Housing
This section of the BDN aims to help readers understand Maine’s housing crisis, the volatile real estate market and the public policy behind them. Read more Housing coverage here.
A couple from St. George canceled their plans to downsize to a single-story home after finding their dream home in a Bangor neighborhood.
Billie-Jo and Curtiss Doyle bought their new home near Hayford Park in August to be closer to their aging mothers. The move, which came after at least six months of searching, brought them from a rural midcoast community to a bustling Bangor neighborhood.
The couple sought a single-story home that was smaller than their previous home in St. George — a two-story cottage that offered about 1,200 square feet of living space. They looked for at least six months before touring the Bangor house they’d eventually buy, Billie-Jo Doyle said.
“We looked and looked and looked; it got so stressful we almost pulled our house in St. George off the market,” she said.
The family’s homebuying process illustrates how finding the right fit can take months, even during the busiest season for Maine’s housing market when inventory is plentiful. The home they bought also highlights how downsizing is often easier said than done, which can create a challenge as more Mainers age and want to leave larger houses that no longer meet their needs.
They saw plenty of nice homes on the market in the Bangor area, but there weren’t many ranch-style properties that didn’t need significant work, Billie-Jo said.
When she saw the listing for their new home, Billie-Jo said it was outside the family’s budget and didn’t align with the couple’s plan to downsize and live on one floor. Despite this, she said there was “something about it.”
“My husband just had a cancer scare and had a surgery, so we thought one-floor living somewhere close to town in Bangor would be perfect,” Billie-Jo Doyle said. “When we saw the house, the downsizing and stairs went out the window.”
While the split-level, 2,600-square-foot home has multiple stories, there’s only a short staircase to travel from the garage to the main living area, then another short staircase to reach the bedrooms, making it “manageable,” she said.
The home was put on the market earlier this year for $387,000, but that price dropped a few times until it reached $350,000, Zillow records show. While that was still out of the family’s $320,000 budget, Billie-Jo Doyle said she noticed more homes in the area selling for less than their asking prices, so she asked their realtor to see it.
“The second we walked in, it just felt so welcoming,” she said. “I told my husband, ‘This is our house.’ It’s magical.”
The pair is particularly fond of the living room, which features a large picture window and a fireplace, making it feel warm and inviting.
After falling in love with the home, their realtor told them another family had put in an offer. Disappointed, they toured a few more homes, but nothing compared to the one they wanted and the family felt many were overpriced for the work they needed, Billie-Jo Doyle said.
Then, the previous offer on their dream home fell through. The Doyles came back, toured it again, had inspections done, and put in their offer of $320,000, which was later accepted.
They closed on their new home on Aug. 31, the same day they moved out of their former home where they spent 27 years and raised two children, and gave the keys to the new owner.
“Now it’s ours and we couldn’t be happier,” she said. “The stars aligned.”
While moving to a new house double the size of their former one wasn’t the family’s plan initially, Billie-Jo Doyle said the added space gives them room to host.
“We were so far away from family before that they couldn’t just drop in, so it’s nice to have people just pop in for coffee whenever they’re in the area,” she said.
The family has also needed to adjust to being closer to their neighbors. Their previous home sat on 3.5 acres whereas their new property covers roughly one-third of an acre. But, the Doyles have found their new neighbors to be just as friendly as those they left behind in St. George, Billie-Jo Doyle said.
During their first weekend in the home, several neighbors stopped by to introduce themselves and drop off welcome gifts ranging from cookies to champagne, she said.
“The only difference is that people here will walk by and wave, but when we lived in St. George, they would go by and honk,” Billie-Jo Doyle said.
For those just beginning their home search, Billie-Jo Doyle said it’s perhaps most important to remain patient through the stressful process and follow your realtor’s advice.
“If it wasn’t for our realtor, I think we would have lost our minds quite a few times during the process,” she said. “Be patient, hang in there and it’ll all work out in the end.”