Category: Living in Maine

Maine House Building, The Home Plans Today

Maine house building, the home plans today.

The approach to house building in Maine, what home plans consider today that has changed. This blog post is about the new housing starts in Maine and the trends I am seeing as a real estate broker.

It’s no secret the Maine housing inventory of existing homes is pretty ravaged and picked thin. Finding a quality house or even rental these days is difficult. Because Maine is in the top ten destinations for part time second vacation homes purchases and full time relocation. So buying Maine land, building new housing is picking up popularity.

Bring the outdoors inside is more important than ever in housing design floor plans used building a Maine home.

House Plans, Building A Home In Maine. What To Consider. Want Open Concept Cathedral Living Space With Walls Of Glass?

So the approach to house building today in Maine.

What I am also seeing is smaller square footage and cathedral open spaces. Combing the living areas into one large opening with plenty of south facing glass. That is a common approach to home construction in Maine. Or if the budget is very tight, a lot of home buyers in retirement mode are opting for a small simple Amish building. Pre fab one room and you can combine more than one for “wings”.

Old New England farmhouses like Victorian era Maine homes were a tad on the large size.

Had to have a double, triple helping of living space because of family sizes. The grandparents living out back in an add on “L”. Often the young newlyweds housed in this small apartment and simply changing places with the aging in place parents. Generous sized homestead kitchens to have elbow room around the table and for home grown living off the land meals.

Maine House Building, Bringing The Outdoors Inside. Cathedral Open Concept Living Space Popular Today.

Since the 1940’s on the kitchen seems to have shrunk from the original New England Farmstead and Victorian rambler.

The formal dining room replaced with an area beyond the kitchen space. It seems your home is still your castle but running the roads more means the formal dining room used a couple times a year is a waste of space. I am seeing much larger kitchen areas, breakfast nooks and way more cabinets in today’s house compared to yesteryear housing stock.

Recycling centers, less wasted hall space and more cathedral or vaulted ceilings. More home office den space and with the cathedral open space, more small cozy corners.

The foundations on new Maine house building is often crawl space and even a concrete slab.

To hold down building costs and to aim for everything on one floor. It is cheaper to go up or make living space down below if there is a dry walk out daylight basement. Side hill Maine land listings with a gentle slope are being picked to tuck the new house into the level to rolling landscape. A view often helps new Maine house builders decide which piece of land acreage to select.

Your Kitchen Is An Area, Not A Room In Many Open Concept Living House Plans Today.

In the days when immigrants traveled to the New World to begin a new life, the living quarters were small and cramped.

Often up over a storefront or shop. Working long hours, learning the new language and customs and making the housing not the primary concern. The business was the master and space to peddle a product or provide a service mattered most. COVID made new Maine home builders ask first about Internet connectivity at this, this and that location.

Being on a cheaper electrical utility provider is on the list of questions unless the Maine house will be off grid and making their own juice.

House Plans Today, More Open Living And Combing Spaces With Lots Of Light. Formal Dining Rooms Are Missing In Many New Maine House Plans. Just Not Used.

Do you only consider resale of the new construction Maine house or what the heck.

Let’s make it the latest, greatest and a statement of the people who are going to live here. Often money is always in the equation to whittle away at the grand plans building a house in Maine. Is a bank pushing for completion before a closing and the end of a construction loan phase?

Or is the Maine house a build as you go DIY affair? Where the people in the weather tight but not nearly complete house don’t mind a table saw set up in the living room.

Maine Homes, Gotta To Have An Outside Porch, Plenty Of Bathrooms And Open Space Today!

Waiting for a sale on materials building a new Maine home.

Doing as much as you can yourself to contain the labor costs. Repurposing from other houses if lucky enough to glean an oldie goldie Maine home before the excavator engine starts up for the demolition. I see cabinets, staircases, stained glass windows, kitchen sideboards, old lighting fixtures all mixed into new housing stock in Maine.

So back to the big wide open expanse where your have the engineering trusses in place to be able to make it the focal point of your new Maine house.

Does all that glass, no cozy corners or hideaways make the new home in Maine less comfortable? Higher ceilings are a plus for anyone on the NBA but rob into living space. But if you the home builder only need a couple bedrooms and the family is raised and out of the nest, who cares right?

