Author: Andrew Mooers

Weather In Maine

Weather in Maine.

What’s in the weather forecast today and down the road is pretty important. Especially if you work and play outside in Maine.

Aerials Capture The Local Surroundings Using A Real Estate Drone.

Unless you are stuck inside, parked on a couch, the outside weather in Maine is pretty darn important.

If your job is at always chained inside to a desk, the forecast weather rain, sun, snow, wind, temperatures impact are not so critical. But true Mainers are outdoors every day of the year. Can’t wait and just make sure to dress accordingly. So many myths about the Maine weather

Have a son who lives in Leadville CO which gets snow fall of over 140 inches a year. Inland Maine gets 100 inches or so of white stuff. More on snowiest area of the US.

Ask a Maine farmer if the weather matters to his/her livelihood.

The family farm depends on just the right amount of rain water. Too much in the spring, delays tilling the soil to prepare the cultivated ground to receive seed. A shorter growing season is one sure way to limit the yield which is your bread and butter. Bigger crops mean more return to pay the one annual payment to stay on the family farm operation.

Breaking even is considered a good year and the weather usually is the biggest culprit in making the feast or famine situation.

The profit is in the expenses because the USA has a cheap food policy. Lots of middle men to get the food serves up on your family table to enjoy. Weather in Maine is one big variable that challenges the bottom line of any farmer in Maine.

From The Air, The Parts Of A Maine Farm And Woodland.

Non stop water keeps the farm tractor from cultivating whatever you plant on the Maine land. Wet falls mean delays in harvest. Or more time spend getting stuck and a struggle to get the crop out before a killing frost happens.

Weather in Maine affects the guys and gals in the full rain gear heading out of a Maine fishing village harbor.

Gale force winds, sleet and snow just increases the dangerous job of fishing off the coast of Maine.

The Coastal Fishing Zones That Slice & Dice Maine’s Craggy, Rock Bound Coastline.

Rainy days at “uptah camp in Maine”.

I will agree some early misty mornings enjoying a fresh coffee are reflective. But weren’t we planning on hiking Mt Katahdin today?

The white water river runs down the mighty Penobscot, Kennebec or Dead depending on the weather in Maine.

Our Highways To Thrill And Maneuver In Maine. Less Travels, Sometimes Watery.

How many in your party and are you a little nervous when the captain of your boat explains what to do if you fall out. If the raft flips over. You plan on getting wet but a hot sun overhead helps the cold chills. When you eddy out to empty the rubber boat, it helps to feel the sun or just glad you are wearing a neoprene wet suit.

Weather in Maine.

Think what if you are a airplane pilot. Ever been delayed from take off in Maine to Florida for the icing the plane procedure? Some days better than others to lift on without a hitch in the flight schedule.

The Falls Colors Explode. Natures Second Bloom Fireworks Happen In Autumn.

I’ve always respected the weather safety flying in Maine variables it takes for the pilot up front

He or she does not want to die or lose any of the crew, the passenger fare load behind in first class and coach. When he, she, their co pilot and crew take off to fly the friendly or not so fun skies.

Studying and passing a FAA Part 107 sUAS drone license just hammered home the point.

Small Private Operator Aircraft Fill A Hangar At A Maine Community Air Field.

Flying seems way way easier than it looks. Ever read a busy airport sectional chart? What do you mean it looks like an upside down wedding cake for controlled air space regulations?

Here are drone laws in Maine.

And METARS, TAF weather reports to study before leaving an airport in a plane or whatever location you launch your unmanned drone. To most people the weather’s impact means just don’t bother washing the car today, it’s gonna rain. Or it will just as soon as I soap up and rinse down wax the vehicle you drive.

Change or weather in Maine or temperatures means more than rethink the wardrobe selection.

Wings & Wheels Fly In To Houlton International Airport (KHUL). Like To Learn How To Fly Like A Bird?

Let’s reconsider the plans to take the kids water skiing or tubing on a Maine lake today due to the choppy rainy colder temperature conditions.

METARS are issued hourly unless significant weather condition changes occur. Wind, precipitation, sky visibility, cloud cover, temperature changes. All that and more are jammed in that weather report aviators use to prepare for what’s ahead.

Here’s a METAR weather report for KHUL, my local Houlton ME airport.

KHUL 231053Z AUTO 00000KT 9SM CLR 03/03 A3034 RMK AO2 SLP278 T00330028

Looks pretty cryptic huh? Not so much once you one by one study each category in the list of flying shorthand. Pilots read them with ease and they are not so hard once you learn out to decipher them. The weather in Maine is critical to whether we fly or not today. With a Maine real estate drone mission, it’s safety first.

Maine Hot Air Balloons. Like To Fly Without An Engine? Turn On The Gas Burner Wilbur Or Orville.

Besides wanting to capture stunning light bright clear stills and video loops from overhead, you want to the real estate drone to return to base. Lots of rules for good reason on where to fly and where you need a drone waiver. Hot air balloons or gliders are a hazard to watch out for flying. The helicopters, airplanes have the right of way so stay clear of those Maine licensed drone pilots.

Drones for real estate, for inspections of roofs to bridges to towers, for agriculture, for national defense, broadcasting, community reels.

The FAA has a lot of extra work to set up rules to control air space use by licensed remote unmanned drone pilots. You don’t want to be collecting drone video loops and still photography images in a lightning storm.

Drones Fly 400′ High Or Under. To Stay Clear Of Helicopters, Other Airplanes, Hot Air Balloons, Gliders.

Flying a drone in Maine.

The weather can ground the drone mission for safety reasons and just because the drone photography needs to captured with blue skies, little or no winds at just the right fly by angle, time of day.

