Tag: maine real estate market

Maine Real Estate Market, What’s Shaking?

Maine real estate market. How’s the market today in Maine?

Buying, selling, trading Maine real estate is a fast paced process. Knowing what is going on in the market when it comes time to buy or sell a Maine home, any property listing is critical. So what’s the temperature of the Maine real estate market?

Maine Is One Big Beautiful State. Real Estate Prices Across It Vary Greatly.

This blog post zeroes in on today’s real estate listing sales activity in the great state of Maine.

To sum it up, too many buyers, not enough real estate listings. Prices up due to the shortage and house sales down a tad because of no inventory. Supply and demand keeps everything high and tight. Rental apartment units are hard to come by as well. Community leaders statewide are scrambling to figure out ways to create more affordable housing options quick like a bunny.

Every time the national media spreads the word of a Federal Reserve Bank interest rate hike, wishful thinking Maine house buyers think here it comes.

Finally. A flood of new Maine housing inventory to consider buying to stop renting.

Search For Maine Homes For Sale, Other Property Listings Here.

Or it’s now the right time to move up to something bigger and better or to downsize to housing that is smaller, more economical and say on one floor. But when the housing level cupboard is so bare and new listings across the board for size, location and price range are so scarce.

That’s the sad reality of how the market for real estate property listings in Maine works.

The shift from a seller’s to a buyer’s Maine real estate market will take a long time to happen when the inventory is missing.

Like a well that runs out of water, it takes time to recharge and refresh. The Fed’s latest benchmark interest rate brings it into a range of 5.25% to 5.50%. Since March 2022, the interest rates cost of lending increase 11 times. For buyers in the Maine real estate audience, it was wishful thinking. That higher interest rates would instantly create as endless supply of house listings to consider.

I just back from this year’s Maine REALTOR Association annual meeting in Rockland ME.

Northern Maine REALTOR Andy Mooers

Had a chance for more than continuing education credits for my Maine real estate license renewal in two years. Networking with other Maine agents and brokers in different real estate markets.

The try to sum up the Maine real estate market for statewide to apply to every nook, corner, cranny of Vacationland is impossible.

Because being an hour away from Boston, is a different real estate dynamic than up in Northern Maine. Or to the east or west section of Maine where everything rock and rolls differently.

And in Maine, it is not just homes, houses, condos we are analyzing up to the moment.

Land, just land listing sales happen in rural areas of Maine especially. So the price of what is listed and selling varies greatly. So does the type of real estate being peddled and purchased.

So how is the current Maine real estate market?

In a nutshell “demand for housing of all types in Maine remains strong. Real estate estate prices are up 9.41 percent and housing sales slowed 18.77 percent over the last August to August time period.

The Maine Association of REALTORS latest numbers reveal 1,510 Maine homes changed hands across the sixteen counties. The median sale price was $372,0oo indicates half the homes sold for more, the other half sold for less.

The problem with a short and street Maine real estate housing market report statement like above is the values across a state as large as Maine.

No, the median sale price of a typical home in say Aroostook, Washington or Piscataquis counties is not that $372,000. Depending on the region of Maine you are search for current accurate numbers, the figures vary greatly.

Maine Looks Pretty Affordable, The Simple Life Style Approach Highly Attractive.

Nationwide, the National Associaton of REALTORS is reporting house sale volume was 15.3 percent lower for the same time period.

Prices across the USA climbed 3.7 percent for a national MSP of $413,500 during the period. Sales in the Northeast section of the country slowed 22.6%. Read more about the latest Maine real estate market housing market number statistics.

Which segment, what area of Maine and the supply and demand dictate price increases and declines.

So do interest rates but not as much as the media leads you to believe when the price is so low cash is used, not credit to purchase. Rural Maine small town real estate markets are so different than something for sale in a city market location.

This week at the latest Maine REALTOR Association convention at Rockland Maine’s Samoset Resort. You get a true sense how wide and diverse the real estate market really is.

The 2023 Maine REALTORS State Convention Was At The Samoset In Rockland ME this year.

I’m at a dinner table or leaning on the railing at an after class hospitality suite talking with other Maine REALTORS.

This agent or broker lists property on Ocean Avenue in Kennbunkport Maine. The number of listing sales that agent has and the price point is so different than my real estate area of expertise in Aroostook County. Get closer to the ocean front and to a population center like Boston. Find more expensive happens. Remember, the closer to urban area, t6he higher the number of property sale price zero places.