Old Maine Houses Had Butler Pantries, Sleeping Porches, Turrets And Fireplaces In Many Rooms. Lots Of Ginger Breading.

What if your home building couple is a second, third time or more around blended family?

His, hers, ours means gotta have room, living space to fit them all in. So a cape or colonial home with a basement to develop is often reflected when you study the house plans. As you unroll the blue print sketch and the schematic for all the major house systems.

Material costs go up and down and in my area of Maine, being right on the Canadian border, the lumber and other building items often purchased from across the US Canadian border. There are a lot of perks being a Maine border town with Canada.

Old housing in Maine often had hidden rear staircases and all the pantries, butler closets and servants corners were hidden from view or easy access.

All that space is up for grabs to repurpose and slim and trim. Today, redesign and serious reduction of the square footage to stretch the dollar in a time of heavy duty inflation, heating, financing costs means study lots of housing plans. Your home should be a place that fits your lifestyle and budget.

Bay Windows, Patterned Floors, Built In Cabinets, Dumb Waiters… Old Victorians Built, Filled In Differently.

Maine is a handful of cities and over 450 small communities.

Building big and gaudy to impress is not something that happens in rural Maine. Maybe along Ocean Ave or crawling along the rocking coast of Maine where out of state plates in the expensive zip codes happens. But not in sparse populated rural sections of Vacationland, where Maine Yankee frugality forces house building to be practical and functional.

Maine house building up on the upswing and off grid, no year round access is a positive to some.

The new Maine homes with expansive open decking right off living area for everyday use and easy outdoor access. Also seeing rustic cozy touches, lots of stones weaved into the landscaping to make the new construction Maine home reflect the spirit of the owner.

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, 2024
Free Land Homestead Grant, New Settlers To Maine

Free land homestead grant, new settlers to Maine.

The free land Homestead Land Grant Act of 1862.

The legislation enacted into law during the Civil War opened up wilderness, vast expanses of acres with little or no population. Land was plentiful and not so valuable. Clearing it, settlements in Maine took a lot of hard work, plenty of faith in yourself and others in the new neighborhood.

Free Land For Settlers In Maine. One Way To Populate Unsettled Maine Townships.

In Maine, 100 free acres of land were available to help attract new settler immigrants to move to America.

Unfortunately, no one fighting on the side of the Confederacy was allowed to play in the Homestead Land Grant of 1862. That changed in 1890 to open it up to those wearing gray during the War Between The States.

160 acres of free land to open up and settle parts of the West, up into Maine, everywhere.

Farm Property In Maine. Your Nearest Neighbor A Half Mile Away.

This Homestead Land Grant Act of 1862 was different than the land given to fund college education in Maine.

The Morrill legislation provided for 210,000 land grants to promote higher education. Going to the University of Maine I always knew UMO was a land grant college.

Giving land to the land grant educational state colleges and university institution to sell to fund the higher education was a lofty idea.

I had listed a 50 acres of Maine land in New Sweden recently and got to thinking how the Swedish picked up state in their old country. To make the trip across the pond to rural Maine.

More Outdoor Space, Owning More Land With Your Home In Maine.

Up here in Maine, instead of 160 free land acres, the offer was changed a little.

Five acres of 100 were cleared, an 18’x26′ cabin provides to help the new Maine settlers. Each log cabin had a Hampden wood cook stove.

The settlements sprung up around a brook, stream, river. The waterways were vital to run mills and if successful, a boarding home might spring up. The Bangor and Aroostook Railroad helps open up the Swedish settlements in Northern Maine.

Valuable For Heat, For Home Cooking, The Farm House Wood Stove.

When you are warm from an unending supply of firewood and you raise your own food, the national economy news is not of much effect.

Oh sure, teacher salaries might have to be cut but the Maine free land homesteading settlement farm and lumbering families had all they needed.

Peru and Mexico were Maine town names that came from struggles happening in those countries at the time. Paris Maine was in honor and payment for service in the French and Indians Wars. The land grant from Massachusetts before Maine became a state.