This Is Not The Landscape Where Too Many People Live. Maine Is Less Population, More Natural Unspoiled Space.

Real estate drone video photography is way more than just controlling two thumb stick controls and flying skills.

It’s the same real estate photography and video making skills apply standing on your own two feet on the ground around the new property listing.

Tail Gunner On A B 24 Bomber, John R Mooers Happy. Made It Back To Base ..Barely.

My Dad was a B-24 gunner in World War II.

He wanted to be a pilot. Everyone did and they had plenty of those. His skinny size made him agile and able to fit easily into the back end of the four engine war aircraft. Before climbing up and squeezing back into the tight tail of a multi engine Liberator turned out every 55 minutes. With the help of Rosie back stateside operating the rivet gun.

Prior to a six or seven hour bomb run cramped quarters mission over a primary, secondary target in un-pressurized cabin wearing an oxygen mask. Some missions were “milk runs”. Other had complications involved and weather, mechanicals added to the will we make it home alive.

Cold as a barn at 20,000 or higher feet approaching your target over enemy territory. The plane smelled like a latrine and each flight member in the crew had a survival kit, a parachute.

In the kit was a chocolate bar, an ampule of morphine, some silk thread, a map, some silver certificate currency with the blue seal.

A post car written in seven languages says please help this airman to get to safety and there is a reward in it for the help behind enemy lines.

You can smell the 88 mm shell cordite and gun powder as sharp pieces of flak get a fix on your altitude.

Everything on whether to fly or not today revolved around the weather over the bomb run target. Daylight bombing was very effective but early on, half the planes did not return to base with the rest of the formation.

Weather for flying, from take off to making the big loop in all the artillery flak to return to base lighter than when you left base.

During war time, fighting on the ground and especially high overhead. It all depended on important weather forecast reports. Working around them to help write the words in the history book story.

Weather in Maine, planning your travel or outdoor lawn party, a wedding.

Heck, a long summer of rainy dreary colder days means lower sales at the local Maine ice cream dairy bar. People’s moods go up and down with changes in the Maine weather.

Maine weather changes fast and we have lots of it to make things interesting. I think learning to prepare and handle the weather in Maine helps define us. It makes you deal the best you can around things you can not control and to be flexible.

Thank you for following our Me In Maine blog that covers a range of topics!

Anything Maine is fair game. Please go back in the blog post archives for other interesting Maine blog post topics. And remember. Don’t like the Maine weather, just wait a moment and be ready for the change to keep things interesting!

I’m Maine REALTOR Andrew Mooers, ME Broker

207.532.6573 | info@mooersrealty.com |

MOOERS REALTY 69 North ST Houlton ME 04730 USA

October 25, 2022
Maine Real Estate Market Going Strong

Maine real estate market going strong.

It never fails to be in the local grocery or hardware store, the hair salon, barber shop or out and about in a small community in Maine. Here’s the question always on every Maine home buyer or seller’s mind.

“How’s the Maine real estate market?”

The answer is always where in Maine are you considering buying or selling in today? Maine is one tall, wide state and like the weather that has several zones, real estate market behavior is the same “it depends”. Where in Maine are we talking and what type of property listing are you eyeballing? Yours truly reaching for a Maine real estate business card in the image below.

Gathering To Learn, Network At The Maine Association Of REALTORS State Convention At Samoset Resort.

Just got back from a three day Maine Association of REALTORS state convention.

Here’s the take away for the often asked “how’s the Maine real estate market” question. For starters, a REALTOR, agent, broker does not just list and sell homes in Maine. Land sales in Maine because of the sheer size and lower, spread out population is one big component of listing sales too. Waterfront lots, building sites, land for recreational use with or without a Maine house are highly attractive to real estate buyers around the World. But what about home sweet home in Maine. How do the stats look in a state this big?

The Light House In Rockland ME Out Front Of The Samoset Where ME REALTORS Met This Week.

During COVID, folks seriously hunkered down to search for a new, less crowded location to call home.

To live that had wall to wall strong and long Internet service to telecommute to work. Maine was the number one pick and can you blame folks for pin the tail on Maine? You had lots of fun on vacation in Maine. Why not live where you love to spend four season outdoors for recreation right? So the COVID pandemic helped push Maine real estate property prices and inventory sales up up up.

But remember, where you buy and sell a home in Maine makes a very big difference in the numbers.

Here’s a statewide real estate market in Maine glimpse from MAR.

Registration For The Learning, Networking. This Year’s Maine REALTORS State Convention At The Samoset In Rockland ME.

At our 2022 Maine state REALTORS convention held this week at Rockland’s Samoset Resort, we learned overall real estate listing inventory is down 10%, home prices are up the same 10%.

Lucky to have the National Association Of REALTOR’s Lawrence Yun, chief economists for the NAR beam in for a ZOOM presentation. The live stream segment was very helpful and all tailor made to just Maine’s real estate market. Maine stands out on the map and there is a good star for affordable housing even with tight inventory supplies.

We are luckier than most and the look out ahead is brighter in Maine for property listing sales in the days ahead. Maine is the way life should be.

Maine’s REALTOR Convention Brings In Agents And Brokers From Around The State For Education.

Networking, continuing education credits to renew your Maine real estate license are all great reasons to gather at a state REALTOR convention.

But the talk around the meal time dinner tables, the sharing what’s it like in your community and real estate market compared to another in Maine is invaluable. You learn outside the continuing education classroom meet up from the conversations in the hallways, during snacks and socializing.

The common denominator is we all know how lucky each of us is to live in Maine and help others buy and sell a piece of property.

