Lady bugs in Maine, seems like more than usual this year?
As Mainers open up their Maine lake camps and homes, more lady bugs are on the scene this spring.
Slow moving and not bothering anyone but showing up in greater numbers.
Has anyone else noticed lady bugs attracted to the light on windowsills, over doorways at Maine waterfront seasonal properties?
Lady Bug In Maine, Seeing More Of Them Than Normal This Year?
I grew up on a family farm and my Dad always told the four boys lady bugs are good for potato growers.
The Asian lady beetle imported back in 1916. Brought to America deliberately by the USDA to help tackle an aphid pest problem on pecan, other nut trees. Here in Maine, in the 1970’s, the seven spot lady bug was welcomed in
to help battle our potato aphid problem. The aphids were wreaking havoc with the potato plant leaves and hurting yields, costing Maine potato farmers hard earned money.
Are You In This Dream About Maine Vacations? Low Cost, No People, More Wildlife, Better Sunrises, Sunsets. Maine.
In other online posts you read in the 1990’s there was an explosion of thirteen spot lady bugs in Maine cruising, hitching a free ride in on cargo ships.
Now I have to look closer, to see the difference in my lake place in Maine lady bug population.
(Squinting) They all look the same and did not know there were so many differences. Never gave it much thought other than Dad said lady bugs are our Maine farm friends.
More Than One Kind Of Lady Bug In Maine.
A real natural help and a good farm insect. Like finding more angle worms, Earth rooms in the soil. Lady bugs are a good sign and have an important job to do on the Maine potato farm.
Eating those pesky Colorado potato beetles to help the spud crop for Maine growers.
No Two Maine Lake Sunsets The Same. Cause You Are Not The Same. They Hit You Differently.
So off to count the number of spots, study the color of red to orange difference in my new uninvited lake house guests.
Local Maine pototo growers are struggling with a cold, wet rainy spring this spring.
Working hard getting the ground ready, the crop planted in between rain showers to plant them in the ground.
While sweeping, clearing cobwebs, washing windows, spring cleaning at the lake property…
I wonder why all my cute, slow moving red orange with black spot buddies, the lady bugs are showing up in Maine in greater number this spring?
How come so many and are lady bugs a problem? A lake home in Maine buyer this morning told me she is not so fond of the Mexican beetle that bites.
Not sure if I have any other those but how do you control the insect pest population best?
And knowing you are on a Maine lake and extra sensitive not to upset the natural balance or end up hurting another waterfront neighbor.
This East Grand Lake log home buyer told me how she remedied the Asian lady bug, Mexican lady bug and all her other orange back with black spot house guests.
Peaceful, Like A Bottom Smooth And Glassy. Maine Lakes Have Different Surfaces And Change With The Weather.
She said the Ortho product from Tractor Supply did not work but a Spectracide one did.
My life partner Meg is death on anything chemical no matter not carefully applied or how safe anyone tells you it is.
So will get back to you on the all natural ways to eliminate a pest.
How to herd lady bugs from inside to outside.
And what kind I have for house guests.
But evicting them to the great outdoors in Maine without hurting another corner of the lakefront neighborhood.
Poorly designed, overworked septic systems and soil erosion are two big problems to tackle on Maine lakes.
Move to Maine, the first big question is should you? And when is the best time for moving to Maine?
Living here as a life time Maine native, everyday means another chance to share what’s it like? In small rural areas, not as much ink used to showcase the local community landscape.
Maine Has Over 450 Small Communities, Only A Handful Of Cities. Looking For Small Town Living?
Less online about the best kept secret of small town Maine rural living.
What is pushing the urge to own a piece of Maine, to consider the move to Maine?
The fun you had on your last of many Maine vacations part of it.
The friendly local folks around you on a Maine vacation.
Relocating Moving To Maine Is On The Rise. Too Expensive And Dangerous To Stay In Cities Part Of Why People Move To Maine.
That is one of the biggest reasons visitors start thinking what if I lived here full time or part time?
But there is a lot more to consider if you want to make the best decision and to end up staying in Maine. Not moving again and again in search of something a few out in the audience have trouble finding.
Like multiple marriages and divorces where the partners think keep trying and hoping for the best fit to eventually happen.
Sometimes it’s not the Maine relocation, it’s you. What you pack up from wherever you lived before
My best advice to make the best use of your time and money? Check out what others say they like online and what was a surprise and not what was expected. All of us are different and at each stage of our life, what we
need changes.
Parked On The Waterfront, Vacations In Maine. Water Is One Big Attraction.
Add up what you do like where you live now outside Maine.
NO place is 100% perfect. Make the list of what has changed where you live now and that small town Maine offers you today. Obviously, lots of space, four seasons of outdoor recreation. Low crime, no traffic and low cost Maine real estate.
Plus friendly people. But there are trades offs and the gotta have, don’t want lists vary depending on who you talk to that thinks they want to relocate to Maine.
Videos About Living In Maine Community Events, Blogs On Communities Here Helps The Move To Maine.
Reach out to me anytime and read through the many blog posts on Maine on this blog.
Maine Is Lots Of Small Towns, Not Large Cities. The Perfect Back Drop For Raising A Family, For Vacations, To Start A Small Business And MORE!
These Maine simple living videos along with a few vacation stays before you pack up the Subaru and point it north will help you tremendously.
A phone call or two, lots of emails full of questions all help you know this move to Maine is the right one.
But give it time after you get here, have a nest egg. I have seen folks expect a duplicate of where they moved from and no two areas are exactly the same experience.
What are you trying to accomplish in the move to Maine and how will it improve your life?.
