New2Maine.com

I found a link to a very interesting website today. Rentometer allows you to look up comparable rentals in your neighborhood and let you know if you’re paying too much (or too little). A very useful tool for someone looking for a new apartment. Surprisingly enough, they had over 100 apartments in the area we’re looking at (I guess I’m not the first person to find this site), and the amount we’re going to pay seems to fall right in the middle of the range.

We’re starting to work on our pre-move checklist. One of the first things on our list (which I’ll publish in a later post) is finding out what we need to do to transfer our driver’s licenses and vehicle registrations. Maine’s Bureau of Motor Vehicles website seemed like a good place to start, so I browsed that for a while. Under the Licensing information page I found a short blurb (at the bottom) on converting an out-of-state license. According to this, it looks like it’ll be $40 a piece for Her and I to get our Maine licenses. The application is linked here. Getting to the BMV location in Portland doesn’t look like it’ll be too tough either. So that’s one thing at least that will be pretty easy to take care of.

Unfortunately, finding information on transferring vehicle registration wasn’t so easy. I eventually gave up on the BMV website and looked to another site which ranked very highly on Google. DMV.org appears to be a clearinghouse site for state motor vehicle departments. The information there is a bit better organized, but I still didn’t find anything on registration transfers. I’ll have to keep digging tomorrow I guess.

The past week has been a slow one for our Maine move planning. As I’ve mentioned before, She is a teacher, and it’s the end of the school year. Anyone who is married to a teacher knows that all things not school related pretty much cease to exist for the final two to three weeks of the school year. We did, however, manage to make it down to Connecticut to be part of a very close friend’s wedding. That was great fun, but didn’t leave any time for browsing Craig’s List or any thing else Maine related (except to explain to lots of friends and acquaintances that, no, we don’t really have a reason to move other than that we love the area).

The wedding was in New London, another coastal community. I realized that the ocean smell and the sound of waves are probably very high on the list of motivators for moving to Portland. They bring back memories of vacations at the shore when I was young. If you haven’t experienced sleeping within earshot of waves lapping at the beach, do yourself a favor and rent a place on the coast somewhere, if even just for a weekend.

Okay, back to the moving prep. Our very promising apartment off Ocean Ave is still on the table and looks like it will be our new home starting at the end of next month. I’ve been playing a mean game of phone and email tag with the landlord, but we plan to head up to Portland again in two weeks to get a look at the finished renovations and sign the lease, assuming everything looks good. I can’t wait. Once that’s done, the moving planning can begin in earnest.

Speaking of planning for the move, I counted today, and I only have 28 working days left. Yay! While at the wedding this weekend we did enlist some help to drive my car up to Maine and unload the truck. We’re pretty set on renting a moving truck and doing this ourselves–it’s just too expensive to have someone else do it for us. Too bad my company isn’t covering moving costs. I think that’s about it for now. We’re down to seven weeks, give or take. It’s getting so close…

Craig’s List has yielded a very promising apartment complex off Forest Ave in Portland. This new possibility leaves us contemplating the pros and cons though. The apartment we found over Memorial Day weekend is about three (maybe four) blocks from Back Cove. It’s a third floor apartment with 2.5 bedrooms (the small one will be a great office for me). It’s got great hardwood floors and a lots of light. There are washer and dryer hookups. About the only thing it’s missing is a dishwasher. And we even like the landlord.

This newest listing we’ve found on Craig’s List is a very different sort of place. It’s a two level apartment, very much the same feel as our current duplex. We like being able to go upstairs to bed. It feels more like a home that way. There are only two bedrooms, but the master is very large. There is a washer and dryer in the apartment, and a dishwasher too. These are all pros. However, the location is not quite as nice. It’s really probably only a mile and a half between the two apartments, but it’s an apartment complex rather than a house with multiple units. Our dog wouldn’t get to walk in the parks as easily–the difference is 2 blocks to Baxter Woods versus like 15 blocks. The parking situation doesn’t seem quite as good, and with that many neighbors, it’s a bit of a gamble.

We still have a month or so before we really need to sit down to sign a lease, so we have time to think. The Forest Ave complex is a slightly nicer apartment, but the location isn’t as good. The other place also has some character. From the pics on Craig’s List, this complex has a “built quickly to start making money on rent” feel to it. We may be way off base, but that’s the feeling the photos leave. Decisions, decisions…

Sorry I haven’t written in a while. We’ve been away dealing with a death in the family. Family funerals are always a time for mixed emotions–it’s wonderful to see family members you’ve not seen in a while, but the reason for the impromptu reunion is not a happy one. In this case Her grandmother’s battle with cancer is finally over, and we know she’s gone up to a better place, so we take comfort in that.

Anyway, We have continued our apartment search and think we may be on to something. We were discussing our apartment hunt with some family we saw at the wake and were lamenting the difficulty of searching for a place to live two-plus months ahead of time. Her uncle suggested the following strategy, and it seems that we have found a few landlords who are interested.
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