There is no other place on Earth I would rather live than in a small rural Maine community. These movers and shakers so active in their Maine communities are the “they” that need to do this or plan for that. During one of the three meals to fuel up at a state convention, you learn about Tom’s a scout leader, his son is working on his eagle scout designation. Pete is from Scotland, lost his wife less than a year ago and shows me a photo of his orange cat.

REALTORS are people, that are part of families, communities and very invested in wherever they live in Maine.

Sheryl has a duty to warm up the crowd and welcome everyone back to the REALTOR convention. Susan makes each convention better and more memorable, helpful than the one before with the help of all the other Maine Association of REALTOR members. The older seasoned veterans who have weathered a few real estate markets help the ones who are brand new with much to learn. But the younger more digital real estate agents, broker help those older analog members of MAR.

It’s like a family that all work their matchmaking magic on the find or sell a home, whatever type of Maine real estate listing type.

Early Morning With Rising Sun, Lots Of Mist, Dew At The 2022 ME REALTOR Convention.

You don’t pay your money to attend an event in small town rural Maine.

You are working behind the scenes yearly to pull off the community event again and again. That’s how you get to know the other residents living around you. Small towns, Maine has over 430 of them, just a handful of cities. Down home simple, friendly, common sense and grateful to live here Maine towns are like that.

More intimate, tighter connected and everyone willing to work for the common good to make the community a the best possible place to live. That’s Maine, what we are listing for sale way beyond the four walls, roof and floor of the structures. The just listed property listings with a silent salesman sign speared in the lawn out front to broadcast hey. This one’s for sale and probably will go into a multi offer scenario so can you say bidding war?

Maine REALTOR Market Report From Lawrence Yun, NAR’s Chief Economist ZOOMs In To Annual Meeting.

Will continue to do Maine real estate market reports.

Glad to be back in “The County” and it was a little over 3 hour drive all downhill to arrive at this year’s Maine REALTORS state convention in Rockland ME. No working vacation goes unpunished even with cellphones and the Internet email connections that are your traveling companion. Hope you are enjoying your fall in Maine or wherever you are.

I’m Maine REALTOR Andrew Mooers, ME Real Estate Broker

207.532.6573 | info@mooersrealty.com |

MOOERS REALTY 69 North ST Houlton ME 04730 USA

October 14, 2022
St Andrews By The Sea, New Brunswick Canada

St Andrews By The Sea, New Brunswick Canada.

When you live in Maine, quick frequent trips into Canada happen. Why do Mainers cross the border into Canada? Lots of reasons. The dollar is worth more than the loonie. The Canadian provinces are beautiful and people who populate them friendly, warm, genuine.

Lots Of Shops, Not Franchise Set Ups. One Of A Kind Old Originals.

And if you check your family lineage, I bet you will find a DNA connection. My Dad’s mom for instance was 100% Canadian. That means your Me In Maine blog post writer has Canadian blood in the hemoglobin mixture of the red stuff.

This blog post is about a quick but fun trip to St Andrews By The Sea, New Brunswick Canada.

Honeybeans One Neat Breakfast Stop While Vacationing In St Andrews By The Sea. Maine Border Towns Can Mini Vacation Easily Due To Their Unique Time Saving Locations.

Being close to the Canadian border living in on the International boundary line is a real perk.

Houlton ME is a border town with the province of New Brunswick Canada. Just like if you live up in the St John River Valley in the “Crown of Maine”, frequent trips from both sides of the border in Maine and Quebec occur.

I tell people new to the area that living in a Maine border town is like a two nation vacation.

They Did Not Make Ford Edsels Very Long. Don’t See Many Station Wagons.

COVID did put a slight damper on the trotting back and forth border crossings trips between Maine and our Canadian cousins.

Had two boys that chased the black circle, played hockey with half their games over on a solid polished sheet of Canadian ice. It was not uncommon for four times a week or more to be crossing over from Maine into Canada with a Jeep full of young hockey players. But this past weekend’s mini vacation from Houlton ME to St Andrews By The Sea was an old travel habit resumed.

Like before COVID and from back in the hockey game at a different Canadian hockey arena days, it was a nice return.

Where parents have as much fun as the skaters. My two boys played winter hockey tournaments in St Andrews and it looked different with less businesses open and some white stuff on the ground.

Two Scoops Of Bounty Please. Unique Flavors, Tasty Ice Cream At St Andrews By The Sea.

The border crossing was a super pleasant experience.

The ArriveCAN app to make your appointment to cross the Canadian border syncs up quick and easy with your shot records and passport. If you’ve had your COVID shots, the crossing a border between Canada and Maine is nothing to fear or avoid. Red maple leaf rover, red maple leaf rover, come on over.

The Way To Ministers Island. Just Follow The Tide Charts And Ocean Floor Roadway. Looks Like A Jeep Commercial Doesn’t It?

And both sides of the border are all for the commerce benefits the crossings provide consumers eh?

So leaving Houlton ME, sliding into the port of entry lane entering New Brunswick Canada on our way to St Andrews.

Leaving Houlton ME, Entering Canada Where I-95 Connects To The Trans Canada Highway. This Is The Scene Leaving The States, The USA.

When leaving Maine, you pass right by the Houlton or whatever border town port of entry.

They will be seeing you on the return back into the states for the questions. The “where have you been, anything for firearms, alcohol, plants? Bringing anything back to declare or picked up on your trip over into Canada?”

Just like TSA, don’t be a comedian, easy on the irritation tone from lack sleep or over spending on your vacation.

For national security, the border crossing customs and immigration people are just going their job. Help them do their routine and everyone behind you can be on their return from Canada way with a little empathy!