Poland Maine and higher wages in the US than Europe caused the influx of population during the Gilded Age in the late 1800’s.

A name for an unorganized Township 5 Range 2 came from many places. Not because the earlier settlers had a connection to a particular country or culture. You think of the early Swedes or whatever country the immigrant came from and have to admire their grit and faith.

The St John River Valley, Aroostook County’s Crown Of Maine.

The early years in New Sweden, Stockholm area had setbacks like anyone farming, working in the woods getting the timber to the mills.

Poor crops, lousy market prices, forest fires, sickness but always always a hard work day ahead. Clearing the land, farming, lumbering, toiling to create strong lasting Maine communities. It took stamina, a strong faith and cooperation from other free land homesteading immigrants resettling in rural Maine. Free land grant in Maine, an opportunity for a brighter future than staying where you were across the ocean.

Unsettled and under populated wilderness areas of Maine and the free land to homestead were an opportunity. For families to pack up and move here but not for vacations. For a new start, for free Maine land and some other perks to entice settling rural parts of the state. To carve out a life where family values, cultural and religious traditions could continue in the new Maine location.

I’m Maine REALTOR Andrew Mooers, ME Broker

207.532.6573 | info@mooersrealty.com |

MOOERS REALTY 69 North ST Houlton ME 04730 USA

August 26, 2024
I Just Want To Be Left Alone.

I just want to be left alone.

Leave me along, just let me be. Hear that desperate plea desire uttered almost daily from Maine real estate buyers.

Space, privacy, peace and quiet. In crowded populated areas it may be impossible or just too darn expensive to create it. In rural Maine, not hard at all.

Farm Property In Maine. Your Nearest Neighbor A Half Mile Away.

The wanting to be left alone. It’s not that most are anti social. The group just share the common goa for different reasonsl. Getting away from people too close for comfort. Especially the ones constantly on your case on how best to lead your life. That have to point out where you are doing it wrong, missing the target.

Ever notice many of the folks self appointed to help you with your life should spend more time housekeeping their own?

It gets old living with the evil eye and wondering here it comes again. Tightening up or smiling and trying to back away and run for the hills. What I am doing wrong now in someone’s opinion?

So Maine is the perfect place to create some space.

Land Not People. That’s Maine. Loaded With Wildlife But No HOA’s, No Four To Six Lanes Of Traffic.

Less people, more wildlife and 450 small communities, villages. Just a handful of cities in Maine.

Like the old song “Stop the World and Let Me Off”, the Waylon Jennings song … The poor love sick guy wanted to stop the spinning.

Couldn’t function with the “As The World Turns” of romance gone bad. Can not survive without the other.. just sick of tired of going round and round when the partner’s flame went out and passion elsewhere sparked. Missing the kissing and tender hearted care after his love went away.

Where is the lever anyway to stop the carnival ride, the one called pull here in an emergency for relief from day to day round and round?

The Carnival Food, Fun, Games, Rides. Did You Get Your Fill This 4th Of July In Maine? Everyday Maine Is Not Crowded, Not Wall To Wall People Or Bumper To Bumper Traffic.

Maine offers a natural unspoiled setting for recreation and nature.

Four season’s worth of oodles of options. For leisure time spent fishing, paddling a kayak or canoe. Hiking a trail. Down hill, cross country skiing all providing exercise and a jaw dropping view.

Follow The Path Less Traveled. The One Up In Rural Maine.

The term “backyard” is very different depending on where you do live on the blue and green spinning marble.

To someone in Maine, your country neighbor is half a mile away. There may be a rock wall separating your property from the two hundred acres or more next door. In a 300 lot urban subdivision, everyone calls the fence company. To define the “backyard” that is measured in feet not acres. No side lawn, front yard and zero lot lines happens.

Grass, do you mow and how long does it take each week? Weed wack only and lots of bark chips not grass to shorten?

In Maine, we mow lawns like we hay.

Big open nicely mowed for the weekend lawns are the norm. Maybe they put drink holders on riding lawn mowers for a reason. I know people who say they do their best thinking mowing the lawn. Not in circles but angled, neatly trimming like you learned from a family member black belt lawn specialist growing up in Maine.

