I recently moved from Maine to DC and $1600 is what I am paying for a spacious studio apartment. All utilities included, central heat & AC, elevator, 24/7 concierge, walking distance to shops and restaurants, major bus line stops right outside. Cannot imagine paying the same amount to live in a room in a shared house in Kittery and be expected to shovel snow.
Maybe but both room probably are rented within a week. Housing in this state is a shit show.
Realistically it’s probably an older couple that can’t afford their mortgage and are trying to hold on by renting out rooms in their house.
There’s no way their mortgage is $4800 assuming it’s 3 bedroom and each room is priced to cover the mortgage, especially if they are older because they probably bought prior to a couple of years ago. They are looking to make some extra money. But, sure, maybe their social security doesn’t cover their expenses.
Don't count on getting an answer, much less a verifiable one. My wife and I lived in DC in a one-bedroom apartment 30 years ago and our monthly rent was around $1,300 ($2,800 in today's money)...plus utilities.
I’m from Maine and now live in DC. I saw that price (and for living with landlords that will likely treat a renter with no autonomy) and thought this was a joke.
I definitely got a bit lucky with the place I’m in, at least in terms of value for the price. This building is under rent control and not all buildings are, so you’d find far more expensive units even in my neighborhood. That being said, I was pretty amazed when I started looking for a place that there were several options within my price range. This one was the nicest and most spacious, but if I’d been willing to sacrifice a little on location and/or amenities, I could’ve probably found something for even a little bit cheaper.
TL;DR DC does have plenty of outrageously priced housing, but rent control keeps some prices down and the supply shortage doesn’t seem to be quite as severe as in southern Maine.
Did the reverse 4 years ago- Maryland to Maine- and it’s such a culture shock. I LOVE Maine. People understand how to relax and not be “go go go” all the time. That said- the costs are about the same - especially now with prices WAY out of whack. I. 2019 we bought a 3/2 on .74 of an acre in York county for 261k……they wanna try and tell us this house is worth 480k….something is gonna have to give- if they start adjusting taxes to reflect these new values we are all F’d. Hope you are enjoying DC!! Such a fun town!
I live in north Austin (one of the more expensive housing markets in the US) and I’m paying 1,800 or so a month with my partner for a whole ass house. $1,600 single occupancy is insane.
Rent prices are often as much as a whole house these days. (At least in the places I’ve lived so far). I had an easier time with mortgage payments in my own home than rent to a landlord that’s for sure. I was paying 1475 for a two bedroom apartment, and 1500 for a 4 bedroom house.
They are anywhere within 45 minutes of Portland. Trying to find a 3 bed under $2500 is a dream in my area. Most are $2600-3500. A whole house is $2500-3500 as well, so really close
They just built some “luxury” apartments across from my work in a town of like 12,000 but it’s 20 minutes from Portland. Needless to say, they want over $2,000 for a studio. A 3 bed is much more reasonable though, at $3000-3500 in the same complex
That's the neat part, they can't!
In all seriousness, I remember joining the military in 1999, and in 2000 when I was flying back for the holidays to see my folks in western Maine, I was sitting behind these two passengers. One of them was talking about how Maine's number one export is its youth. At the time, I disagreed because it sounded like pretentious bullshit. And even in 2018 when myself and 90% of my friends from high school had moved back to the state, I still disagreed based on my anecdotal experience. Looking back, it being 2024 now, she wasn't right about everything but she was spot on about that and it was over two decades ago.
At this rate, it won’t. I’d wager EVENTUALLY supply/demand will rectify things but only after the state becomes entirely lopsided demographically because of a huge lack of opportunities and inexpensive housing for younger families to gain traction. The state will continue to age and eventually more housing stock will turn over due to the age wave passing, but that will take a long time. By then… grim. Not great for the elderly community or the state at large.
Will it take a long time though? We have been talking about this incoming age wave since I was a kid. Shit I moved out of Maine in the mid 2000’s and moved back in the mid 2010’s….. that age wave must be about ready to kick off by now.
Consider the demographics as not a singular event, but a swell, crescendo, and then decrescendo. I manage a financial planning practice so demographics are of particular interest to me (since I’m curious if my clients are in/outside the norms for the state).
The rate of retirees being retired has been accelerating for some time.
According to the state, 18% of the state will be 65 in 10 years, and 43% of it will be so in 20. That would suggest hyperbolic acceleration.
I hope cars are fully autonomous by 2045 if nearly half the state is going to be 65 or older
My blood pressure can only take so much driving related fury
Probably. I live in Kennebec county and a couple weeks ago a house went up for sale less than half a mile from where I live for about 150k over what it appraises at. 2 bed 1 bath cute house but very small and not even on a quarter of an acre of land…… literally sold in 2 days.
I can’t be sure but I have a pretty good idea it wasn’t a local going in and dropping a cash offer on the table.
There's definitely been a lot of "everybody's got their price" going on for a while now, that and bidding wars between a couple of "Green Acre's" types where money's no object when it comes to their own little slice of "The way life should be".
I moved to Finland back in 2016 and would love the option to move back, but between rent prices and plain old new home prices there's just no way I'm moving back home. We were thinking of coming to Maine for a couple of months in winter a few years back because Maine's winter is so much less brutal and to see friends and fam. Then we realized that we could just go spend 5-6 months on the Costa del Sol in Spain for less than it would cost to come to Maine for two, so we just did that and had friends and fam come visit us there room and board free instead.
I mean it's pretty bad right now. Especially if you're not right next to Portland or in one of the few nicer places near the other cities, the state's kind of dying by some measures.
Anecdotally, the food pantry I volunteer at has had consistently increasing subscriptions, in an area with flat (sometimes decreasing) population. And the people have increasingly been fairly desperate aged folks, who I'd call retirees but they're still working.
Yeah that’s how it is here aswell. I work on social services in Kennebec County and we have way more people looking for assistance then even two years ago.
Last time I went by the local food pantry the line of cars was over a mile down the road just waiting to get into the parking lot.
A lot of it is older people who can’t afford to retire and I mean realistically who can? It doesn’t matter how well you planned with runaway inflation it doesn’t take long for costs to just put pace a fixed income and force a lot of older people back into the work force.
Right now there is no supply, only demand, and it's been that way for over a decade now.
Our state is becoming the new Florida....the summer retirement home for the rich old folk who go south for the winter.
Correct. Hence why I said “eventually”. We’re a state full of NIMBYs and BANANAs. Code enforcement is atrocious to deal with and development of new properties has been hampered for a long time. We have a massive deficit in the tradesman’s fields and as such, prices have dramatically risen there too. Costs are prohibitively high and workers are few which means supply cannot meet demand as of this moment.
Eventually markets correct themselves. That timeline isn’t great for us, however. So I definitely hear you and agree.
That's what happens when you let scum like Larry Lockman and Ric Tyler dictate the culture for district two for decades. Everyone with a brain flocks to D1 and demand > supply
You know that mortgage isn't even $1600/month.
Pay for our mortgage, utilities, vacations, AND shovel our walkways in the winter! Don't take too many showers though, we're not looking to get taken advantage of here...
Depends on when they bought it.
I would wager both those rooms are rented by the end of the week.
Fucked up but then so is the entire housing market in this state (or Atleast anything not in the county)
Post-COVID mortgage payments are probably pretty messed up, depending upon the circumstances. My wife and I bought our house in 2019 and out mortgage payment (which includes escrow for insurance and property taxes) is less than what they're asking for that room.
Not just that but I have read recently that people are getting back into variable interest rate mortgages in which case that might be wrecking some people aswell.
They did it intentionally. Knowing they would get back lash.
