Category: Maine Real Estate

Maine, A Great State To Get Lost On Purpose.

I have a real job and it is not creating the Me In Maine blog post stream of news from up here in the upper right hand corner.

And the common theme I hear more than any is “get me out of the city, away from people.” Maine is a vast state and under nourished for population. The head count is low and the acreage of woods, farm land, water front is huge and unspoiled. Because the distance north protects and insulates the state of Maine.

Why People Pick Maine For Low Cost Property, The Wide Open Space. Low Population, Less Folks To Bump Into And Bug You The #1 Reason Order Up Maine.

So other people. Why are they the problem for many?

Because folks need to take Dale Carnegie and learn to win friends and influence people? No. That’s not it because I meet lots of people in my day job of listing, market, selling Maine real estate. That are friendly, personable and not difficult to deal with…but throw these same people into grid lock living of a city. Add a dash of crime, an element of noise and feeling jammed in and watch out. Things heat up like the tempers and anxiety levels.

It is the same do or die, fight or flight situation as an animal backed into a tight corner exhibits. With teeth bared, its shackles up. The nice as punch, easiest going dog, cat, person becomes a caged animal wanting to break out at all costs. They snap. That is why people buy property in Maine. They can breathe, not worry about plowing into someone that invades their space. They also can own and enjoy it without debt. Everything you know divide by three, four living in small rural Maine.

The stress of living with too many people, way too much regulation and high cost of surviving the urban landscape.

It is the reason folks age prematurely from the stress. They are not happy and no matter how much they try to retail therapy their way out of it, something is missing. Something money can not buy. Maine is outdoor experiences, the ability to get below radar and away from people. To spend time with me, myself and I.

This Is Not The Landscape Where Too Many People Live. Maine Is Less Population, More Natural Unspoiled Space To Enjoy As You Take It Easy.

Had a call this week from China. Joe is from Chengdu and teaches English. I told him in a phone conversation it must be neat to be fluent in Chinese and he says he is never going to stop learning that language.

He spied with his little eye a low cost house, land, near a lake and on a brook for $12,500. He wants a place to vacation at least once a year with the plan to move here full time someday. He has traveled extensively, is from California originally and has a buddy from Wales who also teaches English in China.

There is lots of demand for help teaching English and folks on the streets of China when they hear English flock to it to practice the language.

To become more proficient with the plan for many to take a leap to the USA someday. The land of opportunity. A cheap place for Vacationland ME real estate and why people buy property in Maine.

But back to Joe. He also has another friend who writes and is looking for a backdrop to crank up the creative literary juices. I told him after college, I worked in broadcasting in Bangor Maine, and for a time at a station writer Stephen King owns. And if you digest any of his many books, Maine is a common setting with a twist on the places to add spark to the fiction of his works.

The time zone difference, knowing China does not spring forward or fall back to save on the time to match the calendar here in Maine.

A dozen hours, it was 11:30 at night there and 11:30 in the morning on the call as crystal clear as a bell with no delay or static. I have been sending him property video links and bring him up to speed on how things rock and roll in Maine. He likes what he sees, hears and is sharing in his cyber circle. Others connected to his sphere are reaching out from far away lands and the spinning blue and green marble is becoming smaller, more accessible to many.

Easy Does It, Everyone Is Not Strung Out, Including The Animals. Plenty Of Elbow Room, Living Space Does That! Get To Maine For A Sample.

The same day another phone call from St Barths, an Caribbean Island. The caller with a thick French accent, asking about a church for the same $12,500 price tag we must be running a special on in Maine real estate. So much for so little makes Maine a bargain for property listings and add the sauce surrounding it of eye candy, less people, more wildlife and the strong connection to get some real estate intensifies. It is why lots of our sweat and tears is poured into telling, showing the outside audience what Maine is like.

Another caller from Garmisch, Germany buzzed in through thin air of a wireless signal.

He told me the location in Bavaria, near Germany’s highest mountain was the site of the 1936 World Olympics. Evidently whoever picks the venue for the next global games requires a certain size population. So Hitler anxious to be the host city combined Garmisch (in the west) and Partenkirchen (in the east). They had been two separate towns for many centuries, and still maintain quite separate identities. See link above on the location in Germany.

Have had a seller from England sell a home he bought from us to a purchaser from Ireland we located from one of our blog posts on simple Maine living. People move, look for a better location or just to sample a new part of the World. Traveling is easier today and folks have more disposable money to burn.

They don’t only come to the New Land riding in clipper ships, the Plymouth Rock models or the square back ones Chris Columbus navigated in search of rum, spices, real estate for the taking by planting a flag, for the fame and fortune. To go down in the history books as a remembered name echoed through time.

Church For Sale In Maine! $12,500! That Makes The Phone Ring, Email Server To Glow Hot Around The World.

One buyer from Seattle Washington has boat loads of blue chip software tech stock that went through the roof in value.

