Maine is such a great place to raise a kid. Come home.

Real estate listings are a little tight, especially if you're looking for 10+ acres, but get online and have a look at what's available. Things are starting to loosen up a bit.

Also, remember that $200K is a whopping big salary for Maine.

This post is almost as funny as someone who has never lived in Maine, posting in here they really love the idea of Maine. And they believe they are gifting Maine their knowledge and experience with advanced things like fire and electricity and the interwebs because Maine must not have those things.

States full.

A lot of your questions really depend on where you specifically want to be. Roads suck all over.

[deleted]

The problem with your questions is that everyone experiences life differently. There may be many things in common, but the perspective can have a huge impact on their opinion.

Like roads, they mostly suck, but some areas have become better at maintaining them. Some areas have created roundabouts (I fking HATE them) or more lanes or more traffic lights... It could go on and on. Some may feel they have improved the location, while others disagree (see roundabouts).

If you really want to move back here, I'd highly suggest a vacation or two first, more than a weekend here. Honestly, the weekdays and weekends can show you different sides of everything (traffic, open/closed stores/restaurants available, activities, etc)

School perspectives: can you call and speak with administration (or whoever you would speak with, I honestly don't know)? Ask some questions, talk to them, see how receptive they are to your inquiry. There's a chance you may have to leave your name and number for a callback, but it's worth a shot. You could also look at tests scores, I guess... But keep in mind those are just standardized tests and some may not even be trying on those (I personally tried for the questions I knew and guessed everything else when I was in school). And, as a parent myself, those scores do not evaluate the teachers at all. I'm not sure there is an actual way to see how the teachers do (I know my current location, some teachers lack... The ability to actually reach their students and meet their needs. There are many things I've had to reteach my kiddo because the teacher just shows them once and will not help any student who doesn't understand.)

Internet: it's all over the place, some areas have great high speed connection and others have it decent. Your best bet is to call internet providers for your favored areas and talk with them.

So... I guess my advice is to check out the areas you favor and see how they suit your family and you

For that amount of land, maybe look in the towns near Lisbon: Durham, Pownal, New Gloucester. I can't speak to how fast the internet is out there.

I can tell you what's changed in Portland: the Village Cafe is gone. Lang's Express, the Wok Inn and Silly's are gone. Most everything else is now a weed store.

Based on your post, why do you want to come back? Maine is basically the same place you left it as 20 years ago. The things you mention are still prevalent. You could say high-speed internet has improved in rural areas since then, but otherwise, Maine is just how you left it. If anything, it has gotten worse.

The hard part is it isn't cheap anymore. I'm sure you can do okay on 200k but it isn't cheap place property anymore.

If you thought Maine offered a low quality of life in 2004, I don’t think you’re going to find much of a difference in 2023. That being said, the towns you listed shouldn’t present you with many of the issues you mentioned. I live in the Bath area and the internet speeds are sufficient to work remotely from home. As far as opioids go, I think you’d have to go out of your way to have any issues. Roads can be rough but that’s just part of living in New England.

The public schools in the area are decent. I recently graduated from Morse (Bath) and the education is largely what you put into it. Students who work hard and pursue the honors/AP track often get accepted to top universities. Those in the standard track won’t get as good of an education. The best public schools are generally located in coastal Cumberland and York Counties.

I think you likely missed the boat on buying a 10+ acre lot and building a home in Midcoast/Southern Maine. Other remote workers along with investors flooded in during Covid and prices have skyrocketed. Despite this, you make far more than the average Mainer and I think you could easily afford an average home in the areas you listed.

All that being said, why do you even want to come back at this point? It seems your initial impression was negative and outside of housing becoming unaffordable I don’t think anything has fundamentally changed in the past 20 years.