Real Estate: How can broadband change the Maine Real Estate market?

By Carrie Colby

As most of us know 2020 has brought many changes to our lives. Many of us are working from home, telecommuting, distance learning and homeschooling. Also, an unstoppable trend is the increasing importance of telehealth. We are in the early days of the telehealth revolution, but it is likely that in the future that life-critical healthcare will extend into the home requiring a higher standard of reliability. 

There is some good news for people living in more rural areas in Maine. Maine has approved expanding broadband internet access throughout the state. 

The real estate market in the greater Portland area has outpriced many home buyers and renters pushing them to more rural towns in Cumberland, Oxford and Androscoggin Counties.

With the ability to work from home or for companies that are considering relocating to Maine, with high-speed internet connections Maine companies will be able to compete, new companies will relocate to Maine, highly skilled workers will relocate to Maine and talented young people will stay. 

Just as the 20th century required adequate roads, and the centuries before required railroads and navigable rivers, today we must have high-speed Internet connections to the world in order to improve our economic prospects.

The National Telecommunications and Information Administration has chosen ConnectME as one of eight initial partner states to broaden and update the national broadband availability map. Maine was chosen because it reflects geographic diversity.

Last year, Congress charged the administration with creating and maintaining the map as a searchable public database of information on broadband internet availability in the United States, according to a Feb. 13 Maine Department of Economic and Community Development news release.

“This is a welcome announcement which will strengthen and expand ConnectME’s efforts to improve broadband access for Maine families, businesses and communities statewide,” Heather Johnson, Department of Economic and Community Development commissioner, said in a press release. “Identifying gaps in high-speed internet coverage is the first step in ensuring every Mainer can access the tools they need to succeed and this in an important step in making that goal a reality.”

According to its website, the ConnectME Authority is a public instrumentality of Maine state government whose mission is to facilitate the universal availability of broadband to all Maine households and businesses.

The mapping project comes as Maine seeks to address gaps in broadband availability around the state. Lack of broadband — cable, satellite, fiber, DSL — has been found to affect areas from real estate sales and tourism to in-and-out migration in rural areas across Maine, as well as impeding talent attraction to areas with lack of broadband connectivity.

Of course, no one has a crystal ball, but I am certain that expanding broadband to more rural communities can only be helpful to Maine residents and expand their housing possibilities. <

This article was brought to you by Carrie Colby, Broker with Allied Real Estate in Windham. She can be reached at 207-232-5497.