Mooers Realty, Maine Real Estate Broker In Houlton ME

Real estate we list and market to around Halloween, what about vampire home buyers?

We tailor make the marketing message to hit so many niche audiences and what about the pale white, not so tanned skinned found lurking in the shadows in the home buying real estate audience?

If you were a vampire, what type of house for sale would bring you in from the curb?

To appeal and lead to a sit down for the closing after the sun sets and the moon is on the rise?

Well for starters, the usually sought after southern exposure for more natural sunlight would not be on the gotta have list.

The lack of windows would be a plus. Smaller sized, less in number would suit a vampire home buyer just peachy. And large homes with secret passage ways and deep, dark basement regions would be a must.

Wet, damp and moist cellars would be A-O-K  in a vampire home buyer search for a place to close the liid on the coffin after a hard night of flying, creating mischief and looking for any type of blood donors.

The lower below ground sections of the house for sale a vampire would smile ear to ear and show their fangs over. Would be ideal for having friends over. To experiment with and not be bothered by pesky neighbors who have no idea what goes on in secret regions of the vampire home sold down the street.

A place with walk in dark closets that could serve as bedroom lairs would make the real estate professional find new uses for old standard housing features. Roll in a couple coffins, add some blood red trim for that cozy ambience.

Kitchens with gloomly, dark colors, no sky lights please. No natural lighting eerie pantries that could hold essential items to keep a vampire feeling fit as a fiddle.

Those score high in the property search. With their liquid diet, vampires gotta eat right? Not happy campers when out of food, vampires do not fast for fun or to lose a few pounds. Houses near the Red Cross would be a bonus find for a vampire searching for homes to buy.

Growing marijuana in Maine, consuming it, getting high.

Regardless of your personal views on weed, cannabis, torching those left handed cigarettes. Or grinding, twisting those saw tooth edged leaves. On the plant that looks a little like the one that grows beef stake tomatoes.

Marijuana is a talked about subject surrounding Maine land.

Also commercially,  legally zoned property, medicinal real estate buildings listings and lots.

For the inside grows of the controlled substance.

Despite your, mine, any Tom, Dick or Harry's slant on joints, blunts, spliffs or magic brownies.

Or marijuana cookies, butters or THC tinctures, there is a shift in society on the hot topic. Hey, turn it up.. here comes the best part of Free Bird. And are you gonna eat that last piece of pizza man? Cheech and Chong made a career out of being stoned. Recording songs about getting, staying high and not being caught.

Mary Jane, Reefer Madness and all the other buzz words surface in the news, in conversations that are more relaxed. Way way out in the open in the social media circles.

Asking about past experiences about grass when it used to be very hush hush. Is now out in the open. Bill Clinton said he passed the joint, did not enjoyed the ritual, participated in the round robin smoking circles but just did not inhale.

President Obama was asked in an interview if he had ever smoked marijuana.

And indicated in the affirmative. And when pressed further about did he take a toke, inhale, he smiled and said yes, that's the point isn't it? Then moved onto what's your next question? With his straight forward answer to the loaded  question not seemingly hurting his chance of election, then re-election.

Being 420 friendly as a real estate broker is an awareness caused by relaxation of attitudes toward pot that are not longer under radar and just not discussed.

Partly because of the public relations work put forth by marijuana friendly interests. Groups that see the medicinal value of controlled marijuana usage are growing in number.

The Maine house is haunted, is that reputation going to hurt the home sale?

Whether you believe in spooks, goblins, things that go bump in the night or not, the haunted home label can scare away a good portion of the house buying audience. We have blogged about haunted homes in Maine before. 

Often times the story telling that for some reason centers around a particular home for sale in the local area grows over the years.

It just looks more haunted than the next run of the mill home. More piled on, sticking like Maine burdocks from wagging tongues of the tenants. Or home owners add to the folk lore by contributing, keeping the dark tale going.