When you get on the Trans Canada, switch your cell phone to airplay mode to avoid Canadian cell phone tower roaming charges. Learned that one on ski trips to Crabbe Mountain in Canada. There is lots of commerce happening back and forth across our common Maine Canadian border.

Entry To Canada After Leaving The Houlton ME Port Of Entry Border Crossing.

Two hours, sixteen minutes or 113.8 miles heading from Houlton ME to St Andrews By The Sea, New Brunswick Canada.

Easy trip with lots of scenery and everything on road signs in metric numbers and not forgetting those speaking French as a major language. You have left Maine and suddenly everything changes a tad in a good way. So so lucky to live this close to Canada and hope folks on the other side of the border feel the same way about Maine in the International connection.

This last minute dash into Canada on a Labor Day week found the Algonquin Hotel was booked solid at St Andrews By The Sea.

Algonquin Hotel In St Andrews. Rich History As A Passenger Train Destination Like The Hotel Frontenac In Quebec City.

This blog post about another grand yesteryear hotel that my family made trips to during Winter Carnival. We stayed at the Hotel Frontenac in Quebec City Canada.

But back to the St Andrews and making this more of a photo blog post so you can sample the eye candy and flavor of this quaint seacoast harbor town.

Harbor Scene Of St Andrews By The Sea In The Maritimes Of New Brunswick Canada.

In For The Night, St Andrews As Dusk Arrives In A New Brunswick Harbor Town.

The salt air, change of scenery, meeting new people doing the same getaway before school goes back in. The change from summer tourist season waiting for leaf peekers looking for the red and other changing color maple leave of early fall.

Each trip into Canada or Maine is a different experience depending on your season and whatever is happening in your life at the time.

Every been to Canada on a vacation and aren’t you long overdue for a Maine getaway to unplug and recharge?

Ever Had Dulse? Big Treat In Canada.

My Godfather Ralph Black was from Canada and became an American citizen and move to the states. Ralph, a World War 1 veteran who wore a few pieces of shrapnel in his lungs and knew first hand what mustard gas was in the trenches. He loved dulse. Dulse are a different kind of seaweed. Meg and i opted for the seafood. Had a bucket of mussels and then moved on to one of the best seafood chowders I have ever tasted.

Neat Little Apartment Like Cabin Units At The Seaside Beach Resort, St Andrews, Canada.

We stayed at the Seaside Beach Resort and loved the lodging set up, the ease to walk the street to our meal venue. Neat location and no car to drive again once you arrive. Or well, until we decided to head over to Ministers Island the next day before returning to Houlton Maine.

One Highly Recommended Place To Stay In St Andrews… Seaside Beach Resort.

St Andrews New Brunswick Canada. Fun Mini Vacation Destination.

Ministers Island, doesn’t that sound like a place for clergy to be? Part of this 500 acre island was once owned by an Anglican minister but bought by an American hired to build a new section of Canadian railroad. This railroad executive got the job done before the deadline and under budget. Read more about Sir William Van Horne, a big cog in the Canadian Pacific Railroad.

Bald Eagle Trolling For A Fish Dinner In St Andrews By The Sea. Photo Capture On Way To Ministers Island, St Andrews Cross Ocean Floor Roadway.

You have to watch the tides to visit Ministers Island.

Ministers Island St Andrews. 500 Acres Farm Estate With Impressive Buildings.

Traveling by foot, car, bike, you can cross the ocean floor that when the tide is out, you don’t have the 14 feet of seawater to contend with overhead. You will see one massive barn and a 17 bedroom mansion with 42′ x 30 formal dining room for all the guests.

Ministers Island, Summer Estate Of Sir William Van Horne, St Andrews Canada.

Meg and I loved touring the big yesteryear smasher sized home with all the furnishings of period.

Bought With The Million Dollar Bonus Given To Van Horne For Early Railroad Completion Under Budget.

The Wood Cook Stove On Ministers island Summer Estate. No Glass Top Easy To Clean Surface Here.

Many Course Meals Served Up In The 42’x30′ Formal Dining Room At The Van Horne Summer Estate.

8 Ball Corner Pocket. No Netflix, HBO. More Game Playing Inside And Out.

Rack ‘Em Up And Sink ‘Em One By One. Crochet, Billiards, Ping Pond, Making Puzzle Time. No Devices. Communication By Post, Telegram Not Text.

Be sure to tour the barns, stables and farm outbuildings at Ministers Island.

Not Your Average Farm Barn. And Carefully Preserved At Ministers Island.

Very impressive and well kept, over designed and not your average farm operation barns or accessory buildings at the Van Horne, Ministers Island summer estate.

Van Horne Estate’s Barn Stable Creamery Buildings. Like No Other.

I own and cherish a Maine farm barn and buildings, land around it but nothing on the scale of this St Andrews estate’s set up style and size.

Masonry, Rock, Beams, Posts And Iron. The Barns, Stables On Ministers Island.

Inside The Van Horne Summer Estate Farm Barn And Stables. Lots To See And Transport Back To The Early 1900’s Way Of Living.

Grain Silos, Farm Barn At Van Horne Ministers Island Vacation Summer Estate.

Warm Up In Late Spring, Early Fall. This Estate Only Used Summers. Not The Dutch Ancestry Motive Of The Fireplace Tiles?

Hope this little travelogue to St Andrews By The Sea gives you inspiration to tour Minister Island, the seacoast harbor surroundings.

Water, whether in Maine, Canada, everywhere fixes everything right? See you next installment of the Me In Maine blog!

I’m Maine REALTOR Andrew Mooers, ME Broker

207.532.6573 | info@mooersrealty.com | MOOERS REALTY 69 North ST Houlton ME 04730 USA

September 8, 2022
High School Class Reunions In Maine | How To Make Attendance Higher

High school class reunions in Maine.