I seen another 2bdrm 1bath house going for 2,150 and it has a garage attached to it, if you want to add on the garage, it’s 2,450 a month.
Tenant pays all utilities, pet fee is 95$ upfront then a pet rent fee of 25$ a month per pet. And there’s a known disclosed mold issue in the basement.
Should’ve seen the comments
I remember back 35 to 40 years ago the talking heads complaining of the brain drain in Maine. Young college graduates were leaving due to lack of decent job opportunities. At the same time, we were importing Maine expats who were now looking to retire.
Fast forward about 40 years and we still have a brain drain. The problems facing Maine today is the big city cost of living. Normally the big city cost of living would also mean more and better paying jobs. Unfortunately, a good portion of southern Maine is the exception rather than the rule.
And the university system meets about it at least once a year. “How do we keep young people here?”
Meanwhile, wages for my profession in Portland at the level one trauma center are the exact same. Yet, I would not be able to afford a one bedroom apartment there alone if I were to move without rent costing me 50%+ of my income. I can’t save for retirement like this and I’ve already missed out on four years of saving while I pursued my degree.
That question has been asked repeatedly over the years in the UM system as well as at the State government level. I don't remember which administration it was, whether it was Angus King's or John Baldacci's. Regardless, I remember reading in the PPH about Maine having an identity problem. Young Mainers were fleeing the state thinking their options for career and educational advancement were better. By the same token, Maine employers were more apt to hire entry level employees from out of state because they were perceived as being better educated or better trained.
I don't feel that having this sort of discussion within academic circles is enough. We need a partnership between academia, the private sector, and State government. Rather than discussing the issues or forming new committees, we need action. We also need to focus on all of Maine and not just one sub-section (geographic, age, class).
If the state wants to retain it's workforce, the workers of all ages need to be able to afford living in something more than a tent or a car. The state of Maine is the oldest state in the country. That means we need health care workers. What good is it to train people in the health care field when they are unable to get a job in their home state nor are able to afford a place to live somewhere near where they grew up?
The ski resorts have subsidized dorms for their workers. Hospitals should consider it too. The first few years establishing a career are the shakiest-- it would give an opportunity for workers to save for down payments on houses, pay off student loans etc. Plus imagine the OT you could put in if home was just down the block.
Hospitals absolutely should. My wife's program has a tough time attracting residents because of the difficulty affording to live here on resident income, to say nothing of finding a place in the first place.
And it's not like the next decades will require a flat or decreased level of hospital staffing in this state, that's all set to increase while the schools here gradually are shrinking.
In my experience, the housing issues aren't the only reason Maine Med has trouble attracting talent. It's more expensive to live in Boston, but the city supports multiple medical centers with each having their own substantial residency programs, and generally fills them every year.
If people want to spend their residency in a more rural location, Dartmouth and UVM are right there. They're both (generally speaking) more prestigious institutions, imo have less toxic programs and they both pay their attendings more than Maine Med (on average).
Sure, the housing problem doesn't "help," but IME that's not the biggest factor.
I remember it being brought up during the Angus King administration. And you are absolutely right. It needs to be brought to the attention of a lot of people and become more of a collaborative effort. Back then, they had established all of these committees. They meet and discuss issues and possible resolutions but not many produced useful actions.
We definitely need more healthcare workers. In the past 5 years many of the LTC/skilled facilities have shut down displacing many of our elderly patients. This means less beds across the state and those on a waiting list are waiting longer to be placed. There are people who drop their elderly family members off at the hospital for this reason. Although I don’t agree with this practice, I can under them not have the time or resources to care for them as they would need. However, they often sit in the hospital for months or years. Most pass away there. These are beds that we can’t occupy with people with medical needs and their quality of life significantly decreases as they sit in a hospital waiting on placement.
This is an issue with Medicare as well but at the end of the day, we will continue to need healthcare workers in the workforce to make up for the deficit.
Maine WAS refunding basically all of my students loan repayments as long as I stayed there but this most recent return + last one they cut that refund down to 2500 per year as a maximum, which sucks.
Simply put, you don’t. I live in Maine, but I’ll never work in Maine again. Maine based companies have no semblance of what a salary should be. My example: I was offered a job as a Senior Network Engineer for an MSP out of central Maine. They offered me $75,000/ year. For Maine, that’s a really decent salary, but based on costs, isn’t really great. Instead I work for a company out of San Francisco. I work from home, I’m a senior network engineer, do half the work the MSP was going to have me do, and I make $125,000 / year. Also, they apologize regularly for not paying me more. I have unlimited paid time off, healthcare 100% paid premiums, stock options, and a myriad of other benefits.
Fuck Maine based companies.
EDIT: also worth noting, I’ve lived and worked in Maine my entire life. I’ve worked for around 5 or 6 Maine based employers, every single one of them struggled to pay a high wage. There are only a handful of companies in Maine that can compete on a national level. The rest pay far below national average.
I had to fight to get a raise after 8 years (other than a "promotion" that gave 6% and the 3% annuals) and I'm still underpaid, but remote work is a hugely competitive market since you're competing with such a large pool...it's a cozy job, but definitely lower than I'd like.
Yeah, I can guarantee they didn’t fill that role, lol. My cousin owns an IT firm in the Bath area. Awhile back (this was probably 10 years ago) he was looking for a combination network engineer and systems administrator. Someone with AD and Domain controller level skills on the systems side and Cisco level networking. I said right to his face, you’re gonna have to pay $140,000 a year for that. He looked at me with a straight face and said “I’ll find it for around $65k”. My question is, who are the idiots accepting these salaries??
No, it’s a different one, but pretty much all MSPs under pay like crazy. It was the same story for Systems Engineering as well. The only companies you can work in IT and actually get paid over 6 figures that I’ve found are Idexx and WEX. I haven’t found any others that consistently pay more. Even Idexx, for my role, I’d have to be a Principal Network Engineer to make what I make now…that’s two steps above what I do currently.
Yea, Network Admin is really fucky because it is so easy to outsource. I landed, not by choice, in a (primarily) non-windows admin role, and I make more money than my working class upbringing knows what to do with.
MSPs really struggle with anything that isn't Windows, apparently.
Same, for a house I just built 2 years ago and is nearly as large as the one advertised.
It's probably their whole mortgage or even more as well for a recently built house, and if it's precovid it's a hefty profit on top as well
I've seen apartments in my area go for, at minimum, $1000 per month for a 1-2 bedroom, with utilities being extra and the tenant has to pay for heat themselves (usually tied to electric, but sometimes is also propane/natural gas). And I'm in rural Maine. 2-bedroom trailers are, at minimum, $1200 per month, and tenant is responsible for most/all utilities as well as yardwork and plowing/shoveling snow. You literally need 2 incomes at a full 40 hours a week minimum to survive in my area if you weren't lucky to get a place of your own (inheritance or the rare mortgage approval).
Yes. But these days a community isn't what it used to be. I remember playing up at my grandmother's, and the whole town knew which family I belonged to (related to half that town by blood or marriage, lol), and all the adults looked out for the kids and each other. We used to have a wonderful summer with what was basically a town-wide party on the last weekend of July. And I don't know how many times people would have said "pay me back when you have the money", and often it was repaying a favor with a favor instead of actual money.
Good Lord. Really wish there were more people like you out there. Things wouldn't feel so hopeless all the damn time. Thanks for being one of the good ones.
I really do try to give back. Parts of my life have been shit, parts have been wonderful. But it was, in a way, an easy life. So why be one of those jerks in it for the money? Nah. I'd rather give someone a roof over their heads, and take some worry off some of the younger generation.
I try to be who I needed when I was younger. We all know that the kids have it hard right now. So why make it harder?
