AUBURN – Ever-increasing home values and taxes are pricing some Mainers out of their neighborhoods, but many young professionals find this part of the state affordable.
Jay Hartshorn, 33, and Andy Walter, 34, for example, were thrilled to find property taxes much lower here than in New York, where they had previously lived. In the suburb of Fayetteville, they paid nearly $4,000 in property taxes on a $107,000 home.
“It was nauseating,” Hartshorn said.
The couple recently bought a house on Josslyn Street for $242,000. Since the city revaluation figures were released Nov. 4, their property taxes have risen from about $2,400 a year to $3,313, but Hartshorn was unconcerned. “We’re just so happy that we have a mortgage we can afford.”
While the revaluation has threatened to increase taxes on city land and homes by as much as 100 percent, reactions like Hartshorn’s are not uncommon.
In fact, the Lewiston-Auburn area is “one of the last places in the southern part of the state that’s still affordable and has room to grow,” said Bob King of the Maine State Housing Authority.
Mark Pilot of Coldwell Banker Millett Realty in Auburn agreed. “As far as home prices go, I think Lewiston, Auburn or Androscoggin County in general is still below the state’s median average for home prices,” he said.
The most recent median sale price for houses in Androscoggin County was close to $147,000, while the statewide median was between $190,000 and $195,000.
Sheila Woodard, president of the Androscoggin Valley Board of Realtors and a real estate agent with ERA Worden Realty, helped Hartshorn and Walter find their house in Auburn. Interest rates have been low and there are plenty of programs to help young potential home buyers to afford homes, she said. “I think we’re seeing people buying houses that are worth a lot more in value.”
Woodard expects young professionals who can’t afford homes in areas such as Portland to continue to move to Lewiston-Auburn.
Still, there are potential home buyers who are put off by the rising cost of real estate. Even Woodard admitted she has some clients who want to move from the Twin Cities to Turner or Greene because they don’t want to pay higher taxes.
Steve Morgan of Keller Williams Realty, who is vice president of the county real estate association, said he sees a 50-50 mix. “Fifty percent of them want to be on the outskirts, like Turner,” because of tax rates, he said.
Ron Knott, associate director of home ownership and lending services for Community Concepts in Paris, said he’s more concerned about renters than those who can’t afford to buy.
“What we’re seeing is the tax increases, as well as the sales price increases, is having an effect on renters,” he said. “I guess we see what you could call a trickle-down effect.”
Knott noted that it’s been a “tough year all around.” Community Concepts has received more calls for fuel assistance and help winterizing homes.
“So I think taxes are just kind of one piece of the total housing puzzle that we’re looking at here,” he said.
2005 valuation: $80,200
2005 taxes: $2,400
2006 valuation: $150,600
2006 proposed taxes: $3,313
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