How to make attendance higher at Maine high school reunions? This blog post about a recent high school reunion in Maine I attended and reasons why or why not classmates attend one.

For starters, COVID messed up the in person Maine high school class reunions for a few years.

High School Reunions In Maine, How To Make Attendance Increase?

Or you could argue more people could attend a cyber class reunion using ZOOM technology. But we all know online meet ups are just not the same. How do you mingle and move around the room in a ZOOM meeting?

You don’t get to make the rounds to personally see and talk with your high school class group sitting up straight peering into a video camera.

So high school class reunions in Maine. Here are tips to make the attendance the best it can be. What to do and what to avoid to cause great participation at a Maine class reunion.

First, in small Maine towns, lots of the high school classmates still live local for the reunion.

Some of them moved away, climbed up the ladder, joined the service or left for many reasons. Some away classmates relocated and then later in life returned to their small town Maine roots for a simpler lifestyle.

High School Class Reunions In Maine, How To Improve Attendance Numbers?

Cheaper Maine real estate and cashing in the chips with high priced urban properties.

Trading it all in for no crime, no traffic the push to return back to small Maine town living.

If you already live local and are in the biggest group, a high school class reunion should be a piece of cake to gain large attendance.

This is the biggest group yet often the hardest to get to attend your class reunion. Why?

Fear of I am not quite successful enough to attend my high school class reunion.

Not wanting to be judged or comfortable with your answers to “what have you been up to since we graduated from a Maine high school?”. Some classmates attended their fifth or tenth class reunion and got a dose of “why did you stay in your home town” questioning. I thought you were smarter than that is the inference from anyone in your class out to impress you with their Worldly success.

High School Class Reunion, Where To Have It In Maine?

Made to feel like a “loser local” or hearing continuously about me me my success in life by just a few not so warm and fuzzy classmates can be disastrous.

For some wanting to see old high school classmates but secretly hoping a few just don’t make it home to attend they view toxic.

Some argue the high school class reunions are not so needed due to social media keeping everyone up to date. Heck, you even get notifications when it is someone’s birthday. People already feel connected and can catch up or get updated online on a regular basis.

Were you active in your high school class or moved away before graduation?

Were there several clicks in your high school or one big happy family with lots of spirit? Let’s face it, some high school classes just were tighter knit and the chemistry more connected.

High School Reunions, What To Serve Up For Hungry Classmates?

Small high school class size in Maine towns has something to do with it too. When your graduating class was in the teens or under one hundred, you were closer. No one forgotten or lost in the shuffle. And smaller class size Maine high school graduates I think make a bigger effort to attend.

It is harder to miss who did not come in a small high school class then one from Maine’s handful of city larger class size reunions.

High school class reunions in Maine, it’s a lot like a family reunion too.

The bigger the family, the more like a reunion it feels when more make the effort to show up on the magic day. With all the generations in the family bringing their covered dish or whatever contribution to the family party celebration.

What To Serve up To Eat During The High School Meet And Greet?

Some families are closer than others just like Maine high school classes. With families, who married into it can be a blessing or cause division. At a class reunion, who they married does not impact the attendance as much. Unless at the last reunion someone drank too much or flirted or just did not like all the old high school information shared with their new spouse.

So, was the high school reunion experience a good one for the classmate?

If yes, why wouldn’t they want to attend each and every reunion? Unless sickness, distance away or timing was an obstacle, some classmates from far away always make the most effort to attend the reunion.

The high school classmates handy to the reunion who do not attend.

Have they forgotten the ones from out of state and feel they get to see everyone local already? Unless you pick up an old high school year book and thumb through the images once in a while, it is easy to lose touch. Until you see or hear about a classmate’s death, and feel we need to have a high school reunion. It’s later than you think and none of us is getting any younger by the day right?

High School Reunion On Drews Lake In New Limerick ME!

So more tips to improve attendance of your Maine high school class reunion.

Pick a good easy to access high school reunion venue, like Tall Timber Lodge in New Limerick on Drews Lake. There is a cost for the out of town or state classmate to attend. But regardless if local or not, a personal contact by email, snail mail, social media postings have to happen. Watch a video on Drews Lake island property sold a while back but that gives you a feeling of what the Northern Maine waterfront location is like.

If you want to improve attendance, effort to show each and every classmate no one is left behind has to be obvious. The classmates that were in the flock until eighth grade or moved away should be invited to the reunion too. Those that were in one high school but finished the education in another. It can be like a ball player traded mid season and like a man or woman without a country in not feeling like you belong. The class reunion attendance improving approach has to always be “not member left behind”.

Who’s Changed The Least, Most? Who Traveled The Most Miles To Get To The Class Reunion?

“Also, no one let me know until the last minute. “

That’s a huge excuse for why some classmates missed the Maine class reunion. But is it the truth? When high school reunion notices were mailed, emailed, with follow up texts and personal calls. Even getting your family to sound the bugle charge to retreat, return to your class reunion.

Or what if the high school experience was not so much fun or you were not so social, not a scholar or an athlete? For some they ran away from their home town high school or parents relocated, divorced and severed the connection.

Why would you want to go to the expense, take the time to hang out with a group of classmates and a high school you spent years trying to escape?

Is that how you feel about your high school class? Let’s face it, some of us are more social than others. Or high school was a struggle for lots of personal reasons.

Maybe a few in your class are the last people on Earth you would want to spend a few hours with after all these years. Or do you fall in this group “I attended the 10th high school reunion, found little in common with my fellow classmates who I shared those four years of high school. Went to the 20th reunion under pressure from my best friend and it was even worse.”

