Getting space, away from people part of the Maine attraction. Less people can remove many problems, cure a lot of ills.
Maine is a state that is vast, sparsely population except for a handful of city population centers. Long before COVID19 entered your life, Maine was a favorite retreat and why “Vacationland” is stamped on the bottom of all our vehicle license plates. The fun is slow cooked, home grown and involves the entire Maine small town community.
Lots of Maine land, cheaply priced and no neighbors please.
That request heard a from many. Part of it is I want space and elbow room around me that sadly has been missing for way too long. And no neighbors but great Internet connections. In the past, the folks heading to Maine lament most of their problems in life have involved other people. If they could just get away from living so tightly together, life would be grand. Set me up with a small piece of Maine land for starters. Used on vacations and then leading to more for many put in the wild blue yonder audience.
If the Maine land borders some water frontage or a big view all the better.
Tack on a view and now you’re talking Mister Man. Many ask about how it works, the seller involved Maine land owner financing . That causes the conversation to lead to soil testing Maine land. What about building permits in whatever small Maine town the land is located?
In my day job as a Maine REALTOR I meet lots of interesting people.
One fellow buying land in Hersey Maine a submariner from Holland. Who during the World War II he was part of the 26 submarine fleet flying the waterproof Dutch flag. Until the Germans took over and he and his boat crew, the entire naval fleet was told where to report to an English base for training and re-fueling measures. While his country’s government went into exile until after the war ended. My dad was a B-24 tail gunner at war high up in the air against the same enemy as Andy Spyker who found the battle underwater in a U-boat style vessel. Who grew up in Holland but in a round about way ended up in Northern Maine.
This Maine land buyer wanted a low population down, to stretch his budget with lots of acreage for little money.
He built a modest home and enjoyed peace and quiet and sharing it with no neighbors. He like a lot of others started out buying Maine land. Using it more and more as something is built on it and added to slowly and using their own two hands. Great satisfaction comes from those endeavors where you are actively involved with the A to Z process and guide the process to “have it your way”.
Another couple buying property in Maine flew their four cats in to Vacationland on board a private chartered jet.
The sleek silver twin engine bird set down at Houlton International Airport for the night. Released the cargo to my care until the owners could get here with the rest of their belonging. The couple did not want their cats to fly coach. This private jet flight that cost $15,000 to fly to Maine from the Northwest corner of the country was a drop in the bucket. The large country home with land bought in a town of 100 people six miles tall and six miles wide was purchased by selling so many shares of tech stocks.
When you live long enough in a rural area, you forget there is lots of money in other places.
Growing up in a small rural Maine town teaches you to be resourceful and develop your DIY skills. To remove money from the equation that you get used to not relying on to survive. To enjoy wherever you feel very fortunate to live in Maine. I met a lot of incredible local characters in the small Maine towns I list and sell in around Vacationland.
Many are related, some have a red addition, collect a certain brand of antique farm tractors.
Why they live in Maine.
Others relocated from high pressure jobs and tired of hobnobbing with the jet set. They decide had another stress, missed out on many things that the climb up the career ladder caused that they now regret. Making up for lost time is part of the move to Maine. To live and enjoy not race through life that we all know is too short. Or the plan all along was to move to the urban area, do your time and break free. Move back to Maine with a whole new perspective.
Now with COVID19 in the picture, working from home in the move to Maine means gotta have strong Internet broad band connection and speeds.
This work online remotely group of Maine real estate buyers will help stop the census numbers bleeding. The loss of folks that no longer find jobs so plentiful in the agriculture and timber industries and forced to leave Maine looking for employment. COVID19 will help stabilize the Maine population drain is the trend I am seeing in the real estate market numbers.
Listed and sold a Maine home recently to a buyer who met his wife in Argentina.
He was from Australia and the two relocated from Nashville Tennessee. Big World made smaller thanks to the Internet used to attract the couple to a small Maine town way of life. And because the same Internet allows the couple to bring their online remote jobs with them. Getting a safe, lower cost friendly way of living in small town Maine while enjoying a healthy income that stretches a lot further. So many lines on the people moving to Maine list of reasons.
To someone living here all their life, there is deep unshakeable gratitude for being here in Maine.
But comparing small town values and our way of life to somewhere not so friendly or healthy really shows a person the sharp contrast. People caring about each other, stepping up to volunteer for the greater good collectively. Not so commonplace in other parts. Just not happening where eye contact is avoids as you grip your wallet hard. Where life is cheap, not so valuable to someone with a knife or gun.
Places over populated and you are lost in a sea of faces in the shoulder to shoulder crowd.
Where you are always living with a little fear and a lot of caution to avoid putting yourself in a box canyon. That’s not living even if it is the norm in many places where 8 our of 10 people call a city home. Moving to Maine up the I-95 pike is happening and small nooks and crannies in Maine are being discovered on the hunt for space and safety and a better way of life.
COVID19 has just added more to like about Maine beyond the low numbers of folks contracting the virus.
Socially distant is easier when you are one of the lucky ones living in Maine. We lived social distance before it was cool. Were country before that lifestyle took off and they changed C&W music to the Americana label. The lake properties in Maine that were used as camps for out of state vacationers are being eyed for much more too. The owners already had a test run taste of what living in Maine on vacation was like. Now turning the camp into a full time lake home that has spurred the local economy as local carpenters, plumbers, electricians who are working around the clock.
Planes and cruise ships might be idle. But the local small town Maine community economies are booming.
The Internet connections around the Maine lakes and many communities are taxed to the max to capacity in the place dubbed Vacationland. More space but laced with Internet connections make rural Maine suddenly the belle of the ball attractive.
It’s like the smaller transport shuttle is being reworked to replace the bigger Star Ship Enterprise.
Rethinking what is the most important in life. Some hard life living decisions are being put into action. The less is more minimalist movement already started quite nicely before given the big nudge by the Coronovirus entered the picture. Getting away from people makes Maine a perfect fit for many. Technology, distance learning, working online remotely from Maine all made the transition to rural small towns easy if they are. Knowing where your food comes from and what it was or was not sprayed with before arriving. Another reason to grow your own, a better way to rock and roll is being discussed.
Folks already longed for the simpler way of life but working from home in a city helped train them turning the corner faster. To take the appropriate steps to warp to Maine and change everything up big time. Trading in big city lights, all the traffic and horrendous nightly crime news accounts that numb a person and desensitize. The Maine fresh air, clear water and all this wide open space is like someone freed a cage two legged animal. “Why did I wait so long?” is another question I hear muttered by many buying land, moving to Maine.
Getting away from people moving to Maine is part of it mask or not.
But then joining forces with the locals to become very involved in the community is a big part of the reverse exodus from city to rural living in Maine.