My wife and I are looking to buy a large piece of land in Maine. It has to be wooded, preferable 50-100 acres. Does anyone know of any remote areas of maine where land doesnt cost and arm and a leg.
Looking for lots of land in Maine
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Just out of curiosity, are you commited to buying only Maine land?. There is a lot to be said for buying bulk land in northern NH versus Maine, primarilly because of current use laws in NH. Maine has similiar laws but generally a management plan is required to get the tax break, plus continued updates for the plan (hopefully a Maine landowner can fill in details). In NH you can declare the land unmanaged forest land and get the current use rate with no management plan. Current use saves a lot of taxes as long as you dont plan to develop it. NH also manages the land in unorganized townships and most rural towns at a county or local level. Maine has the "dreaded" LURC, acting as the zoning and planning board and getting anything approved by LURC is a long process. Granted many folks ignore LURC, but anything you build or do without approval could get you in the long run. If you do want to commercially harvest, Maine has far more restrictions than NH. If you want to build a house in NH, be very careful as the tax rates vary substantially from town to town (current use doesnt apply to developed land).
In general, NH has one of the lowest overall tax burdens in the US and Maine has one of the highest, therefore their is a lot more incentive in Maine to extract dollars out of property owners.
A lot of the low cost bulk land in Maine tends to be for sale in Northern Maine which is a 8 to 10 hour drive from southern Maine. A good way of getting a handle on land values is to pick up Uncle Henry's ( a weekly periodical of great value to most Mainers!). Be aware that some of the Uncle Henry listings are going to be sketchy, make sure the person offering to sell a property actually owns its and that there are no liens or major issues with the land. There may be good realtors in the rural areas, but many tend not to ask a lot of questions about land they are listing. There are also sometimes large lots in the Millinocket region usually east of the park. There very rarely are big lots in Southern Maine, although occasionally there are some along the NH border. Washington County Maine has lots of land for sale as its seriously depressed, most of the ocean front is owned by out of staters, but the back lots usually go for low prices. Do note this is very rural area.
A general comment is that a lot of the rural large blocks are cut over timberland. They generally are high graded or clearcut and what remains is pretty poor stock. Great for firewood but dont expect to get any hardwood sawlogs for 40 or 50 years. There are several of these for sale in Northern NH (check listings for Errol, Millsfield, Milan and Berlin NH.)
Fountains Foresty has a few timber lots in Maine right now. There are a couple of intriguing ones in the Sebago area. For Millinocket area, I think Great North Woods has a lot of listings. NNREN is a multiple listing service that covers Maine NH and VT.
In general, NH has one of the lowest overall tax burdens in the US and Maine has one of the highest, therefore their is a lot more incentive in Maine to extract dollars out of property owners.
A lot of the low cost bulk land in Maine tends to be for sale in Northern Maine which is a 8 to 10 hour drive from southern Maine. A good way of getting a handle on land values is to pick up Uncle Henry's ( a weekly periodical of great value to most Mainers!). Be aware that some of the Uncle Henry listings are going to be sketchy, make sure the person offering to sell a property actually owns its and that there are no liens or major issues with the land. There may be good realtors in the rural areas, but many tend not to ask a lot of questions about land they are listing. There are also sometimes large lots in the Millinocket region usually east of the park. There very rarely are big lots in Southern Maine, although occasionally there are some along the NH border. Washington County Maine has lots of land for sale as its seriously depressed, most of the ocean front is owned by out of staters, but the back lots usually go for low prices. Do note this is very rural area.
A general comment is that a lot of the rural large blocks are cut over timberland. They generally are high graded or clearcut and what remains is pretty poor stock. Great for firewood but dont expect to get any hardwood sawlogs for 40 or 50 years. There are several of these for sale in Northern NH (check listings for Errol, Millsfield, Milan and Berlin NH.)
Fountains Foresty has a few timber lots in Maine right now. There are a couple of intriguing ones in the Sebago area. For Millinocket area, I think Great North Woods has a lot of listings. NNREN is a multiple listing service that covers Maine NH and VT.
firefighterjake
Minister of Fire
Peakbagger pretty much summed up what I would have said . . . the best bet right now for large tracts of land for sale would most likely be in The County or downeast in Washington County.
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