New Years Fun in Maine

    Tomorrow is January 1 and in Maine that means it's Ice Fishing season!  There's nothing like a bright winter day with the air crisp and clear, the sky sunny and blue and dozens of people out on the ice catching fish, cooking burgers on a grill, the kids throwing the football around (or maybe a frozen pickerel) and the dogs chasing the snowmobiles.

   Now, I know some people feel that winter is the time to curl up by the fire and read a book or watch a movie.  Well, that's OK but others prefer the outdoors and there's plenty to do in Maine in the winter.  We have world class skiing at resorts like Sugarloaf and Saddleback. There are major snowmobile trails that go both interstate and up into Canada and there are many more smaller trail systems maintained by local snowmobile clubs and individuals. Dog Sledding is becoming a bigger and bigger sport and there are some locals who enjoy ice boating on Pemaquid Lake.

   But still the sport of the masses in winter is ice fishing.  One doesn't need a boat to access even the deepest parts of a lake once it's frozen.  Whole families can enjoy a day together.  And if a fish is actually caught, well all the better!

Merry Christmas from Damariscotta Maine

Good News for Maine Home Sellers

    If you've been trying to sell a home in Maine (or anywhere else in the U. S. of A.) you had to like the interview with former Fed Chairman Alan Greenspan yesterday on ABC's "This Week".

   Addressing the current housing market slump, the former central banker called for the government to apply money to the problem saying "Cash is available and we should use that in larger amounts, as is necessary, to solve the problems of the stress of this."

   Such a cash infusion would typically come through a tax break perhaps in the form of a credit for sellers who lose money.  This would also signal that the Fed is going to leave the discount window open and encourage banks to lend. While Greenspan has retired it is hard to believe he's speaking in a vacuum and that his words aren't carefully calculated to have a specific effect.

   While these may be trying times for home sellers this is probably one of the all time great buyers markets and may present the best buying opportunity of this generation.

Jim Cosgrove

At Home in Maine

    There is an interesting article in this months Smithsonian Magazine by the Pulitzer Prize and PEN/Faulkner award winning author Richard Ford who lives in East Boothbay.  He talks about the essence of home and touches on his life here in mid coast Maine.

   We seem to be attracting authors and other creative people to live here in the mid coast and particularly along the banks of the Damariscotta River. Tracy Kidder summers in South Bristol and on the other side of the Pemaquid peninsula the town of Bremen was the model for the fictional Crabapple Cove in the novel and subsequent movie; M*A*S*H

   Besides our small friendly towns and beautiful scenery maybe they move here because we have such a great bookstore and library.

Tom Field

Fed Cuts Interest Rate

    The Federal Reserve cut a key short term interest rate, the federal funds rate, to 4.25% today.  The central bank also cut the discount rate to 4.75% in an attempt to encourage lenders to borrow from the Fed to keep up their lending to consumers.

   This is the third consecutive meeting at which the Federal Reserve Bank has cut interest rates since August and appears to be an admission by the Fed that inflation is not the biggest problem our economy faces at this time.

   The most recent jobs report shows that job growth has been sufficient to maintain moderate growth for the overall economy.  Strong U.S. exports (the bright side of a weaker dollar) are helping to create more jobs. Real gross domestic product growth through the first three quarters of 2007 averaged 3.1%.  The only real drag on the economy is the housing sector but I would submit that we are in a natural cycle of the real estate market, that had gone too high aided by an adjustable rate mortgage frenzy.

    This too shall pass.  We have already seen signs that the real estate market here in Maine is adjusting to the new reality, i.e. lower prices.  As long as banks are lending, people will be buying.  Although it is a painful time to be a seller, the majority of those sellers become buyers just as soon as they sign a purchase and sale contract on their present home.  A few years from now some people will be telling their friends "...I got this house for only (fill in the blank) in '07".  Others will ruefully say "...do you know what I could have had that property for in '07?"  Which will you be?

Jim Cosgrove

Bridge Lighting Ceremony

   Who says the real estate market is slow?  Just look at this crowd in the lobby of Newcastle Square Realty World Headquarters.