Some people just have a vivid imagination and their mind fills in the blanks without much help needed from any former renters or home owners. Others in the real estate audience just like the novelty of owning a property with extra house guests.

The kind that don't need to use open doors, that come and go on a whim. That some how are stuck in a holding mode at the house that would not longer be haunted if they could just get a ticket to ride out of the home.

The reputation of a a home being haunted for many house buyers is not a deterrent from buying the sticks and bricks. 

But as a real estate agent or broker that listed a haunted house in Maine, is that something that needs to be disclosed? Regardless if you put stock into the idea of haunted homes or not?

More on stigmatized properties, what they are. Haunted houses, the buyer can think no big deal. And then after a few days, following the house showing and stepping up to say "I do" there is a turn around of 180 degrees.

And no thank you, the spell to buy is broken. Gone from red hot in love dovey to stone cold, no way in heck are you dragging me back into that place. To buy or otherwise.

Suddenly it has ten foot pole marks from top to bottom in their eyes and hearts. And they are not tight lipped about spreading the word on what happened to the house of their dreams that went up in a poof of mental smoke.

Someone's girlfriend whispers stories she has heard. A neighbor or family member adds to the rich history of a place known to be haunted. If you believe in haunted houses or not.

And every time a conversation is opened up on haunted homes, more is added to fuel the fire. To enrich the tale. You know how the grape vine works.

If a home buyer does not, the worry about is the next buyer going to be laying awake nights thinking about the creaking steps, the foot steps in the attic, etc is a real concern.

You always think about the next buyer as a seller when toying with a purchase. Or should. Because real estate is an emotional experience. None of us really owns real estate forever.

The value of your home, anything, how do you know what it is worth?

Just Google it, look it up in a book or slider your finger down a row of numbers on a chart? That works for some things like coins, stamps, and anything not fixed to land. Where location does matter, where what is around the home for sale all adds to the rise and fall of value.

What's my home worth?

That question comes up a lot.

Especially pushing a grocery cart through a food store or when bumping into someone I know filling the wire cart with one squeaky wheel. Even the seller of a home that is relaxed, layed back and not really ready to list it and put it on the market.

Just wondering about what is my home worth today is a common concern.

Curious to know because maybe contemplating a move to another location, a different house. Or because improvements are about to be put into action and worry about is it cheaper to sell and buyer bigger and better/ Or bite the bullet. And make what you already have for a castle new and improved.

In small rural areas, the valuation of a home for sale does not spike so high and down so low. Steady as she goes happens. Things appreciate with inflation but everything is priced pretty down, close to ground. No surprises.

The other question that comes on the heel of what's my home worth, what is the value of my house is what can I do to make that valuation number go higher?

What can I do to make my home worth more?  In any real estate market, there are items added to a house that increase the value. Other areas tackled that are for personal enjoyment but no financial gain on the valuation.

And there are those routine, joys of ownership areas that just need tackling. But you don't get back the amount invested or more because it is a given your home needs these items repaired and updated to be functional. To please the audience and the bank financing the home, the sticks and bricks have to be up to standards.

Like any industry, when you peddle a product or provide a service, the terms and buzz words can be misunderstood.

The abbreviations, letter combinations used can cause uncertainty in a real estate sale. And when you factor in that  most buyers and sellers of real estate property listings don't do these big life transfers very often, fear can enter the process.

Being scared of selling a house in time before the three years of back taxes caused a forfeiture and total loss is real scary.

So is a family having their heart set on a new home cross town or the country and the sale of the old one is stalled. Threatening whether the real estate domino will fall in the right direction or at all is terrifying.

Where are we going to live when it is your small family member asking a parent the question makes the home buyer or seller second guess themselves. Are they getting the job done and what are all the real estate expressions, terms being tossed back and forth in conversations and emails?

Between the bank, lawyer, appraiser, and other professionals that can forget their are others in the real estate operation room.

Who wonder what strange, foreign language have you slipped into that has them worried. Baffled on what was just said that somehow if important but not sure why.