The answer to that question is the big reason a move to Maine happens.
Not just the seasons of spring, summer, fall and winter in Maine.
Don’t forget mud season. The joys of hitting potholes and coming up on a stretch of frost heaves on a Maine roadway during mud season.
Spring Must Be Close. The Pot Holes As Big As Your Car Prove It As Frost Leaves The Frozen Ground.
Mud season in Maine has its own special distinction.
Described as the 5th season in Maine to some, driving in the Pine Tree State during mud season can be treacherous.
And exaggeration to squeeze out the humor describing mud season happens online and in your small-town daily exchange of pleasantries.
Talking about the weather, running smelts and maple tree sap, frost heaves and potholes during mud season.
How long Maine’s mud season last depends on a few variables.
The size of yearly winter snow loads, the thaw and freeze temperature cycle, the spring snow melt off volume.
Jack Frost Is Pretty Crafty. If You Leave The Maine Lake Hammock Out To Decorate.
When snow melts and the access water seeps under a Maine road then freezes, you have frost heaves.
Maine roadways expand upward from frozen ice expansion. The natural speed bumps can literally launch a car if an unsuspecting motorist does not adjust their speed.
During mud season, pooling water from melting snowbanks along Maine highways when “hit” by passing traffic literally pounds the asphalt pavement to pieces.
That constant pounding action from each passing motorist causes roadways dirt or pavement to disintegrate and open up divots.
Those cavities fill with the same melting snow run off water. Then cycle from freeze, expand, freeze some more. To increase the size of the mud season pothole.
Or more pleasantly referred to as a “pavement deficiency” that come in all sizes and mysterious depths.
Some “pavement deficiencies” can cause serious damage to your vehicle.
Roadway Pavement Hazards In Maine, Pot Holes. Here’s One Example To Avoid Hitting With Your Car Tire.
Mainers share stories about potholes they know about that can swallow up a car whole.
A true native Mainer knows take it easy. They remember where the new crop of frost heaves and potholes spring up as mud season blooms.
Who benefits from mud season and the frost heaves, potholes in Maine?
Front end alignment specialists, the businesses selling and repairing damaged shocks, springs, tires and rims. Or the ones operating tow and ramp trucks that transport crippled cars taken out of action by frost heaves and potholes to the body repair shop.
Native Mainers have experience with pot holes, frost heaves and mud season driving.
Someone that’s never driven in Maine winter snow or been up to their axles in mud during spring thaw is an unsuspecting target.
Big heavy snowplow trucks keep the Maine roadways open and safe. But the constant sliding scraping of metal plows takes it toll. Breaking away the pavement to create sink holes that fill like a freezer ice tray with water.
Artistry Thanks To Mother Nature. What You See On A Walk In Maine. It’s Not Always Open Water Or Ice. There Is An In Between Season Besides The Normal Standard Set Of Four.
How do you drive defensively and navigate around the mud season road hazards? Don’t speed up to see how big a splash you can create at that next kiddie size pool of highway water.
It could be bottomless all the way to China. Or six week deep that when hit will jar out a few of your tooth fillings from the impact.
Broken shocks and springs, bent rims and flat tires are all casualties of a Maine winter trying to change the slide to spring.
Mud season is the transition tug of war that Maine motorists know all too well from years of driving practice.
Most Maine local highway transportation departments do a good job of pounding a stake in the road shoulder. Alerting you with a bight highly visible orange “frost heave” sign of what’s ahead.
Pure White, All Natural Not Man Made Snow. Maine Winter Is Coming, Locals Are Excited. Same Thing In Mud Season
If you are new to Maine, moving here full time and have little to no experience with mud season, take note. The transition from winter snow to spring flowers is not a snap your fingers quick season transition.
What’s a yes ma’am on a Maine roadway?
I heard the term to represent a smaller single or series of lifts of the pavement. Caused by mud season frost action, yes ma-ams are a kinder, gentler highway experience. Unless you are going way over the speed limit, all four tires are not catapulted skyward.
Yes Ma’am, like a small no thank you helping of frost heave. Think a small series of whopper junior moguls when downhill snow skiing. To shock absorb, slalom back and forth, side to side, up and down over them to get to the bottom base lodge for another fun run.
How long does mud season last in Maine?
Spring Means High Fast Water, Canoe Races In Maine.
It depends most on how much snow accumulation happened the past winter.
I have seen mud season drag on and a tug of war between winter and spring. Or other years a ten day period and bang.
It’s spring without a lot of fanfare or drying, thawing out happening.
Sometimes The “Tilt” Warning Comes On, “Service Rafter Soon” Light Glows.
Heavy snow over a Maine winter fuels the mud season. Because the snow accumulations have to be dealt with and all that melting to water volume needs to go somewhere.
That winter snow melting run off with spring like temperatures is what fuels our Maine spring canoe races.
More higher water volume, faster currents to cover the rocks is what speeds up the yearly celebration. When you dig out, dust off and paddle a Maine canoe and kayak in one of Maine’s many spring river race.
Welcome to Maine where we squeeze out the most outdoor recreation fun from every season. Even the one dubbed mud season in Maine.
You see it, the house in Maine with no one home, the grass hay field high, idling waiting for real estate foreclosure.
Seasons come, go and you wonder why does it take so long to foreclose on a house in Maine?
Welcome To Maine. You’re Here. You Made It! Affordable Housing In Maine Happens.
The news headlines squawk loudly our country is desperate for affordable housing.
Building materials costs are going up up up while despair grows for young first-time home buyers needing a place of their own to raise a Maine family.
We all want the state’s population to grow and where is everyone going to live?