The online marketing an area of Maine does can help the flow of tourists to a region big time.

Not just the lower priced property listings are the honey to use attract folks to consider why not take a trip to my corner of the big state of Maine. The friendly, hardworking, helpful nature of true Mainers who welcome you to their region of the state is well known around the World.

Dining Out, The Old Port Area Of Maine Prices A Tad Higher Than Northern Maine Eateries. The Further Up Into Maine You Venture, The Lower Priced Everything Becomes.

Remember, the higher the price, the thinner the buyers applies to Maine real estate property listing sales.

And when you hear real estate sales are down, it does not mean there are lots available and the market has cooled. Inventory is very tight, a new listing does not stay active long in the strong Maine

Swapping Loonies And Dollar Living In A Border Town Happens A Lot.real estate sellers market.

Building starts are up and if a piece of Maine land acreage already has a water well, septic, power and driveway or building pad all established, that is a buyer bonus.

Getting a Maine home framed in and weather tight for the winter is what some local real estate buyers are scrambling to do.

Where I live, the strong US vs Canadian dollar also spurs cross border trade of building materials.

Lumber especially to build the new Maine home is in strong demand. Maine itself is 91 percent wooded so this fact coupled with lower cost of living in Vacationland is a big shot in the wallet or purse.

Lucky to live in Maine where simple living is the way we all roll. With all this natural beauty, with less population and more wildlife and low crime, no traffic, Maine is the way life should be.

I’m Maine REALTOR Andrew Mooers, ME Broker

207.532.6573 | info@mooersrealty.com |

MOOERS REALTY 69 North ST Houlton ME 04730 USA

October 6, 2023
Buying A Home In Maine, Rising Interest Rates

Buying a home in Maine with rising interest rates.

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

This blog post is about the Maine real estate market.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

I’m Maine REALTOR Andrew Mooers, ME Broker

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

August 16, 2022
Moving To Maine, How’s The Real Estate Market ?

Moving to Maine, how’s the real estate market?

You are not alone if Maine is on your where do I want to live now radar. The thought of of picking up lock, stock and barrel and relocating to Maine may be on your mind. These days especially, folks are looking for down to Earth family values and seeking our communities that provide quality of life. COVID19 and the Maine real estate market, the pandemic just added fire to what was already happening.

Time To Paddle On A Bottle Smooth Glassy Maine Lake. One Reason To Move To Maine.

The virus with the number accelerated the hunt for someplace where social distancing is easy.

Less people, more space and all this four season outdoor living. It easily makes Maine a top contender answering the where do we want to move next for quality of life question.

Maine is clean air, fresh water and not crowded.

The real estate is low cost and affordable housing happens all day long in rural Maine communities. Land to enjoy space, the same ground affords planting and harvesting good wholesome food. Or land is used for a life style and explored in recreational pursuits.

The attitude in Maine is tread lightly.

Easy does it. Respect the environment and pass on your property in at the very least as good but hopefully better than you received it. Mainers are good stewards and when using the trails across the land of others they realize it is a privilege not a right.

Respect operates round the clock and on the national scene today what’s broadcast does not mirror that simple Maine living theme. There is fear and anger and sensing something is seriously out of whack.

When you are surrounded by lots of land, the urge to roam and discover Maine nature is easy.

Especially when the low or no Maine population factor is figured in. Freedom, recreational trails, hills and mountains to hike. Ponds, rivers, lakes and streams to paddle, fish, swim or wade in happens. No parking problems or expense. Less waiting around in lines. Keeping your wallet in your back pocket or down in your purse. Everything does not have dollar signs attached living simply in Maine. Life is hands on and less hired out up here in the Pine Tree state. Is life like that where you hang your hat now?

So big step, moving to Maine.

Outdoor Living, The Space. The Biggest Reason To Move To Maine Is For Personal Space.

It often starts slow and small. Just a couple acres of Maine land is purchased.

The land used for low cost vacations for now. But in time, life events like retirement or just an itch to move from an urban area kick in. To make the once in awhile used recreation Maine land become something more. Either full time in the move to Maine or part time when you spend half your days here, the other half somewhere else. When you move to Maine whole hog and make Vacationland your zip code after living in a higher priced one, you are headed in the right financial direction. The move to Maine. Using the one 207 area code, and often with plenty of money left over from your out of state real estate sale.

