They’re charging more, screening tightly to find the best tenants, and upgrading – or sometimes neglecting – their properties. Some ask for first and last month’s rent plus the deposit, which can mean forking over more than $4,700 upfront.

Philip Austin says the four-bedroom apartment he shares with his family at 31 Oxford St. in East Bayside is frequently in need of repair and has mold in the ceiling. But landlord Clark Stephens says he wasn’t aware of any mold problems. “I try to stay on top of everything in the building,” he said. […]

Susan Morris and Chip Newell prepare to entertain on the deck of their Munjoy Hill condominium, with the Portland Observatory in the background at center. Newell, 68, and Morris, 55, are the developers behind 118 on Munjoy Hill, the luxury condominiums built on Congress Street at the crest of the Hill.​ Shawn Patrick Ouellette/ Staff […]

Photo by Bill Lord/Maine HDTV T he secret got out sometime about a decade ago, it seems, and the rest of the world is now well aware that life is good in Portland, Maine. Here’s a sampling of the wide variety of “Best of” lists that have featured Portland and helped make the city a […]

‘The Hill’ was once a low-income domain viewed as a place to avoid, but a change in perception has turned it into an in-demand – and costly – place to live.

A deep look into the extreme conditions and soaring prices reveals the human and financial trauma and the confluence of social trends that caused it.

Story by Tux Turkel/ Staff Writer Photos by Whitney Hayward/ Staff Photographer C randall Toothaker motioned to the back corner of a building at Cumberland Avenue and Wilmot Street. Tenants told him they regularly saw drugs being sold there. It’s across from where he once opened a storage shed and startled a man injecting heroin […]

Mike Drinan stands outside one of his South Portland apartment buildings. Drinan, who lives in Cape Elizabeth, owns several apartment buildings in Portland and South Portland, and his company manages house, condominium and apartment rentals for other property owners. “This business isn’t for the faint of heart,” he said. “You have to make sure everything […]