And did not want his four cats to ride on a commercial airline so he chartered a private Lear jet to whisk them away to Maine. I had to pick them up at the Houlton Maine airport and get the pilot and two other crew members a ride to a rental car place, to the check at a local motel.

The cost was $15,000 for the one way delivery of the felines and the pair of fly boys and stewardess were leaving the next day on touch down in Boston for the return back haul of a family heading to the west coast.

So back to the day job of peddling properties and will keep shooting images, uploading videos about life in Maine. The way life should be and a place where not many other areas of the World can compare.

I’m Maine REALTOR Andrew Mooers, ME Broker

207.532.6573 | info@mooersrealty.com |

MOOERS REALTY 69 North Street Houlton ME 04730

May 17, 2017
Getting Ready For Spring, Maine Winter Weather Winds Down.

Spring in Maine, a time of yard work to repair the truck plowing lawn scars, to remove rocks air lifted in from the snow blower.

Sides of houses pressure washed to release the sand and salt residue that clings to the exterior. And garage doors thrown open high and the interiors swamped out and organized. Just like the cars and trucks we hunker down in when the white blanket covers the landscape in Maine.

Spring is a time when not just your Maine house cats, dogs, whatever pet that samples the two dishes through out the day acts a little funny. Like they are on too catnip.

Cabin fever from the being stuck inside a little more than you would like over winter intensifies as the snow banks surrender and the temperature rises in the tube sampling the air outside your kitchen window.

Free at last. Especially if you are in the elderly demographic of Mainers and worried sick for too long. About that hidden layer of glare ice that might be lurking under the new fallen snow. That snow adds lubrication to the polished ice formation like a moat causing house arrest. That makes conditions ideal for a broken hip or dislocated shoulder if the house dweller inside gets any ideas of a quick escape to Wally World, Piggly Wiggly or Mardens. No one wants the siren ride to the ER and the OR pin applied to the hip right?

Searching For A Snack. Shy Maine Black Bears Shake Off Hibernation And Become More Social.

Throwing open windows and house doors to exchange the air inside for the fresh stuff the other side of the insulated barriers.

Study intently of the online and newsprint canoe and kayak racing circuit schedule news. For trophies to add to the collection gathering dust in the bookcase or on the fireplace mantel. Or the row row or paddle your boat for just the sheer pleasure of floating, coasting with the current at your own pace. Down a winter run off engorged river or stream in Maine with fellow friends, family and neighbors that is a spring tradition for many in Maine. You see the green and red water craft leaning against garages, getting ready for the heave ho hoist to the rack on the back of pickups around Maine. As the angled yellow or red or stainless steel angled plow and frame come off the other end.

The vegetable seed catalogs have long ago been delivered and peat pots on old newspapers cover card tables and porch room window sills.

Both areas littered with jump started, sprouting vegetables to transplant because of they are the best areas to capture the all important sunshine.

That is invited into Maine homes lucky enough to have an eastern, better yet southerly exposure location. The pools of warm sunshine same areas cats like to lounge as they follow the yellow and red ball radiation of heat and light from room to room in houses around Maine.

Maine Moose Jogging By A Maple Syrup Tapped Grove. Spring Air Stirs The Wildlife And The Local Natives.

Plans for a bigger garden this year with new editions that were not on the menu for family dining when harvested after the regiment of planting, weeding, watering, feeding in the labor of love. To serve your family, yourself and all the folks you share the excess bounty from the good old Earth that creates the all natural foodstuffs. In the piece of dirt that can be measured in feet, yards or acres depending on the size of the metes and bounds legal description in the deed to the house you call home in Maine.

Funneling the income tax return to needed repairs or to erase debt for the free and clear. That is part of spring’s ritual involving whether you owe or get a refund. Filling in driveway pot holes, pushing dirt back in to smooth out the runway stop and go. Spring means lots of exercising that involves ladders, holes, window washing and tightening, straightening what is loose.

New Year’s a regular time of resolutions for a better disciplined life as the ball drops and you kiss the one you love and rip off the month of December from the kitchen calendar.

But spring is a time of action to get results from the pledge IOU’s written under the influence of bubbly grape juice or barley pop or whatever firewater tickles the taste buds to fresh you in life celebrations and mile stones. Gratitude is riches and that blessing increases inside especially in spring. A time of renewed hope, faith and relief that robins and song birds return from the south along with lake loons who serenade us nightly as we circle our chairs around open fire pits for some outdoor gap fests and heart to heart therapy sessions.

Opening up the lake, woods, river camps in Maine.

Chasing out the mice who hung out while you were gone. Making a mental list transferred to the scribble on the job jar items that may be a little too ambitious for your back and wallet. But nonetheless created in gusto with prioritizing like the triage exercise in an emergency room. To determine whether the machine shed roof on a set of Maine farm property buildings trumps the replacement of the two windows or sliding doors that have lost their seal and fog over. Interfering with the view of the bird feeder that attracts winged delights of all kinds and a fair share of the cats and squirrels, chipmunks from around the neighborhood to shoo away with the daisy red rider broadcasting copper pellets.

