Retiring in Maine: not just for the Bushes
Though Maine is famous for the Rockefellers on Mount Desert Island, the Bushes in Kennebunkport, and other super-rich families summering and retiring along the Maine coast, there are good deals to be had for the more humbly appointed in New England’s most affordable state, according to MarketWatch.
The median home cost in Kennebunkport is $461,700 and the cost of living is 55.3% above the national average, but the state as a whole has a cost of living only 5.4% above the national average, according to the news service, which quoted figures from Sperling’s Best Places.
Maine has low rates of violent crime, and there are reports that new arrivals find the local people to be surprisingly friendly. “People have an image of Maine as being crusty or socially not welcoming, but it’s absolutely not like that,” Ned White, a semiretired freelance crossword puzzle constructor who moved to Rockland from Atlanta with his wife in 2012, told MarketWatch.
The news service noted that taxes in the state can be a downside, with income tax as high as 7.95% and high property taxes. Then there’s the weather, which unlike other retirement hot spots that have year-round comfortable weather, ranges from the 20s in winter to the 90s in summer. The article noted those factors help explain why some people don’t stay. In 2012, Maine ranked among the 10 states in which people moving out most widely outnumbered people moving in, the news service said in quoting statistics from United Van Lines’ annual study of U.S. moving patterns.
MarketWatch listed four cities to consider. Bangor, which it says offers a vibrant arts and culture community, an airport and a major hospital, has a median home cost is $127,400 and the cost of living is 2% higher than the national average, according to Sperling’s.
Bath has a centuries-old maritime legacy plus a compact and walkable town center with shops, restaurants and green space. The median home cost is $129,400 and the cost of living is 6.2% higher than the national average.
Ellsworth is less costly than southern Maine and was Maine’s fastest-growing municipality from 200 to 2010, expanding its population by 20% with many new retirees, the news service quoted Teri Sargent Smith, co-owner of Sargent Real Estate in Ellsworth, as saying. The median home cost is $154,500 and the cost of living is 9.7% higher than the U.S. average.
Finally, Rockland, which has seen a recent resurgence led by its artistic community. MarketWatch noted that National Geographic dubbed Rockland one of its Best 100 Adventure Towns, Budget Travel ranked it the No. 2 Coolest Small Town in the nation in 2009 and the National Trust for Historic Preservation named it one of America’s Dozen Distinctive Destinations in 2010. Its cost of living is much less than many other coastal Maine communities at 1.2% above the national average and the median home cost is $134,500, according to Sperling’s.
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