How’s the real estate market in Maine today?

Strong. Because to own and enjoy some it is so much lower cost to buy real estate today in Maine. Part it is the long hike up the pike that insulates us. And part is due to the fact we have more wildlife than people. Vacationland is not spoiled or over commercialized. We safely parked up in the corner of the country. Like a thumb stuck up and almost in Canada. Like the other states of Alaska and Hawaii, kinda by ourselves and out of the cross fire of day to day ups and downs.

Space Where You Can Hear Yourself Think. Maine Is Outdoor Four Seasons Natural Beauty.

The Maine people are friendly, helpful, hardworking.

That’s the best treat that comes with the Maine real estate purchase. The further up into Maine and away from the expensive coastline, the cheaper the price and more property you get. The best value for Maine real estate is found in the small town living experience where the population is four thousand or less.

Telecommuting to work online remotely at your cyber office job means bring your employment with you can happen.

Internet broadband connectivity is the number one questions from those in the Maine real estate audience that depend on tethered or wireless connections to the copper, glass strand or through thin air. Pack up your job and bring it along. The Internet over the last thirty years sure has changed our I list, market, sell Maine real estate. It’s helped the move to Maine possible when before it was not in the cards.

Low crime, no pollution, no gangs, no drive by shootings, no traffic. Maine.

The big attraction in the move to Maine is not just the salty sea air, the steamed lobster, baked potato, fresh blueberry pie. The scenery is drop dead gorgeous. Money to enjoy Maine is not the end all and having lots to just survive is not necessary. Real estate is not the only item that costs less. Insurance on what you buy is lower, just like the premium on what you drive. Less crime, lower property values all reduce the need for lots of green stuff to spend. We don’t spend money like drunken sailors. Kids are taught to manage it better and see their parents doing the same. All circles around the respect approach to living life in Maine.

Hiking, Climbing Maine Mountains Gets Kids Off The Couch, Away From The Boob Tube.

Respect Nature, enjoy the four seasons around us and easy does it on the spending.

To prepare for setbacks that will happen right on schedule ahead. More do it yourself and developing a skill set to avoid being highly dependent on others to help you through life. We pitch in and volunteer and make being in a small Maine community worthwhile for our families and others around us. Positive not negative is the atmosphere all of us strive for to enjoy life not simply endure it until “The End”. Moving to Maine, lots of folks are soul searching that topic these days.

Pure and natural is big attraction and major positive change for many who have gone without it for far too long. But what we don’t have, that long list of what you don’t want all adds into the decision to move to Maine. Maine’s low population makes traffic, crime, pollution and heavy layers of building regulations go away. Common sense still rules the day. We strive to make our days worthwhile and fruitful and a lot it is simply worth ethic. Lessons learned in the woodlot, out on the back forty farm field or in the barn.

A Wicked Witch Of The West Spent Summers Hear. Maine Cast A Spell On Margaret Hamilton. Who Also Pushed Coffee Not Just Flew Blooms And Terrorized Dorothy, Her Little Dog Toto Too.

Running a small business, maybe on the docks or the skipper of a fishing boat off the coast of Maine.

Or making a living sharing the experience with tourists sampling Maine on their vacations. Simple living, hard work, not needing a lot to be content. Isn’t that the best approach to life when you reduce it all down and stop trying to keep up with the Jones’s or what highly effective marketing tries to convince you that you need and lack?

Many move and relocate to Maine in retirement.

To replace the forty hour work week with close to the same amount of time spent differently. Their days and nights split between relaxation and volunteering in their new Maine community. Moving to Maine is not just for the space, the lower cost real estate. It’s a whole new lifestyle that is thrown into the mix when you move to Maine.

Moving To Maine, You Ready For Some Of This?

How’s the real estate market in Maine?

Are you in moving to Maine mode? Good time to list and sell in definitely a seller’s real estate markets outside of Maine. Healthy, vibrant and listing sales fast and furious is the temperature of hot real estate sales in Maine. You get more for less in Maine. The real estate market sales are up because so many folks don’t like where they live now outside of Maine for lots of very good reasons. And Maine real estate buyers are able to sell for top dollar, often over list price because of bidding wars with multiple buyers. Maine. I admit it, I am spoiled and feel so lucky to live in Maine full time. Thank you for following our Me In Maine blog posts!