Next Year’s Wood Pile In Tree Life Form. Ready To Knit On, To Slowly Cut And Split Into Just The Right Stove Lengths. Mainers Stay A Season Ahead With Their Wood Stash.

Screwing back on or replacing hanging by one screw mud flaps. Getting a new windshield pinged by a sand truck rock on the way to the local sport’s team and their quest for a gold basketball or coveted hockey trophy. The new sheet of glass so the new vehicle inspection sticker can be applied to avoid the blue lights from Smokey Bear asking for license and your registration please.

Tending the wood home fires stops. Feeding the stoves and furnaces winds down. Next year’s tree length is delivered to prepared early for the next round of winter weather. Staying ahead of the heating curve.

Trips around Maine because you are lucky enough to live here and sample easily the delights of the many regions of Vacationland. Those are mulled over in the shower, humming while shaving with the guy you meet and greet each day in the bathroom mirror. Or while performing the thorough, deep spring cleaning where interior walls get scrubbed, curtains washed or dry cleaned and wardrobes exchanged. To slip into something more comfortable to match the weather in Maine now playing outside your home or camp or cottage.

Treks with picnic baskets to Baxter Park, down to the rugged rock bound coast line in Maine.

Hiking up the hills, biking around the islands that deliver whatever you peddle by ferry boats running on tight schedules when the Maine weather allows them to without peril. Collecting another light house in Maine for the collection.

The Sweet Stuff, Rock Maple Sap That Boils Down 40 To 1 For The Golden Mixture To Ooze And Drizzle On Your Griddle Stacks Of Maine Blueberry Pancakes.

Trips to visit, pay respects to family plots on the spots in a cemetery where departed loved ones are buried. The plastic flowers replaced with rear ones in some cases. Trimming bushes, shaping landscaping trees to keep them low to the ground and respectful. Silent and audible conversations had with the ones you miss but know are in a better place with no suffering and saving you a seat.

Maine home shows around the state give you ideas for renovations to your castle this spring and beyond.

New toys for the water front or all the trails that dot and dash the Gazetteer map to explore get attention too if sales too hard to pass up are marketed correctly. The seed is already planted in Mainers who study the Uncle Henry’s and Craiglist for a true bargain. Snow sled trail markers and directional signs are collected, uprooted in muddy fields. To make way for the farmers to drop the chisel plow to get ready for another spring planting when the soil warms up and drys out.

Awareness sharpens in spring because of the lull caused by spending more time than you would like indoors over a Maine winter. The exercise regiment increases and the pounds added on during the holidays melt away like the snow flakes free loading in receding bank on properties around Maine. Green grass awaits, golf courses too and hardware trips to perform a few of the requests at a time on the honey do list.

Spring time in Maine, folks of all ages smile more, dream louder.

Kids sense it first as bikes are hauled out of storage way too early. And forgetting to wear a coat as they race for the trampoline under chilly conditions remind you what it is like to be young and not carry the weight of mortgage payments, poor medical reports and juggling the check book.

If you only spend time in Maine around July 4th, add some new dance steps to your vacation fox trot or jitter bug up the pike numbered “95” into the Pine Tree state. Maine, she does a body good and once those heart strings are found, she never lets go and you don’t mind one bit.

I’m Maine REALTOR Andrew Mooers, ME Broker

207.532.6573 | info@mooersrealty.com |

MOOERS REALTY 69 North Street Houlton Maine 04730 USA

April 5, 2017
Moving, Relocating To Maine.

Moving, relocating to Maine, what creates the itch needing to be scratched?

And how long does the loving feeling for Maine last? What makes the longing grow stronger, dig itself deeper? Maine tugs hardest on the heart strings of those just not built to shuck and jive in a city. Maine is small town connected, helpful, honest. The cost of living is lower in a small Maine town. Because cars don’t get stolen, gangs don’t roam the streets collecting for chop shops. Less fender benders when population is low like Maine. We look out for those elderly drivers who we know on sight and who’s own has dimmed. Cut ’em some slack. Especially if they are wearing a yellow Fisher snow plow angled your direction on front of that well known pick up truck. Give them a wide berth Chummy.

Coffee Early In The Morning The Old Fashion Way! Get To Maine, Relax, Breathe.

Way way more land around whatever you purchase for real estate in Maine. House and land prices are lower. Slaving to make mortgage payments is not a given. When you fill in the spaces, tear off and send the checks in at the end of the month. Fun is outdoors, no or low cost generated. All four seasons offer something special that touches folks in intimate places they did not know they had. Fear, personal safety is not a drain on the brain of the people who live in rural Maine. No dead bolts and chain locks in the 4th lowest crime state.

Worry about making a certain salary, meeting some imaginary financial goal objective may be a seed planted by parents, educators.