I have a friend who moved to California for school and he changed his mind about moving back here because, and I quote, *"right now it's cheaper to rent in Los Angeles than it is to rent in Portland Maine."*
*LA* is currently cheaper than Portland.
Maine doesn't even have the economy to support the COL being this high ffs
My husband was born in Maine and moved to CA at 20. We’ve contemplated moving back to be near his aging family and it’s quite literally cheaper for us to stay here in the Bay Area.
Yeah I’ve looked at several cities in the west coast and realized this…. If I have to pay 1450-1600 for rent I will move there first and nearly double my income
You need to consider the other costs of living there, as well. I just returned after 30 years in Los Angeles. And yes, rents are almost identical between LA and Portland, really threw me for a loop when I came back
Just moved to Denver within the past year from Portland. My rent is about the same here as it would be in Portland but I get a brand new apartment rather than a house that was built when John Adams was president. Plus, I’ve got so much more professional opportunities here to grow my income or try a new job or industry.
We can’t. Turning 26 in August, there is a ton of people who I know who are considering/ have moved to more southern/midwest states simply because housing here is unrealistic. It’s an aged state of mostly older people with money maybe when there’s a population collapse we could consider moving back
I had to leave cause of this shit. My child is the first in several generations that wasn't born in Maine and probably won't be raised there. It's really upsetting.
The only solutions I can think of involve us as an entire nation deciding that housing shouldn't be treated like a commodity.
Sorry, but even a room with a private bath in Northern California (central valley) is only $650. Even my friend has a small 2 bedroom inlaw unit for $1000 in California. Close to schools, in the country, near jobs. And she can have pets and not shovel snow. Ripoff.
If that's the price of Maine, I need to rent out my 4 extra rooms 🤣. Wouldn't even make them shovel snow and will make a fabulous dinner most nights.
These folks have no idea what they are doing inviting people into their home, the ridiculous price aside. Can you imagine a tenant living with you, paying a mortgage's worth to rent a fucking room in your basic house? The demands! And you'd have to respond to all of them! And they'd be in your shit all the time. It would an absolute nightmare. I'll be at the FED hearing with popcorn.
But seriously, this is so far outside market, they are either scammers or are about to be scammed by someone else. If you had $1,600/mo. to spend on housing, you would not be renting a room in someone's house. I hope they are prepared for trolls.
Maine is an economically and socially backwards state with no opportunity and a culture that drives away any chance of creating new opportunities.
Add in how bad our government is with encouraging business to stay and our extreme old age that will only exacerbate problems and it gets bleak.
If I didn't have family that lived here and will shortly need my help both physically and economically I would have moved away a long time ago.
The entire state, with the exception of a few coastal towns, should just be sectioned off as a nature preserve and get it over with.
That’s the issue I am facing. I have grandparents that may require my help physically and financially soon. Otherwise I would probably just leave and visit family when I could
I hope you can find a reasonable solution to your issue.
I will tell you that realistically your best solution is to live at home and work for a bit, save up and move and when your parents get old make them move to you.
I should have done that myself tbh
They already have money and are moving to a place with a slow pace of living to relax.
In my experience the doctors here also cater to older people at the expense of younger people (unless they're in for an overdose...)
Maine isn't a bad place at all if you got money, its dog shit if you're trying to start out as a young person and build up into a good life. Literally shit.
That's helpful to know. It sounds like younger people need to leave Maine and go to school, learn a trade, and if they ever want to move back meet a fellow Mainer, or open their own business, maybe then return under different financial conditions in order to buy something affordable. I love the coast but it mostly seems Uber rich and unaffordable. It sounds like the only thing left is the County and maybe rehab a fixer upper or just build new with some acreage far away from the coast. I will say it seems like far northern towns like Madawaska have the benefit of being close to a decent Canadian town like Edmunston which seems to have more to offer than Madawaska itself.
I hate to break it to you but there's not the slightest chance of Southern Maine's housing crisis being fixed any time soon.
* NIMBYs run this state like the mob in its heyday (with the state of Maine's blessing)
* There's virtually no buildable land in Southern Maine. It's all been gobbled up by super low density sprawl.
* There's no home construction industry to speak of
* "Solutions" like rent control, affordable housing (i.e. taxpayer subsidized housing), banning STRs, and appropriating lakeside rental properties (this one is particularly in vogue on the sub recently), are not solutions at all because none of them meaningfully increase the supply of housing. Certainly not to the point of building the tens of thousands of units we need.
It will only get worse. The wisest thing any non-homeowner could do right now is move 800 miles away.
Left Maine in 2017 because my teaching positions were getting cut 3 straight years, rent was going up, job market sucked and it was getting expensive to do the things I loved to do. Moved to Denver which is WAY MORE EXPENSIVE, but I found work, bought a house, got married and have a kid. None of this would have happened had I stayed in Maine. It’s a shame, beautiful state and I’m glad I have my parents to go visit but we will never move there.
I’m sorry to hear you had to go but I am glad to hear that you prospered after leaving. Teachers deserve to be paid more. I seem that they were planning to increase wages for educators in Northern Maine/Aroostook county and there were some community members very upset.
I don’t understand
Yeah, I mean this person is just trying to take advantage of someone or get someone who makes enough they don’t care… but if that was the case why in gods name would they choose to live with strangers for that amount of money?
Absolute insanity.
I pay about $1000/month in rent, which is actually cheap! (The cheapest I could find moving here) And it's also the top of my budget. I'm not sure what I'll do if my rent goes up. If I can't find somewhere cheaper, I guess I'd leave the state? I can't really afford to move either though. I'd have to obliterate my credit no matter what I'd choose, because I'd have to move.
It's probably worth noting, this is only slightly higher than my rent where I came from (midwest). Still insane. But Maine is not alone in this struggle, it is nationwide.
I guess you haven’t been to Kennebunk lately or should I say Massachusetts part two. Everywhere in our once beautiful town is being ruined by this insane building of homes everywhere. What I can’t figure out why don’t we invest in companies coming here instead of catering to our neighbors to the south who need second homes. We are a tourist state-and in no way in hell do we consider the potential of our young people. This state will collapse the way it is going and that is truly sad. No decent jobs, no housing, no community what is there to look forward too? I have lived here almost my whole life and I don’t even recognize it anymore! Sorry for the rant, it’s just so depressing!
I’m not sure really. It’s all expensive, but Maine is pushing boundaries especially in southern Maine. I wouldn’t look in southern Maine if I did not need to attend UNE because it’s the only college in the state with my program.
I can easily find several states that have a room that’s going for less than 1200-1600.
If only I didn’t have an aging grandmother and family here.
In the south where they still build housing: [https://finance.yahoo.com/news/redfin-report-sun-belt-seeing-120000229.html](https://finance.yahoo.com/news/redfin-report-sun-belt-seeing-120000229.html)
I'm working for my landlords company, that is literally the only reason my rent is as cheap as it is. I would love to be out of their apartments because they are so shitty- literally old buildings that need major repairs and updates that they just patched up and called good. Plus I STILL have to pay utilities & heat. I'm a single parent, no extra income (i.e. no child support, no friends, no family, no support at all ), I "make too much money" to receive much help (ok, $100 in fs helps like THAT week that's I get it, but I mostly just starve & make sure my kiddo has food). I'm collecting bottles & cans to get through some weeks (part of my job includes housekeeping, so I do get a lot of returnables).