I’m Maine REALTOR Andrew Mooers, ME Broker

207.532.6573 | info@mooersrealty.com |

MOOERS REALTY 69 North ST Houlton ME 04730

January 13, 2021
Hiding Under The Desk, Saying The Dog Ate Your Home Work.

Small Town Maine Living, Everyone Is Connected, Close, Special.

Maine is a state that folks are not afraid to speak up. History shows the long felt need to stand for issues, appeal to common sense.

“As Maine goes, so goes the nation” may still apply. In a rural state, not flush with money but long on hard work, family values, maybe the sparsely spaced populace is in the real world. And cringe on spin from media beamed in, remotely fed from outside state lines.

In my job as a Maine real estate broker, it is hard to see market events in California, Florida, Michigan, Vegas and have the population think it is that same market in Vacationland. Maine is 46th lowest for FSSR.

We work hard to buy lower priced Maine houses and we don’t like debt. We double up to not have payments, to own the Maine home free and clear.

Maine home sales are up and it’s not just houses we list, market, peddle. Land, waterfront real estate in Maine are a popular attraction. So low cost and big sized. Maine, a place you can dream in blue and green, unspoiled and natural. Here when you are ready.

But it’s not all work, no play.

The folks in Maine are friendly and you better learn how to wave if you plan to pass through, spend time here. In Maine, we are responsible, don’t pass the buck when the time to step up happens. No one ate our home work on the local community volunteer events. No one hides under the desk when something needs doing on the local level.

Maybe being less populated, sitting on smaller wallets means hiring everything done is not an option. So we are more involved, personally, financially with the way we use our time to make the small town life vibrant, unique, special.

Bold, fresh, raw honesty, outdoors and not polished, commercial store brought rhetoric. That’s the Maine I live in, enjoy, and the place to raise a family. Or own a piece of for vacations, investment. Maine, what’s holding you up, keeping you away?

I’m Maine REALTOR Andrew Mooers, ME Broker
207.532.6573
info@mooersrealty.com

October 30, 2011
Calls We Get In A Typical Maine Real Estate Day.

Every day is new and exciting in listing, marketing, selling Maine
Maine Is 46th Lowest For Foreclosure, Short Sale, Repossessions.
real estate.

Someone yesterday calling from Cape Cod MA about a small home with garage under $40,000 decides to jump in her Ford Transport and arrives at 5:30 to see it in person. Already did the video tour a number of times.

Today she puts the home under contract and heads home. While another man from New Mexico calls about a property, over an acre of ground, land in Maine for under $4000. Wants a low cost, cheap piece of Maine land for a camper, fifth wheeler use.

Phone rings from second call with a real estate buyer from Ohio that grows peppers. All colors of them in a large farm and is hunting for Maine land to grow more vegetables. Tells me they have 400% the calcium of milk. Never heard of purple peppers and have seen the green, red, orange, yellow ones having grown many on the Maine farm growing up.

After his call, a local farmer who rents ground I own is looking for a warehouse for equipment. Have listed an older 1974 potato house for sale in Smyrna Maine that could do the trick. So give him the propaganda for his wife, boys to look over.

Calls, letters, emails, visits to the Maine real estate office keep it always exciting. Cash buyer on a Court Street home faxed back a contract while another home on the same street goes under contact. The second one for parents wanting to rent a home they buy to rent to their daughter. To get her out of the rent rut and to provide more space for those grandchildren. To eventually deed over as long as she makes the payments, runs a tight ship.

So when you read about 60% of the problems in four states where foreclosures, real estate short sales and repossessions are happening, you can get a little blood boiling.

Because Maine is 46th lowest for FSSR (foreclosure, short sale, repossession).

Our properties are so much cheaper, easy to own. And you won’t have a mortgage for long or at all.

Don’t like it when the media tries to “one size fits all the real estate market”.

No spikes up and down, no bubble that bursts because we don’t over spend, don’t put ourselves in financial box canyons.

Maybe we just live simpler. Without a need for money to impress. Or for “retail therapy” to make ourselves feel better with plastic cards and hearing cash registers rings. The best things are free. Aready in Maine all around us in four season Vacationland. If you are after simple, easy, friendly and without the crime, traffic and high cost of living, Maine is your best case scenario. Always. Get here quick as you can.

I’m Maine REALTOR Andrew Mooers, Broker
207.532.6573
info@mooersrealty.com

March 25, 2011