Terry Driscoll

A good starting place to look at schools ishttp:// www.schooldigger.com - - see link below. You can get school rankings for any state, click on the City column heading and it will alpha sort by city - - find Augusta and look at the stats - - number of students, student teacher ratios, MEA scores, etc. then you can Search schools by City, locate the school of interest and there is a link to click for homes for sale nearby and you end up on trulia! good luck. - Wed Jul 16 2008, 12:28

The following stats are from the global security website (see link below)
"As Maine's second largest employer, NAS Brunswick employs 4,863 military and civilian personnel, including 713 officer, 3,493 enlisted personnel and 657 civilians. The air station provides over $187 million to the local economy, including $115 million in salaries, $38 million in contracts and material purchases and $34 million in medical purchases."
Perhaps this will give you some idea of the impact the base closure may have on the surrounding communities - - think not just in terms of housing (rental, owned and on-base), but also schools (biggest portion of municipal budgets), support services such as hair salons, drycleaners, retail, restaurants, entertainment, etc.
Having said that, I believe that Brunswick, and its surrounding area, has so many things going for it besides the base that by the time the redevelopment authority is done with it, this area will be an even more fantastic place to live (think 5-year plan). Even now, Brunswick is perhaps better known as a college town and a great place to retire. Housing, and the economy in general, is cyclical in nature - - there are many more factors in addition to the base closure that can and will have impact.
You understand that price is a function of supply and demand - - there is enough supply in the market right now to create great opportunities for Buyers today, not to mention attractive mortgage rates; There's an interesting statistic put out by the Federal Reserve Board that consistently shows an astonishing difference in the Average Net Worth between home owners ($184,400) and renters ($4,000). It's all about leverage and opportunity! - Wed Jul 16 2008, 11:42