Mooers Realty Blog

There is a Maine saying that can apply to real estate property sales.

"It is hard telling without knowing". Information that is missing causes confusion, jumping to the wrong conclusion. Which leads to missteps that put things more out of kilter, out of whack. 

Or real estate market information that is outdated is just as bad.

Because not having current, accurate data means garbage in, garbage out.

So misunderstandings in real estate property sales, in life often are caused by missing, wrong or just plain outdated information.

The vital stuff needed to help shape the direction from listing, through marketing to the clear to close memo for the sit down and let's dig in.

To have a real estate closing that concludes the transactions and make a successful transfer of ownership. 

So innocent real estate situations that are spun, come off as someone was black heart sinister.

Folks stop getting along. Working toward the same common goal. The problems start with a fertile imagination, a lack of all the accurate fine points as the real estate deal trudges on through the hoops, chutes and ladders that shape the deal. To a satisfactory conclusion or derailment. 

Good broker, bad broker is another layer of the reaction to what seems to be happening. When nothing could be futher from the truth. Sides are drawn like a court room and "my buyer" "my seller" and fighting for the upper hand is a hostile approach.

Where mediation not litigation keeps the wheels of the real estate deal greased for the easiest momentum. Like a flywheel, energy is needed to keep the gears of a property listing sale moving as effortlessly as possible.

The buyer for a Maine real estate listing has been located through marketing, realistic pricing and the satisfaction because it works.

It fits the needs of the buyer of the property.

But here is a little devil in the details that can creep up and put out the fire of desire that burns within to get to the real estate closing and make the successful property transfer happen.

The personal property, what is inside the real estate listing in Maine.

What about the case of a camp, cottage or second home, an estate that is not empty of personal property?

What can happen to make the real estate sale go sideways?

Giving away what was stated would stay in the property listing.

That letting go of items to the next door neighbor, your brother in law Bob.

The buyer of the property who revists the pending listing for measuring the windows for curtains starts to sense the evaporation.

Of stuff, the extras he or she may not need but that suddenly feels like someone is stealing them. Even if they don't quite own the property yet, the buyer starts to act like they do.

Is getting used to the idea of being the new property owner as the process to buy through the banks, appraisal, legal channels is put through it paces.

Communication, spelling out what stays or goes is critical. The antique light in the dining room that is going to be kept should be removed before the buyer tours the sticks and bricks.

The time to list a Maine real estate property for sale, when is it best to do that?

To get the place on the market for the World to see and consider seriously you hope.

When you have decided you need to make a change, no longer need a property or can not buy another until the last one you own is sold.

That's the best time to list a property for sale in Maine.

Real estate sells year round in Maine. But not if no one knows about the property listing.

So no matter what calendar month we are in hanging on the wall, it is a good time to list. And when you think property buyer, remember that just because you a seller might not want to move in the winter, does not mean buyers are on the same wavelength.

And it takes time to sell, even after you list. Less delay if the property listing is priced realistically and market full throttle.

Houlton Maine is the Shiretown or County seat for Aroostook.

Maine's largest of the sixteen counties is Aroostook. And from the days of the first settlers arriving in 1807, lumbering, farming have been two big reasons to live here.

Outdoor beauty of four seasons living with clean water, fresh air and not over population continue the tradition of providing very good reasons to live in or at least visit and vacation in Houlton Maine.

In this border town with Woodstock New Brunswick to the east in the province of New Brunswick Canada, Houlton has connections that stretch deep beyond the International boundary line.

The Maliseet Indians helped the new settlers on both sides of the Maine, Canadian border too. Without them, a lot of lost settlers might never have dug in and prospered. And put Houlton Maine on the map. Maine was part of Massachusetts until 1820 when the independent state was formed.

Tall timber stands, rich fertile soil, rivers to fuel a town's needs in early Maine town creation. When the wood lots were cut and cleared to create fields all helped the town of Houlton Maine grow.

So did the railroad that extended from Canada over twenty years before the Bangor and Aroostook train tracks were put into place. The B and A railroad helped open up the Houlton Maine exports to the America markets.

