We heat our house on MDI with a propane fired combi boiler (~96% efficient) that also provides on demand hot water. We also have a wood stove that we use for really cold nights. We season our wood for 2 years or so after it is cut. Our heating costs run about $1,200 per year for our 1,700 sq. ft. house. The house is about 30 years old and is well insulated with all triple pane windows. Older homes with poor insulation pay much more for heat on a sq. ft. basis. We pay essentially nothing for firewood since we get it from windfall on the property. Property taxes in Maine are paid to the towns/cities and fund town operations and primarily schools. Here on MDI values are relatively high and tax mil rates are low. In my town the mil rate is about 9.5 mills (0.95%) of assessed value. Towns farther north have considerably higher mil rates resulting in about the same tax burden even though valuations are much lower. Because of that property taxes seem high in more rural towns with low valuations (i.e., up in the county), but are actually low along the coast at least up to Schoodic. For example, tax rates on MDI are in the 0.9 to 1% range. Tax rates in Eastport run about 2.6%, in Presque Isle they are about 2.3% and taxes in Millinocket run over 2.8%. We have been paying about 30 cents per Kwh here in Versant country. It is supposed to go down a bit for July, but I haven't gotten a full month bill since the rates dropped, but I doubt it will be under 25 cents per kilowatt. We don't need AC and our electric bill runs about $600/year. If we were on the mainland we would need AC. We have a well and septic system so we pay almost nothing for water and sewer. Gas is high down there. I paid $3.35 per gallon for gas yesterday (august 22) in Southwest Harbor. Food is about the same here since we shop at Hannaford. Eggs last week were about $6 for 18 last week. Every business here on MDI has help wanted signs. That is largely because wages here are not enough to afford a house. Median home price is now around $1M here in Tremont, ME on the SW part of MDI. Overall, I would say the big costs on the coast and down in southern Maine are housing and utilities. If you come from the midwest housing costs will seem really high, but if you are moving from Boston, New York, etc. housing will seem cheap. If you move to the coast past Schoodic housing will be cheap and really cheap inland in the county where you can buy a house for under $200K. Even Bangor is cheap.
Thanks for the well informed comment. Sounds like you take care of your property. Would you say you are in the minority or majority regarding heating cost?
@@LiveLifeInMaine We are on the low end of heating costs and electricity use. We don't need air conditioning here and our winters are significantly warmer than the Portland area both because we are on the ocean side of an island.
Another superbly informative video. Thank you. (I don't know about now but in 1998 & 1999, I lived in Portland and worked at Maine Medical Center as an RN with 10 years of experience & two college degrees. Back then, I made 20-22 dollars per hour.)
We heat our house on MDI with a propane fired combi boiler (~96% efficient) that also provides on demand hot water. We also have a wood stove that we use for really cold nights. We season our wood for 2 years or so after it is cut. Our heating costs run about $1,200 per year for our 1,700 sq. ft. house. The house is about 30 years old and is well insulated with all triple pane windows. Older homes with poor insulation pay much more for heat on a sq. ft. basis. We pay essentially nothing for firewood since we get it from windfall on the property.
Property taxes in Maine are paid to the towns/cities and fund town operations and primarily schools. Here on MDI values are relatively high and tax mil rates are low. In my town the mil rate is about 9.5 mills (0.95%) of assessed value. Towns farther north have considerably higher mil rates resulting in about the same tax burden even though valuations are much lower. Because of that property taxes seem high in more rural towns with low valuations (i.e., up in the county), but are actually low along the coast at least up to Schoodic. For example, tax rates on MDI are in the 0.9 to 1% range. Tax rates in Eastport run about 2.6%, in Presque Isle they are about 2.3% and taxes in Millinocket run over 2.8%.
We have been paying about 30 cents per Kwh here in Versant country. It is supposed to go down a bit for July, but I haven't gotten a full month bill since the rates dropped, but I doubt it will be under 25 cents per kilowatt. We don't need AC and our electric bill runs about $600/year. If we were on the mainland we would need AC. We have a well and septic system so we pay almost nothing for water and sewer.
Gas is high down there. I paid $3.35 per gallon for gas yesterday (august 22) in Southwest Harbor. Food is about the same here since we shop at Hannaford. Eggs last week were about $6 for 18 last week. Every business here on MDI has help wanted signs. That is largely because wages here are not enough to afford a house. Median home price is now around $1M here in Tremont, ME on the SW part of MDI.
Overall, I would say the big costs on the coast and down in southern Maine are housing and utilities. If you come from the midwest housing costs will seem really high, but if you are moving from Boston, New York, etc. housing will seem cheap. If you move to the coast past Schoodic housing will be cheap and really cheap inland in the county where you can buy a house for under $200K. Even Bangor is cheap.
Thanks for the well informed comment. Sounds like you take care of your property. Would you say you are in the minority or majority regarding heating cost?
@@LiveLifeInMaine We are on the low end of heating costs and electricity use. We don't need air conditioning here and our winters are significantly warmer than the Portland area both because we are on the ocean side of an island.
New sub. We're looking into Maine. Thank you for the information!!!
Here to inform. Reach out if you want any info about anything
Another superbly informative video. Thank you. (I don't know about now but in 1998 & 1999, I lived in Portland and worked at Maine Medical Center as an RN with 10 years of experience & two college degrees. Back then, I made 20-22 dollars per hour.)
6k per year for property taxes to live in Maine is insane
Depends where you live.
What about a retired person?
What’s the questions. Lots of retires here.
@@LiveLifeInMaineI’m one! Love it!