So the light bulb comes on. If new construction is not meeting the housing demand because too expensive. If your average local Maine home buyer cannot afford the monthly mortgage payments.
What about foreclosure homes in Maine to ease the kink in the hose of affordable housing?
Tapping into the steady crop of empty Maine foreclosure homes to recycle them into affordable housing stock?
Small Maine Towns Have Smaller Priced Affordable Housing. Less For More.
The sooner the better too.
Because lack of winter heat, no power for the early spring water run off sump pump. Then years of hot summer sun blistering the peeling paint, fall leaves piling up and rotting.
Wild animals moving in and doing destruction. The broken window where the bird came in and lays on the living room rug without a proper burial.
And please, don’t open that refrigerator left fully loaded two years ago when the power got cut off for lack of payment.
Along with the heaping cat boxes, the house is empty and stuck in time, waiting for the slowly moving wheels of foreclosure justice.
A couple years vacant with the front door wide open and no one home. Just the home owner left. Everything else ran sacked crying for a 30 year dumpster. No water works draining attempted, the furnace is kaput.
The longer empty, the harder the rehab to “bring it all home” as Johnny Cash would hum.
But still, if better sooner than later, the Maine foreclosure home could be rescued, it’s win win.
Enjoying Maine’s Four Seasons And Working Remotely Online. Welcome To Maine Live Here, Work Globally Option.
For the new proud Maine real estate tax paying homeowner, for the community where you need affordable housing.
Foreclosures on Maine homes take a long time.
By law, the homeowner has to be 120 days behind on monthly mortgage payments before foreclosure action can begin.
Courts everywhere are back logged and out of state lenders are out of the loop on what’s happening to the collateral for a house loan good or bad. Lots of distressed mortgage loan inventory across the country makes it just one more delinquent property to herd through the judicial process.
Why else do foreclosures take so long on a house in Maine?
Someone is living there. Not paying rent but clinging, handing on despite the last call pleas to leave. Refusing to move despite the deputy sheriff eviction notices.
What’s the hurry? Hold your horses. Knowing it can take up to nine months or longer to finally get a judge’s eviction judgement to stick.
Best Location To Build Your New Maine House Is? Depends On Which Part Of The Life Movie You Are In Today.
(Often the keys for cash route is the quickest way to “help” the home owner or renter to pick up the pace and move along).
What else slows down the house foreclosure process? Divorce, bankruptcy all combined with eviction mixed together with the foreclosure legal proceedings. The wheels of justice are expensive and slow moving as the foreclosure winds slowly through the court system.
Mortgage loan modification, mediation, events like COVID can all “pause” the foreclosure process unless a short sale, deed in lieu of foreclosure remedy happens.
And when a bank does get the foreclosed property back in their REO inventory of non-performing loan units, more delay.
Getting bids for the trash out, changing locks, boarding up broken windows, yard work to cut up fallen tree limbs and reclaiming the shaggy tall lawn.
Seasons change as the empty unloved, unheated neglected Maine home deteriorates and slides further downhill into decay.
House Building, Your Maine Home Design Can Help Or Hurt Total Costs. Adjust, Pivot And Be Ready To Rethink The Construction Variables.
Eventually a licensed Maine real estate agent or appraiser roams through the property making notes on a clipboard.
Bids for repairs or sold pretty much as is, where is. It’s like real estate triage for this particular Maine local market.
Not one size fits all on how to approach getting the foreclosure back into the real estate market housing inventory.
Many need more than DIY skills and rehab loans are more lengthy but rewarding to see a house on the brink of disaster pulled back from being
smashed down and loaded into a dump truck to be hauled away.
Those house lots look like missing teeth in a Maine community.
The what should the bank or government agency list the property for number is arrived at and getting the foreclosure on the market happens.
Maine Outdoor Winter Snow Does Not Hamper The Farm Yard Animals. They Adapt, Expect The Season Change And Make It Work For Them.
When the bank that made the loan is in Maine, the pulling it back out of the fire can be sped up because everything is local.
The circles are smaller, a few phone calls or emails can make such a difference.
Local Maine bank lenders works best all the way around for a slew of reasons.
The house in Maine where the owner skips town and it’s left empty.
No tenant to use tear gas to remove (I mean serve them with evictions paperwork and start navigating through the legal court process).
What Happens When Grubs Move Into The Neighborhood. Your Lawn Gets Damaged, Pecked, Rolled Back.
Doesn’t the bank lender care or even know payments are not being made?
Big out of state banks have so many foreclosures, are spread all over creation with many departments. Reachable at five and six digit extensions. But good luck tracking down who you need to talk to at the bank or whoever bought up the block of non-performing foreclosure mortgage loans.
It’s like a rudderless ship. No captain, lost at sea and years can fly by that way. So better loan making to reduce the risk of foreclosure. Using local mortgage lenders that are a much bigger help than far away lenders with no connection to the community, county, state.
The foreclosure process eats up a lot of time because it’s a lawsuit with courtrooms, lawyers, judges are involved.
But if less foreclosures happened with tighter local lending underwriting guidelines reforms? Providing more creative loss mitigations options, streamlining the legal process.
And if local banks in the area jumped in to help speed up the foreclosure through short sales.
To incentivize quick bank home sales to quickly return affordable housing stock to the market.
Maine Small Town Living, Nothing Compares.
Then foreclosure houses would not stay off line so long and be in better shape to re-cycle. To ease some of the demand for affordable housing.
These days, smart Maine municipalities are speeding up foreclosure on tax acquired properties.
