Real Estate Information

Are you thinking of buying a home or selling your current home, but want to educate yourself more on the current market? The following service is free and easy.  Just fill out the linked form and you will immediately receive a free current market report in your e-mail. The report includes graphs showing recent sales vs. homes currently on the market, an interactive map, and much more. 

Click Here For your Customized Market Report!

Have we bottomed out? The number of units in July '07 compared to the number of units sold in July '06 actually increased by 4% in Maine. The median sales price edged up a little bit also.

Next month will tell us more. Stay tuned! Actually there are advantages to this current marketplace which does not seem to be appreciating quickly as in the several past years. If you are a seller of a "starter home" and you wish to buy a larger more upscale home, This market may work for you. Think about the following: You will take a small "hit" on your current home but you will have a much larger negotiating advantage on your purchase of a larger home. Therefore you will have gotten a "leg up" in terms of your equity position.

This is the advice we gave our clients in the late 80's and early 90's in Southern Maine during the last real estate downturn. It turned out to be true and they have thanked us ever since. I can't believe that I have been doing this for over 20 years! Stay tuned for other advantages to this marketplace. Until then.     Deb Barouch

It was interesting the new twist that occured in a recent closing. The sellers did not decide that our transaction could be under their employers' relocation benefit program until after we were fully under contract and all contingencies had been negotiated, Therefore the buyers had no obligation to comply. Nor did they feel any obligation to comply. After all, why dissolve your legal contract with the current sellers for a "Relo company", who has no obligation to move forward?

This created hard feelings all around. The buyers feeling that they have been taken advantage of and the sellers feeling that they have lost out on benefits they could have received if the sellers had co-operated.

It was ultimately resolved, but the buyers felt slightly out of sorts being "jerked around" by a complication they had nothing to do with, and which they were not contractually obligated to comply with.

"INTOWN PORTLAND, a peninsula swirling counterclockwise into Casco Bay, lies in thick cultural layers. Starting at New England's third-largest fishing port, Portland Harbor, men and women in foul-weather bibs unload lobster traps and tubs of Atlantic cod. Next is the cobblestoned Old Port, with its boutiques, "commitment ring" jewelers, and Irish pubs. A few blocks away sit the studio and arts districts, with tattooed baristas at gritty cafés, agitprop-chic galleries, and, by sundown, live punk behind closed doors. A quarter of Maine's population lives in and around Portland, but you'd hardly know it come rush hour. Young professionals wear L.L.Bean fleeces and duck boots for all manner of business, even dates, thanks to the company's headquarters being 20 minutes up the road. With relatively mild winters, it's possible to commute by bike almost year-round, and with thick neoprene you can surf in winter. Twenty-six-square-mile Portland has more than 2,000 public-arts events, including free concerts with the likes of Carbon Leaf and the Rebirth Brass Band, and, rumor has it, more ultimate-Frisbee leagues per capita than anywhere else. Maine's highly educated twenty- and thirty-somethings are thick on the ground, keeping their kayaks and snowshoes handy and talking about how they've got it made."

-Outdoor Magazine

August is Maine is a treat that many visit here for. Those of us who live here need to remember to enjoy it!  We have gotten out on Casco Bay quite a bit this summer on our boat. Since we keep our boat moored right off our neighborhood dock in the Seabourne Association in Yarmouth it is only a short stroll down the street to our beautiful waterfront. Many of our neighbors have kayaks or dingey's right on the dock. We all enjoy immediate access to numerous small islands.

Last week we visited French's island.  We pulled in to the little protected cove set out our anchor and rowed in in our dingey to explore. There is a lovely little sandy beach.  Afterwards we picnicked on our boat before heading back cruising along between Little John island and Cheabeague island.It was quite choppy and we were glad to arrive back at our home dock and get our boat back on the mooring.

Several days before that we headed out to Jewell island which is the farthest island out in Casco Bay. It is rewarding to make the effort. When we reached the little protected cove we found an anchoring spot quickly. Swimming was delicious! There are 2 world war 2 lookout towers to climb on Jewell, and the views are stunning!

Yesterday we had multiple offers on 1 of our new listings.It proves that if a property is desirable and priced right then it will get action in this marketplace. There are 2 schools of thought on pricing. #1  price it just above market value so you can have some negotiating room and   #2 price it right at market value and it could generate multiple offers that ultimately net you more in the end. That's it for now. Hope the storm in Maine today does not do any damage.

Yesterday I showed an excellent property to the mother of some past clients. It is a very comfortable arrangement because the level of trust is already there and it is very easy to communicate when the client feels comfortable. I always appreciate these referrals. Last year I helped 3 individual members of the same family all in an 18 month period! My client loved the ranch I showed her, it was right around the corner from her daughter and in an excellent neighborhood. It had all updated systems:new furnace, new windows, new roof and hardwood floors and a fireplace. All it would need would be to spruce up the kitchen and baths.  It is a "gem" in the rough. It's amazing the "good" buys that are popping up in this marketplace now.It would also make a perfect investment property. My client plans to rent it until she can move here in a couple years.