So did the Interstate 95 highway system designed to be the Eisenhower route to move military armaments quickly to and fro. With Lend Lease in World War War II when local Houlton Maine potato farmers hooked on with tractors.

Like most things in the World today, the list of options for buying a Maine home is pretty much endless too.

And it is not always the real estate property buyer picking the best mortgage loan for the home but the other way around.

Because life circumstances like divorce, lay offs, medical down time spent in the break down lane all take their toll. Knock you down and keep you there.

On home loan eligibility success, the ability today to buy or not when you have your heart set on getting under a roof, inside four walls.

The options to buy a Maine home can tighten up and a VA, Maine State Housing loan is one option.

The USDA rural home loan to buy a Maine home is another neat mortgage lending product.

How does the single family USDA RD home loan in Maine work?

Basic Qualifying Information for USDA Loans:

Credit score at or above 620. There can be some exceptions but it might take a little wrenching, looking under the credit hood to repair your credit. To get you bankable and polished up to remove the hard edges that keep you renting, not buying a Maine home.

It all starts with pulling a credit report which once a year in Maine is free. Give them your social security number and watch the machine whirl, purr, spit out the results.

Then peeking at what shows up on that snap shot of you today on paper and chasing down mistakes. That haunt you, follow you and keep you from getting the house keys to a new Maine home.

Everyone needs a helping hand, some assistance and our job is to find a Maine home for sale or other property listing you can afford.

That meets the needs of what you want to do with the real estate in Maine you invest in and use to enhance your life someone.

The goal is not to just list and sell the most expensive Maine homes or to push the label "high end".

No no, it is about having a good selection of all the property listing types, the A to Z of the real estate in Maine for sale.

So any type, location, price range you happen to be needing, we don't have to say go fish. Fresh out. Or to make you wait for us to find something that could meet the need.

All low key, a down to Earth approach with no script. That works best. To learn by listening, taking very good real estate notes. On what you need, and then being a matchmaker, not a high pressure real estate salesperson.

To get you what you are after quickly, making it as pleasurable an experience for everyone.

Time waits for no one. You also can not "sell meat from an empty wagon". Inventory is king, queen, jack and all the other cards combined important. So start by letting us know here at MOOERS REALTY what you are after.

The calls, emails, postal snail mail, texts and office visit lobby questions that come up on the topic of real estate in Maine.

We get some real eye opening doozies. And often the person asking them is in one major hurry and does not want anything but a quick here and now perfect answer to hit and run with thank you very much.

Jack or Jill does not want to be pressed for more information about the real estate involved situation that the question asks warrants for follow up ones right back at them.

And the person with the friend of a friend of a friend often got some of the details or their take for advice in the situation a little mixed up or out of order.

Besides just not having all the facts of the real estate in Maine situation. That prompted the shout out to this Maine broker on this receiving end of the signal.

Patience is a virtue but also a luxury in today's hurry scurry world.

Figuring out the who, what and where in a real estate situation when it is a friend of a friend of a friend can cause hot under the collar to happen. Knowing just enough to be dangerous.

But missing the part of about not always, it depends on this when that happens or is the current problem that affects the rest of the property listing or sale.

The person asking what would I do in a situation like this one is not so cranked when I need to have a little more of the details to give the best answer.

Being kind, helpful are the two qualities anyone needing help wants. But thinking you are making it more complicated than they want but that it is is sometimes hard to swallow.

Texting real estate for sale in Maine information, it is one of many ways MOOERS REALTY gets the word out instantly.

Having kids, staying in touch with them with texting got me in shape for fast paced micro typing.  

Working as a news director in a broadcast media outlet with on air deadlines also helped push the typing proficiency.

With no time to waste diddling around when it was show time to report the news as it happened in the broadcast market place.

Texting real estate information and answers to questions makes it instant, up to date and no delays with text messaging.

No more 9-5 limited waiting around. Real estate buyers looking for local area or property listing information don't want delays. They should not have to kill time or chase down the information on a property listing.

Texting is one more powerful communication tool of many in the real estate marketing arsenal. I bet Captain Kirk's communicator had a slide out keyboard for texting. And we know it was used for lots of helpful things from energizing to replicating a snack on foreign planets boldly going where you and I have never been yet.