The Maine towns need the cash to fill potholes, pave and snowplow roads, fund education, pay for salaries and infrastructure building repairs.
The lien placed on a Maine home delinquent in real estate tax payments is a ticking bomb. Set to go off and detonate starting eighteen months with no taxes paid and a lien goes on the house title.
Baxter State Park, Hiking Mt Katahdin In Piscataquis County Maine.
The lot, structures become the towns at the end of at least three years of no paid property taxes.
Instead of waiting another year or two or three after that hoping the owner can redeem, those foreclosed properties are now being marketed online and sold to new performing taxpayers.
To get them off the books and tax generating again.
With empty unheated, unoccupied houses, the sooner the better works best.
Like a patient on the operating table, the longer he or she lies there the odds of survival lessen not improve.
The solution to speed up the Maine house mortgage loan or delinquent real estate tax foreclosure process?
Attack the problem from a local level. Maine banks making the original loan have mortgage centers in Vacationland.
Deed in lieu of foreclosure, debt to Maine Care for nursing home debt and delinquent real estate taxes can be debt with locally way way faster than many states and time zones away.
Those Maine foreclosure houses can be the answer to easing affordable housing inventory for folks begging to stop renting, start building ownership equity in their own place.
If the Maine house foreclosure takes 370 days to settle, another 180 days to sell, that is eating up a lot of time. That the Maine house suffers from poor weather and neglect, maybe even vandalism when no one is home. Local remedies to speed up the Maine house foreclosure process are in place.
You are in love with the place, worked hard to improve it but your Maine home is not selling.
What’s up with that? Is it really just the price is too high? And you picked the absolute worst wrong colors at the local paint store? So quick like a bunny. Hop to it. Change just two things. Price. Colors. Done.
Chisel away at the house list price. Tone down the Mopar high performance color intensity and voila.
Better Real Estate Market, Not Just Price, Not Just House Color Keeps A House On The Market, Not Selling.
Get the “sale pending” real estate home sign rider ready.
Like a baby, gonna have one any minute now. Stick around. Here comes a home sale buyer contract.
So right house price and play it safe easy on the eye colors, oh and maybe a little staging.
That’s how to hit the real estate house sale trifecta? Cool. I just can start filling the beefed up heavy cardboard packing boxes.
And quickly check to see if any new house listings popped up overnight in the Multiple Listing Service MLS feed.
Gotta hustle. Time to start making offers to find my next new home address.
The reasons your Maine home is not selling.
Looks Good, Priced Right But Days On Market Racking Up, How Come Some Maine Homes Don’t Sell? Reasons For House Sale Delay (Not What You Think)
How much time do you have?
This Maine real estate blog post drills down into what impacts how long your home lingers on the local market.
Many factors work in your favor or against you in a home sale in Maine. (Any agent in another real estate market location has their own different advice to share because it is not one size fits all for the country.)
Nothing says “ten foot pole marks” to potential home buyers than the bloated DOM statistic problem indicator.
What’s wrong with this house, why is it still on the market and what am I missing?
How You Tell The Real Estate Story, How Far Reaching Your Marketing Is. It All Speeds Up The House Sale In Maine!
Why is my Maine home not selling?
Like unclaimed luggage circling round and round the carousel long after all the tired passengers leave the airport terminal. Left behind, abandoned, cold, lonely, unloved.
The buyers jump to the conclusion the home has major problems.
Has to be something wrong. Not sure just what but just a deep dark suspicion something mechanical, very expensive needs repair.
Stay away from this one.
How Long Is By Maine Home Sale Going To Take? Looks All Spiffed Up And In A Lake View Picture Perfect Setting. Should Happen Drive Thru Quickly?
Must be the roof, foundation, heating, electrical or plumbing all messed up in that one.
Heck, could be haunted. (Wait a minute. Doesn’t that make it worth more?)
Keep your distance seems prudent based on absolutely not enough information, the wrong reaction to the DOM.
Sometimes A Picture Is Worth A Thousand Words. Other Times A House Is Drop Dead Gorgeous But Still You’re Not Privy, Sure Of The Reasons Why It’s Not Selling.
Every home for sale unless new construction is a “used house”.
They are not perfect, not all the same. Most home buyers have a price range to stay within or it’s keep renting the roof over their head.
So it’s always a do the best you can with the current local housing inventory you have available in any market. Feast, famine, inbetween supply situations unless you are brave enough for new construction, to build a house in Maine.
Buyers, try not to be too picky or seek perfection.
Sellers. the current market comparable houses sales like your place are priced here and you want to get double or triple that?
Real estate agents, please tell the homeowner with all due respect, you cannot meet their price point expectations.
Don’t clutter the market with hopelessly over priced house listings that are not going to sell.
You cannot always help them get a seat at the long shiny real estate conference room closing table.
Whew! Pull Up A Chair, You Made It To Another Successful Maine Real Estate Closing!
It’s not the house is good or bad. It’s more about the motivation of the buyer, seller and even the real estate agent.
(Or a simple hidden title problem discovered late in the sale. Maybe a just surfacing boundary line dispute with a hostile neighbor.
Learning the rental tenant is not leaving but digging in to force a drawn out legal eviction process that costs a home listing sale.)
What does the buyer bring to the real estate listing sale equation?
Better Far Reaching Marketing Helps Sell A Maine Home Faster. But A Home Buyer Not Bank Pre-Approved Can Waste Lots Of Time And Ending Up Having To Bow Out. Next Home Buyer Please.
Make sure you are pre-approved at a local Maine mortgage lending bank first.
Clean up any pesky issues stuck on your credit report before falling in love with the home of your dreams that you can not buy today.