Maine Homesteads, Big Lawns, More Wide Open Space. No People In Sight To Spoil It All.

If you live where why have side windows but you can see the grain of your neighbor’s vinyl siding. No side yard, no back yard and parking. What about parking? Where do I do it? It has to be done out on the street. Or round the corner at a multi story parking garage for a hefty fee.

To get a sense of space, where you live now do you have to trot out of the cul de sac and down the street to a nearby park to get some?

Here’s a perfect example of a new property listing with 60 acres of land Maine homestead and only large land acreages, not people surrounding it.

Watch the Maine real estate video.

Looking for peace and quiet with plenty of elbow room?

Maine, one more reason to consider Vacationland to get space. You can spend time with yourself and figure things out or enjoy not having people people people.

The statement “I just want to be left alone” probably happens because the person crying out for space can not get it. Wall to wall people everywhere you look where they live now.

Life On The Maine Farm. Easy Does It Simple. Early Morning Chores, The Day Wraps Up Late At Night.

Spending some time with yourself in rural Maine but also prepare to get involved and volunteer.

Living in Maine is home grown not store bought. And more “if it is to be, it is up to me” approach to simple living in Maine.

No traffic, little crime, just pure and natural without the privacy fencing, zero lot lines, plenty of parking.

Maine is the way life should be. People are friendly because their personal space is protected and no problem maintaining it on a daily basis. Not just a week’s vacation in Maine for rehab. Maine, is she what is missing in your life? Do you want, need a piece of ME?

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, 2024
Cheapest Places To Buy A House In Maine?

Cheapest places to buy a house in Maine?

This Maine real estate market report runs down where you can get your best bang for your housing buck. It also answers other current market questions that come up daily running a Maine real estate office.

The lower priced Maine real estate is part of the attraction. But so are the home grown local community events and all natural recreation options to consider in Maine. That’s no bull.

Everyone Pitches In And Turns Out In Small Maine Towns! Parades Are Big And Popular In Maine Communities!

First things first, the current Maine real estate market highlights.

Have to set the stage on what’s shaking now in Maine listing sales. For the fourth month in a row, Maine house sales increased. Maine is in the top ten states for desirability due to lower prices, less crime, little traffic in rural areas especially.

Maine has a very low percentage of renters, more home owners.

All Natural, Outdoors In Nature. That Is The Big Maine Attraction.

The state’s available Maine housing inventory is the ninth-lowest in the nation.

The latest figures from Maine Listings via the ME Association of Realtors shows 1,180 homes changed hands, up nearly 4 percent.

The Maine median sales price increased over 7 percent. Maine is a more affordable state for owning your own house. Especially as you head up into the rural interior areas away from the pricey coastline.

Because Maine is such a large state, the real estate market report is not a one size fits all.

You cannot broad brush sum it all up accurately without breaking down the numbers. Listing inventory continues to be in short supply and multiple offer situations are still happening.

Sneak A Peek At The Maine Real Estate Housing Numbers.

Waterfront real estate listing sales especially are often bidding wars with the higher than list, cash buyer seeking few if any contingencies coming out on top.

When you list and sell properties in Maine, the housing, just land, small business properties, apartment, etc all the markets within a market behave differently. Region by region no two market property listing segments show you the exact same statistic.

Maine Waterfront Property Listings, Never Enough. Always A Little Higher Priced And Precious.

Where are the majority of Maine single family house buyers coming from in the current real estate market?

Maine Listings data tracking buyer zip codes says the majority statewide are from Massachusetts (7.44%) and next New Hampshire (3.88%). Florida house buyers purchasing in Maine come in at nearly 2% of the transfers, Connecticut at over 1.5% of sales.

The states with the highest house sale price tags are another group paying cash for Maine houses, other property listing types. The attractive to sell high there and buy much lower in rural Maine is a trend.

Interest rates are not a factor for a Maine housing buyer purchasing with cash. Here’s a sample of what house prices in Northern Maine property listings look like to compare to where you currently live on the planet now.

The cheapest places to buy a house in Maine?

