Damariscotta Welcomes Santa Claus

The first Saturday after Thanksgiving is usually a very slow day to have floor duty. I mean verrrrryyyyyy slow. So I was a little surprised when I saw all these people lining up on Main Street in Damariscotta apparently waiting for something.

They were all looking towards the bridge to Newcastle and I soon learned why. 

It seems that Santa Claus was coming to town for a visit to remind people that Christmas is coming. 

Here is the happy old gent out in front of Newcastle Square Realty.

And here are the tap dancing Elf/Rockettes who gave him a little tap dance welcome to town.

So once again you never know what is going to happen in the Greater Damariscotta/Newcastle Metro area.

Tom Field

Technology and Real Estate

I was going to name this post "Cool Things You Can Justify Buying When You Become A Real Estate Broker" but I thought it might be a little too long to fit in the space provided or bring extra scrutiny to some of my write-offs.

My name is Tom Field and I have an addiction to things that go "beep". It isn't a bad addiction and rather than  effecting my work negatively it really helps me help my clients in a way that just wasn't possible as little as 10 years ago.

For example this summer I bought a shiny new digital video camera that makes lots of cool beeping noises. The idea was that I would do video "showings" of my listings in the same way that I show a home in real life. Well, I am still working on that idea (who knew you could have stage fright even when you are the only one in the room?) but in the mean time I had a perfect opportunity to use it in a different way.

I was working with a couple who were interested in a cottage on Damariscotta Lake. We spent a day together seeing almost every camp and cottage available on the lake. Although we saw a lot of homes none of them was really a good fit. Except one cottage. The cottage that they really liked when we did a drive by. The cottage that we couldn't get into because it was rented. The cottage whose tenants didn't leave until the same day as my clients whose return  flight could not be rescheduled. Bummer. But wait, I have a video camera and I would be happy to go to the cottage in between tenants. I spent about an hour wandering around the house and waterfront taping the house and although I felt supremely self conscious about taping myself, I managed to show them what they wanted to know about the property for them to make an offer. Yes, my clients made an offer based on a drive by and a video tape tour. Of course the offer was contingent on a lot of things including their visit to the cottage and liking it, but it gave them enough confidence about the place to make an offer and commit themselves to a purchase and sale agreement. I think that justifies a tax write off for the video camera.

GPS devices also make a lot of cool beeping noises. I know because I have two of them. One is a TomTom. It cost about $100, sticks to the windshield and has an amazing ability to find even the most remote dirt roads in a place like Willamantic where I recently traveled with a friend to find the perfect camp. Amazing technology. It had road names that my 60 page DeLorme doesn't have and it has a voice telling you where to turn next. Oh and that voice can be changed. I found this out when I uploaded the Hannibal Lecter option ("If you value your liver, turn here Clarice"). That one did not last very long. But you get the idea. User friendly, programmable, updatable and I don't have to focus on where my next turn is.

But why would anyone ever need two GPS units? Well the TomTom is great on the road but not everything I do is on the road. Just last week I previewed a property for a couple that is out of state and was planning to come up and look at a 12 acre lot on Biscay Pond. But they wanted more information before they made the trip all the way up. I emailed a survey, I emailed the Google Earth satellite overview and a town tax map but even when you looked at all of them together it just didn't give you a complete picture.  So I took the survey and my GPS unit and went to find the pins. Once I found a pin I set a waypoint on my GPS and moved on to the next one. After I found the points on the survey I came back to the office, uploaded the information to Google Earth, sent an email and we were done. Now they knew almost exactly where the property was, what the waterfront looked like from above, the highest point, the lowest point, etc.

So this is why I don't feel all that bad about buying a new toy piece of technology every so often when the spirit moves me. Now if I can only figure out why a 60" plasma screen television makes me more efficient at work.

Tom Field

Up Country Wisdom

    It's time to start making plans for next year.  I know this because the Farmers Almanac is out.  Not the one you have to pay for but the real one, The one written right here in Maine, the one they give out for free in Reny's.

   Most people know the Farmers Almanac for its incredibly accurate weather predictions.  Its well known that The National Weather Service actually uses the Farmers Almanac but tries to cover it up with all sorts of scientific mumbo jumbo. If you're planning a Wedding or some other big event that you want to make sure is held in good weather you'd best be checking the almanac for the year ahead.  But the Farmers Almanac is more than just weather it is the compendium of all the knowledge that one needs to live a full and productive life in the country.

   For instance, thanks to having my copy of the 2010 Farmers Almanac I know that the best days to go fishing next July will be the 2nd, 3rd and 4th.  Don't even think about coming to look at a home those days, I'm not going to be here. The best days to castrate sheep? May 1 to 10 and then again from the 28th to the 31st.  How many people won't read that and be snipping away on the 11th through 27th and later be wishing they hadn't? The Best Days to cut firewood in each month are listed. As are the Best Days to Dig Post Holes and the Best Days to Prune Trees.  This is good stuff, information one needs to achieve maximum efficiency and productiveness out of their year.

   The Almanac tells us that we willl need umbrellas for the Mummers Parade in January. I have no idea what a Mummer is and no clue as to why they have a parade but if I get invited you better believe I'll be taking my umbrella and I won't get wet.  There will also be Heavy Showers in our area from August 8th to 11th.  I already knew this because that's when I take my family camping and there are always heavy showers when I take my family camping but this is good information for the rest of you.

   There is a whole section of the almanac this year devoted to re using some common household items.  Brown paper bags, egg cartons, yogurt containers and even junk mail are all put to good use with these helpful hints. I really don't see how anyone could get by with out their own copy of the Farmers Almanac.

    So, here's a good idea for the weekend. Come on up to mid coast Maine, book a room in one of our excellent B&B's, enjoy some of our fine uncrowded restaurants, take a walk on the beach, visit the Pemaquid Point lighthouse, wander around the village and visit some of the galleries and shops and while you're in Reny's buy something and they will give you a free copy of the Farmers Almanac.  Then you'll know the Best Day to buy a House and you can come over and meet with one of our Brokers!

Jim Cosgrove

Scenes from "the Early Bird"

Today is Damariscotta and Newcastle's "Early Bird" Sale.  Stores open at 6 AM with outrageous discounts that become progressively smaller as the day goes on.  So the big savings are to be had at the crack of dawn.  Here are a few scenes from later in the morning at what some would consider a more civilized hour.