If a house for sale goes under contract with a buyer that is NOT already bank approved, the days on market time suck trap starts.
Tied up so no one can buy it while maybe the buyer does or does not get the green light thumbs up approval.
If that buyer gets denied for lending, back on the market the house goes. Which makes house seekers wonder what’s wrong with the property listing? I thought it was gone, on it’s way to a closing?
I instruct, coach every Maine home buyer once they are bank approved, under contract to buy a house, don’t make any major purchases.
If you car dies, hitchhike. Do no increase your debt ratios. Stay away from charging a purchase for that new living room or master bedroom furniture set. Those added monthly payments means you were qualified but not home loan approved to buy anymore.
It goes without saying not to lose your job, not to change professions or get served with divorce papers. That all has to wait until the day after the closing if you want to stay bank approved.
What does a seller do or not do that impacts the sale price or getting to a real estate closing at all?
Price the property in line with the local current real estate market. De-clutter and deep clean room by room. Up in the attic, down in the basement, out in the garage too.
A little sprucing up with a paint brush where chips happened, washing windows, getting rid of cat boxes. Replacing dead light bulbs all helps the presentation. So does not delaying showings. If the house is rented, the difficulty finding a suitable time for the tenant can miss home selling opportunities.
Reasons Why A Property Listing Is Not Selling. (Not Always What You Think) Buyers, Sellers Make Demands. Real Estate Agents Or Brokers Can Drop The Ball.
What about the Maine real estate broker agent?
He or she is the lead reindeer. Lighting the way from pre-listing to the final real estate clear to close memo and passing the house keys.
Communicating through day and night to keep buyers and sellers meeting their responsibilities. Pivoting around obstacles, meeting deadlines along the way to keep the home sale on track.
Everything is time sensitive in real estate contract sales. Buyers and sellers can not wait forever.
Other attractive house sale situations come and go and real estate home sellers, house buyers get testy.
Lots of advice coming at them from hairdressers and brother in laws who think they know a little something about real estate listing sales.
Buyers and sellers pull the plug and move on if the sale is getting too emotional, is dragging out for lots very good reasons.
If the real estate agent does not make or answer phone calls, text messages or emails. That MIA agent can actually hurt the sale, stall the process from neglect of duties.
That’s it, that simple. As long as everyone does their role mentioned above another successful house sale happens? I just explained the roles of buyer, seller and real estate professional and how to assure a successful sale if followed?
Heck no. What happens in the local economy, the size of the housing inventory of houses just like yours that hop on the market to compete for buyers. That impacts house sales, the days on market DOM statistic.
Like sailing, adjusting the canvas to harness what wind you have is needed.
Adjust To The Wind, Shift And Pivot Quickly In A Real Estate Sale. To Keep Heading In The Direction Of A Maine Real Estate Closing.
To quickly tack. The right moves, certain adjustments are easy to make when the real estate professional has been through several years of on the job training experience.
The real estate marketing is everything.
If only a sign planted in the front lawn, the house has very limited exposure. Today more than ever your house needs better story telling descriptions, imagery, video. Your real estate buyer is very busy and living an overbooked exhaustive life.
That wannabee home buyer looking for a place just like yours needs to know about your listing.
If he cannot find it out in a wider, larger audience of home buyers, if he does not know about it. Well now, it’s like winking at a woman in the dark. Gets very poor results.
Over pricing, poor condition, lack of exposure, stale weak marketing, difficulty in quick showings, an untrained brand new agent, a rotting out should retire older one.
Completing A Maine Home Sale. Sometimes Bumps In The Road, Detours. Maneuvering To End Up At Long Closing Conference Room Table With All The Chairs.
All of these factors hurt your chances for a quick profitable hassle-free house purchase sale.
They each have a role in why a house fails to attract buyers and hangs around the local Maine real estate market
Go online and study real estate listing presentations.
If everything starts to blur and look the same, your place deserves way better than that.
To stand out and get serious attention, the real estate marketing has to pull them in from the curb.
Real estate full motion video with sound is the best way to give buyers open house on demand showings around the clock.
And without boring the heck out of you with technical details, there is so much going on behind the scenes. On how the real estate website IDX can make a major difference being found on the front page of a search index.
How blogging and social media on a daily basis helps the real estate marketing momentum, reach and exposure.
If you are thinking of buying or selling a home, any kind of property, I would love to talk with you.
What’s your real estate puzzle and let’s hear the questions that I can help give advice from past listing sale adventures.
I love this real estate profession, but admit the learning curve has not stopped over the entire 45 years of all kinds of experiences.
You have to have fire in your belly, keep studying and be willing to embrace new ways to do my job better.
You have to feel like you can’t wait to begin another new Maine real estate day.
How does a Carnival cruise differ than setting sail on a Viking sea cruise line?
This blog posts realizes all work and no vacation play makes Jack and Jill dull people.
Real estate agents and brokers work some incredible long hours and earned a sea cruise vacation.
Don’t mind if I do. Just completed a Viking cruise sailing on the newest Vesta ship.
Less Cruisers, Smaller Viking Cruise Line Boats Like The Ocean Going Vesta. Viking Cruise Lines Has Even Small River Boats That Can Get Where Mega Cruise Ships Can Not.
Under a thousand cruisers, almost 500 staff from 39 countries manning the decks and duties on the Viking Vesta cruise ship.
This was my first Viking cruise ship experience on their ocean going not river boat cruise option. Meg and I just finished up the Greek Odyssey Island Viking ship cruise on the new Vesta ship.
Seventeen Carnival cruise ship experiences starting with a cruise with my kids on the brand new smoke free Paradise ship.