Despite Maine’s healthy brisk housing listing sale numbers, the National Association of Realtors reports a housing sales dip of 2.1% across the country.

Looking, Flying Over Houlton Maine, The County’s Oldest Town. Aroostook County Has The Cheapest Maine Housing Of All! Prices Up, Supply Is Down.

Slicing and dicing the Maine real estate market into the sixteen counties and individual communities tells the real listing sales story. Study the latest Maine Listings PDF real estate listing sales housing report.

Aroostook County is the lowest median priced for buying a house.

The average price is $158,132 and house sales are down over 16% due to sold out, lack of inventory.

House prices in Aroostook County are up 1.80% this year compared to last. When an area of Maine has smaller salaries, the property listing prices on all the real estate is lower too.

Kinda like money is taken out of the equation and many locals can do their own household repairs.

Skills taught earlier in life are tapped into to make later living easier and less costly.

Working On A Maine Farm. Outdoors, All Kinds Of Weather, Long Hours Laboring Year Round.

To show the contrast, Maine’s Cumberland County numbers show housings sales are down 2.35%. But the media house price in Cumberland County is up 6.24% from $536,500 last year to

Maine Outdoor Music Band Concerts Get High Local Attendance!

$570,000 in 2024 YTD.

You better make more money, have a higher paying salary to pull of buying a house in Maine in the more expensive coastal zip codes.

The closer to population you get, the higher the Maine house price tags increase. The cost to insure your Maine house goes up too along with the price to pay for property repairs.

Quite a contrast huh in how things shake, rattle and roll real estate wise in Maine?

As a Maine real estate broker for close to 45 years, I’ve witness first hand in the foxhole trenches a wide variety of markets.

But one factor remains the same, everyone is on the hunt for the lowest cost places to buy a house in Maine.

But what really gives the wrong information is the one stat for the entire state of Maine for median sales price, the days on market, for anything that tries to size up “Vacationland”.

If you are searching for Maine real estate, my advice is don’t try to cover the entire state.

Instead, do your online homework first, then take a trip to sample ME.

Maine Farm Fields Bloom With White, Purple, All Kinds Of Potato Blossoms.

Once you find the area that matches your lifestyle interests best and pleases your wallet at the same time, drill down into any and all new property listings.

Otherwise, you will need a helicopter or private jet to zig zag back and forth like a dragon fly to tour the communities, the property listings in it helter skelter.

Draw a circle of how far you want to be from a hospital, your job, schools, Walmart, a golf course, a lake, the wood land rec trails.

Then take a deep dive into what is available and be patient.

To find the cheapest places to buy a house in Maine.

Study what comes up that matches most of the items on your “gotta have / don’t want” Maine real estate property listing search list.

Selling a house out of state and buying a new one to replace it in Maine.

When the new Maine house is in a attractively priced rural area, be prepared to have money left over.

It’s the trend shown in other earlier Maine house sales real estate property listing reports.

Living free and clear, debt free and caught up helps you enjoy life fully.

Living in the 4th lowest crime state of Maine does not hurt either.

Grow Your Own Food, Raise The Flower Gardens On Your Own In Maine.

Rural Maine the cheapest places to buy a house.

No one wants to have two and three mortgages to struggle to make ends meet.

Your home is the largest investment most of us ever make right?

Everything subject to change for Maine real estate house listings sale prices and supply of what is available on any given day.

Thank you for stopping by!

Hope this Maine blog post is helpful.

That’s the current run down on cheapest place to buy a house in Maine, other current factors in the state’s real estate list.

I’m Maine REALTOR Andrew Mooers, ME Broker

207.532.6573 | info@mooersrealty.com |

MOOERS REALTY 69 North ST Houlton ME 04730 USA

July 9, 2024
“From Away” When You Live In Maine

“From Away” when you live in Maine.

How do those two words make you feel when you hear them? I am a Maine lifelong native but if I was labeled “from away”, I don’t think I would glow warm and fuzzy inside. Maybe once someone discovers a place they love, there is a need to hog it all to themselves? Plenty of room for more in sparsely populated and vast rural Maine regions. That’s the truth of the matter.

Maine, The Cat’s Meow For Many! The Unspoiled Four Seasons Of Maine Is One Big Attraction.

