Property taxes on the real estate you own or just bought in Maine.

If there is anything universally agreed upon among people, it's the desire to avoid paying any more property taxes than absolutely necessary. Out of state buyers looking for Maine real estate listings especially are even more sensitive to property tax levels. Because the desire to move, the relocation to Maine was caused by not being able to afford the property taxes where they lived outside Vacationland. The lack of crime, plenty of open space,clean water, the low prices hanging off the Maine real estate listings do not hurt either  in making the Pine Tree State look pretty darn attractive. 

No matter where you live, property taxes need to be raised and maintained to fill the pot holes, educate the kids, to keep the town infrastructure purring along nicely.

The Maine home you decide you want to sell.

Cleaning up, swamping out your current the home you want to sell is the second step. The first and most important one is pricing the property inline with the market. If you ignore current real estate market value, all the detailing, staging and removing clutter is a waste of time. The home you need to sell swims in a market of other listings that are competing for the same home buyers too.

 This real estate blog post is designed to show you how to get that home sold. With the steps in the order to achieve a quicker, more profitable and less hassle real estate sale.

 There is nothing more frustrating than having a Maine hme buyer ooh and ahh about the kitchen and then moan "whoa".

The buyer for a property listing needs a real estate home loan.

Where to get the mortgage for financing the house for sale when cash is not an option. Or owner financing is not possible. Because the seller needs to pay off a mortgage and to replace the house with a new home address in another neighborhood somewhere else. 

Nationally there is a shortage of real estate property appraisers.

My Dad was one of the first crop of Maine residential real estate appraisers when licensing for valuations was needed. Prior to that the licensed Maine real estate broker could issue valuations. Appraising a property, valuation was one of the three components of licensure when I took my broker's exam in 1979.

Real estate practices and law were the other two components to getting, passing an agent or broker's license test to hang on the wall of an agency. Valuation was the toughest teacher, Ted Sherwood from Bangor drove home the point and made sure you knew the fine points of valuation for which I thank him. Dana Devoe was the law instructor, Earl Black the practices teacher who I still see at state REALTOR conventions each fall. 

Maine small town bankers prior to appraisers being brought on board could visit the property and size it up for condition and value for the collateral securing a mortgage loan. The home town mortgage lender made character loans too with local control and based on past experiences with the borrower or from family dealings in the small Maine town. Maine only has a handful of cities and small town communities is the norm in Vacationland. 

So back to the blog post title that kept your reading this far.

Local real estate bank home loans, protecting rural small towns in Maine. In my area of northern Maine the shortage of appraisers for the work load is felt in our local markets. One appraisal firm out of Washburn Maine recently announced they were pulling back their horns and not servicing southern Aroostook County any longer. So the tightness for appraisers to do the mortgage loan underwriting inspections and valuations just increase a few clicks on the rachet tension. 

So my advice to a home buyer looking for a home loan in Maine's small rural real estate markets is to keep it local.

Use those banks with processing centers in Maine. With local outlets for lending from institutions that have banks, credit unions in the small Maine town or in one of the sixteen counties of the Pine Tree State. Why? Lots of reasons. First and foremost is the service you you receive and the time that is not wasted waiting for the clear to close real estate memo. 

The price tags hanging off the properties, the real estate in Maine are not all the same size.

If you point your car or slide your mouse north, up into the interior of Maine, prices shed pounds. Become skinny, lean and mean. Because the coastal tourist traps, the few cities Maine has to brag about carry hefty prices when it comes time to seriously consider buying a property. The cost of living is lower in rural areas of Maine. Has to be because the local pay scale is lower to the ground to match it.

The shift from doing it yourself instead of hiring it out is part of moving to rural Maine transition.

Any real estate agent or broker can make a property sale look easy.

To make the process appear seamless as if each property listing transfer could be done with one hand tied behind their back or wearing a blindfold. In reality, nothing could be further from the truth. Because real estate is an emotional job dealing with all personality types and working around tremendous pressures caused from rushed relocation, dwindling resources to carry the expenses of a property listing. And add in the added stress of a divorce, poor health or death and the estate sale squabbling that can add to the difficulty of the real estate sale.

But a seasoned, experienced real estate professional has weathered many markets, dealt with lots of property sale situations and the folks involved in each and every property sale.

So our job is to give advice that sometimes is taken in whole, part or not at all. If the struggle to suggest the best course of action goes on deaf ears, the real estate professional should see the red flags. To wave his or her own white one to surrender. To take a step back and thank the buyer or seller for their time but to suggest there is a better fit out there to represent them. Realizing that you can not help them and that you are not able to meet their expectations. So you can move along to the listings and real estate sales that you can do your best work for results.

This blog post highlights a few of the unknowns that can raise havoc in a real estate sale. MOOERS REALTY has blogged before on areas where sellers can help or hurt their sale. When buyers can do good or harm the process in the real estate sale.

Besides whether the buyers or sellers take your advice or not, what are the wrenches that get thrown into the cogs of a real estate sale that are harder to control or plan for in a transaction? There are plenty that have nothing to do with the buyer or the seller and that can easily get missed early on to only rise up and show their ugly head later.