How does Viking Cruise Line compare with Carnival Cruise Line?
There is no good or back just a different approach to go after not quite the same sea cruise ship audience.
Used all the cruises to draw from in the travel log comparison differences between Carnival and Viking.
One is not better or worse, just offer a slightly different approach to vacation sea cruses.
Shared observations to help you select which line fits you best.
The Carnival cruise ship Celebration was a very fun vacation and the big corner front high up big balcony suite cabin was very comfortable.
There are over 60 cruise companies serving World vacation travelers today.
Our Greek Island Sea Cruise Cabin On The Aft, Very Back Of The Vesta Ship.
Lots of options for where you select from the cruise ship room location from the deck plans.
Here’s some highlights of the Viking Cruise Ship Vesta Greek Island Odyssey vacation trip that we got back from in the nick of time.
Sample the Turkish delight from one of our stops to see Ephesus in Kusadas Turkey.
Programing of all of the cruise lines constantly considers the vacation traveler audience segment they seek to entice to come aboard.
To pay for of the expensive boats. To keep them coming back for more floating cruise vacations on their brand.
See The Viking Vesta Tendering In Cruisers To Hop On A Bus And Climb The Hills Of Santorini Greece?
Studying the feedback, watching cruise industry trends. Working around events like COVID and onboard health safety a priority to protect cruisers and crew.
How to fill the boat staterooms and market the differences of each cruise ship deck and category.
Zero Lot Lines, No Back, Side, Front Yards Either In Santorini Greece Island Of Crete.
The goal to add more cruise ships to the line, to increase travel option ports of calls.
To increase stock value and make a healthy profit.
Sheer company efficiency in the marketing and watching expenses.
What level of service and pampering the company provides to get repeat loyal cruisers returning to vacation on their particular cruise line.
The Mules Help Haul The Building Materials Up Steep, Twisting Small Pathways On Santorini, The Island Of Creete.
All cruise lines work hard paying attention to the big and small details. They need you happy and relaxed for the rest and relaxation.
To key in and deliver on whatever “floats the boat” for each target segment.
Polling cruisers, study of what other lines are offering. Constantly adjusting what they serve up happens.
What would be the ideal sea cruise experience can change over a person’s life time.
The Carnival to Viking back to Carnival cruise line swing.
If you have a family, are looking for a value cost saving options.
That kind of cruise travel is way different than no no. You are retired, kids grown, traveling in an 18+ adults only mode.
Taking A Carnival Cruise Vacation. Did You This Winter Or Early Spring From Maine Or Wherever You Are Reading This Cruising Blog Post?
Until change the cruise line approach again when grandchildren are invited to vacation with the grandparents.
Carnival Cruise Line and Viking are vastly different travel approaches.
Ever Take A Sea Cruise And Do You Use Carnival ? Ever Tried Viking? Or What Cruise Line Do You Like Best And Why?
The Carnival Cruise Line vibe is high energy and glitzy, let’s drink gamble party.
Viking’s vibe is quiet, serene and “Scandi-modern sophisticated”.
I enjoyed cruising with my young family on Carnival boats.
The Carnival cruise ship boats are larger, more pools and have lots of kids.
400 Visits, Sea Cruises In Maine, Taking A Boat Ride To Three Or More Island Stops In The Tropical Islands Is A Fun Break From A Maine Winter..
As I said or typed earlier, my first cruise was on Carnival Paradise, a smoke free brand new boat taken with my four children.
The last few Carnival cruises the family and I were on new mega-ships of 6500+ passengers like the Celebration and Jubilee.
Cruise Ship Vacations In The Sun And Fun.
This past week’s Viking Vesta sea cruise vacation on a small ship of roughly 998 passengers.
With Carnival cruises, the base fare is lower and you “a la carte” to add on the drink packages, Wi-Fi, the off-boat excursions. You learn how to maximize your cabin deck category choice.
Ruins, Lost City In Turkey Being Unearthed, Pieced Back Together.
It’s up to you to land the best airfare to the cruise port with Carnival.
Cruise Ship Vacations, They Are Not Little Tug Boats. Nothing Small About The Dozen Story High Water Hotel Resorts.
To get to the port to climb on board the cruise ship.
To catch a plane after the cruise ship disembarkation kicks you off according to your color luggage tag.
So the crew can prepare the ship for the next sea cruise passengers load.
On Viking, it’s all-inclusive with Wi-Fi, wine/beer at meals and one excursion per port included.
The Viking Vesta Cruise Ship Parked Out In The Harbor. Using Tenders To Transport Cruisers To Santorini Greece. See The Viking Vesta In The View?
Your airfare all arranged.
The Viking cruise line crew is there to escort you and your luggage to the boat.
Then deliver you off the boat at the end of the sea cruise vacation to your airport gate.
Pick Up And Return Delivery To The Airport On Viking Cruise Line Vacations.
Carnival cruises are often families with kids, budget conscious, multi generation groups.
Viking ocean and river are adults only (18+) couples, retirees, older couples and singles that are lifelong learners. No canon ball jumping in the swimming pools. No hairy chest contests or cruiser talent shows to cheer for shows.
On Carnival you find water parks, rope courses, arcades, Broadway-style shows, IMAX theatres.
Here’s a go pro shot of the kids snorkeling in Cozumel Mexico on a Carnival Cruise ship vacation.
Cruise Ship Vacations, Those Big Boats Come And Park Off Maine Harbor Towns. 400 Trips A Year To Maine Each Year.
A big video screen in the center of the boat for outdoor movies, sun tanning and deck parties. There is the ding ding ding of casino gambling when out in international waters on your Carnival cruise ship.