I will admit that the screen touch cell phone virtual key boards are not my favorite weapon to reach for but when in a pinch, hand it over.

Heck a tin can and string or carrier pigeon, smoke signals will work if it's all you got or the other end of the signal prefers it. Pick your poison right? Whatever delivery system works best for the buyer or seller. Not moi.

A slide out cell phone with the raised numbers and letters on the keyboard is my tool of choice.

For two thumb back and forth firing off answers to rock responses to text messages on real estate that we receive in a steady stream.

Energy efficient, green homes for sale in Maine.

The property listing request for homes that are healthy spaces for famlies to grow tall and strong is a common query this Maine real estate broker fields daily.

The emails and phone calls, office visits too are from folks that head north from crowded city living.

That want a better way of living and affordable housing that has those triple glazed windows, heat sink interior tile and stone, the fuel miser savings of heat pumps, other solar panel array applications.

Energy independence and housing economy is the overhead of living in a Maine home. Everyone wants that in rural Vacationland.

Green homes in Maine, we lived pretty efficiently long before the frugal lifestyle got a color name applied to it.

Mainers make an art of being frugal not cheap. Growing up on a Maine farm, we were told to be careful with our resources. Shutting lights off, using the southern exposure for illumination and passive solar gain in heating.

Root cellars for canning and preserve storage use to draw from for tasty home made foot supplies over the winter months. Using large gardens to grow what you eat the rest of the three seasons too.

Not heating a space larger than you need and keenly aware of being highly efficient. Anything but wasteful or capricious. We use those open and glass porches, not just doodads for show.

But back to the green homes for sale in Maine. Here is one example of one in town with the successful blend of old style charm and new efficiency.

Check out the link to the green homes for sale in Maine. One prime example of one with over $100,000 invested into it and a sticker property price less than those improvements alone on 35 High Street Houlton Maine.

A fixture in a house sale in Maine. what qualifies for one?

Don't be horse-ing around when it time to talk turkey about fixtures, personal property when selling a Maine home. Does it stay, can it go and what is considered a fixture in a real estate home sale anyway?

The intent with which it was installed, put into place is a big part of the decision on what has to stay or is allowed to go down the road with the seller.

If it is bolted down, permanently attached comes into the discussion too.

Many use these two simple tests above to prove what is or is not a fixture in a real estate home sale.

In my real estate practices class thirty six years ago, the basic definition of a fixture was considered part of the land itself and not a separate piece of property. Whatever was not attached to the property was chattel.

Personal property debates happen if the expectations are not clearly spelled out in a real estate property listing sale. Often the buyer hopes the lawnmower, free standing patio furniture and grill stay.

To be dug up flowers, shrubs, removal of a loved ones remains, we have seen it all.

Including the provision that a future burial of a still alive relative of the present owner can be interned at the family burial plot. Spell it out is the three word command.

Don't leave anything to chance. Up for debate or to become a bone of contention.

If it is Maine farm property being listed, marketed and sold, spell out who gets to harvest the planted crop this fall, the late summer hay after the listing is sold.

The Maine real estate buyer always has a laundry list of "gotta have" items.

But besides the long wish list, the extra one to go with it of "don't wants" and the limitations imposed due to a price range cap for the as good as you can get in the current real estate market inventory, the three L's kick in.

The mantra everyone knows about the three most important aspects of a property listing, of real estate being the location, location, location.

If you were ever on a game show and the guy with the big grin.

Asked the million dollar question about what are the three most important features of a piece of real estate, hard to think of anyone not knowing the answer.

Unless hiding under a rock, or named Rip Van Winkle. Just out of commission for a very long time.

And every real estate market is different. In small rural Maine, the lower priced properties mean don't be looking for a butler's pantry, quartz counter tops or bidets in the bathroom either.

Practical, functional, durable is the order of the day on the low to the ground price tags hanging off the real estate property listings in Maine for sale.

So besides the garden variety items all buyers asks for like is the roof, foundation, the bones of the property structure good, the location of whatever it is comes into the real estate conversation.

Is the basement wet? What are the property taxes? Not many people ask for a swamp in their hunt for Maine land or a house to call home either.