If someone reminded you about being “from away”, how could you not feel like an outsider?

Somehow referred to as “from away” makes me feel I missed a lot or am not as valuable or part of things. Or don’t get too comfortable, you will never be a local. Hmmmm.

Everyone wants to be included no matter where they were earlier in life during childhood or while in the service or working in a relocation location other than Maine.

Is there a sense of excitement when you learn someone is “from away”? Does it means new ideas, a broader pool of experiences for everyone to draw from and tap? It could.

And often the “new person from away” is actually a native. Called away for work, school, Uncle Sam service for their country and now returning home in Maine.

Maine Is Home Grown Food, Local Events, Always Outdoors.

New people, more volunteers to put their heart and soul into the community, sports team coaching, church choir group, whatever local event.

New blood to operate a small business with flare. When someone moves to Maine, they bring with them plenty. Kids for the schools.

I remember during 911 sudden explosion of US Border Patrol, Customs, Immigration hires thinking “hope one of the kids plays hockey, could be our new goalie”.

Feeling Safe, In Harbor Town In Maine. How Are New People Moving To Maine Treated? The Welcome To Maine Reception Is Important!

One of the US Border Patrol agents had a wife who could create Tex Mex to die for and she cooked every Tuesday night.

At The Blue Moose Restaurant in Monticello ME you could graze on the best southwest cuisine. Nothing like Old El Paso refried beans out of a can. The real deal. By living so close to Mexico in Texas, this cook in the kitchen knew her south of the border cuisine and shared her culinary knowledge every Tuesday night.

Slowly I started to notice grocery store shelves with new items. The spices, new items to make the these Tex Mex creations in our own homes was possible. Being “from away” meant sharing what you learned with the small town Maine community.

The Summer Meeting Place In Small Town Maine When Temperatures Soar.

Like travel, the person “from away” has something to contribute. And often the “from away” person moved to your town as an infant. Not their fault they missed four months or a couple years in the beginning of their life somewhere other than Maine.

Ken Knowles, a town manager of two local towns, Linneus and Hodgdon Maine told me he was “an outside from away”.

He was four months old when his family moved to Aroostook County. Not bitter, just stating a fact. That he would always be “from away”. Does it make a difference if you are “from away” wherever you move to? Will it impact your life in Maine?

Share The Road With Horse And Buggy Amish Drivers.

In a crowded city, most folks coming and going are “from away” or somewhere else. Maybe no distinction is made whether you hail from the area from birth or just rolled into town twenty minutes ago.

Moving to an area is a change, upheaval in a person’s life and you left behind your last “home”.

You do leave behind family, friends, old familiar routines when you move away from what was home. Somethings left in the rear view mirror, put behind you leaving Dodge when you hit the trail are a good thing. But happy memories, hoping your new area creates more of them is a legitimate expectation right?

Is Being Different Unique Bad Or An Asset In A Small Maine Town?

What about the people in Maine that are not from away or maybe they are.

What happens when they get the impression the move to your area is a disappointment. Expressions like “back in Tuskaloo, I blah blah blah.” When heard a lot in conversation, especially when Maine is portrayed as lacking this, this and that. It can get old. And you could wonder why did this person move or what did they expect?

Maybe moving to a new area seemed like a good idea at the time but how could you really know it was the best idea?

Try it, you might or might not like it. And how long do you give a new area to settle in, create a new mailing address to mold you?

Welcoming, Hospitable, Warm And Friendly. Hope That Is The Reception You Have In Maine.

More than two words “from away” involved here.

When you made the move to Maine matters and did you do it for a better small town experience for your kids? Was it to escape too many people, crime, traffic and a high cost of living? To save money. Or because you loved Maine vacations, thought wouldn’t a full time relocation move be a fantasy dream come true?

COVID trapped and working at home online taught folks hey, as long as I have long and strong Internet. Let’s pack the job with our personal belongings and point the car north to Maine.

If you are happy and you know it, clap your hands. Welcome to Maine.

Enjoy Your Surroundings And Not As Many People In Maine To Share It.