It starts at the listing level. If the information on the property listing is neat and complete and all the spaces are filled in, that means the buyer has less unknowns. Hoping, wishing and assuming anything in life or real estate can be disasterous.

Wrong information is bad but missing details the buyer needs to make informed decisions is worse.

Because human nature is left fills in the blanks and not always with the correct answers. It depends on is the person snarky and negative or upbeat and positive? Or are their expectations way to high or down low go with the flow?

The chance to buy a neighboring waterfront property in Maine.

Something to add to whatever you already own located next to you comes up. And shoreland zoning considerations enter the room conversation.

Like a NASA countdown pre-flight systems check, what you are about buy and how needs to be addressed carefully. With eyes wide open and the best laid plan hammered out. To proceed slowly and put into play before the actual sit down and let's have a real estate closing.

Because how you merge the properties legally will impact forever if you can ever convey part of it on to a loved one or sell it off at all down the line.

When the real estate for sale is lucky enough to fall into a shore land zoning region in Maine, a big overhead crane lowers a more protective set of regulations.

To guide what does or does not happen to the real estate next to the water.

It lays a big protective template over the region 250' back from the waterfront.

In this case where a lake ends and the land out front of the cottage and extra lot begins.

The purpose of the shore land zoning law was to help assure the water quality of the precious natural resource that Maine is so fiercely protective of and that needs extra scrutiny.

When development around the waterfront is entertained.

Or existing properties next to the water are modified and what you can and can not do is not left up to the the owner's imagination. Or the township or plantation or unorganized location in Maine's code enforcement officer has clear cut guidelines to go by.

The financing to buy a home, the one you really have your heart set on.

Want to own for your family. It's out there. And along with kicking tires curbside and spending more of your time checking out the what is new to the market, what's for sale for homes.

You've been hit with all the ads, offers and pelted with rates, programs and chances to get a loan. Peddled and presented smoothly as being as easy as just sign here.

You can't see the rest of the bank lending fine print to snag that low low rate with asterisk beside it and then hang on, the drop to the bottom of the monitor screen.

Or actually hear all about it in the thirty second holler for a dollar. To keep up with the liquid tongue announcer who rattles off the legal disclaimers at the tail end with not enough time to humanly hear.

That all goes along with the catchy sound bite. That enticed you in to the marketing tent to begin answering questions, filling in the spaces on the four page form where the banking process all begins.

What was your social security number and middle initial again?

It is Jane and John Doe, do I have that right? How long have you lived in your present address. I see. Okay. Now place of employment, savings accounts, who do you owe money.... (audio drops, picture fades to blac, scene changes to the home picked to buy,) 

 The beauty of video is if something does not turn out to work for the buyer, back out, go to the next one of the show and tell, open houses on demand listings.

If your broker shoots, edits, renders and uploads real estate videos.

Without the quick and easy video way to bounce from property to property, the process can bog down. Because for occupied houses with renters or owners, prior notice needed to gain access.

And depending on how far apart the property listings are, travel time and logistics of scheduling have to weigh in. Considering this home is 22 miles north of this one and the next one on the list is 35 miles south makes for a short real estate day.

Videos for real estate property listings save time in the whittling, filtering and slice, dice, deciding which ones to look at and the ones to say pass on.

People are busy, overbooked and often the best time to see a home is 10:30 at night. When the kids are in bed, laundry done and lunches packed for the next day. And a rare 20 minutes of time to unwind before the Sandman comes is spent on a lap top.

Looking for new home listings or whatever type of property. And seeing if the price has changed on an old favorite that gets re-toured over and over. Video makes showings instantly happen without delay.

They also help differentiate the places and show the distinctions that just a few images, couple lines of copy do not.

Also where we list, work and play, live here showing properties means more time needed. Not just for traveling to the current listings and setting up the order of showings to fit the time frames of all the home owners or renters.

But because a place with acreage, lots of out buildings, say a farm property or something with land takes longer. To hoof it around the property and not make the buyer feel hurried.