Who live in a small town but longed to see what life was like in the bright lights, big city. Get away, shoo fly.

Travel cures that concern and folks that feel trapped in a small town should move and relocate. Try out what they think is missing. Those who have appreciate Maine even more. Because they have other surroundings to compare it to and the appreciation increases. The local whining and bitching stops.

A Break From The Water, Flying A Kite At The Wells / Moody Beach Seashore.

Absence makes the heart grow fonder. And you don’t appreciate something as much as you should until it is removed from your life right? A couple of weeks of therapy living, surviving, struggling in say Boston’s Combat Zone oughta do it.

Living in small rural Maine does not mean retreating to the stone age.

High speed internet, telecommuters are common as you bring your online job with you to Maine. Those with an income that follows them flock to Maine too and they are not all retired, wearing the gold watch for all those years of service somewhere far from Maine.

One Beach Is Not Exactly Like The Next. This One In Maine In Kennebunkport At Dusk.

Maine only has a handful of cities. And the shift of folks living in the ones closer to Boston making the move deeper into the interior, pushing further north. It is happening as I hear in my day job some just don’t feel like they live in the Maine they grew up in because of increased population. All that is lost when the head count number rises.

Maine, why Maine?

The unspoiled beauty, the vast wide open space, fresh air, clean water. The simpler living in Maine. You are needed in small Maine towns, you have a role to do beyond raising your kids, holding down a job. You contribute in lots of little ways so collectively the pride of the small Maine town, your area of one of the sixteen counties swells. You work behind the scenes in the local community events, not just pay for the price of admission in small Maine town productions.

Fire engines send off and receive the sports teams that leave town boundaries lines to defend a title or earn a new one. We cheer on and had a hand in raising our youngsters. We know them by first name, their brothers, sisters too. Our households have hub bub from more than our own and kids grow up feeling a part in their community. And long to come back to it if forced to move but that leave their heart back in Maine. The state up here in the left hand upper corner which by rights should be in Canada. And shares a rich heritage with the land of the waving red maple leaf.

The Pets Socialize As Their Owners Do The Same On A Maine Open Deck. Chill.

Folks moving, relocating to Maine get the unexpected perk of venturing into the Maritimes.

No one told them in the four color brochure pushing Maine tourism how neat it really is to be a two nation vacation destination. And our sports teams drag us to other parts of Maine. We hang around after the game and get to know our Maine small town host by tooling the area, sampling what each has to offer. That is the sparkle on the facets of the jewel dubbed Maine.

Ever been Downeast Maine? This Me In Maine blog post channel tries to highlight the many areas of Maine. Folks that claim to have been to Maine but only the Kittery Trading post and a quick trip back across the big green bridge quick like a bunny like we urged the kids. They missed out on so much! Come back, go deeper, stay a little longer sometime. Make Maine a life long habit.

I love where I live in Maine.

But just as much, exploring and discovering all the special areas of Maine living here is what adds the sizzle to the steak. The ice shacks are slowly leaving the frozen sheets of water, sap houses are in production making the maple syrup. Canoe and kayak race schedules are being circulated around Maine. We are scanning seed catalogs, planning for outdoor remodeling or renovation projects and shopping materials for the DIY updates. Little league, soap box derby registrations are landing in household metal boxes and email inboxes.

Maine Has A Lot Of This… Just Land. No People, No Wind Generators Or Anything Man Made.

Space in an under populated state like Maine creates the sense of relief and then bring in, cue all the wildlife. Everyone longs to see a moose, white tail deer, a whale vacationing in Maine right?

Birds singing, fish jumping, no highway hum of big trucks or all those city sirens. The sunrises, sunsets on a lake, a river, ocean front cause a person to let go completely. To gaze into the outdoor fire pit while friends and family collect to share, bond, to dream. Munching slow cook, locally sourced home made food. Much you raised yourself or others at the social gatherings contributed to the common menu.

Thinking you could benefit from a little Maine time spent wisely to ease back, enjoy life a lot more? Less distractions, more hands on skill building and help from your neighbors who join forces. Who wouldn’t benefit from that? Thought of moving, relocating to Maine?

I’m Maine REALTOR Andrew Mooers, ME Broker

207.532.6573 | info@mooersrealty.com |

MOOERS REALTY 69 North Street Houlton Maine 04730 USA

March 28, 2017
Easy Does It, Keep It Simple Living In Maine.

Maine’s magic is all about living simpler without wall to wall people invading your personal space.

And you know how clutter piling up around your home can cause stress? Or the feeling of being perpetually late, pushed hard to be here, there, everywhere can overwhelm? Because you are just being pulled in too many directions. When you take a deep breath, step back and study what’s is causing the what is missing, the causes are plain as day. How you fill your day is still a personal decision right ? And you do have some say in the life you lead or do you?

Families, Outdoor Fun, Maine Fresh Air. Winter Greets Spring. Priceless.

What leaves you out of sorts, feeling deep down dissatisfied is often just too many people pushing and shoving and making demands on you.