If you were not handstand happy the last three locations you lived out of state, that trend to continue. Like let’s have a baby to improve a marriage or fix it, a relocation to Maine might not be the end all solution to all of life’s problems.

What does the search online show for “from away”?

“A non-native person or a person who doesn’t have roots going back three-plus generations” is the definition I found.

Learn something everyday right? I thought “from away” means you were somewhere else, not in class, just not here in Maine 365/24/7. Or just not stork delivered here as a new born. Just had no control over where your delivery took place. We’re not talking culture, race, religious, etc but just the fact you are new, not from here. Does someone feel threatened?

Is “from away” a stigma or something a person carries like a disease?

Trips To Maine Traveling Light On Two Wheels With Rain Gear.

Is there any reason to point it out. Like “I didn’t go to college” comment or observation some make to all they meet. I never would have know if you had not pointed it out and so what. Maybe they don’t think it’s a big hairy deal but when someone does not like you, utter the expression. They remind you you are from somewhere, anywhere else but Maine. Ouch.

Thank you very much and feeling pretty warm, special, welcome Chummy, Mister Man.

In a small Maine community, it’s not just a case of all the folks three generations deep are on this side of the gym. You “others” just line yourselves up on the opposite side please and thank you.

Making everyone feel welcome and empathy for others, enjoying socializing and learning together. Do you march to that drum beat? In a Rotary or local service club, your church, in the workplace, in your social media posts, is it obvious you have a spirit to include others? It better be if you want to grow and improve.

Maine, The Way Life Should Be. One Big State, Lots Of Special Hidden Areas To Discover. Welcome, I Really Mean It. Glad You Are Here.

Shake it up and move around at all those meetings you attend.

Don’t sit in the same place with the same small group and break it up to include “others”. What is the fear not too? That someone that new person is different or you can only have so many friends or acquaintances?

“You’re not from around here” feeling or reminder is not being a member of the Welcome Wagon.

Hospitality and a sense this small Maine home town proud community is a place I want to spend time.

To pitch in and help out and to be sensitive to others new and old around me. Friendly, genuine interest and attention is never forgotten by the brand new to your small Maine town.

Grooming Trails To Make Them Smooth, Fast, Helpful To Discover Maine.

The new kid in town and all alone the first day of school at lunch in the cafeteria.

If you have never been one, easy to not be so sensitive. When you know or are related to many around you, it is easier to forget to reach out to any and all new folks who wander into your small Maine town.

I would like to see my small Maine town of 6000 grow to 7500 people.

All ages, from diverse backgrounds and young, older, in between. Back in 1957, my small Maine town peaked around 10,000 population.

The Bangor & Aroostook railroad, a local college, industry and the downtown were bigger before the Internet and Interstate. My small town in Maine

With the outward migrations from crowded, expensive city urban areas, Maine is seeing the population numbers increase slowly from the siphon to the city where eight out of ten people had to go for jobs.

Online working remotely and telecommuting to jobs has helped change all that.

Big Game, Summer Watching Little League Baseball Games In A Small Maine Town. Priceless.

Simple small town living and feeling safe, needed in the Maine community. That kind of place is searched for online hard as Maine comedian Bob Marley would empathize “HHHHHAAArddd”.

Everyone wants to find a place where they feel wanted under the sun and stars.

Where they can glean and give back to make where they call home all that it can be. To do more than make ends meet and to enjoy life instead of chasing the almighty dollar to keep the wolf from their door financially.

Some of the most interesting people are from all over the place and many land in Maine.

Not because they are on the witness protection program but life took them here and there. Super vacations in Maine primes the relocation pump.

Past, rich experiences they had personally over the years can be a very valuable resource that causes Maine to pop to the front of the mind when it’s time to move somewhere.

Tap these individuals on the shoulder, shake their hand.

Go out of your way to Invite them into your population as you reinvent and improve it. Also, the folks shut in and without family connections. Include them in your celebrations and holidays.

Be friendly, reach out and see what a valuable resource you have living right in your own small Maine town.

Maine in so many ways is the way life should be with one unique rich history.

Hope you enjoy our blog post hunt and peck about Me In Maine.