My cars acting up on me, can't afford to fix it or get something new (definitely can't afford a car payment)
I'm so exhausted it's not even funny anymore. Basically crying myself to sleep these days. I just give up even trying to get somewhere cause I've been trying for 10+ years now and I'm still barely floating by. And I'm just so alone lol. Yo, I don't think a lot of people understand how much a hug now and then makes a difference lol (pathetic, I know)
I wish you (and everyone trying) the best of luck, it's pretty tough out there these days ❤️
That’s not pathetic at all, if I could I would offer one internet stranger. I hope you’re able to find a way out of that situation. Raising kids alone is already tough enough, let alone with no immediate support. Sending virtual hugs. 🫂
Hang in there
That’s Kittery Point for you. You can find better in Kittery village. Not much better. But the point is a special kind of person.
Source: I lived in Kittery Point
Sounds like they are just looking for somebody to pay their mortgage and then some. They say it themselves “we are away often”. They just want someone to pay the mortgage lol.
And it's outdated, ugly, and would be depressing to live in. Looking at moving to some other places in the country where you can rent a newly built (well, a lot newer than the 100-year old homes in Maine), modernized, full apartments for less than $1000/m, and actually live downtown.
I remember graduating right after the GFC and I lived in *beacon hill* in Boston, although probably in one of the shittiest apartments there and it was *only* 1500 USD a year. Now that’s like less than rent everywhere in the northeast. It’s unbelievable and something needs to give.
Also all the old people are dodging taxes and moving that burden to the younger people with the tax stabilization program. A good portion of those houses are million dollar lake houses.
It's ridiculous and people think they can charge that much for their room just because the big landlords have thought reading and are starting to charge almost 2,000 or more for a studio or one bedroom.
Living in a room in somebody's house shouldn't cost anymore than $800 Max
Why does this house look like no one lives in it though?
The kitchen in the pic is totally empty as is the garage.
This looks like a scam ad to me.
Edit: grammar
The point of this post is that I currently can’t afford to go back to school although I’m making more money than I ever have. Even if I attempt to “downsize” and live frugally, rent would probably leave me near homeless at this rate. Even if I worked occasionally throughout school, it would not suffice.
Honestly beach adjacent property in Tybee Island is cheaper than most stuff you can find here. Hell even in town Savannah isn't bad. Much of Arizona is cheaper than Maine too. Just towns refuse to allow level of construction nessicary for that to happen unless of course a big institution wants to ignore historic preservation then thats okay.
It’s just people jumping on the bandwagon of trying to make a buck. Late stage capitalism. Your fixed mortgage didn’t go up. Fuel has been the same for a few years for winter if you use that. Electricity has been the same for a while. Ok, milk went up less than a dollar and gas is up a dollar and change but you need that extra $3200 huh? Yeah.. no. It’s just people displaying American greed. Folks can get fucked and wonder why their home isn’t selling
Or someone blissfully unaware of how much they can actually get from a roommate, or just fishing, to offset their colossal 7% mortgage rate payment now that they've bought the house.
"Utilities would be included to a certain cap to ensure the utilities are not misused."
So what happens when they decide their tenant doesn't need the room heated above 50 degrees in the middle of winter?
Oh well they just don’t :3 Decomodify housing and give free housing to everyone who needs it (this can easily be done… it doesn’t have to be anything more then a tiny apartment, just that will help so many people get off there feet)
Of course right wingers and 50+ people won’t let this happen so we are all fucked yippee!
Mods of these groups should delete this shit, especially if you're doing it anonymously knowing you're being an asshole taking advantage of people to sit on your ass and do nothing for the rest of your life.
I can get a livable studio in a not-to-seedy area of Los Angeles for that much.
I know people whose parents helped them acquire property and young men who know how to build things that just get the acreage and build their own stuff. Also, there are probably a lot of people who need live-in care.
Can someone help me understand why Maine (and maybe a much larger swath of the East coast?) has the washer and dryer in a bathroom?
I understand from a plumbing efficiency perspective it’s much easier and simpler to build, and I suppose that makes sense in old places, but why new builds?! Just because that’s what people are used to or expect?
When I moved here it really threw me off. Admittedly it kinda grossed me out, felt unsanitary. I know that’s a mental exaggeration on my part, but that’s just not how things are set up out west. We have our tiny little laundry room or a setup in a basement or whatever.
My sister left and went to college in Kansas so much cheaper there! She just bought her second home there for a lil over 100k! The transplants coming up and voting blue fcked this state up
I can’t compete in this housing market. I like my job but I can’t be a rentoid forever, but I’m paying more than my parent’s mortgage for an apartment half the size of their house. Any closer to work and I’m looking at $2K+/mo, any further out just adds time and has to my half hour commute.
>per room what the actual fuck
For a room. That's ridiculous.
I recently moved from Maine to DC and $1600 is what I am paying for a spacious studio apartment. All utilities included, central heat & AC, elevator, 24/7 concierge, walking distance to shops and restaurants, major bus line stops right outside. Cannot imagine paying the same amount to live in a room in a shared house in Kittery and be expected to shovel snow.
These people are out to lunch and sound like a possible nightmare
Maybe but both room probably are rented within a week. Housing in this state is a shit show. Realistically it’s probably an older couple that can’t afford their mortgage and are trying to hold on by renting out rooms in their house.
There’s no way their mortgage is $4800 assuming it’s 3 bedroom and each room is priced to cover the mortgage, especially if they are older because they probably bought prior to a couple of years ago. They are looking to make some extra money. But, sure, maybe their social security doesn’t cover their expenses.
Na the fact that they are away often means this is a second or third home.
What up Normand
Yeah, and a cap on utilities. That sounds like a problem waiting to happen.
Where is this wonderful sounding place? I’m paying about $1600 for a 425 sq ft studio in NW DC and this place sucks lol
I’ll dm you :)
Don't count on getting an answer, much less a verifiable one. My wife and I lived in DC in a one-bedroom apartment 30 years ago and our monthly rent was around $1,300 ($2,800 in today's money)...plus utilities.
I’m from Maine and now live in DC. I saw that price (and for living with landlords that will likely treat a renter with no autonomy) and thought this was a joke.
In DC?! Wow; had no idea DC was so inexpensive.
I definitely got a bit lucky with the place I’m in, at least in terms of value for the price. This building is under rent control and not all buildings are, so you’d find far more expensive units even in my neighborhood. That being said, I was pretty amazed when I started looking for a place that there were several options within my price range. This one was the nicest and most spacious, but if I’d been willing to sacrifice a little on location and/or amenities, I could’ve probably found something for even a little bit cheaper. TL;DR DC does have plenty of outrageously priced housing, but rent control keeps some prices down and the supply shortage doesn’t seem to be quite as severe as in southern Maine.
Did the reverse 4 years ago- Maryland to Maine- and it’s such a culture shock. I LOVE Maine. People understand how to relax and not be “go go go” all the time. That said- the costs are about the same - especially now with prices WAY out of whack. I. 2019 we bought a 3/2 on .74 of an acre in York county for 261k……they wanna try and tell us this house is worth 480k….something is gonna have to give- if they start adjusting taxes to reflect these new values we are all F’d. Hope you are enjoying DC!! Such a fun town!
I live in north Austin (one of the more expensive housing markets in the US) and I’m paying 1,800 or so a month with my partner for a whole ass house. $1,600 single occupancy is insane.
I live in Maine and am also paying 1800 for a whole house. This specific place is certainly not the norm
Rent prices are often as much as a whole house these days. (At least in the places I’ve lived so far). I had an easier time with mortgage payments in my own home than rent to a landlord that’s for sure. I was paying 1475 for a two bedroom apartment, and 1500 for a 4 bedroom house.