The seller who expected a visit does not want to see a buyer drive in and out and not darken the doorstep.

But as the agent or broker who gets the thumbs up or down when the Jeep turns in, it is sometimes please just take a peek inside and consider the whole place. Before the deep six.

But again, don't want to waste the buyer's precious time but understand the seller wants to see the tour happen. And some can not imagine why the place is not bought because it is one of a kind, not another one like it to them. Because it is home, they may have to sell quickly and just are emotionally caught up in the place.

So how many houses can a typical buyer handle at one session?

Depends on the buyer, their ability to wipe this one off the list and not confuse the properties. And the distance between the real estate listings.

The weather, the scheduling that gets folks in and out quickly or bogs down and delays happen in the real estate show and tell.

Some renters would just as soon you did not show the place. Because they have to move and kinda like the surroundings. That situation can work against the real estate agent or broker.

Help yourself to this website's property listings for sale and please study the real estate videos.

I'm Maine REALTOR Andrew Mooers, ME Broker

207.532.6573 | This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. | 

MOOERS REALTY 69 North Street Houlton Maine 04730

When we have a property listing to market, a small bathroom is not a feature to headline.

To lure a buyer of a home for sale to make the purchase. Small bathrooms are not sought after by Maine home buyers. And why they happen? You would have to ask the home builder who may be six feet under or gone on to the great beyond.

Like buyers for land in Maine who don't ever ask for "what do you have for a good swamp", small bathrooms are not attractive.

Especially if a handicap buyer needs room to maneuver and get into the bathroom quickly when nature calls with a sense of urgency.

So improving, fixing, curing small bathrooms when space is at a premium and the way the waterworks were placed was not the best it could be. There are lots of tricks to untangle the crowded-ness of a small bath. Here are a few of them that are obvious, some not areas you may have thought about before now.

Cures for small bathrooms in homes for better living or simple resale.

When the budget is small or major renovations are just not in the budget or you rent the place you want to expand without a wrecking ball involved. The list includes adding larger mirrors. Especially opposite a window to make the appearance of two windows, a more deeper sense of space. The mind can accept certain optical illusion tricks easily.

Also transitions of surfaces the eye, the less the better.

If you are adding tile rather than stop over a shower short of the ceiling, take it all the way to the top.

Consider painting the ceiling the same lighter shade of the walls. Or because ceilings can appear a little darker from shadows, make the same shade as the walls a few ticks to the light version of the color selection off the wheel.

Does color of a house for sale in Maine make a difference in marketing time, the final sale price?

How differently rural real estate in Maine property sales are treated than higher priced ones found where space comes at a dollar premium. And every color has a special time and place right?

Like Maine's fall harvest of red, orange, yellow and greens of al types?

What is the norm, what is expected in color preferences here in small town Maine is very different than the treatment of what is nail, splashed on, for vinyl, latex or oil based appllications to listings in larger population centers.

We can arrive at some absolutes though. When the price tag goes higher, so does the number of considerations in the handling of house listings. And the right color becomes more and more crucial in attracting the largest audience possible.

Like the oldest child, there is more pressure on the higher priced property listings to perform well.

To conform to certain real estate standards practiced in the area. The colors selected have to behave themselves. If they expect to attract new home owners in from the curb.

And to be inviting enough to cause them to reach for the front door handle to give it a twist. To come on lin, search the rooms, to lure them to tour around the inside, back out to the grounds surrounding the house for sale. And to stay memorable in a good way as they house shop.

Will the house color grow on you or become weary?

Pretty expensive exercise to roll in the 40' ladders and slide them around the place or climb in the bucket truck to change the look that works or fails for you the new home owner.

When you and I were kids, eight crayons were plenty. We mixed them to create a few new color variations. To have more than just the eight primary colors to work with in the art work creation to magnet to the refrigerator. When you were little, life was simple, less was more than enough.

