New England small town building lot (Portland, Bangor: new house, buy, subdivision)

[Paul David Walter]

Hello, I would like some info on where i can buy a small building lot to construct a modest 3 bedroom home for our retirement. I prefer a quaint small town we do not want any of the bigger cities.

Thank you

[Maine Writer]

Welcome to the Maine forum! What do you need to have nearby? Health care is iffy in a lot of Maine so you'll want to keep specific kinds of care you might need in mind. Inland or coastal? Will you want public transportation? What do you like to do for entertainment?

[Paul David Walter]

We dont need public transport and can travel for health care if necessary. Inland I suspect as a building lot would not be as exspensive.

[Submariner]

Originally Posted by Paul David Walter

Hello, I would like some info on where i can buy a small building lot to construct a modest 3 bedroom home for our retirement. I prefer a quaint small town we do not want any of the bigger cities.

Thank you

Welcome

You can buy undeveloped land anywhere to build a house on.

We found a large parcel of land with frontage on the Penobscot River, and we built our house there.

Originally Posted by Paul David Walter

We dont need public transport and can travel for health care if necessary. Inland I suspect as a building lot would not be as exspensive.

Inland is less expensive as compared to coastal.

Waterfrontage is more expensive than not.

Freshwater frontage is less expensive than ocean water frontage.

Maine has 986 townships.

432 have Organized themselves into incorporated towns for the purpose of hiring employees and raising taxes. They will have higher property tax mil-rates.

The majority of Maine [the other 554 Unorganized Townships] enjoy much lower taxes.

[Paul David Walter]

I was hoping for a lot in our near a township with water , power, gas etc.. W don't want acreage more low maintenance. We really liked our trip through New England and hope to find the right place to settle.

Thank you

[YorktownGal]

Originally Posted by Paul David Walter

I was hoping for a lot in our near a township with water , power, gas etc.. W don't want acreage more low maintenance. We really liked our trip through New England and hope to find the right place to settle.

Thank you

You can search Maine on City Data for discussions on well water. It seems to be a popular subject. There are few Maine towns with water: Owl's Head, parts of Boothbay Harbor, Bath, Brunswick, etc. Even if a town has city water, not every house is hooked up. I don't know if this is due to the costs of underground connection for a new house or if towns limit the amount of houses on a line.

Many houses have septic instead of sewer.

Many houses have propane or oil heat which is delivered by truck. I know many areas, like in NJ, have natural gas lines are underground. Natural gas is considerably cheaper than oil heat. Outside of costs and keeping track of oil deliveries, I haven't found a difference between the two.

[Paul David Walter]

OK, thank you, I think I may have misunderstood I don't know much of the smaller towns I guess I was hoping that a nice quaint place may have a subdivision of allotments with all services provided. A quarter acre or even less would be fine. If it means we need to sink a well and septic then so be it we just need to find the right place.

[Maine Writer]

Living on the outskirts of Bangor, Augusta or Portland would give you better chances of town power, water, and sewer. Lincoln is a nice small town north of Bangor that's growing but will never be a big city. Maine doesn't really have big cities.

[massnative71]

Depends on your budget and what you mean by "quaint". If you're looking for a true "bargain" with town amenities (as well as access to outdoors), you cannot beat Millinocket. The town has seen better days though, a little "weathered" and beaten down as many Maine towns are. Not what most tourists look for in a postcard, places like that are mostly along the coast where you will pay a huge premium for ready land.

[Paul David Walter]

Thank you every one for your input.

Paul