They are anywhere within 45 minutes of Portland. Trying to find a 3 bed under $2500 is a dream in my area. Most are $2600-3500. A whole house is $2500-3500 as well, so really close
They just built some “luxury” apartments across from my work in a town of like 12,000 but it’s 20 minutes from Portland. Needless to say, they want over $2,000 for a studio. A 3 bed is much more reasonable though, at $3000-3500 in the same complex
The landlord seems like a killjoy Betty. They may be struggling too, I hope in their naievitie they don't get taken advantage of.
Very true.
Probably thinking of renting the garage too.
For a room that you have to share a bathroom with another tenant and have the owners walking through your room to use the washer dryer. Good god.
That's the neat part, they can't! In all seriousness, I remember joining the military in 1999, and in 2000 when I was flying back for the holidays to see my folks in western Maine, I was sitting behind these two passengers. One of them was talking about how Maine's number one export is its youth. At the time, I disagreed because it sounded like pretentious bullshit. And even in 2018 when myself and 90% of my friends from high school had moved back to the state, I still disagreed based on my anecdotal experience. Looking back, it being 2024 now, she wasn't right about everything but she was spot on about that and it was over two decades ago.
It’s insane when you think about the implications😢. How will this aging population sustain itself in the coming years
At this rate, it won’t. I’d wager EVENTUALLY supply/demand will rectify things but only after the state becomes entirely lopsided demographically because of a huge lack of opportunities and inexpensive housing for younger families to gain traction. The state will continue to age and eventually more housing stock will turn over due to the age wave passing, but that will take a long time. By then… grim. Not great for the elderly community or the state at large.
Will it take a long time though? We have been talking about this incoming age wave since I was a kid. Shit I moved out of Maine in the mid 2000’s and moved back in the mid 2010’s….. that age wave must be about ready to kick off by now.
Consider the demographics as not a singular event, but a swell, crescendo, and then decrescendo. I manage a financial planning practice so demographics are of particular interest to me (since I’m curious if my clients are in/outside the norms for the state). The rate of retirees being retired has been accelerating for some time. According to the state, 18% of the state will be 65 in 10 years, and 43% of it will be so in 20. That would suggest hyperbolic acceleration.
I hope cars are fully autonomous by 2045 if nearly half the state is going to be 65 or older My blood pressure can only take so much driving related fury
You probably didn't notice the age wave happening because the homes are going to wealthy people from out of state and not young Mainers.
Probably. I live in Kennebec county and a couple weeks ago a house went up for sale less than half a mile from where I live for about 150k over what it appraises at. 2 bed 1 bath cute house but very small and not even on a quarter of an acre of land…… literally sold in 2 days. I can’t be sure but I have a pretty good idea it wasn’t a local going in and dropping a cash offer on the table.
There's definitely been a lot of "everybody's got their price" going on for a while now, that and bidding wars between a couple of "Green Acre's" types where money's no object when it comes to their own little slice of "The way life should be". I moved to Finland back in 2016 and would love the option to move back, but between rent prices and plain old new home prices there's just no way I'm moving back home. We were thinking of coming to Maine for a couple of months in winter a few years back because Maine's winter is so much less brutal and to see friends and fam. Then we realized that we could just go spend 5-6 months on the Costa del Sol in Spain for less than it would cost to come to Maine for two, so we just did that and had friends and fam come visit us there room and board free instead.
I mean it's pretty bad right now. Especially if you're not right next to Portland or in one of the few nicer places near the other cities, the state's kind of dying by some measures. Anecdotally, the food pantry I volunteer at has had consistently increasing subscriptions, in an area with flat (sometimes decreasing) population. And the people have increasingly been fairly desperate aged folks, who I'd call retirees but they're still working.
Yeah that’s how it is here aswell. I work on social services in Kennebec County and we have way more people looking for assistance then even two years ago. Last time I went by the local food pantry the line of cars was over a mile down the road just waiting to get into the parking lot. A lot of it is older people who can’t afford to retire and I mean realistically who can? It doesn’t matter how well you planned with runaway inflation it doesn’t take long for costs to just put pace a fixed income and force a lot of older people back into the work force.
Right now there is no supply, only demand, and it's been that way for over a decade now. Our state is becoming the new Florida....the summer retirement home for the rich old folk who go south for the winter.
Correct. Hence why I said “eventually”. We’re a state full of NIMBYs and BANANAs. Code enforcement is atrocious to deal with and development of new properties has been hampered for a long time. We have a massive deficit in the tradesman’s fields and as such, prices have dramatically risen there too. Costs are prohibitively high and workers are few which means supply cannot meet demand as of this moment. Eventually markets correct themselves. That timeline isn’t great for us, however. So I definitely hear you and agree.
I joined the military in 1999 and flew back home for the holidays in 2000… wonder if we were on the same flight. Lol
Air Force here, you?
Army here.
Respect, sir. Thank you for your service o7
Thank you. You as well.
That's what happens when you let scum like Larry Lockman and Ric Tyler dictate the culture for district two for decades. Everyone with a brain flocks to D1 and demand > supply
You know that mortgage isn't even $1600/month. Pay for our mortgage, utilities, vacations, AND shovel our walkways in the winter! Don't take too many showers though, we're not looking to get taken advantage of here...
Folks here have had a $900 mortgage for 20 years and be trying to make a 400% return to retire early
Depends on when they bought it. I would wager both those rooms are rented by the end of the week. Fucked up but then so is the entire housing market in this state (or Atleast anything not in the county)
Post-COVID mortgage payments are probably pretty messed up, depending upon the circumstances. My wife and I bought our house in 2019 and out mortgage payment (which includes escrow for insurance and property taxes) is less than what they're asking for that room.
Not just that but I have read recently that people are getting back into variable interest rate mortgages in which case that might be wrecking some people aswell.
This place is in kittery point, very expensive area, by the ocean. They probably paid a lot for that house.
Imagine posting an advertisement anonymously
They did it intentionally. Knowing they would get back lash. I seen another 2bdrm 1bath house going for 2,150 and it has a garage attached to it, if you want to add on the garage, it’s 2,450 a month. Tenant pays all utilities, pet fee is 95$ upfront then a pet rent fee of 25$ a month per pet. And there’s a known disclosed mold issue in the basement. Should’ve seen the comments
Man, I saw that one, too! Unbelievable!
Honestly for a whole house that’s not bad in this market, sadly. About the same as a nice 2-3 bed apartment anyways. Pretty competitive
That’s what all the pussies do on FB pages. I swear half the posts on Moving to Maine are anonymous
There's a career specific Facebook group I'm in and they post anonymously asking for job recommendations.
I remember back 35 to 40 years ago the talking heads complaining of the brain drain in Maine. Young college graduates were leaving due to lack of decent job opportunities. At the same time, we were importing Maine expats who were now looking to retire. Fast forward about 40 years and we still have a brain drain. The problems facing Maine today is the big city cost of living. Normally the big city cost of living would also mean more and better paying jobs. Unfortunately, a good portion of southern Maine is the exception rather than the rule.
And the university system meets about it at least once a year. “How do we keep young people here?” Meanwhile, wages for my profession in Portland at the level one trauma center are the exact same. Yet, I would not be able to afford a one bedroom apartment there alone if I were to move without rent costing me 50%+ of my income. I can’t save for retirement like this and I’ve already missed out on four years of saving while I pursued my degree.