“Everyone Line Up, Tallest In Back, Shorter Ones In Front Class! “

So now there may be mini high school reunions where a few in your class stay in touch and it is pick and choose. If the “reunion” is a few classmates critique members in a not so favorable way when they do “meet up”, that could be a big reason why so low a turnout to milestone events.

The cost of the reunion, especially in the early class meet ups can be a factor.

Was the event lavish and expensive or simple and low cost to appeal to a larger audience? Did the high school reunion committee work long and hard or was their disention in the planning ranks? Too many, too little planners for the reunion?

The many little reasons that help or hurt attendance means awareness of how people decide should I go or not?

The more reunions you miss, the harder getting classmates to go becomes. Some don’t view high school graduation as that big a deal. Many argue I “peaked” outside of the halls and classrooms of their high school. Done, finished, not going back to their high school reunion.

Hopping Table To Table To Meet, Greet, Catch Up At A Maine High School Class Reunion.

Or what if your small Maine high school is no longer?

Lost are the game balls in a trophy case, class colors and the gym, classrooms, cafeteria because the school is no longer. Merged with a larger school administration district SAD or RSU.

I’ve been told “you feel out of the loop”. The feeling only intensifies the more reunions you don’t attend. So just go to the next one, l heard someone whisper in the blog post audience. Like a church invitation that is always open for you to attend.

The invite that says “you can always come home”.

All’s forgiven, here’s this week’s program and all the church bulletin happenings to get you up to speed and back in the flock. Many who do attend class reunions is because they sincerely want to reunite and see old friends, recall school stories. These folks wish there were more class reunions.

“I’m over weight, just went through a divorce, or oh, I wasn’t that close to anyone in my class.” Good excuses and how some decide I’m not going to this or any of my class reunions. For some, I could wait to get out of town and after the graduation, I high tailed to the big city lights. Rippe3d off the rear view mirrors and never looked back.

I didn’t graduate from this Maine high school.

Was that the reason not to go or were they even invited to the class reunion? Don’t overlook anyone in your class and make an effort to find their location. In this day and age of Internet connection, it is easier than ever to “Google” someone. To search Facebook, other social media platforms to find your classmate. Without the “return to sender” experience.

High School Class Reunions Deceased Members. Sad But Part Of The Reunion Head Count And Catching Up Process.

Calling other local classmate’s family to get them to help invite the MIA’s is good recruiting too.

You really ought to go to your class reunion Maine high school.

And put an extra emphasis on if you have not been to any class reunion, you especially are missed and classmates so happy to see you. Or your spouse helps push you to the event with or without them.

But what if that spouse views your class reunion as torture being in a room where probably half the attending have no connection to the class. Or maybe they do and married a classmate, someone a couple years older or younger who is anxious to attend.

Time of year, trying to schedule a class reunion for your Maine high school when out of towners are home anyway helps your attendance.

Cost, menu, venue, timing impacts attendance whether everyone has a good time or not.

Class Reunions For Your High School In Maine? Do You Go? Why Or Why Not?

The program for a Maine high school class reunion, how do you make sure everyone has a good time? The year you graduated music that is like a time machine transporting your class back to high school. Alcohol, can it help or hurt the class reunion. Everyone comes away glad they came and thinking about the next reunion because of the success.

And isn’t the entertainment beside music is good food, the classmates themselves?

Remembering the good times, paying respects for those you lost as the Maine high school class year size of the living shrinks?

Apathy, because of overbooked living or because high school classes differ? Some more rah rah rah school spirit and others “meh”? I know some high school classes that just were tighter, like one big Maine family that stays together closer during and after graduation.

Maine class reunions, the effort to attend important or thinking the high school event has gone the way of the hoola hoop, chia pets, cherry cokes, drive ins, mullets, bobby socks, penny loafers and cracker jacks? What’s your experience with high school class reunions and any tips on how to increase attendance?

I’m Maine REALTOR Andrew Mooers, ME Broker

207.532.6573 | info@mooersrealty.com | MOOERS REALTY 69 North ST Houlton ME 04730 USA

September 6, 2022
Buying A Home In Maine, Rising Interest Rates

Buying a home in Maine with rising interest rates.

How does the increase in interest rates charged by Maine mortgage lenders affect the buying a home in Maine today?

This blog post is about the Maine real estate market.

How’s The Market? What’s My Home Worth? Interest Going Up, What’s That Do To Home Sales?

What is hunt and pecked here is not for some other area of the country. It is not a blog post to try to generalize for the nation and is specific to rural Maine. Real estate news is part of the blog posting here on Me In Maine blog. Time to update that corner of the blogging platform. Underneath everything is the real estate right?

Maine has a handful of cities and over 400 small communities.

In small town Maine real estate housing markets, here is what is happening. Pre-COVID, the Maine real estate market was healthy and robust. During the COVID pandemic, the market in Maine for real estate only got hotter, faster, more intense.

Desperation to get to Maine, to high tail it out of the crowded city living became the mantra.

“Move to Maine”. “Gotta move to Maine NOW”. The urban real estate dwellers could cash in on high prices and shrinking housing inventory where they lived. And cross the big green bridge on the southern tip of Maine to relocate to Vacationland.

Maine House Hunting. Higher Interest Rates, Less Real Estate Listing Supply. Still Hot Market In Maine. So Much Lower Priced Properties Than Other Areas Is Why.

Buying a new home in Maine, maybe build on a vacant piece of land and not even need a local bank mortgage. Heading in the direction of Maine means for many, “free and clear”. Look Mom, no mortgage.

Interest rates if you needed a home bank mortgage were at historic lows in Maine, everywhere.

