.

Can anyone suggest what city or cities would be best to look at with regards to low crime,friendly
people,good schools etc. Also,are there any cities to avoid?
Thanks in advance.

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There aren't any big cities per se. Portland is the biggest city (pop, 60,000) and Augusta is the capital (pop. 30,000). In my opinion, Maine people are more friendly than other places I have been to. In regards to crime, obviously there are no guarantees anywhere these days, but Maine has very low crime. If the wife is a nurse, Maine medical center in portland is a world class hospital. You can easily find a place within 25-30 minutes of Portland in a rural, quiet setting. For the most part, Real estate is cheap by New England standards (not including waterfront of course) and you can still get a good sized piece of land. Taxes are high though, but in my opinion, Maine does a decent job with your tax dollars in regards to roads, schools, etc. If you have a question about a specific area, you can PM me and I'll let you know what I think.

You might want to check into the immigration rules side of this move. It may not be as simple as loading up and moving. It is a whole lot easier moving from the U.S. to Canada. going the other direction is more restrictive in terms of requirements.

I'd look at the Sidney area. It's a nice in-between from Augusta and Waterville (which both have fairly large hospital campus). The area there is far enough outta town to have alot of nice countryside and access to lakes - especially those in the Belgrade area - but close enough that travel to and from work is minimal.
The coastal areas are nice, but taxes and home prices are higher than inland... plus you gotta deal with all the tourists during the summer months, and some pretty restrictive building codes. If the coast is for you, check out areas in Lincoln county/Damarscottia area. It's a nice 1/2 way point to inland central as well as midcoast area where property can still be had reasonably, and it's not too built up.
I'd stay outta Lewiston/Auburn.... thats the armpit of the state IMHO. There are some bigger hospital systems in L/A, but if your wife wants to look for employment there, I'd stay outta the L/A metro area, look at a spot like Poland Spring, which is a nice jaunt out in the country away from L/A, but still close enough to commute.
Bangor area is a fairly large metro area, but has alot of availiable property outlying. It's a ways inland, but if you are a big country forest kinda guy, there is plenty of it up there. It's not too far of a drive north of Bangor to find some nice isolation... where the towns have numbers like T5 R7 instead of names...
Portland area is ok, but it's built up alot, taxes are high, and more like living outside of Boston than living in ME.

rottiman said:

You might want to check into the immigration rules side of this move. It may not be as simple as loading up and moving. It is a whole lot easier moving from the U.S. to Canada. going the other direction is more restrictive in terms of requirements.

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+1 to that. Look @ the immigration side first even though it's not nearly as fun as dreaming About where to settle. Your wifes job can really help you but it's not exactly a golden ticket.
These quickest n easiest way I know of to get in is for one of you to get a TN-1 temporary work visa through an employer. That's how I got in the door. They used to be only good for a year, so I'd have to do a border run to renew. Now you can get 3 years I think. You still need to plan In Advance how you'll be able to get a Green Card. Know all the req's and processes beforehand 'cause you can screw yourself by how you do the initial crossing... Seriously consider using an immigration Service. I'm married to a citizen, which makes it as easy as possible, and had a Service submitting everything and it still took 18 months of hoop jumping to get the card. Not trying to talk you out of anything, the process isn't THAT bad, you just need to know & follow the rules.

I realize Traveling Nurses travel but where in Maine would she be working? What do you guys like to do? I wouldn't get very excited about any crime north of Augusta with the exception of far Down East Maine, Washington County has a lots of Oxy Contin addicts who like to steal. The Mid Coast area is nice, Rockland is a working mans town but one of my favorite places would be Brunswick, college town, close to Portland, close to the coast. Further North, another college town, Orono, lots of stuff to do being a college town, expensive taxes but little towns around Orono aren't so bad. Far north is desolate, cold but a paradise for hunting, fishing, snowmobiling etc. Ellsworth area is also nice. Growing, lots of transplants, the coast, way busy in the summer with tourists. You figure out where you might be stationed and I'll give you some more opinions.

Edit,you can buy a nice house in Millinocket Maine, for next to nothing, Mill town that is slowly dying. Houses that would go for over 100,000 in so. Maine are going for 40,000

okotoks guy said:

Thanks for the advice all. Don't be shy if you have great things to say about the Smoky Mtns. as I could
show the wife that it's not just an inbred place infested with banjo playing gimps!

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Nope... that's pretty much what the smokies are like... just a bunch of banjo-playin' hillbillies...

Montana, especially the south-western corner, is pretty nice... friendly people, beautiful scenery, not nearly as many people as Colorado... just stay away from eastern Mt... unless you want to live with a bunch of inbred rednecks, walleye-fishing freaks, & grumpy old farts... LOL... I'd reccommend NW Montana also, but there's too many neo-Nazi & anti-gov't groups that spring up in that area...

Mt Ski Bum said:

Nope... that's pretty much what the smokies are like... just a bunch of banjo-playin' hillbillies...

...

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Umm, you're joking, right?

I have spent a lot of time in Maine and love it there, but chose to live here instead because I can live in a beautiful place with plenty of outdoor opportunities, but there's still easy access to a progressive culture.

Heck, NC is the home of the original Mother Earth News. That makes it a Mecca.

Folks are moving into the Asheville area from just about everywhere...lots of folks who went to FL first and then got quickly tired of the heat and/or crime.

The tough part for us is that if you have been raised relatively close to big water, it's tough to move too far inland!

BeGreen said:

I would pick the North Carolina hills in a heartbeat. Between Boone and Asheville there is great country and good people.