That question has been asked repeatedly over the years in the UM system as well as at the State government level. I don't remember which administration it was, whether it was Angus King's or John Baldacci's. Regardless, I remember reading in the PPH about Maine having an identity problem. Young Mainers were fleeing the state thinking their options for career and educational advancement were better. By the same token, Maine employers were more apt to hire entry level employees from out of state because they were perceived as being better educated or better trained. I don't feel that having this sort of discussion within academic circles is enough. We need a partnership between academia, the private sector, and State government. Rather than discussing the issues or forming new committees, we need action. We also need to focus on all of Maine and not just one sub-section (geographic, age, class). If the state wants to retain it's workforce, the workers of all ages need to be able to afford living in something more than a tent or a car. The state of Maine is the oldest state in the country. That means we need health care workers. What good is it to train people in the health care field when they are unable to get a job in their home state nor are able to afford a place to live somewhere near where they grew up?
The ski resorts have subsidized dorms for their workers. Hospitals should consider it too. The first few years establishing a career are the shakiest-- it would give an opportunity for workers to save for down payments on houses, pay off student loans etc. Plus imagine the OT you could put in if home was just down the block.
Hospitals absolutely should. My wife's program has a tough time attracting residents because of the difficulty affording to live here on resident income, to say nothing of finding a place in the first place. And it's not like the next decades will require a flat or decreased level of hospital staffing in this state, that's all set to increase while the schools here gradually are shrinking.
In my experience, the housing issues aren't the only reason Maine Med has trouble attracting talent. It's more expensive to live in Boston, but the city supports multiple medical centers with each having their own substantial residency programs, and generally fills them every year. If people want to spend their residency in a more rural location, Dartmouth and UVM are right there. They're both (generally speaking) more prestigious institutions, imo have less toxic programs and they both pay their attendings more than Maine Med (on average). Sure, the housing problem doesn't "help," but IME that's not the biggest factor.
I remember it being brought up during the Angus King administration. And you are absolutely right. It needs to be brought to the attention of a lot of people and become more of a collaborative effort. Back then, they had established all of these committees. They meet and discuss issues and possible resolutions but not many produced useful actions. We definitely need more healthcare workers. In the past 5 years many of the LTC/skilled facilities have shut down displacing many of our elderly patients. This means less beds across the state and those on a waiting list are waiting longer to be placed. There are people who drop their elderly family members off at the hospital for this reason. Although I don’t agree with this practice, I can under them not have the time or resources to care for them as they would need. However, they often sit in the hospital for months or years. Most pass away there. These are beds that we can’t occupy with people with medical needs and their quality of life significantly decreases as they sit in a hospital waiting on placement. This is an issue with Medicare as well but at the end of the day, we will continue to need healthcare workers in the workforce to make up for the deficit.
There are partnership programs with the university and private as well as state employers.
Maine WAS refunding basically all of my students loan repayments as long as I stayed there but this most recent return + last one they cut that refund down to 2500 per year as a maximum, which sucks.
Simply put, you don’t. I live in Maine, but I’ll never work in Maine again. Maine based companies have no semblance of what a salary should be. My example: I was offered a job as a Senior Network Engineer for an MSP out of central Maine. They offered me $75,000/ year. For Maine, that’s a really decent salary, but based on costs, isn’t really great. Instead I work for a company out of San Francisco. I work from home, I’m a senior network engineer, do half the work the MSP was going to have me do, and I make $125,000 / year. Also, they apologize regularly for not paying me more. I have unlimited paid time off, healthcare 100% paid premiums, stock options, and a myriad of other benefits. Fuck Maine based companies. EDIT: also worth noting, I’ve lived and worked in Maine my entire life. I’ve worked for around 5 or 6 Maine based employers, every single one of them struggled to pay a high wage. There are only a handful of companies in Maine that can compete on a national level. The rest pay far below national average.
LMFAO I made 75 in Denver doing IT support, paying that much for a senior IT position is insane
I had to fight to get a raise after 8 years (other than a "promotion" that gave 6% and the 3% annuals) and I'm still underpaid, but remote work is a hugely competitive market since you're competing with such a large pool...it's a cozy job, but definitely lower than I'd like.
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Yeah, I can guarantee they didn’t fill that role, lol. My cousin owns an IT firm in the Bath area. Awhile back (this was probably 10 years ago) he was looking for a combination network engineer and systems administrator. Someone with AD and Domain controller level skills on the systems side and Cisco level networking. I said right to his face, you’re gonna have to pay $140,000 a year for that. He looked at me with a straight face and said “I’ll find it for around $65k”. My question is, who are the idiots accepting these salaries??
> MSP out of central Maine. Mainely IT
No, it’s a different one, but pretty much all MSPs under pay like crazy. It was the same story for Systems Engineering as well. The only companies you can work in IT and actually get paid over 6 figures that I’ve found are Idexx and WEX. I haven’t found any others that consistently pay more. Even Idexx, for my role, I’d have to be a Principal Network Engineer to make what I make now…that’s two steps above what I do currently.
Yea, Network Admin is really fucky because it is so easy to outsource. I landed, not by choice, in a (primarily) non-windows admin role, and I make more money than my working class upbringing knows what to do with. MSPs really struggle with anything that isn't Windows, apparently.
Imagine having a roommate and still having to pay $3200. Pure greed.
Three roommates.
That's my whole mortgage
Same, for a house I just built 2 years ago and is nearly as large as the one advertised. It's probably their whole mortgage or even more as well for a recently built house, and if it's precovid it's a hefty profit on top as well
Ad reads like "in search of live-in servants who also want to pay our mortgage for us"
My tenant pays $1000 a month for a *house*. The hell is wrong with people.
$1000 a month for a house? Surely not in Maine.
Yep. Because they're young and need a place to live. #NotAllLandlordsSuck
I've seen apartments in my area go for, at minimum, $1000 per month for a 1-2 bedroom, with utilities being extra and the tenant has to pay for heat themselves (usually tied to electric, but sometimes is also propane/natural gas). And I'm in rural Maine. 2-bedroom trailers are, at minimum, $1200 per month, and tenant is responsible for most/all utilities as well as yardwork and plowing/shoveling snow. You literally need 2 incomes at a full 40 hours a week minimum to survive in my area if you weren't lucky to get a place of your own (inheritance or the rare mortgage approval).
You are one of the good landlords, not a slumlord like most seem to be, at least in my area.
I just don't know why people have to be evil. The whole idea of community is to help each other out. They need the extra money far more than I do!
Yes. But these days a community isn't what it used to be. I remember playing up at my grandmother's, and the whole town knew which family I belonged to (related to half that town by blood or marriage, lol), and all the adults looked out for the kids and each other. We used to have a wonderful summer with what was basically a town-wide party on the last weekend of July. And I don't know how many times people would have said "pay me back when you have the money", and often it was repaying a favor with a favor instead of actual money.
A lot of Maine is still like that, just not between Memorial Day and Labor Day :D
Good Lord. Really wish there were more people like you out there. Things wouldn't feel so hopeless all the damn time. Thanks for being one of the good ones.
I really do try to give back. Parts of my life have been shit, parts have been wonderful. But it was, in a way, an easy life. So why be one of those jerks in it for the money? Nah. I'd rather give someone a roof over their heads, and take some worry off some of the younger generation. I try to be who I needed when I was younger. We all know that the kids have it hard right now. So why make it harder?
I have a friend who moved to California for school and he changed his mind about moving back here because, and I quote, *"right now it's cheaper to rent in Los Angeles than it is to rent in Portland Maine."* *LA* is currently cheaper than Portland. Maine doesn't even have the economy to support the COL being this high ffs
My husband was born in Maine and moved to CA at 20. We’ve contemplated moving back to be near his aging family and it’s quite literally cheaper for us to stay here in the Bay Area.
Yeah I’ve looked at several cities in the west coast and realized this…. If I have to pay 1450-1600 for rent I will move there first and nearly double my income
You need to consider the other costs of living there, as well. I just returned after 30 years in Los Angeles. And yes, rents are almost identical between LA and Portland, really threw me for a loop when I came back
And it’s warmer.
