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Living up north

eloisel

eloisel

Forever Empress E
Was looking at the price of properties in Portland, Maine. OMG. How do people afford to live up there?
 
Anything north of Boston tends to be expensive. We have the highest grand list in our state in our little town (for example)
 
My place would go for at least half a mil up north. Down here it is just an ordinary townhouse. Do the wages match the cost of housing? Or do you have to start buying a house before you get into highschool?
 
We never went for ownership. I suppose given our rental history in hindsight that was a bit shortsighted. First up for Biden is the Bernie Whisperer's 15$ minimum wage, which will upend the wage market I suspect. So everyone's going to be making 600 a week and up if you work 40. We've lived very comfortably through our lives up here on much much less than that each. Not wealthy by any means, but comfortable and able to "do things" besides pay bills. I can't speak for Maine, but in Vermont you can make a decent living with a little luck and a little well placed investment. Vermont is very different than Maine. Our best "city" is a small town for them, as in the rest of New England. We're more local crowdfunding, farm to table, support your local business, etc.
 
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eloisel said:
Was looking at the price of properties in Portland, Maine. OMG. How do people afford to live up there?
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I'd be curious to see how it compares to this place. I don't have the energy to look and compare at the moment but I'll look it up this week. I know small houses are going for 3-4 and all the other houses are way more. It is ridiculous. And for many this is thier 2nd residence-the other being in the Seattle area.
 
Dunno about Maine, but unless you owned a house before the '80s, you don't buy a house in SF. If you do, you "buy" it with a mortgage that doesn't ever pay down any of the principal because ordinary people can't afford that. I moved to the other Portland in 2002 and rented a 500sf studio in the city for $495 a month. Around 2016, as I had decided it was time to leave, I learned that a friend was living in the same building. He was in one of the 395sf studios--and was paying $1300 a month for rent.

Bought a house on the outskirts of town in 2010. Paid substantially less than $100,000 for it. Sold it 7 years later for substantially more than $200,000. Moved to Kentucky because even though I had a job that was finally paying well, my work location moved, traffic had gotten horrible, and there were no places for sale within my price range. I could've barely afforded a vacant lot--and I don't like camping that much. Meanwhile, in Kentucky, I bought a house literally twice as large in every aspect--house, lot, garage--closer into the city and much nicer (complete with a gas fireplace) for half the price.

At the time, I had a few friends who were my age and experience level that were living paycheck to paycheck. I told them to get out and they all had some variation of "I like the weather" "all my family is here" "I just got a promotion." Now they're trapped and coping with the disruptions from the nightly riots and I resist the temptation to say "don't say nobody warned you."
 
Mirah said:
I'd be curious to see how it compares to this place. I don't have the energy to look and compare at the moment but I'll look it up this week. I know small houses are going for 3-4 and all the other houses are way more. It is ridiculous. And for many this is thier 2nd residence-the other being in the Seattle area.
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The market in our area is off the charts. Less than 2 week turnaround from listing for the most part, and terrible bidding wars.

If you had a 250k ranch 2 br that you bought pre covid it's double or triple these days.
 
It is 27 degrees here right now. I am not designed for this temperature. Running out of wood for the fireplace. None left at the stores. Contemplating breaking up my five year old dining table and chairs. Can't get a cruise until the end of the year. Having the feels for all you northerners.
 
If you've seen the news, you know Texas has been plunged into a frozen world with many out of power and frozen and bursting water pipes. Neighborhood family with 8 kids came out and scraped the ice and snow off all of us old folks' sidewalks, walkways, and porches. That was very nice of them. I did manage to get out of the house and go to the store. Was almost out of cat food and while I can make do with what I have, kitty kitty is a carnivore. Being out of salmon pate is a crime punishable by massive attempt to murder. She only has 4 teeth so I'm not too afraid of her. Don't know how I managed to live in Colorado for a few years as I am definitely not an ice and snow kind of person.
 
eloisel said:
It is 27 degrees here right now. I am not designed for this temperature. Running out of wood for the fireplace. None left at the stores. Contemplating breaking up my five year old dining table and chairs. Can't get a cruise until the end of the year. Having the feels for all you northerners.
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It was 50 below 10 out of the last 18 days in this area, so I feel you. I'm serious. Cold is cold, no matter the temperature.
 
So glad to see you eloisel. So sorry to hear about the mess in Texas. It is really sad. It is currently 29 here and has been snowing. I hope you don't chop up your dining room table for firewood!
 
Fortunately the dining table and chairs survived. It will start warming up here tomorrow. From where you've lived, this would be normal weather for you. You'd rock it. I'm just not a cold weather person. I light a fire in the fireplace the first time it dips down to 39 degrees and get my faux bear coat cleaned in preparation if the temps drop into the 20s. 80s is still just a tad chilly for me - love those 85-95 degree days.

How are things where you are now? Any wildlife circling your place?
 
eloisel said:
Fortunately the dining table and chairs survived. It will start warming up here tomorrow. From where you've lived, this would be normal weather for you. You'd rock it. I'm just not a cold weather person. I light a fire in the fireplace the first time it dips down to 39 degrees and get my faux bear coat cleaned in preparation if the temps drop into the 20s. 80s is still just a tad chilly for me - love those 85-95 degree days.

How are things where you are now? Any wildlife circling your place?
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Oh I completely feel for those in Texas. It is not pleasant at all. And its not like you all have wool socks and clothes and down jackets and bedding to keep you warm probably. It got cold here a couple of weeks ago, but not MN cold! I actually brought my extra heater to work because the drive up was getting chilly-and I'm usually the one with all of the fans on in there!

I did see a herd of deer last week-including the white speckled one-piebald. I had only seen pictures of it and finally caught a glimpse of it. So pretty.
 
Two of the hot water faucets upstairs froze for a couple of days. Someone told me to turn on my dryer for 45 minutes. Did that and had hot water up there again. I think the one external water pipe that had any exposure at all - not enough insulation in that one wall for this kind of temps - is right above the dryer vent. No burst pipes. Did have to boil water for a couple of days because of burst pipes around the city and loss of water pressure having something to do with making it necessary to boil the water. Then had major rain storm last night. I was fortunate again in the only damage I have is a muddy yard. How are y'all doing up there?
 
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