This is part of the BDN’s Home Buying series that shares the stories of Mainers who became homeowners despite the state’s volatile real estate market. Want to share your experience buying a home in Maine? Email kobrien@bangordailynews.com.
A Florida man will move to a rustic Maine cabin next month to escape sky-high insurance costs brought on by the effects of climate change.
Ted Borduas, who was born and raised in Portland, retired from teaching this year and began looking for at least 10 acres in rural Maine where he could build a sustainable, off-the-grid home for himself. This dream, he said, was born out of Florida’s climbing flood and homeowner’s insurance fees, which surpassed 12% of his gross income.
“That’s just not sustainable, so I listed my home,” Borduas said. “Insurance costs are just through the roof and I understand it’s because storms are becoming more powerful and more frequent.”
Borduas considers himself a climate refugee, someone who leaves their home due to extreme weather events or climate change, such as wildfires, sea level rise or hurricanes. More people like him may move to Maine in the coming years, as the state is considered to be more resilient to climate change than other regions, but housing availability and affordability to accommodate those new residents remains a challenge.
Borduas, 58, listed his home in Naples, Florida, and purchased a one-bedroom, off-grid cabin near Farmington sight unseen. The 432-square-foot camp in Chesterville has an outhouse and a wood stove but no power or water, so Borduas plans to install solar panels and a rainwater collection system.
His offer on the log cabin on 11 acres was accepted on May 31 and the closing is slated for later this month. Borduas plans to officially move back to Maine by mid-July.
“I love cold weather and snow, so I’m looking forward to the changing seasons and that first cold, crisp fall day,” Borduas said. “All these little things that I grew up with and have missed for so long — I’m dying to get back up there.”
While Borduas’ home in Naples survived numerous hurricanes with minimal damage, the property is in a flood zone. Because of this, his annual insurance fees surged from roughly $2,400 to nearly $10,000 in the past six years, Borduas said.
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“Whether we agree on whether climate change is human-caused or a natural cycle, the undeniable reality is that it’s happening,” Borduas said. “We have to prepare for it on a local and state level and I haven’t seen that happening.”
After meeting his wife in college in North Carolina, the family moved to Florida in 1992 where they raised their three children. Borduas taught elementary education for 13 years, followed by eight years working for his school district. Most recently, he was a middle school science teacher for four years before retiring at the end of the school year.
He was drawn to the Farmington area due to its proximity to healthcare services and the University of Maine at Farmington while still being rural. He scoured Zillow for nearly six months before finding his future home.
While Maine’s housing market is much more expensive than when Borduas last lived in the state, he said shopping for land rather than a turnkey home in a city made prices more affordable. Real estate in the greater Portland area where Borduas has family is “out of the question price-wise,” he said.
“Housing costs have gotten so extraordinary that it’s really difficult for our children to live in the towns that they grew up in,” Borduas said. “We all have our unique situations, but I think that’s something that’s common everywhere.”
After selling or shipping his belongings to Maine where he still has family, Borduas anticipates moving by mid-July. He plans to live in the cabin while his cousin, a Portland-based contractor, helps him build his dream off-the-grid home.
Ideally, Borduas plans to create a roughly 800-square-foot one-bedroom home powered by solar panels with a rainwater collection system and a bath house between the existing cabin and home.
“I have a roof over my head where I can take my time and do it right,” Borduas said.
In the meantime, Borduas said he’s most excited about exploring Maine, hiking in Acadia National Park and re-experiencing the activities he loved as a child.
“The sign in Kittery says ‘Maine: the way life should be,’ and I love coming over that bridge every time I drive in,” he said. “I’m really looking forward to being back and the quality of life up there. One of my first bucket list items is to climb up Katahdin.”