Visit To Turkey To Check Out The Ruins In Ephessus Traveling On Viking Vesta Ship To Kusadasi.
NO casino roulette wheels spinning, crap tables card games or one-armed bandit sounds on a Viking cruise ship.
NO big screen display by the busiest center pool.
NO kid’s clubs and the focus is on lectures, enrichment with Viking. Quiet places to read, play cards, enjoying high tea and the sweets.
Hot towels handed to you using tongues as you return to the boat after excursions.
On Carnival the dress code is casual with “Cruise Elegant” formal nights.
Lot of photo shoots and chances to purchase the say “cheese” vacation captures.
The boat ride on Viking is no photographer.
Viking Vest Cruise Ship Corner Explorer Category Cabin At Sunset At Sea.
No camera flashes going off except a few cruisers capturing their personal photos. The dress code is elegant casual, no dress to the nines formal nights on Viking.
I would estimate the average age on the Viking Vesta cruise vacation was 62 years old. On the last seventeen Carnival cruises, rachet it back to 42 average years of age.
Bigger Carnival boat, more options for where to eat, what to see, hear and do. Everything super-sized, longer lines.
Smaller Viking ship, lines? What lines. Peace and quiet and cruisers head to bed way earlier.
The Horizon Carnival Ship Formal Dining Room. Anytime Dining A Good Choice Using Your Hub App.
The last night of a cruise on Carnival?
Lots of continuing music, lounge laughter, bars and casino and food consumption still underway until the night.
On Viking ship, crickets.
Harp music at breakfast as you prepare for disembarkation.
Everyone retires early and the ship hallways empty, the boat quiet on Viking cruises.
NO IMAX theatre or tons of lounges, entertainers and less dining venue options on a smaller Viking ship. No late-night comedians or magicians.
Instead of a full throttle high gear eat drink and be merry to not miss a drop with a larger Carnival cruise ship’s younger crowd.
One Of Many Watering Holes On A Carnival Cruise Ship.
Your quieter, less people ride on the Viking cruise ship like the Vesta feels like somewhere down shifted to second gear.
Viking has a shop or two with limited offerings.
Nothing out in the hall runway to pull you in like sirens selling you something. Whatever you pick up for shopping is done during a break on a guided shore excursion.
You shop on shore for souvenirs and no one is hustled on the boat with Viking.
Shop At The Port, Not On Board The Viking Ship. Carnival Has Lots Of Merch To Peddle Though At All Kinds Of Shops Selling Everything Onboard.
Everything on the Vesta was extremely clean, no signs of wear and tear.
No rugs rats or carpet ice cream or pizza spills. Blue and tan the prevalent colors and understated simple elegance the vibe.
The soothing sound of birds chirping, water waves lapping in the Viking public bathrooms.
While Carnival cruise ships loaded with flashy colors, bright lights, lots of music and laughter.
The Beach In The Dominican Republic. Have You Been On Or Plan To Take A Sea Cruise Vacation? This Beach Stop On Carnival Cruise.
Each ship like a self-contained floating resort and round the clock something always being peddled.
Pace yourself.
Try to keep up and don’t feel overwhelmed.
More than a few choices of where to eat, drink, listen to lectures, music productions or comedy shows.
T-shirts, logo merch, gold chains by the inch and watches, jewelry, clothing, a store for flowers, tuxedos, candy, suntan lotion, everything under the sun available on a Carnival mega ship.
Bucket of beer specials, drink of the day for a buck off. You don’t witness that on Viking cruises. Different crowd, not the same focus, less people. Probably not a carbon copy vision of how you and I want to spend the same sea cruise vacation right?
Want to buy a Bingo card, one for Deal or No Deal in the large auditorium? Carnival is your pick.
Get your hair done, facial treatment, sauna?
You can get pretty and relaxed on each line.
But wait for the deals that unroll the deeper into the cruise week you go.
You are on a Carnival ship with the big open atrium and often exposed glass elevators pumping up and down.
With Carnival, the ship itself can be the destination and some never leave the boat (or the bar or buffet line or black jack table).
Heck there are cruises to nowhere that just head out on the blue green water for a few days to fit in a quickie.
Gimme a beat.
There is non-stop entertainment, gambling, drinking, eating every twenty minutes. It’s like.. well, a self-contained carnival fun, sensations eat drink and be merry.
My kids used the four pools, rope courses, mini golf, roller coasters, camp Carnival clubs. Louder, budget friendly.
On Viking, it’s no kids, no cruisers under 18 years of age and premium luxury cruising. Shorter list of on-board boat fun options than Carnival. Longer World cruise itineraries delivered in a lower key Scandinavian style.
The Viking ship is a comfortable floating hotel used to explore the World. The focus is port-side cultural history about whichever harbor you tie up and dock overnight. The fellow cruiser relationships that happen during your vacation.
Viking’s approach is let’s head to shore to learn about the local cultures and lifestyles. Small low-key table or two of cruisers playing cards. Working on a puzzle. Reading a book tucked away in a lounge corner or attending a cooking class.
The cost for Carnival versus Viking cruise lines?
Needs Repairs, Kinda Old. Was Buried, Went Through Earthquakes And Damage From Many Years Ago.
Carnival is quite a bit cheaper upfront but can nickel and dime for the extras.
Paying for the art shows or jewelry, photo package, excursion options. Anything offered that’s marked up for profit to help monetize the cruise from every angle.
Viking is going to set up back three to five times more initially, but you avoid the hidden costs of excursion tours, drinks, specialty dining, laundry. travel costs to and from port. Viking books the flight air fare. Picks you up at the airport, delivers you and your luggage to the port.