The dream of owning and enjoying a waterfront property in Maine, how do you pull that off?

Putting the property on the lake, stream, ocean front, on a pond or river into the rental income pool. To carefully rent out what you buy and look forward to say retiring at some day. Second homes, vacation properties in Maine for sale are part of the mix that we help buyers put together.

Often the real estate desire to buy starts out as a simple math exercise like many things in life.

How to crunch the numbers. Is the timing right as the buyer juggles college loans for the kids and brace payments for the teeth? To make what you shell out, to start the mortage on the waterfront property kick into gear nicely. For an eventual mortgage burning party. Or to leverage and do it again as the Steely Dan song reminds. Buy another waterfront property to rent out and make carry it's own weight with eagle eye guidance and attention.

But how to rent out the property on the water front in Maine? And to use a few Maine expressions, to not have it "stoved all to heck?" Ridden hard, put away wet and neglected.

To end up with something worth anything from the wear and tear. And the money and blood, sweat and tears poured into the place to keep it attractive enough to attract good tenants. The kind that return to their little place in Maine on the waterfront for a property destination that gets put into life re-runs of the happy campers.

What to provide the waterfront property in Maine renter who pays by the week or longer?

Real estate is emotional. The location on say a Maine lake provides the opportunity to kayak, fish from a boat, the end of a dock or through a hole drilled in the ice by a Jiffy ice auger. Or to access trails on the snow sled, the four wheeler ATV or hoofing it.

But drawing up a book with directions, maps, highlights of things to do for fun during your stay at the lake property in Maine. Wouldn't that be helpful as the local guide to what there is to do for fun during their stay at the rental property? Suggestions on what is available for recreational opportunities are most appreciated by a total stranger to these parts.

The hop on and off the Maine real estate market conveyor belt, why do some properties sell quicker than others?

Lots of reasons and first, foremost is how hot is the real estate listing pool water. How's the market for that type of real estate listing? Feast or famine, is there is surplus of just like it or an empty cookie jar competing for buyers?

The marketing of the property should play up the unique differences.

The features, the condition, the location, timing of a move that could happen quickly.

Like people, every property listing is unique in many ways.

That has to come through in the media stream.

So there is not a sea of sameness in thee copy, the images, video shoot ... everything put into the real estate razzle dazzle.

To attract the interest and build desire of the buyer who hopefully is ready to spring into action if they like what they see and hear.

It is not secret that a home without lots of clutter looks bigger, sells faster.

Pack it up and move it out Cowboy. Cause if property bloat happens.

Oh oh.

The thought of look at all the stuff this seller is going to have to move can make the buyer think ouch.

To develop an upset, queasy stomach. Too much to heave ho, makes it not jive with how quickly they need to relocate.

For them to consider themselves buying this place loaded to the gills and beyond with stuff, trash and treasure.

The other empty home that is ready to go and show and sell quickly suddenly moves up a knotch in the eenie meenie miney moe property listing selection.

Clean, no smells, not a lot or any loose ends translates into a small job jar. In the minds of the real estate home buyer who has to feather the nest to their liking and take care of the slack. Tightening up what has been let go and is loose, undone and needing the TLC attention.

How to handle multiple offers, more than one real estate buyer shows up, to court and spark with a property listing.

Sounds like a wonderful situation for the real estate seller.

If you were a buyer in the round robin, you might wish you were the only one. And hope to be the last one standing. With your offer to buy the one that is accepted by the property listing owner.

But multiple offer situations, they are like delicate surgery where time, communication and consistency in the treatment with respect is imperative.

To make each and every buyer in the multiple offer situation feel like they had a fair shake.

That the playing field was kept level, no hanky panky happened to leave a bad taste in the buyer who did not get their offer to purchase the real estate listing picked from the pack.

And don't burn bridges. That buyer that was runner up may be picked to wear the crown at the sit down, sign and pass the paper real estate closing.