Maine is under populated, with vast unspoiled space which helps tremendously to set the stage for the healthier living foundation to build on. Not many people to deal with means much is missing and just does not show up on your radar.

The high cost of city living, all the traffic, noise, expense and worry about personal safety weigh a person down big time. Like heavy cement shoes were slipped on permanently in just your size. Or your pair of arms are pressed tightly against your chest as if a permanent strait jacket was laced up and buckled tightly to cut off your air supply. And who put on these leg irons? Ah, you did.

What can rob a beautiful day of promise shortly after you rise and are suppose to shine?

What brings in the dark clouds that hides the blue sky and makes you a prisoner is not someone else’s fault. The over stuffed bloat and everything just not in its right place around you day in and out takes its toll. Empties a person. Shouldn’t you be able to fill your schedule day and night with some hand picked items and live your own life with some self input in the personal choices?

Maine Is Real, Peaceful, Not Crowded. One Of The Lowest Crime States.

That feeling of not being as ship shape as you want and powerless to change your life’s direction. Virtually out of control weary added to a continuous over booked lifestyle where the clock is your drill sergeant can leave a person drained. Bone weary.

Wondering what’s wrong. It’s what is missing. A person can self medicate to temporarily address the symptoms. But they don’t go away on their own. And clutter is not just what fills your household living space. It spills over beyond the physical square footage you call home and where you stuff whatever you hoard and consider treasure.

A day at a time makes the how do you fix the direction your life has taken easier to accomplish. Causes patience, the sincere effort needed to force the self examination. You can not fix what you don’t address by avoiding making the time for study. The neat thing about blog posts from real people out in the World around us is sharing.

How do the rest of the Earth inhabitants live, and how do you apply new ways of thinking, doing to your own life is easier than ever with the Internet.

Granted, you can spend a lot of time surfing, drilling down into a topic and looking for the rich veins of information that are hidden nuggets to search online.

The Imaginations Working Full Time Outdoors, Lungs Full Of Fresh Maine Air.

The root cause of what is ailing you can make a person feel pretty powerless as the hide and go seek exercise unfolds. If you make the time. Isn’t it time? Come to Maine, open up your mind and heart and run away from all those people that distract.

Simple living in Maine, everything that’s important becomes crystal clear.

Everything that was blurred comes into crystal clear perspective. Ready to find out about Maine, the way life should be? Or don’t. Stay stuck, treading water and just trying to avoid people when they are wall to wall around you that only limits your life. Makes it easily to just pile on more layers of what is not rewarding and lasting but simply a time and money hog. Are you just killing time?

Have you thought about living in Maine?

Trading in the gerbil on the tread wheel existence squeak squeak squeak. What it would be like to live simply in Maine?

How do you get back to simpler living?

Spring is in the air in Maine as winter wanes, Mr Sun gets stronger overhead our small communities.

Spring fever, cabin fever intensifies as warmer days, cooler but not cold nights become the norm. As the season change begins transition. Maple syrup sap is starting to run. The snow is melting and spring skiing, snow sledding is superb. Ice shacks are heading off the frozen sheets of water to prepare for smelts running, other forms of trolling for your fish dinner.

Local Mainers are digging out from winter. Reading seed catalogs. Enjoying natural speed bumps and driving obstacles. While a fresh crop of pot holes are in full bloom as frost heaves release the frozen hold on the ground around us.

Sample Maine on a vacation and consider what if you lived here full time?

If you were involved in your small Maine community and needed, contributing to others who do the same to benefit you in the process. Maine, come for a day, end up staying a lifetime.

I’m Maine REALTOR Andrew Mooers, ME Broker

207.532.6573 | info@mooersrealty.com |

MOOERS REALTY 69 North Street Houlton Maine 04730 USA

March 19, 2017
Cheap Land In Maine Prices, Less Or No Layers Of Zoning Building Codes.

The marching to Maine to find cheap land.

To run away from all the layers of players whenever you want to build the new dream home. Or add on, do the updates when you are smack dab in the heart of an urban setting. The big attraction, the main reason besides low price tags for Maine land is you get all this space. Wide open surroundings without too many people to spoil the setting. To make it so you can’t hear yourself think.

The Black Horse Horse Buggies, The Walkers And Amish Bikers Hard To See At Dusk At Night In Maine.

Maine, it looks attractive to those wanting to avoid all the strangle hold of zoning, building codes, all the rubber stamps of approval steps. That are costly in time and the green stuff. Permits for this, waiting for another municipal meeting, running everything by a snarky restrictive home owner’s association in a planned development. That sizes you up to see if you are a blue blood and going to fit in or not.

Maine is simpler. Because we have less people, there are way way fewer of the head and horns, big cheese chiefs telling them us what to do that over regulation causes.

