Relocation - Neighborhoods And Real Estate

As a boy growing up in Portland, the 19th-century poet Henry Wadsworth Longfellow fell in love with the city he called “a jewel by the sea” and returned frequently throughout his lifetime. Many visitors to Portland catch the same seaside fever that Longfellow did, returning time and again and sometimes even relocating here. This chapter gives you some basic tools to get you started on making Portland your own home-sweet-home. It describes the city’s neighborhoods, notes basic real estate market trends, and lists some of the best-known real estate agencies in the area. There is also information to help you settle in.

In the past decade or so, Portland has consistently ranked among the most livable small cities in the country. Education, safety, population diversity, and other quality-of-life issues rate well here year after year. For this reason, the city’s population continues to swell, with growing influences from Boston and New York City transplants. It’s no wonder, then, that the real estate market here is one of the hottest in the Northeast.

During the height of the hot housing market in 2004, Portland led the Northeast—a region that on its own had the largest median increase in the country—in home price increases. By 2009 the median price of a single-family home in Portland, despite the burst of the real estate bubble nationally, was still $269,900, well above the state median of just over $150,000 and the national median of about $170,000. The “jewel by the sea” is no longer the country’s best-kept secret. And it’s no wonder—living in Portland offers many appealing features: You’ll get all four seasons in crisp, clear distinction; you’ll have the culture and quirk of the downtown mixed with a deep sense of history and hometown pride; you can live in the quaint bustle of the city center or relax in one of its popular sleepy suburbs; you can even settle down on one of five islands in Casco Bay, known for their tight-knit, safe communities.

As you begin to regard Portland with an eye for commitment, be sure to check out this chapter’s brief rundown of the city’s neighborhoods, each of which has its own distinctive history and character. In the end, though, nothing can make up for careful research and a solid gut feeling. Welcome to Portland. Why don’t you put up your feet and stay awhile?