Moving to Bangor
We're done. We want to be able to buy a home in a safe area with good schools, and that will never be possible here. So we're joining the Bay Area Exodus and we'll be moving to Bangor, Maine. We're looking for suggestions specifically for Bangor and about a cross country move in general.
Bangor:
-How do I find something like BPN there? We've actually never been there before, so having some locals to connect with would be very helpful.
-Does anyone have a recommendation for a real estate agent/buyer's agent there? We've never owned before, but want to buy a home right away.
Cross-country move:
-What's the most cost-effective way (balanced with not being ridiculously labor intensive) to get all of our stuff to the opposite coast?
-Recommendations on shipping cars, including possibly a multiple car discount? We have 3 cars, plan to drive one, ship one, and not sure if we'll ship or sell the third.
Thank you!
Parent Replies
I live in the East Bay and am the part-owner of a summer home south of Bangor (which I will probably sell in the next year or two). Other than the bugs I like Bangor a lot...I simply wondered if you are picking it out of hat, so to speak, or if you have jobs lined up. I will find the name of our real estate agent and pass it along. Very sorry to hear you are not able to stay in the area.
I certainly understand the desire to have the things you mentioned and this is totally unsolicited advice, but I have seen another number of people move away from here and be very unhappy when they do. It concerns me that you have never been to Bangor, Maine. Maine is a very different place than California, so depending on where else you have lived, it might be a very rude awakening. Please find a way to make sure that that is the place for you before you buy a house. Best of luck.
I highly recommend that you visit Bangor before committing to move there. You don't say whether you know other parts of Maine well (apologies if you do). I worked in Augusta, Maine (the state capital, about 75 miles southwest of Bangor) about a decade ago and chose to live in Portland. Yes, it was a long commute, but it was worth it to me to have easy access to the food and culture of a more cosmopolitan town. Small town Maine can be .... dreary. Especially in the winter. You may love it, but know what you're signing up for.
My parents lived in Bangor before I was born. I went to college in Maine and my son was born there, south of Bangor. We moved away when he was four, in part because I didn’t want him starting school in Maine. Maine is beautiful. It’s a wonderful place to visit (it’s called Vacationland for a reason). However, it offers some challenges. I know you are leaving the Bay Area because it feels like you are priced out. However, heat in the long Maine winters is expensive. Winter clothes add up. Not to mention, Bangor is basically in the middle of nowhere! It’s very isolating and lacks diversity. I wanted my son to grow up with a more diverse community than Maine offered (we had one black neighbor whom everyone called black James and literally everyone else was white). Portland has grown into a wonderful city. But, it’s very far from Bangor. I don’t mean to discourage you - but your comment that you hadn’t been there before worried me. It’s beautiful, yes. And on paper seems wonderful, but the winters are long. I grew up in the Bay Area and while I do have some great friends still in Maine, I found the lack of diversity challenging. In the summer, if the sun was out, I would drop everything and go outside - winters are LONG (which also led to higher addiction rates). Definitely visit before making final decisions.
Wow, what an unexpected post. My family and I just moved from Berkeley to midcoast Maine (and are loving it so far! Even though it's still snowing!). I work in Augusta, about an hour south of Bangor.
We shipped our car through this company, after receiving several quotes: https://number1autotransport.com/. There were many cheaper quotes, but the reviews for those companies were mostly terrible (though for the record, even after going for a more reputable company, our car got stuck in New Mexico and arrived a full week late). You can request quotes through any auto shipping site, though prepare to be inundated with emails and calls if you give them your number. For moving, we did it all ourselves, but we weren't moving any furniture. We packed everything ourselves and shipped it through this company, which was less than half the price as UPS/FedEx/USPS (though USPS is still best for media mail!): https://app.lugless.com/pricing. Overall, we spent about a third of what we would have with a Pod, and exponentially less than hiring movers. It was a lot of work, but worth it for us. Good luck with the move. We love living in Maine -- unbeatable access to the outdoors, amazing restaurants (Portland was Bon Appetit's 2018 Restaurant of the Year), and truly affordable housing. Bangor housing especially is very cheap, though quite remote.