Move along people. No more herding them in this or that direction. Because freedom to build slowly, a little today, adding to what you started along the way. As time and your budget allow. It makes whatever you do create way more interesting and thought out practical. Because nothing was rushed, no one had a gun to your head. You had choices in the decision making with the stress of heavy duty pressure.

Soil tests for the septic system is one must when you do build on the cheap land in Maine.

Making sure your water source is a well at least 100 feet from the sewerage disposal operation. More on what’s the heck is a HHE 200 soil test plan tht is pretty important paperwork. You can have a privy, make the trips to the little shack out back. The outhouse which is environmentally the best for the good Earth. And have a gray well disposal area designed for shower and kitchen water.

Still need the soil tester involved in the pretty straight forward paperwork that the licensed soil tester, site evaluator cranks out. That shows the dimensions of the leach field or disposal area. That is bigger or smaller depending on the number of bedrooms in the dwelling. With it designed for pressurized or forget the pump to create designs to handle what you want to dispose of that no one likes to talk about much.

Besides the folks wanting a piece of dirt for low cost vacation use, for the investment side of things, piece of mind is another motivator to buy cheap land in Maine. If the country gets into more hot water, if the quick sand of expensive government red tape causes the city mice to head to the hills where their country brethren roost. Starting over in rural Maine is an attractive notion of an increasing number of people.

Teaming The Horses, Working The Land In Maine Farm Fields. Amish Communities Do It Daily Around The State.

The Amish over the years have found Maine on their real estate radar.

The cheap land prices, easier codes for building and just less all around regulation is appealing to their simple lifestyle. The supply of farm land in Maine is great and the smaller fields that bigger growers don’t mess with are idea for the Amish. Who strive to keep things like their were a few generations back in farming. Horse drawn this, hand done that makes the farming harder. But keeps the Amish industrious and pretty much to themselves.

In many areas of Maine you see new Amish settlements. Hear the clip clop of their horse drawn one color carriages. With the group huddled inside wearing the same shade of black. In over a half dozen communities in Maine, Amish settlements have ignited. Sparked from earlier visits from the Amish scouts to check out their brave new land called Maine, the state by itself in the northern outpost of the country. And bordering Canada where the difference in the dollar to loonie exchange can add to the sizzle and allure. Depending on which way the currency value tips.

The Amish have helped taken up the slack of the shrinkage of original farmer head count in Maine.

The trend nationally of farmers being an average age of 59 is not what is happening in Maine. The Amish, the resurgence of farming with micro agriculture younger operators have made Maine bucking the trend. With more than four times the national average of new farm starts the headline in Maine today.

The Amish home school, pay property taxes and contribute to the local economy with their trade mark storage sheds, leather harnesses, bike sales and repairs, etc. I have used their vertical metal siding to re-side a big family farm barn. And their dark as the inside of a cow general store in Smyrna Maine’s Amish community is stocked to the ceiling with nifty devices and fair prices. The Prairie Princess wood cook stove like the other items they sell are tried and tested by their own Amish communities. They sell what they use in their households on a daily basis.

No Smog, No Gas Guzzling Exhaust Fumes With Maine Amish Transportation Using Horse And Buggies. Over 113 Amish Families In A Half Dozen Communities Are Alive And Well In Maine.

Another Amish settlement in East Hodgdon Maine I was involved with as the broker with the listing on a border farm that looked into Canada made for a perfect setting. Except what do you do when you cattle, sheep, farm animals wander across the US / Canadian border? Disconnection of the power into the home, sudden building of a variety of structures was done quickly as I observed the the migration of new families to this Hodgdon Maine location in Southern Aroostook County.

Industrious, private, family oriented, the Amish element in our Maine landscape has added a tourist attraction.

They Amish group in Smyrna Maine from Tennessee landing here in 1996. The Fort Fairfield Central Aroostook collection arrived in 2007 from Heuvelton, NY and Ohio, Missouri, Iowa. The Unity area Amish population from Missouri, Kentucky and down from Smyrna settled in 2008. The Sherman, East Hodgdon and Patten area groups all showed up between 2011 and 2012.

But the shy but friendly Amish population in Maine tries to tend to the chores, raising their large household of respectful boys and girls. The Amish don’t vote. They take care of their own self funded Amish healthcare. Part of the admiration of the Amish when you live with them as neighbors is the preserving the yesteryear farming lifestyle.

Using old ways to produce the bounty from the farm land. But also observing the way they work together on projects from barn raisings to house construction. On their own spread and hired out like ants at a picnic in time’s a wastin’ country building projects. Relying on the home or barn builder to pick up the Amish crew to and from work. Or hiring others to transport the materials if not handy to their own Amish farmsteads. Check out the video from a recent Maine farm sale that was built from the ground up, along with a barn by the Amish community in Smyrna Maine. See, hear the Amish home building in action at this link.

Space For Everyone, Maine Has Lots Of Cheap Land. To Enjoy The Wildlife Without Traffic, Crime, Pollution. Noise.

On Thursdays, the Amish in our area have “community project day”.