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Pretty expensive real estate in that area, everyone wants to live there

I'll add an opinion and say that the Bangor area has some excellent opportunities for your wife in terms of employment and is situated mid-state, providing closer access to some great fishing and hunting just to the north. Nice people, pretty quiet and safe, and lots of small towns in the area that provide good buys on homes and land. There's a bit more "culture" further south in places like Portland, but that comes with lots more population too. I would rate Maine very high as a place to live. However, it's not for everyone. If you think you need and enjoy a simple rural life, Maine will feel familiar and comfortable (especially in the winter).

Best of luck to you no matter what you decide.
Tinsnip

Wallyworld said:

Pretty expensive real estate in that area, everyone wants to live there

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Depends where you are. You can drive 15 miles and the homes are half the price. It's much more affordable here than most places in New England and the eastern seaboard, including more civilized parts of Maine. Property taxes are very low.

Webmaster said:

Heck, NC is the home of the original Mother Earth News.

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In a round-about way, that's how I ended up here. My good friends moved here from Chicago to work for Mother Earth News. They branched off to run their own magazine. http://backhomemagazine.com/
Check it out! It's an excellent magazine. I came to visit them and loved the area. When I moved back from Hawaii I couldn't afford anyplace in New England it was top of the list if I could get a job. I could. Love it here.

This might seal the deal :lol:
http://beernews.org/2010/06/asheville-named-beer-city-usa-for-2010/

Also, whenever I have moved, I've found these forums helpful. Lots of candid info about your area of interest.

http://www.city-data.com/forum/

While I realize that your criteria for good hunting and fishing may be different than your wife's . . . I can perhaps give some insight to nursing in Maine as my wife is a RN who has worked in hospitals in Waterville (both of them), Bangor (both of them) and Belfast . . . along with many different nursing homes.

As for hunting and fishing . . . it's hard to find a spot in Maine that doesn't offer decent hunting and fishing with a 20-45 minute drive . . . a lot depends on what you want to hunt and fish . . . if you're into moose up north and downeast is good, central Maine offers fantastic deer and turkey hunting . . . and then there is the salt water vs. fresh water fishing debate. Really . . . it's hard to not find a place where you can't find something to hunt or fish.

Crime . . . happens everywhere and nowhere is immune. In general it seems as though the further south you go the more violent crime you hear about . . . although lately Bangor has had a spate of killings with . . . uh . . . how should we put it nicely . . . the lower strata of society. I think in the past four weeks there have been two murders and one bad attack when a guy pushed a fella out of the second floor window. If crime were an issue I would probably avoid most of the "big cites" (big being relative since Portland is the biggest city, followed by Lewiston-Auburn -- aka LA -- and then Bangor at 33,000.) We don't see too many suburb cities here . . . usually if you go out 15-30 minutes you can be in a small town or in the country.

Schools . . . again, like anywhere there are good school systems and bad . . . I suspect most school systems do well enough. I know I graduated from a podunk small town school built in a former cow field where there were 11 towns that sent their kids to school . . . thought it was pretty hickish . . . until I went to college and realized that my education was actually quite good compared to many other freshmen in college.

Affordable Homes . . . city conveniences of full-time police, firefighters, well funded schools, free trash pick up, etc. = higher taxes and often higher prices on homes. Waterviews along the coast or any water way also equals higher priced homes. That said, most folks who move from here from away say the prices are good for what you get.

So . . . back to your wife . . . what is she looking for . . . does she want to work at a larger hospital that may be a little more cutting edge (nothing is too cutting edge up here though) -- in this case, generally the further south and larger hospitals are your best bet. Does she want a slower pace and more of a community hospital experience -- a small city hospital may be the better choice.

I personally am quite partial for where I live . . . although my wife sometimes wishes the winters were not as long . . . if you draw a line between Bangor, Waterville and Belfast I'm about in the middle . . . the middle of everywhere and nowhere since there is nothing right there . . . but I can be up in The County for great ATVing, sledding or hunting in 3 hours . . . or close to Boston in 3 hours . . . or even across the border to visit New Brunswick or Campobello Island in Canada in 3 hours . . . and I can be in the "city" of Waterville, Belfast or Bangor in a half hour to 40 minutes.

Any more questions . . . feel free to post.

I live close enough to firefighterjake and know Eastern Maine Medical Center in Bangor quite well. My cousin was a traveling nurse from down south who worked there and loved it. Though they have had some labor problems recently the people are pretty decent. Smaller city, great hospital, and any wildlife/outdoor stuff you want.

steam man said:

I live close enough to firefighterjake and know Eastern Maine Medical Center in Bangor quite well. My cousin was a traveling nurse from down south who worked there and loved it. Though they have had some labor problems recently the people are pretty decent. Smaller city, great hospital, and any wildlife/outdoor stuff you want.

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My wife has a different opinion of EMMC . . . nurses were great, but administration plays a lot of "games." Some folks may or may not like the Unionized aspect of nursing . . . my own feeling is neither for or against . . . I did however dislike many of the things that I heard about EMMC though.

I vacationed once near Waterville. Week long fishing trip, stayed at a camp with authentic log cabins from the '20's. Awesome. Seemed like the people were so laid back in Maine that I thought I was in a different country.

kettensäge said:

I vacationed once near Waterville. Week long fishing trip, stayed at a camp with authentic log cabins from the '20's. Awesome. Seemed like the people were so laid back in Maine that I thought I was in a different country.

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You want to see really laid back you should head to the County . . . not lazy up there at all . . . but definitely a whole other breed of Mainiacs . . . they would give their shirt off a back to a stranger if they thought he needed it more than they did.