Carnival is see you at the cruise port.
Good luck with Ubers, your connections coming aboard and leaving the boat. No one holding up a Viking lollipop sign and helping you with flights, luggage, transportation. You are on your own to build the coming in and out of the vacation yourself.
People say they feel safer on the excursions on Viking. The red coats with the numbered lollipop guides do a superb job herding, shepherding the cruisers.
I like on Carnival to get off the boat leisurely when we all had breakfast.
Was used to finding a local taxicab driver with a well-worn Bible on the dash. Setting up the day’s itinerary, negotiating the price. To at the end of the day arrive safely back at the ship. With plenty of time to spare. Before the loud deep ship horn sounds as the anchor chain gets raised.
Viking ships that are smaller can access less crowded ports.
Visit more remote destinations easily. Carnival massive ships cannot just dock anywhere and are restricted to major, tourist heavy ports with deep water.
So there are some differences between Carnival and Viking cruise line vacations and what to expect.
You have to consider which cruise vacation is best for YOU.
The actual cruisers on your ship have talent and on Carnival they get pulled into the game shows, the auditions to perform.
Viking lets you sit there and does all the heavy lifting with a much smaller entertainment staff.
The Cats And Dogs Roam Free. Fed, Loved, But Free Everywhere In Greece, Turkey.
The biggest take away between the two cruise lines Carnival and Viking in one word.
Loud or quiet.
Viking cruise ships are quiet all vacation long. Everything is taken care of and arranged for you.
Carnival cruises are never a dull moment, more than enough to pick from to action pack your vacation on the floating resort. They start out cheaper but easy does it to avoid getting financially carried away with the spending adds ons.
Kids or no kids one of the biggest distinctions between Carnival and Viking cruises.
A Carnival boat offers almost everything a good vacation needs right on the ship. The Viking boat is the food and lodging solitude in-between the onshore excursions that complete the vacation.
My next cruise on Viking or Carnival cruise lines?
Dream, Book, Take That Cruise To Sampler Lots Of Stops On A Sea Cruise To Sample. To Return For Longer Stays.
Depends on are my grandchildren coming and the ports of call itinerary.
The big Carnival boats are impressive and love studying the deck plan, comparing the cost of corner cabins. Loft 19 perks.
Viking has Explorer cabin suites, and I love the corners, the aft and bow location hideouts.
They help you create space, peace and quiet on the Carnival ship. But it’s quiet everywhere and all the cabins have balconies on a Viking vessel.
Are you spending lots of time in your cabin or up on deck or out on the mainland tramping?
What ocean cruise vacation destination intrigues you most?
Caribbean Islands, the Panama Canal, a Greek Island or Alaska tour?
Parked off the Hawaiian Islands and tendering in and out from your ship?
All I know is you work hard and travel opens your mind for mental health. Cruises are a floating vacation buffet of destinations. Looking forward to the next sea cruise and reliving the experiences after returning home from one. That’s almost as much fun as the cruise itself.
The actually planning the trip, taking one is something you earn and a healthy habit.
The Viking Vesta boat ride cruise that Meg and I are just returning from had 500 crew members for 998 guests.
Travel To Somewhere Far From Your Familiar Home Surroundings. You Need A Cruise. Book The Trip! How About Santorini On The Island Of Crete, Greece?
That crew from 39 different countries on the Viking ship from around the World really adds to the cruising experience on all the cruise ship lines.
Travel, especially the blue green water and 100-degree temperature swing kind is good for your mental health outlook. It’s a reward. Don’t forget to apply the sunscreen. Pack a couple good books for the plane ride, sitting on a beach or sprawled on a cruise ship deck lounger.
On your death bed, you will not probably lament “I wish I had not traveled”.
But instead that “I’m glad I took the trips while I was healthy enough. Or wish I had booked even more trips along the fast-moving stages of my life.
Get out of town, run away from home.
Come to Maine, book a sea cruise on whatever line that starts the journey.
Cruise Ships Park In The Harbors Of Many Exotic Locations Around The World. Or Stop By A Maine Coastal Port.
The memorable travel you make time for completely changes up the day to day same old routine of wherever you live now.
It’s fun to talk to other sea cruisers on your vacation and compare notes. Crystal does this, but Norwegian, Virgin, Princess or Holland America offers that. Check them out and look for the deals.
Remember, they over sell the bottom of the boat and the sooner you book the cruise with a room to be determined (TBD) means you can float, to climb a couple categories.
Or pack your bags, be ready to drop everything to race to the cruise ship that is not quite full for some reason.
The cruise lines wants a full boat, other vacationers like you to spend money on the drink package, in the casino, taking shore excursions, buying photos, jewelry, t-shirts and massages or facials.
Guided Tours On Viking Cruise Lines All Part Of The Trip. Included Shore Cruises Included To Learn!
Last minute cruises if you live near the port or can arrange economical airfare are another money saving option.
Here for questions about cruising and can compare Viking cruise or Carnival cruise experience I can draw from but which line do you like? Where have you cruised and on which cruise ship brand telling us how did it go?
My next cruise? Booked yet?
No but thinking heavily about the Scandinavian route as I study the online cruise ship line propaganda.
I love sampling everything Maine offers for travel options too. But venturing out further away from Maine just makes me feel how lucky I am to grow up, raise a family, work here listing and selling real estate living in Maine
Over 400 cruise ships to Maine mean come sample the lighthouses, roam the coastal ports to sample Vacationland. Thank you for following our Me In Maine blog posts.
