Adventures in Housing

For a couple in Maine, calling a Grange Hall home means financial freedom

Sarah Leeson Feb 23, 2024
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After living in Nashville, Tennessee, for 23 years, Henry Pile and Kate Mills bought this Grange Hall in Livermore Falls, Maine. Courtesy Henry Pile
Adventures in Housing

For a couple in Maine, calling a Grange Hall home means financial freedom

Sarah Leeson Feb 23, 2024
Heard on:
After living in Nashville, Tennessee, for 23 years, Henry Pile and Kate Mills bought this Grange Hall in Livermore Falls, Maine. Courtesy Henry Pile
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Depending on whom you ask, the U.S. housing market is more than 3 million houses short of demand. So if you’re limiting your house hunt to traditional housing, you might come up a little empty-handed. Considering nontraditional housing adds some possibilities.

Kate Mills and Henry Pile were looking for a home where they could be financially unburdened, and, in the world of condos and townhouses and ranch-style houses, they weren’t finding what they wanted.

“We were now so desperate that we were looking at houses for $650,000 or $700,000, the exact opposite of what we wanted to do,” Mills said. “And I said, ‘We have to refocus. Let me tempt you with this 4,700-square-foot house in Maine on 3 1/2 acres. It’s beautiful, and we could pay cash for it.'”

The couple bought a Grange Hall in Livermore Falls, Maine, after living in Nashville, Tennessee, for 23 years. Traditionally, Grange Halls have served as meeting places for farmers and other members of rural communities.

Click the audio player above to hear their story.

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