The cost of housing in Maine was still so so far below the market the out of state buyer put in their rear view mirror.

So with interest rates increasing a few notches, what has that done today to the Maine real estate housing market? It did not slow down house sales, it increased the panic to get a Maine home before rates climb higher.

Anything On The Maine Waterfront Is A Popular Real Estate Search. Hot Temps Help Fuel That Market Segment.

The increase in interest rates for bank financing home buyers only caused greater pressure and stress to get a house under contract. To entice a seller to enter into a signed purchase and sale agreement.

And remember, Maine real estate values as you get away from the coastal and population centers goes down down down.

To match the local pay scale and distance away from major markets that you enjoy the deeper up into Maine you travel. We don’t like debt, avoid mortgages that drag on forever. Debt is like a cancer to most true Mainers.

Not Cooling Off In My Area Of Maine Real Estate Wise. Low Prices, Big Demand To Get To Maine Makes The Local Market Hot.

Equity loans are through the roof in my smaller Northern Maine real estate market.

Talk to any of the local six lenders and they all say the same thing. Struggling to get home mortgage loans in the pipeline processed and issued a clear to close memo for the local attorneys. Scrambling at the same time to write home equity loans to get their home owner’s the best interest rate available today.

Add to it the pressure for a seller who has way way too big a house and who worries about the cost to heat it this winter. That seller wants to cash in on the brisk real estate market in Maine and get this oversized property sold.

Parked On The Maine Coastline? Waterfront Real Estate Prices Still Hot. Never Ever Enough Supply Of Property On The Water.

When a real estate home buyer has less to select from, the pressure to buy whatever is available increases.

There is competition from other home buyers, not from too many house listings to pick from today. Multiple offers, buyers upping the ante to make their purchase and sale contracts the most attractive possible is the only course of action.

How do you make sure your offer to buy a home in Maine has the best chance possible of being accepted by the owner?

Think like a seller. What would you do if you were the house owner and had lots of written offers to buy your home spread out before you? This offer has a dollar deposit, that one wants to negotiate the price by half. When not much for sale in the housing supply and demand, forget trying to wheel and deal and get a lower price.

Living In Small Maine Towns. Local Pride, More Hands On Community Involvement Happens.

What’s that I heard in a loud whisper from the back of the Maine blogging room?

You said you have never paid list price for anything in your life and are not about to today? Bow out, take a break, wait for a different real estate market that is tilted to favor a buyer not the seller.

As Linda Gifford, our legal beagle who used to head up our Maine Association of REALTORS hot line told us at an annual meeting a couple years ago.

“Put on your big girl and big boy pants”. It was advice for her own adult children who wanted to buy a home in a hot market with little supply and too big a demand.

Maine REALTOR Conventions, The Next On October 11-13 At The Samoset Resort.

Linda’s sage advice for buying a home in a hot real estate market was don’t try to nickel and dime.

Don’t have a slew of contingencies that no home seller in their right mind would accept today. Wasting time for you, your seller, their agents and no listing home sale the result. That’s what happens in today’s real estate market where you have to go above and beyond.

Gathering Maine REALTORS To Discuss The Current Market, For Continuing Education Credits, Networking.

Bigger deposits, heck put the whole purchase price in escrow if you are sure you are going to buy a home in Maine.

That’s send the strongest signal possible to help a home seller know who to pick from many offers. A purchase price higher than list and no delays, zip for contingencies other than clear title. Those cash purchases look pretty attractive to a Maine home seller. Make his or her eenie meenie miney moe task quick and easy.

If you don’t have the stomach for that kind of multiple offer bidding war mentality to buy a home in Maine, bow out and wait.

I remember interest rates to buy a Maine home when they were 16.5% adjustable. Commercial rates even higher than that.

How’s Your Local Maine Real Estate Market? State Conventions A Way To Poll The ME REALTORS.

Heck, my first home was an attractive at the time 12.25% fixed Maine state housing mortgage rate.

She was a cute as a button 3 bedroom, 1.5 bath cape with fireplace, hardwood floors and garage. When interest rates are high, the inventory begins to pile up as the real estate market cools off and slows down.

When there are more buyers, as interest rates climb, the shift to a buyer’s market with more selection and less chance of a bidding war happens.

Today in Maine, the housing market is still tight. More than ever if the out of state buyer can sell their home and cash in the chips, they are heading to Maine. Especially if the new home they buy in Maine is served by high speed Internet connectivity. Working remotely, telecommuting to their online job from Maine is the dream of many employed home buyers.

Living In A Small Maine Town. Getting More Than A House, Developing A Strong Local Connection Happens.

They don’t need a job in Maine, they have one they pack up and bring along if the wireless, copper or fiber Internet signal is long and strong. Or some retired, going to start a business in Maine to create a job or two.

The retired Maine home buyer from out of state is ready for less crime, no traffic and the friendlier help each other out neighborly feeling.

That’s what living in rural Maine real estate markets with less people and cheaper housing prices is like. The emphasis is off money, needing lots of it to fuel the day to day. More hands on, DIY and prepared for a recession around the next corner kinda thinking. Common sense, simple approach to living and making the most of any situation life throws at you.

Music Town Of Maine. Welcome To Houlton ME, Aroostook County!

When the out of state real estate market slows because rising interest rates start to erode the buying power of the pool of purchasers, the Maine housing market will cool off. Inventory supplies will increase, building material costs will come down. The days on market (DOM) number will increase and new home listings will not go under contract within hours after going on the market.

But as long as the supply of homes for sale in Maine is about 1.3 months worth if nothing new was listed, sellers are looking forward to a favorable market.

