New2Maine.com

Finding information on transferring an out-of-state driver’s license was pretty trivial. However, for some reason, it seems to be near impossible to find out how to register an out-of-state vehicle. I’m fairly certain I’ll have to pay excise tax, and I’m okay with that, but all the registration materials I’ve found online talk about paying sales tax and/or having a specific form from a dealer stating that it was paid. I can certainly bring the paperwork I have from my dealer, but this can’t possibly apply to out-of-state sales when I didn’t even live in Maine yet, can it? It looks like a call to the Maine BMV is in order. I’ll post more here when I know the full story.

One of the places we found on our apartment hunt was a house on Peaks Island, about three miles out into Casco Bay. We realized early on that it was unlikely that an island accessible only via ferry would be a good year-round residence, but we decided to take a look at the island anyway. I’m glad we did. Peaks Island is a wonderful little community. The house was nice though not particularly practical for a whole year, but the island is great. We’re already trying to figure out a way to rent a place out there next summer.

We ran into a would-be landlord (the owner of the best apartment we saw last time up on Memorial Day) on the ferry, so he gave us the low-down on the restaurants on the island. There are only three, so it didn’t take very long. We selected the restaurant at the Inn on Peaks Island. I had the lobster and She selected the pork chops. The food was quite good, but the highlight was the beer from Shipyard Brewery, which was simply wonderful. I had the cask-conditioned Old Thumper and it was possibly one of the top two or three beers I’ve ever had. She generally doesn’t like some of the more flavorful beers, but thought this one was great. I will definitely look for this one again, and plan on visiting the brewery once we move up next month. I wonder if it’ll be as good from a bottle.

The rest of the island was mostly summer cottages as far as I could tell. There were a whole bunch of golf carts on the island, as it’s quite expensive to take your car on the ferry. There are a handful of store and an art gallery. There’s an American Legion post, a firehouse/police station/library, and a one room school house. We saw three churches, though there might be more. Two Maine regiments, the 5th and the 8th, are also out there, and the Civil War seems to be a popular topic. According to the 2000 Census, just under 900 people call Peaks their home year-round. About six times that many are there in the summer. If the idea of a quiet little island with friendly neighbors, a few good places to eat, and some great views of the Bay sounds attractive to you, check out Peaks Island. I know we’ll be back there again.

At last we have found success in our apartment hunt! We looked at about a half-dozen apartments last weekend and, in the end, the decision came down to two. The first was the apartment we liked from our Memorial Day visit and the second was one we’d seen on Craig’s List for a while, but only finally got around to calling last week. The deciding factor really became value for our dollar.

Option A (the Memorial Day pick) was a 2.5 bedroom third floor apartment at Ocean and Walton. The neighborhood was pretty quiet, Back Cove was within walking distance, and the sunlight in the place was stellar. The thought of having a separate office was quite appealing too. Much of the apartment was newly renovated, but the kitchen left something to be desired. There was simply almost no prep space. As I like to cook (and am told I’m pretty good at it), that was a major minus in my book. Balancing that out was the fact that the landlord is a great guy and we’d have loved to live in a building he owns. This place was going for about $1000 a month, plus utilities–just a bit above our original desired cap of $1000, utilities included.

Option B (the winner) was a 2 bedroom second floor apartment on Forest Ave. This one is only a half-mile from Option A, so it’s still within walking distance of Back Cove. Baxter Woods Park is just down the street too, so our dog will get to enjoy the outdoors quite often. The bedrooms are a little bigger, but there are only two of them, so I’ll have to set up my “office” in the guest room. The kitchen has ample counter and storage space, and the feel of the place is just a bit more modern and cheery. Coin-op laundry in the basement is a minus, but the other apartment had hookups, so we would have had to buy a washer and dryer or used a laundromat. In the end, though, the overall value of the apartment was too much to turn down. Forest Ave. is much busier than Walton St., so this place was listed for $925 a month, heat and hot water included.

It’s tough to make your decision solely on the basis of money, and we did not use that as the only deciding factor, but a chief concern in my mind was not financially crippling ourself by taking on an apartment that really was not within our budget. In the winter, the difference between these two places will work out to probably $300 a month or more. That’s just too much money to ignore. We’re happy with the place we chose, regardless of the cost, but the fact that we’ll continue to be able to put money toward an eventual down payment makes us even happier. We finally (almost) have an address! Now it’s time to get the lease signed and start planning the actual move…

I reported last week that She and I were headed to Portland this past weekend to find a place to live, so you may have wondered why I didn’t post anything from Maine while we were there, like I did last time. Well, we still went (and we did find a place–but that’s a story for a later post), so I figured I’d start with a review of our accommodations, as they were the reason I didn’t post anything.

We stayed at the Rodeway Inn, just off I-95 exit 47 or 48 in Portland. Moving is expensive, so we were looking to save some cash and I went with the cheapest hotel I could find. The Rodeway Inn, at $64 a night for a room with two double beds, was the winner. I found this one through PriceLine.com. HotWire.com, where I got a reservation at Extended Stay America last time, wasn’t listing anything under $89 a night. $50 savings for a two night stay was nothing to sneeze at, so we went cheap. I’ll not do that again. Rodeway was passable as a place to sleep, but we spent as little time there as possible.

The office is out by Rt. 25 (Brighton Ave) and the rooms are in blocks behind a boarded-up group of retail stores–not the most promising first impression. No internet access was available (either for free or for a fee), so bringing my laptop was pretty much a waste. There was a strong smell of detergent in the air. It wasn’t patently offensive, but it certainly wasn’t pleasant either. The beds were not great, but they were clean, so we were satisfied. The shower was fine, and there was decent cable. This was a discount hotel, and you definitely don’t get more than you pay for here.

PriceLine somehow rated this hotel as two stars. I disagree, and I’m not alone. This is a one star hotel at best. It’s probably just barely worth $60 a night, and it should be used for utilitarian trips only. If you want to go sightseeing or enjoy the night life in Portland, the location is far from ideal. You can catch a bus down to the Metro PULSE for $1.25, but it’s $15-$20 for a taxi, and the last bus runs at like 10:45. The convenience to I-95 is nice, but that’s about it. I won’t tell you not to stay here–the place was safe and the staff were pleasant and helpful, but if you’re vacationing in Portland, please pony up the extra money for a better experience.

Uggh…when will it end. Due to an unwillingness on our part to sign a lease without seeing the apartment again, it looks like the keeper We reported last month may be on shaky ground. C’est la vie. Recent trips to Craig’s List have yielded several promising apartments near Back Cove.

We’re headed up again this weekend to (hopefully) sign a lease on a place. We’re bringing Her sister for an extra opinion. I’m hoping to get at least four showings lined up between now and Friday. There is a nice development in South Portland that could be worth checking out. It’s extremely close to the airport though, so that is certainly a strike against it before we even get there. However, we live in the flight path of the Albany Airport now, so it might not be that big a sacrifice. We’ll have to see. I’m not sure on the heating in that place–if it’s electric again, I think we’ll avoid it.

All in all, things are coming together. The situation with the apartment from the first trip is disappointing, but we’re excited to see so many places with potential listed now. I guess maybe it was too much to hope for to find the right place two-plus months in advance. We’re closing in on a month to go now, and things are looking up. I can’t wait. I counted today–only 23 working days left.