They leave their farm land homesteads to go help another in their group. To round robin do whatever needs attention on the spread down the road. There is a connection and working together manner that is impressive. In a day and age of “me me me” when it used to always be about others. Many are realizing how the get more by giving more really works in small rural Maine. Money is not the end all. The way you treat others with dignity and respect it and kindness wins the day.

How do we adjust to the Amish in Smyrna, East Hodgdon, Fort Fairfield-Easton, Unity-Thorndike, Sherman-Island Falls and Patten?

Well motorists see the horse and buggy signs, slow when a carriage is coming at you or when you come up on one pretty fast on a country highway. The black makes seeing them at dusk or later very hard so I avoid those highways and opt out for the faster Interstate 95 by pass around the communities that do have Amish settlements in Aroostook County. Having a horse hit for a new hood ornament is not a pleasant thought.

Nature’s Circle, a local New Limerick organic farm operation partners with the Amish produce growers for their root crops, the squash, potatoes. With expansion of what is grown and shipped to organic markets planned. I grew up on a convention farm and the introduction to organic crop raising has been enlightening. Thinking more about where did this food come from and how it was handled makes food safety pretty darn important. There is nothing better than farm to table, close to home farming to feed your family the best food available to make them grow tall, strong, happy and healthy.

I’m Maine REALTOR Andrew Mooers, ME Broker

207.532.6573 | info@mooersrealty.com |

MOOERS REALTY 69 North Street Houlton Maine 04730 USA

March 9, 2017
Houlton Maine, The Town’s Past Supporting The Aroostook County Future.

Like most small communities, Houlton Maine is a town of unique features, talented people.

Houlton Maine, Rich History Preserved And Protected.

Small towns like Houlton Maine to survive and prospect must turn the corner with an eye to the future. But never losing what is behind them in the rear view mirror for rich history.

For perspective, adapting to a changing World economy it is the blend of new and old. It is all about embracing technology and riding the information wave into the future never forgetting the past.

Service providing and the shift from working on the Maine farms and in the deep vast woods by hand is underway. Retooling for the next generation to stick around or move back to their small Maine town.

Houlton Maine, Shiretown of Aroostook County. The Early Years.

The past of Houlton Maine is a rich one as an earlier blog post on the County Seat Or “Shiretown”, the oldest town in Aroostook County outlines.

The archives of Houlton Maine history show colorfully in the jounalistic prose of the time about the hardships of picking up from comfortable surroundings. And heading into the unknown wilds of the Great North Maine Woods.

The history of farming in Aroostook County is a rich one. And the youth exposed to farming benefit the most in life skills and perseverance. The industry of children shown in this potato picking video, another one on potato house work say it all. Fresh air, working together to harvest the new crop of spuds or whatever the farm field yields from the seeds of spring. That drive and determination to stick with it carries a person for life.

But today, building on the past, with stories preserved, the history capsuled in museums, on website meanderings can be part of the tourism effort in Maine.

As folks seek to go deep into the interior and northern, western sections of Maine beyond the traditional sea coastal area tourist traps. The Patten Lumberman’s Museum is another example of a history lesson available to all who enters it’s doors or accesses the site in this Northern Penobscot County out post town.

Potatoes Were King, Northern Maine Planted More, Harvest The Most At One Time.

The railroad opened up the Northern sections of Maine. Once the border between Maine and Canada was hammered out. The railroad lines and spurs on the sidings connected the industries. To feed the markets needing the farming produce, meat, dairy and lumbering products. Take a ride on a train leaving the Oakfield Maine’s Railroad Museum … hurry. All aboard. Let me punch your ticket.

Homesteading never did die down since Joseph Houlton led the charge to this new land on the Canadian border cut out in six by six mile tidy uniform township squares.

Laid out in easy to follow grid work of township this, range that designations.

The Internet opens up the ability to telecommute to an online job far from Maine where the worker does not want to live. And today does not need to as they beam a signal from Maine to wherever the other end of the connection may be on the globe. Houlton Maine is connected to fiber.

Houlton Maine’s Miss Aroostook Diner. What’s Today’s Blue Plate Special? Pea Wiggle? Bubble & Squeak?

The early days of a small Maine town like Houlton were more local happenings.

Less of the jump in your car and run the roads to a larger population to sample the wares of their stores. Slower moving trains, no super highways, no Amazon to order from online and expect delivery without what seems like hours, not days or weeks.

Pilots of private planes fly into these small airports that dot the Maine landscape like in Houlton Maine.

Small commuter airlines could survive less passenger load before deregulation. Or bolt on pontoons so your silver bird becomes a float plane. Now you can touch down and lift off from Maine’s many water front recreational options. To explore Northern Maine’s many waterfront taxi landing strips. Just make sure you are taking off into the wind for maximum lift. To go under your wings of your Piper or Cherokee puddle jumper. So the plane has altitude enough. For up up and away over those tall trees at the end of the maybe too tight Maine lake airport.