And buyers are still under the gun to find an affordable home to buy in rural Maine.

Maine Small Family Farms. You Know Your Local Farmer In Rural Areas Of Maine.

Do the best you can with the market that is. Owning not renting is your best course of action. You can always remortgage or pay ahead on whatever mortgage rate you secure in a Maine home loan. And in time, the higher cost of lending if interest rates go up up up will only cause a better selection, lower house prices to reflect higher mortgage rates.

Too often the news you get about the real estate market is from a west coast new source or some area that does not look anything like the Maine property listing landscape. Thinking about buying or selling a home in Maine? Wondered how interest rates increasing affecting the local Maine real estate market? Hope this blog post on Maine real estate, the local markets around the state and how interest rates fan the flames is helpful.

I’m Maine REALTOR Andrew Mooers, ME Broker

207.532.6573 | info@mooersrealty.com | MOOERS REALTY 69 North ST Houlton ME 04730 USA

August 16, 2022
Farmers Markets In Maine, Locally Sourced Home Grown Food

Farmers Markets in Maine, locally sourced home grown food is a beautiful thing!

Farm to table is nothing new to Maine communities. Home grown garden and farm field food is one of the perks to living in an area with lots of fertile land soil. Vendors that set up displays at local Maine farmer’s markets are not just veggies or produce either. Expect to see everything from cut fresh flowers in floral display, home made arts and crafts, baked goods, oils and home remedies of all types too. Cheeses, poultry and dairy product items too are common at local farmers markets in Maine.

Maine Amish Families Help The Varied Selection Of Local Farmers Market Offerings.

Maine has a lot of Amish settlements and these local farm groups make sure the trip to the weekly farmer’s market worth your while.

Kids, older adults and everyone in between age wise host the farmer’s market tables. In the Houlton Maine area, the Community Farmer’s Market event venue is beautiful historic Market Square.

Here’s a local community farmers market in Maine video from Aroostook County put together from last Saturday.

Do you grow a garden or live on a full time, maybe a hobby farm in Maine?

Lots of the requests for Maine real estate are buyers on the hunt for something with land. The more Maine land the better and if it is not a cut over woodlot and has open pasture fields, all the better. Cultivating soil that is ready to work means more time to spend at the local farmers market in Maine location.

Clearing a woodlot to create a Maine farm pasture field is a lot of work.

Maine Farm Pasture Field Of Red, White Clover And Wild Flowers.

But unless the present Maine land owner has kept the ground in cultivation or hays or bush hogs the property, trees happen. Young brush, vegetation and trees pop up quickly. Fallow worn out land in Maine is not so quickly forested. To farm it means putting back the soil amendments to make the Maine agricultural land productive. Like to own some land in Maine?

Being a good steward of the Maine farm land is key.

To maintaining top production land value and to reduce erosion and anything that hurts the quality of the farming operation. Giving your land in Maine to the next generation of loved ones in better shape, or at least as good as you received it. It is a sacred responsibility for Maine farmers no matter what size of operation they til, tend, weed, water and feed after spring planting.

Agriculture, farming in Maine can mean crops, critters and it is not always just meat and potatoes simple.

Farmer’s Market, Local Community Agriculture Served Up Farm To Table.

Strawberry patches, blueberries that are wild or cultivated along with fresh farm corn, cukes, carrots, squash, onions, lettuce, beans, peas if you please. As the season progresses, the selection of what’s offered up at the Maine farmer’s market increase in variety.

Farmers markets in Maine expand and contract depending on the weather and where you and I are on the calendar.

Canned preserves, dried fruits, pickled vegetables and anything else destined for the root cellar is fair game to peddle at the farmer’s market in Maine.

Farmer’s Market Fresh Flowers. More Than Just Fruits, Vegetables, Baked Goods.

Community Market Farmers Market In Houlton Maine.

The bounty from the harvest of the Maine agricultural farm setting. Leaf lettuce, radishes, fresh garlic, scallions, a slew of vegetable and fruit offerings await at your local farmstead manned by family, friends, your local neighbors. There is so much sense of community doing business at a local farmer’s market in Maine venue.

Early on, dry beans, product from last growing season canned and pickled may be what’s for sale early on at the local community farmer’s market.

But as the stronger sunshine overhead works it magic with time, seed, water and fertilizer, more local produce, fruits and vegetables combine with the fresh eggs, baked goods and other items.

What’s For Sale At The Local Maine Farmer’s Market? New Vendors, New Offerings Each Week To Check Out.

Each week, lots of bartering and farmer market exchanges happen within the vendor community too.

Like one farmer’s market vendor in the Maine community video says, he issues lots of personal IOU’s. Has never been burnt or come up short in payment. That’s shows you the quality of the local Maine people who shop the farmer’s market. Or that he is a pretty good judge of character.

More on the area of Houlton Maine where this local community farmers market event happens each and every weekend in Market Square. What’s it like living in Aroostook County, Maine? Here’s a blog post on picking potatoes in Maine.

More Than Peas And Carrots And Ears Of Farm Fresh Corn. Lots To Check Out At Maine Farmer’s Markets.

Thank you for following our Me In Maine blog posts.

Hope you get a sense of what living in Maine is all about from the entries. Sure am glad I live, work and play in Maine and try to share that simple way of life that happens here day and night. This blog post on Maine farmer’s markets is an easy one requiring less hunt and peck wordage. Images can say a thousand words. The video takes you to the local community farmers market in Maine event.

I’m Maine REALTOR Andrew Mooers, ME Broker

207.532.6573 | info@mooersrealty.com |

MOOERS REALTY 69 North ST Houlton ME 04730 USA

August 11, 2022