I’m Maine REALTOR Andrew Mooers, ME Broker

207.532.6573 | info@mooersrealty.com |

MOOERS REALTY 69 North ST Houlton ME 04730 USA

July 1, 2024
Maine State Soap Box Derby Race 2024

Maine State Soap Box Derby Race 2024.

Since 1996, every June the Northern Maine Soap Box Derby Race runs in the town of Houlton ME. This blog post is about this past weekend’s June 22nd 2024 race and with a little Maine soap box derby rich history mixed in for good measure.

Drivers Ready? Checked Your Brakes? Win Pins In? Helmet Feel Right? 3, 2, 1….(Metal Release Sound)

The Houlton Maine / Aroostook County soap box derby race run in Houlton Maine was largest local in the entire nation for five years in a row.

And the Northern Maine race is one and only venue for the state race held each June. To determine a winner in stock, superstock and sometimes master soap box derby race divisions. At one time, Maine had five local races held in Bangor / Brewer, Camden, Houlton, Rumford, South Portland.

The top derby racers in each division class go on from Maine to represent the state out in the All America Soap Box Derby 3 lane track in Akron, Ohio.

The big world series of soap box derby racing tradition started back in 1934.

Maine Soap Box Derby Racers Do Well Competing In Akron Ohio All American Race!

With perfect sunshine summer weather, the 34 derby racers gathered to race on Derby Hill.

This year’s derby race fielded 24 stock and 10 super stock racers. This specially engineered soap box derby racing hill constructed in Community Park in Houlton Maine makes set up and tear down a breeze.

Houlton Maine’s Derby Hill In Community Park! The Thrill Of The Hill in Northern Maine Happens Each June!

The World Series Of Soap Box Derby Racing Happens In Akron Ohio. Since 1934, Kids Compete In Local Races To Go On To Akron’s Big Race.

Derby Hill has a garage storage building perched on top courtesy of the Houlton Rotary Club.

The aviation grade pavement put down on the two lane soap box derby race track has lights, guardrails and is over 900′ long.

One neat slick efficient hill to race on and no more setting up and tear down to make a public street your soap box derby course to compete.

A paved derby side run keeps the supply of soap box derby cars steady. Specially built derby trailers are loaded with empty cars on back. Their car drivers riding in the front tow vehicles pulling these loaded soap box derby trailers.

Helping Young Soap Box Derby Drivers, It Takes A Village, Your Family, Sponsors.

Watch this year’s Maine soap box derby race highlights Facebook video.

The stock derby car class winner this year was Aiden Cyr. Super stock derby car winner was Addyson Lynds. For more on the Northern Maine Soap Box Derby history, check out the images and information here. Visit the Northern Maine soap box derby website.

Stock Racer Aiden Cyr And Super Stock Racer Addyson Lynds Win Houlton Maine Soap Box Derby 2024 Race!

Always looking for new Maine soap box derby racers to catch the fever.

Derby race, car sponsors and family support to help new drivers learn the “Thrill of the Hill” in Houlton Maine. Those folks all come together to create the small Maine town friendly, fair soap box derby racing experience for our youth.

Ready To Race After Loosing A Wheel Pin Cotter Key. No One Hurt, Safety First.

Love to talk “derby” and figure why should a kid wait until they are sixteen to drive a car?

Neat racing event and your entire family is involved in soap box derby. Each child can compete along with their big or little brother and sister. Lots learned about gravity, science of engineering, safety and competing fair and square on Derby Hill in Community Park, Houlton Maine.

Since 1996, have been involved in the Northern Maine Soap Box Derby Racing program.

Have helped lots of derby racers, including two of my own kids make the trip west to compete in the All American big race in Akron Ohio.

Gather Round The Soap Box Derby Racing Exam Table. Like A Field Hospital For Repairs And Therapy.

Maine soap box derby racing in Houlton Maine. Reach out, here for questions about everything soap box derby. The Northern ME soap box derby committee puts on the big state of Maine race event each June.

I’m Maine REALTOR Andrew Mooers, ME Broker

207.532.6573 | info@mooersrealty.com |

MOOERS REALTY 69 North ST Houlton ME 04730

June 26, 2024