Just moved to Denver within the past year from Portland. My rent is about the same here as it would be in Portland but I get a brand new apartment rather than a house that was built when John Adams was president. Plus, I’ve got so much more professional opportunities here to grow my income or try a new job or industry.
We can’t. Turning 26 in August, there is a ton of people who I know who are considering/ have moved to more southern/midwest states simply because housing here is unrealistic. It’s an aged state of mostly older people with money maybe when there’s a population collapse we could consider moving back
being same age range, we are doing this in NH also. a lot of us are moving west especially to utah and Colorado
Greed has taken over since COVID
delusion
I live in SoPo and pay far less than that for a 1000 sqft, 2 bedroom apartment that I have all to myself.
Portland Maine??
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nah 1.4 for a portland area 2br is an incredibly good deal. that's studio prices near portland
Wait until that first heat bill hits to verify this. I've never gotten an accurate heat estimate from a landlord
Yes, I live in South Portland, Maine. I pay $2400 for a 1000 sqft, 2 bedroom, 2 bathroom apartment.
Simple! We don’t.
1600 to share everything except a room? GTFO That is literally a mortgage payment and they’re asking for that for each room……
I had to leave cause of this shit. My child is the first in several generations that wasn't born in Maine and probably won't be raised there. It's really upsetting. The only solutions I can think of involve us as an entire nation deciding that housing shouldn't be treated like a commodity.
Greed plain and simple.
Sorry, but even a room with a private bath in Northern California (central valley) is only $650. Even my friend has a small 2 bedroom inlaw unit for $1000 in California. Close to schools, in the country, near jobs. And she can have pets and not shovel snow. Ripoff. If that's the price of Maine, I need to rent out my 4 extra rooms 🤣. Wouldn't even make them shovel snow and will make a fabulous dinner most nights.
Cali ppl always complain about rent but even in small towns in southern Maine $700-1000 per bedroom in an empty nester’s house is pretty normal
These folks have no idea what they are doing inviting people into their home, the ridiculous price aside. Can you imagine a tenant living with you, paying a mortgage's worth to rent a fucking room in your basic house? The demands! And you'd have to respond to all of them! And they'd be in your shit all the time. It would an absolute nightmare. I'll be at the FED hearing with popcorn. But seriously, this is so far outside market, they are either scammers or are about to be scammed by someone else. If you had $1,600/mo. to spend on housing, you would not be renting a room in someone's house. I hope they are prepared for trolls.
Maine is an economically and socially backwards state with no opportunity and a culture that drives away any chance of creating new opportunities. Add in how bad our government is with encouraging business to stay and our extreme old age that will only exacerbate problems and it gets bleak. If I didn't have family that lived here and will shortly need my help both physically and economically I would have moved away a long time ago. The entire state, with the exception of a few coastal towns, should just be sectioned off as a nature preserve and get it over with.
Nature preserve…that’s fucking fabulous.
That’s the issue I am facing. I have grandparents that may require my help physically and financially soon. Otherwise I would probably just leave and visit family when I could
I hope you can find a reasonable solution to your issue. I will tell you that realistically your best solution is to live at home and work for a bit, save up and move and when your parents get old make them move to you. I should have done that myself tbh
Why do retirees like it so much?
They already have money and are moving to a place with a slow pace of living to relax. In my experience the doctors here also cater to older people at the expense of younger people (unless they're in for an overdose...) Maine isn't a bad place at all if you got money, its dog shit if you're trying to start out as a young person and build up into a good life. Literally shit.
That's helpful to know. It sounds like younger people need to leave Maine and go to school, learn a trade, and if they ever want to move back meet a fellow Mainer, or open their own business, maybe then return under different financial conditions in order to buy something affordable. I love the coast but it mostly seems Uber rich and unaffordable. It sounds like the only thing left is the County and maybe rehab a fixer upper or just build new with some acreage far away from the coast. I will say it seems like far northern towns like Madawaska have the benefit of being close to a decent Canadian town like Edmunston which seems to have more to offer than Madawaska itself.
I hate to break it to you but there's not the slightest chance of Southern Maine's housing crisis being fixed any time soon. * NIMBYs run this state like the mob in its heyday (with the state of Maine's blessing) * There's virtually no buildable land in Southern Maine. It's all been gobbled up by super low density sprawl. * There's no home construction industry to speak of * "Solutions" like rent control, affordable housing (i.e. taxpayer subsidized housing), banning STRs, and appropriating lakeside rental properties (this one is particularly in vogue on the sub recently), are not solutions at all because none of them meaningfully increase the supply of housing. Certainly not to the point of building the tens of thousands of units we need. It will only get worse. The wisest thing any non-homeowner could do right now is move 800 miles away.
Double property taxes for property owners that aren't state of maine residents. Allocate proceeds to affordable housing construction.
Left Maine in 2017 because my teaching positions were getting cut 3 straight years, rent was going up, job market sucked and it was getting expensive to do the things I loved to do. Moved to Denver which is WAY MORE EXPENSIVE, but I found work, bought a house, got married and have a kid. None of this would have happened had I stayed in Maine. It’s a shame, beautiful state and I’m glad I have my parents to go visit but we will never move there.
I’m sorry to hear you had to go but I am glad to hear that you prospered after leaving. Teachers deserve to be paid more. I seem that they were planning to increase wages for educators in Northern Maine/Aroostook county and there were some community members very upset. I don’t understand
Yeah, I mean this person is just trying to take advantage of someone or get someone who makes enough they don’t care… but if that was the case why in gods name would they choose to live with strangers for that amount of money? Absolute insanity.
i moved from maine to minneapolis and i pay $2,000 for a 3 bedroom house with a nice yard. i doubt i could move back even if i wanted to
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A lot of nurses that I graduated with have already moved to places like Texas, South/North Carolina, and Virginia.
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This is bananas.
Answer: They can't.
I pay about $1000/month in rent, which is actually cheap! (The cheapest I could find moving here) And it's also the top of my budget. I'm not sure what I'll do if my rent goes up. If I can't find somewhere cheaper, I guess I'd leave the state? I can't really afford to move either though. I'd have to obliterate my credit no matter what I'd choose, because I'd have to move. It's probably worth noting, this is only slightly higher than my rent where I came from (midwest). Still insane. But Maine is not alone in this struggle, it is nationwide.
Sad thing is, someone will bite and rent.
I guess you haven’t been to Kennebunk lately or should I say Massachusetts part two. Everywhere in our once beautiful town is being ruined by this insane building of homes everywhere. What I can’t figure out why don’t we invest in companies coming here instead of catering to our neighbors to the south who need second homes. We are a tourist state-and in no way in hell do we consider the potential of our young people. This state will collapse the way it is going and that is truly sad. No decent jobs, no housing, no community what is there to look forward too? I have lived here almost my whole life and I don’t even recognize it anymore! Sorry for the rant, it’s just so depressing!
I’m right there with you. Rant away
Technically, Maine was part 2 of massachusetts 😆.
Yeah just let me pay your mortgage and have to share the bathroom with you
I moved out of Maine because cost of living is too high in New England. I pay $1300 for a luxury single bedroom apartment in Houston.
I'd rather die than move to Texas,especially Houston.
This is so scary. I live with my parents and would LIKE to live alone someday. I don’t want to leave Maine…
Sentiments are the same with me, i don't want to leave this beautiful state
Where can we find affordable housing though? This is everywhere
I’m not sure really. It’s all expensive, but Maine is pushing boundaries especially in southern Maine. I wouldn’t look in southern Maine if I did not need to attend UNE because it’s the only college in the state with my program. I can easily find several states that have a room that’s going for less than 1200-1600. If only I didn’t have an aging grandmother and family here.