   Actually this is the reception held Saturday morning after the dedication of the new lights on the bridge spanning the Damariscotta River between the Twin Villages of Newcastle and Damariscotta.  The lights were a gift to the two towns from the Damariscotta-Newcastle Rotary Club.

 

   After a ceremony at the bridge which included speeches by Selectmen from both towns, Rotary presidents past and present, Rotary District Governor Liz Cullen and noted local historian Dick Day, everyone came in out of the cold and enjoyed cake and coffee. 

   The lights really dress up the bridge and are a nice finishing touch to our Main Street project.  And just as soon as I learn to take a decent picture at night we'll post a shot here of the bridge all lit up!

Jim Cosgrove

Wonderful Weekend

    The Damariscotta Region Chamber of Commerce is gearing up for a festive weekend starting Friday, December 7 at 5:00 p.m. with a kickoff champagne reception at Gallery 170.  The Chamber is celebrating its second annual "Coastal ChristmasFest", launched last year under the leadership of Cerina Leeman, Executive Director of the Chamber of Commerce.

   The stores will be open late for a Holiday Stroll.  Many of the stores will be offering treats and live music.  The evening culminates in Newcastle for the tree lighting ceremony at 8:00 p.m.

   The town of Damariscotta is the center of commerce for surrounding towns including Newcastle, Bristol, South Bristol, Bremen, Nobleboro and Edgecomb. Most of the festivities this coming weekend are downtown in the twin villages of Newcastle and Damariscotta.

   On Saturday there are lots of activities for the whole family starting with a pancake breakfast at the Baptist Church at the head of town to benefit their steeple renovation. After that, choose any number of activities including ornament making at Healthy Kids, wreath auction benefiting Big Brothers Big Sisters, art gallery tour, book signing and scavenger hunt sponsored by the Maine Coast Bookstore. At 10:00 a.m. you can join the Damariscotta Newcastle Rotary Club as they dedicate the new lights on the bridge connecting Newcastle and Damariscotta. There will be a reception with refreshemnts afterwards right here in the offices of Newcastle Square Realty.  More events and details of all the events can be found on the Damariscotta Region Chamber of Commerce website.

   Fittingly, the last event of the weekend is the movie "It's a Wonderful Life" at the Lincoln County Community Theater.  Admission is a canned or non-perishable food item.

  Come join in on the festivities this weekend, and if you are a visitor and realize that you want to live in this wonderful area, please call me. I'll be happy to find you a wonderful home!

Tracy Babcock

Snow Day

   It's the first snowstorm of the season today and all over the greater Damariscotta area snow plow drivers are celebrating by running down real estate signs.  There isn't a school open in the entire state and the forecast calls for snow right through until tomorrow morning with a total accumulation of between 12 and 18 inches.

   Most businesses are open and the driving isn't too bad.  Of course a lot of folks don't have their snow tires on yet and there's always those that need that first storm to remind them that they can't go as fast as they usually do when the road is slippery.

   If you're home watching the snow come down, feel free to call in and talk with one of our brokers about the fantastic opportunities that exist right now in the best buyers market we've seen in years!

Jim Cosgrove

Winter Fishing

   Usually when someone mentions winter fishing I get one of two pictures in my head.  The first is from the Discovery Channels show "Deadliest Catch" where you see commercial fishermen bundled up in foul weather gear up to their eyebrows, risking their lives in huge seas and frigid water so they can put food on the table, theirs and ours. 

   The other picture that comes to mind is a small shack on an ice covered lake, with a little wisp of smoke curling out of the top and sitting in the center of a circle of ice fishing traps whose flags never seem to pop.

   What I don't think of much is casting a small lure into a tidal river on the coast of Maine in December and pulling out a 24 inch sea run Brown Trout! The picture above of Alex and this beauty is what will come to mind from now on (for those non fishermen, Alex is the one smiling).  These pictures were taken yesterday afternoon at a location that must remain secret (unless you buy a home through me).  I have seen some nice Brown Trout in my time but never one this big taken in salt water. 

   If you need to speak with me this weekend leave a message and I will call back.  On Monday.  Or after I have caught this beast's brother or sister.  Be patient, I know I will.

Tom Field