So monitoring the multiple offer situation, we let the seller know at time of listing the property this can happen. To not get cocky and please don't think the property is under priced and that the sudden shortage of this type of real estate listing is part of it. Supply and demand is at play.

Real estate markets like the weather change.

And markets within the market happen in the layers of real estate we list, market, sell (repeat). Like playing Fish. Sometimes there is a shortage of just the right kind of property that is no where to be found on the MLS round and round merry go round.

Getting a property, a real estate listing to the sit down, sign the paperwork to close.

Not every property listing makes it all the way to the property closing for a variety of reasons. Two of the most important factors revolve around the seller being ready to sell when it comes right down to it.

And is the real estate buyer being in a position of ready, willing and able to pull the trigger today?

Are we ready to buy and sell the property in Maine today? Money in hand or bank pre-qualified to make it happen?

That is the question before all the rest falls into place that can raise its ugly head to cause delay, derailment and all the rest of the stress associated with buying, selling a property listing.

People are involved and emotions can run high but despite the layers of players involved in the decision making, the motivation and ability to really buy or sell real estate is the end all.

Beyond the real estate seller is ready, the buyer has his snickers all laced up, both are chomping at the bit to giddy up and go, what else enters the picture?

Is the property priced to sell, realistic with the current market conditions? Is the marketing to find a buyer out in the wild blue yonder full throttle and far reaching?

The seller of a property listing for sale in Maine happens to be surfing.

Wonders why the heck the price is wrong on this link from another broker when listed four years before. Or the acreage is wrong, the images not the right array on this link, and that one. What hapopened? Well, like tins cans blasted up into space to circuit the globe, those pieces of Internet "space junk" continue to circulate when their usefulness is gone.

And good luck when a seller says track down and suction the Internet to pull back in all those real estate insertions online.

You want as a real estate broker in Maine to have the most propagation. To radiate and detonate your marketing messages so they reach further online.

And have frequency to show up everywhere the surfer turns that hones in on the real estate marketing signal.

Purring smoothly.No feed back squelch or interference with drifting in and out confusion.

The purpose of advertising is to be found, to be remembered from the attention that leads to desire and ultimately action. You hope.

So cleaning up the Internet of earlier listings for sale usually means broadcast louder, stronger so those earlier attempts get pushed down, escorted to the back of the marketing bus.

And we all know anything on page ten, eleven, twelve instead of one or two is probably not going to see much light of day. Or glow on the device the buyer of real estate is holding to dial in your real estate marketing signal.

So like herding cats, the attempt to try and catch, retrieve and snuff out old links is futile. But as time goes on, as site change hosts and get revamped, the site maps more streamlines, those old extension on a real estate or any kind of Internet site will erode, decay, drop off with time, patience.

Real estate agency in Houlton ME, do I know of one that does more than list properties for sale?

Because today the buyer for the real estate in Maine is not just local. Or the pool of buyers for a listing better not just be a small one that is local only. The World is getting smaller thanks to the Internet and if the marketing is harnessed correctly, the targeted audience is not just local for a Maine real estate listing.

So how do real estate agencies in Houlton ME stack up?

I have found over the last 36 years of this real estate career that buyers want more information on the local area.

And in small Maine towns, not much is posted online to help answer the questions surrounding what is it like living her in Houlton ME.

Or whatever community the buyer is considering investing in and using part or full time.

The local community videos of Houlton ME help broaden the service provided. The barrier has to be removed.

For the out of town, state, country buyer that has to put everything on hold until he or she can clear the schedule and spend a lot of money and time getting here to kick the tires of what is for sale for property listings.

With videos, lots of local images and narratives that tell the local small Maine town story, the buyer is not delayed. The seller benefits and the property listing for sale in the Houlton ME area hops on and off the conveyor belt of current real estate offerings to conside.

Information about the local banks, the local attorneys, options across the board on where to eat. Heck even where to stay, motel rooms in Houlton Maine. All that and much more is needed to be hunt and pecked and posted. All those topics are covered in detail on our many blog posting platforms.