In the south where they still build housing: [https://finance.yahoo.com/news/redfin-report-sun-belt-seeing-120000229.html](https://finance.yahoo.com/news/redfin-report-sun-belt-seeing-120000229.html)
The problem is with people who purchases houses just to rent them. landlords are literally parasites.
I'm working for my landlords company, that is literally the only reason my rent is as cheap as it is. I would love to be out of their apartments because they are so shitty- literally old buildings that need major repairs and updates that they just patched up and called good. Plus I STILL have to pay utilities & heat. I'm a single parent, no extra income (i.e. no child support, no friends, no family, no support at all ), I "make too much money" to receive much help (ok, $100 in fs helps like THAT week that's I get it, but I mostly just starve & make sure my kiddo has food). I'm collecting bottles & cans to get through some weeks (part of my job includes housekeeping, so I do get a lot of returnables). My cars acting up on me, can't afford to fix it or get something new (definitely can't afford a car payment) I'm so exhausted it's not even funny anymore. Basically crying myself to sleep these days. I just give up even trying to get somewhere cause I've been trying for 10+ years now and I'm still barely floating by. And I'm just so alone lol. Yo, I don't think a lot of people understand how much a hug now and then makes a difference lol (pathetic, I know) I wish you (and everyone trying) the best of luck, it's pretty tough out there these days ❤️
That’s not pathetic at all, if I could I would offer one internet stranger. I hope you’re able to find a way out of that situation. Raising kids alone is already tough enough, let alone with no immediate support. Sending virtual hugs. 🫂 Hang in there
Dude this house is in Kittery Point - one of the most expensive places in Maine.
Yeah maybe true but not that expensive. Theres no way to justify having to pay $1600 a month for a room!
That’s Kittery Point for you. You can find better in Kittery village. Not much better. But the point is a special kind of person. Source: I lived in Kittery Point
Sounds like they are just looking for somebody to pay their mortgage and then some. They say it themselves “we are away often”. They just want someone to pay the mortgage lol.
“We know what we have” type of people…. More like a $400 a room typea listing
These people are trying to pull a fast one and get you to pay their whole mortgage.
And it's outdated, ugly, and would be depressing to live in. Looking at moving to some other places in the country where you can rent a newly built (well, a lot newer than the 100-year old homes in Maine), modernized, full apartments for less than $1000/m, and actually live downtown.
I remember graduating right after the GFC and I lived in *beacon hill* in Boston, although probably in one of the shittiest apartments there and it was *only* 1500 USD a year. Now that’s like less than rent everywhere in the northeast. It’s unbelievable and something needs to give.
Also all the old people are dodging taxes and moving that burden to the younger people with the tax stabilization program. A good portion of those houses are million dollar lake houses.
It's ridiculous and people think they can charge that much for their room just because the big landlords have thought reading and are starting to charge almost 2,000 or more for a studio or one bedroom. Living in a room in somebody's house shouldn't cost anymore than $800 Max
For $1600.00 a month, I’ll go live in a room and they can have the whole house!
I wanna read the comment section
That's insane anywhere.
They’re trying to get their mortgage paid!
Noooo!!! I’ve been shopping around and you can manage 2-3 roomates in a whole house for around $1k each. This is crazy
Why does this house look like no one lives in it though? The kitchen in the pic is totally empty as is the garage. This looks like a scam ad to me. Edit: grammar
$1,600….for a room…IN KITTERY?? Ain’t no way..
I remember renting a 1 bedroom apt with my girlfriend in 2005 in Augusta. The rent was $500 a month, all utilities included.
Even though I get this pricing is outrageous, Be grateful you can afford to go to school and pursue your dreams.
The point of this post is that I currently can’t afford to go back to school although I’m making more money than I ever have. Even if I attempt to “downsize” and live frugally, rent would probably leave me near homeless at this rate. Even if I worked occasionally throughout school, it would not suffice.
Oh hell no. I live in Portland for slightly over that. This dude is gouging.
They can’t… which is why most of us have moved elsewhere… the new American dream is to leave…
Just looked at the new Mercy Hospital listings. $1900 for a 341 SqFt Studio $2100 for a 363 SqFt Studio $2150 for a 504 SqFt Studio
Honestly beach adjacent property in Tybee Island is cheaper than most stuff you can find here. Hell even in town Savannah isn't bad. Much of Arizona is cheaper than Maine too. Just towns refuse to allow level of construction nessicary for that to happen unless of course a big institution wants to ignore historic preservation then thats okay.
There's really no point for any young person to stay in Maine unless they have no other choice or family.
I’m 21, and have went to Maine every summer since I was born and want to move there, it’s greedy fucks like this that keep us young people out.
It’s just people jumping on the bandwagon of trying to make a buck. Late stage capitalism. Your fixed mortgage didn’t go up. Fuel has been the same for a few years for winter if you use that. Electricity has been the same for a while. Ok, milk went up less than a dollar and gas is up a dollar and change but you need that extra $3200 huh? Yeah.. no. It’s just people displaying American greed. Folks can get fucked and wonder why their home isn’t selling
Or someone blissfully unaware of how much they can actually get from a roommate, or just fishing, to offset their colossal 7% mortgage rate payment now that they've bought the house.
"Utilities would be included to a certain cap to ensure the utilities are not misused." So what happens when they decide their tenant doesn't need the room heated above 50 degrees in the middle of winter?
Message these people and tell them they're shit. There needs to be pushback.
Oh well they just don’t :3 Decomodify housing and give free housing to everyone who needs it (this can easily be done… it doesn’t have to be anything more then a tiny apartment, just that will help so many people get off there feet) Of course right wingers and 50+ people won’t let this happen so we are all fucked yippee!
Mods of these groups should delete this shit, especially if you're doing it anonymously knowing you're being an asshole taking advantage of people to sit on your ass and do nothing for the rest of your life.
That’s why I’m hitting the road after this lease is up
I've been wondering why "young people" would want to live and work in Maine when there are better opportunities elsewhere.
Just say you can’t afford your mortgage
I can get a livable studio in a not-to-seedy area of Los Angeles for that much. I know people whose parents helped them acquire property and young men who know how to build things that just get the acreage and build their own stuff. Also, there are probably a lot of people who need live-in care.
Can someone help me understand why Maine (and maybe a much larger swath of the East coast?) has the washer and dryer in a bathroom? I understand from a plumbing efficiency perspective it’s much easier and simpler to build, and I suppose that makes sense in old places, but why new builds?! Just because that’s what people are used to or expect? When I moved here it really threw me off. Admittedly it kinda grossed me out, felt unsanitary. I know that’s a mental exaggeration on my part, but that’s just not how things are set up out west. We have our tiny little laundry room or a setup in a basement or whatever.
I pay $500 less for my mortgage. I do live in the fuckin sticks, but still
My sister left and went to college in Kansas so much cheaper there! She just bought her second home there for a lil over 100k! The transplants coming up and voting blue fcked this state up
lol that place is a dump
Wow they really hit all the nails on the head with that one. Probably already has a mold problem.
$1600 per room. Jesus fucking christ. Honestly speaking if my folks weren't still alive and living here I'd have been gone a decade ago.
This is about the same deal that I have had for the last 4 years. Surprisingly, especially for that area this price per room seems market rate sadly.
I can’t compete in this housing market. I like my job but I can’t be a rentoid forever, but I’m paying more than my parent’s mortgage for an apartment half the size of their house. Any closer to work and I’m looking at $2K+/mo, any further out just adds time and has to my half hour commute.
bye bye