Two Theaters, Market Square In Houlton Maine Was A Busy Place. Everything Was Local, In The Community Of Small Maine Towns.

Speaking of planes, the silver birds, Loring Air Force Base provided over forty years of service protecting the skies of the wild blue yonder of Northern Maine.

Defending our borders, the freedom of the United States from the upper right hand corner of a small town called Limestone. That was the shortest hop over the north pole where Santa lives to keep an eye on Russia, the Middle East back when relations where cold, strained, and neither countries were sending the other a Christmas card.

And after LAFB was moth balled, other uses with DFAS hummer repair, payroll checks and that’s right. A few Phish concerts with 60,000 music lovers heading north up into the “County”. A couple going too far on I-95 / Making a big mistake. Taking the VW micro bus straight into Canada, beyond exit 305. Over the border beyond Houlton International Airport (KHUL) that was a busier place during lend lease during World War Two. Back in a time when German POW’s got paid helping the local potato farmers get the crop into storage.

And Cole’s Express, other trucking outfits helped open up the down country markets to local agriculture and lumbering concerns in Northern Maine.

Providing something the trains could not with the iron horses. Overnight service for the now business

Try ‘er Again. (Whirring Sound) Must Be The Solenoid. Or Missing Tooth On The Fly Wheel.

model of “just in time” inventory control.

Coles Express got its start with snow plowing back when winter’s provided more white stuff before the effects of global warming. Lots of songs about trucking in Maine like through the Haynesville Woods penned and performed by Dave Dudley of Fort Fairfield, in central Aroostook County.

Home theatre media rooms rather than putting on your hat, coat and hitting the silver screen. Sneaking down the pretty dark aisle munching on a fresh pop bucket of corn and your favorite sugar snack. Vacations to second, third and more homes that are ready and waiting but infrequently used. More for the collection than putting down roots as today’s public more affluent but still restless and gypsy like. Finding it hard to sit still for long. The could be missing something and like to be kept entertained.

No Motel 6, No Howard Johnson Or Day’s Inn Back When In Small Maine Towns. Lots Of Local, No Franchise Chain Hotels To Stay in Northern Maine Towns.

Aroostook County is known for its Acadian culture, the tongue sliding back and forth into French and English in the St John River Valley.

That hugs the International border and has strong cross boundary cultural ties with Canada’s New Brunswick and Quebec Provinces. The trip to Northern Maine truly is a two nation vacation.

Ever snow sledded in Maine, up into the Valley where the trails are like super highways, smooth and well marked? Take your snow sled to dining and dancing and motel options heading through Shin Pond, Oxbow, Masardis weaving along with Rt 11 to the Crown of Maine.

Explore and Discover Northern Maine. Don’t neglect or leave any area of this great state out of the running for spending time and getting to know the locals, their local history and rich traditions. Learn the early history as you enjoy the current recreational and outdoor beauty. Find out more about the rich history of Houlton Maine. It’s one of many fine small Maine communities.

Like who was Henry C. Merriam and why is he famous in Houlton Maine history?

Low Price, Less Options. It Was All Black And White Simple Picking Out Your New Car At Duff’s. The Bangor Road Was The I-95 For Traffic.

Did you ever hear of a famous young girl named Samantha Smith who died too young but did so much? Samantha was from Houlton Maine, dying in a Bar Harbor Airlines fatal plane crash at age thirteen.

The Amazeen home is where and why was it built in Houlton Maine?

Or for ten points, where was the trans Atlantic radio station transmission antennae located in Houlton Maine? I have seen signs of that handiwork that helped the World War Two effort. Why? Bbecause I lived a quarter mile from the transmitter site and remains are still in the North Maine woods of Aroostook County. As a little kid, those glass insulators and old wooden support posts for the wires remain. If you know where to look and tramp around the two mile course they chewed up in the Houlton area.

All the stuff the slick four color high gloss tri-fold travel brochures leave out in the condense it down to a few lines of buzz words and the usual over used eye candy. The same angles, photos, captions that get tiresome in the copy and paste, hit print or send. Let’s take it all up a notch.

Fill It Up. Unleaded? What’s That? (Ding Ding)

Meet the small town friendly locals, perched sitting on a lunch counter stool or getting your hair cut or twisted and just ask, listen, learn.

Always a colorful rendition of the local history with a unique spin on the early adventures of the new to this land explorers. The ones that through nip and tuck situations did finally open up this northern Maine section of woods, water, wildlife. Houlton Maine, one of many local jewels with rich history facets to uncover. Come sample it any of the four seasons. Each if different and offers something unique to treasure.

Come see for yourself and experience the hidden gems, the small Maine towns that all offer memorable stays if you can clear the schedule to get to Vacationland.

I’m Maine REALTOR Andrew Mooers, ME Broker

207.532.6573 | info@mooersrealty.com |

MOOERS REALTY 69 North Street Houlton Maine 04730

December 16, 2016