Saving time, gas, money, frustration is a big part of our job. So if setting expectations for the buyer and seller that consider the size of the real estate budget, the timing of what has to happen that involves a property listing for sale in Houlton ME.

The neighbor fired up a skill saw this morning and it hit me as something special.

New construction or fixing up anything already built is industrious, shows care and respect. And belief in the future in a small Maine community. New construction on Maine land is not the long and drawn out process folks from out of state fear either.

So many share horror stories about building, remodeling, new home construction projects where they are coming from and still have night sweats over the expensive, drawn out nightmare.

In Maine there are not the layers of players and life is simpler.

Shoreland zoning, building around a natural resource is more restrictive but for good reason.

Maine is all about keep it clean, pure, all natural.

To protect the environment and using common sense, methods to avoid or stop soil erosion or anything leaching into the crystal clean waterways in Maine.

Kinda think like a fish... they would holler or gurgle if they could talk about how much they hate lawns, weed and feed, pressure treated arsenic floats and docks.

So how does it work when reaching for power tools and measuring, slicing up boards? Unfolding the blue prints and putting a rock on each corner at the work site.

Doing the ground work. Building from the dreaming about the place in your head and how to wake up with it on the Maine land. The easiest, cost efficient way possible for new construction on the land in Maine.

If you are in a small Maine town which most of these burgs are, the town office is usually only open a number of hours, just a few days a week. Not a bunch of municipal cars parked outside a town office and folks coming and going, shuffling paperwork either.

No, it is a one town manager, part or full time, and other folks with full time jobs holding down the stint on the animal control, fire warden, zoning and planning boards all in one in small Maine villages.

Often six people wearing all the hats in a small Maine town. And when you get off one job after decades of service in that role, hokey pokey jump back into this one. Cross training happening so everyone knows what the rest of the tight knit family is doing. They had the same rotation of job last term in the small town elections won by a landslide margin.

Only so many folks to do the day to day in small Maine towns.

It cuts through the paperwork and you are dealing with local control. The person that is the building inspector, the town tax assessor is up close and personal. One of your neighbors and not a hired gun from away and locally employed the bulk of the time somewhere away from the Maine town office.

But volunteering for  many posts from school board to fire department in the small Maine town. Being of service, more involved. Because not a enough money in the property tax base to do it any other way. Home grown not store bought.

The urge to own, kick yourself into gear and to be finally buying land in Maine is a strong one.

The low prices on the property acreages is one reason. So is just the sheer size of what is for sale for land in Maine that pulls at a person's heart strings too. Underneath all is land, remember? Like Abe Lincoln, you too want your name on the title to the land deed you own outright, free and clear.

Land with good drainage, features like a view, water frontage, an open and wooded mix, terrain.

That does not require you to be a mountain goat.

And please, smack dab, right on the recreational trails if at all possible.

That is the obvious showing up on the wish list folks hold to describe their perfect piece Maine land property acreage.

Along with generous, attractive owner financing options for the Maine land to make buying it on installents easy.

But you have to have sure footing, a good foundation to build anything on. So the title, access, ability to build on the land acreage is pretty darn important stuff to discuss. So is the shape of it if you have teeny weeny frontage on the road, and it goes on and on for seemingly miles.

Spaghetti lots, bowling alley strips or dog leg jogs this and that way are not a land subdivision done right. They are a surveyor's nightmare.

Land in Maine has lots of purposes. Peace of mind to run away to it for fun or to regroup if city living is smothering youin a scary way. Land to retire on. To use for the all important raising a family, to have an investment to enjoy and that increases in the value of the Maine land.

Vacation property is the fun kind. Take a break, catch your breath. Unplug and recharge in Maine.

But tips for buying land in Maine. Like anything involving money, watch out for your wallet is good sage advice. But if you don't do it everyday there are red flags waving you don't even see. Even for a simple small parcel of Maine land used for seasonal recreation.