Maine Real Estate Blooms in the Spring

    It's Spring time in northern New England and contrary to popular opinion the most ubiquitous sign of the season is neither the robin red breast no the yellow daffodils but...the real estate sign.  Now is THE time of year for new Listings to appear on the market.  If you have been searching for just the right property and have not yet found it I hope you have a professional full time Broker working for you and keeping an eye on the market because when those special properties come on they tend to go fast.

   Here at Newcastle Square Realty we still hold to a practice that used to be common in this business but seems to have fallen out of favor with many real estate agencies. That is the weekly caravan of new properties. Maybe a lot of those agencies employ part time agents with other jobs on the side and they don't have the time to look at new properties unless they have a buyer in tow. Or maybe its just some new business model that we're not quite sophisticated enough to understand here on Main Street in Damariscotta. But we like going out and looking at new properties and it is not at all unusual for one of our Brokers to see a property on caravan day and realize that this might just be the one that meets their clients wants and needs.  Occasionally we've taken our Brokers through a property and had it "under contract" before close of business that day.

   Why not call your Broker today and ask them if they've seen any quality new properties lately that haven't yet made it into the newspapers or other advertisements. Or, if you're not already working with a full time real estate professional, call one of our Brokers. Because they see a lot of great homes, every week!

Tracy Babcock snapped this picture last week while we were out on caravan. Pictured left to right are, Debby Schling, Lee Simard, Ken Gray, Miles Geisler, Anne Peaslee, Bill Babcock, Becky Brown, Kathy Leeman, Tom Field, Jim Cosgrove and Bill Byrnes. Missing from the picture besides Tracy are Kathleen Shattuck, Anne Bourne and Eleanor Miles.

  

Salt Water Farms

    There is often value in looking at where and how the early settlers sited their homes. Water, earth, light, and proximity to roads were primary considerations.  They remain important considerations today!  Water was essential in the building of boats and coast-wise commerce; earth for growing vegetables and raising animals; light for a myriad of things including staying warm.  Now we treasure these elements as delights to the soul.

   Our newest listing provides all of these wonderful qualities.  It is a recently renovated 1800's salt water farm sited amongst the fields and overlooking Great Salt Bay.  The setting remains pastoral and the nearby village of Damariscotta Mills retains the atmosphere of friendliness that we come to Maine for. Spectacular panoramic views of the bay are to the south. Thus the property becomes an arena for the sun and the moon.  Southwest breezes are off the water and cool in the summer.  Soils are rich and offer opportunities for gardens.  At one time the ample shoreline was the location of a ship building yard. Today it serves as access to the bay for kayaking, fishing, and journeys to explore the Damariscotta River.

   Nature abounds. Bob-o-links nest in the field between the house and shore.  Eagles, osprey and ducks entertain over the water. Spring brings the annual migration of the alewives up the fish ladder and into Damariscotta Lake.

   Inside, the home is spacious and the design well-conceived. The vitality and comfort of the new is melded with the charm of the old. Sun drenches the great room. The first floor master bedroom allows for ease of living. An attached barn and large finished shed offer options for workshop, office, or studio. The project is not complete, but the hard work has been done.  With your personal finishing touch, the rewards are many!  See more of this property on our website or contact me to arrange a personal showing.

Kathy Leeman

 

 

How to Buy Foreclosures

Thanks and a tip of the cap to Rita Yarnold at Bay Realty in Portland, Maine.

What a Difference a Year Makes

    The Associated Press reports today that jobless claims have dropped to their lowest level since January and prices of household goods stayed low last month, positive signs of stability for the economic recovery. The Dow has risen above 10,000. Here in Maine, the Maine Association of Realtors is reporting another month of increased home sales.

   As I recall, at this time last year, we were waking up every morning wondering what bank or financial institution was going to fail that day.  It was a steady drumbeat of bad news, Lehman Bros., Fannie and Freddie, Countrywide, AIG, Wachovia and all of it wrapped up in election year rhetoric.  Potential home Sellers sat in stunned disbelief as we tried to explain that they just weren't going to achieve prices similar to what their neighbors had gotten just a year before. Potential home Buyers just sat, paralyzed in fear by the cascading bad news.

   What a difference a year makes.  As it slowly sinks in that, just like with every other economic downturn in history, this one too shall pass, the mood of people walking through our door, both Buyers and Sellers is decidedly more upbeat.  Sellers have come to terms with the fact that they are not going to get for their home in 2009 what they might have in 2006.  But those that are moving on know that they will make it up when they buy.  Buyers, aided by low interest rates, ample choices from which to buy and in some cases government tax incentives are very happily picking up homes that they could not have gotten into 3 or even 2 years ago.

   Fixed rate loans have begin to inch up ever so slightly and many of the better homes have been bought, but new properties are coming on the market and priced according to the new reality as there are now comparable sales on which to base those prices.  It is an excellent time to be in the real estate market right now. We couldn't say that a year ago.

Jim Cosgrove

When will THE RECOVERY start?

    From time to time (ok at least 5 times a day) folks ask me "when is the real estate market going to start going back up?"  Well, if I had a crystal ball.... But this I can say with certainty, just like with the downturn, when the media starts to write about it, the recovery will have been under way for some time. 

   Historically the real estate market nationally, and all markets are local but for the sake of this piece bear with me, historically the real estate market has lagged the stock market by about 4 to 6 months.  So how is the stock market doing?  Well the Dow has been over 9,000 for a few weeks now, yesterday the S&P went over 1,000 for a 9 month high and the Nasdaq is over 2,000 for the first time in almost a year.

   So called safe haven investments like Treasuries and the US dollar are being dumped by investors.  Even manufacturing numbers are starting to trend, slowly, upward.  True, unemployment is still high but that has been a lagging indicator in every downturn in modern history.

   If you have been trying to time the bottom of the real estate market I hope you haven't been waiting for the mainstream press or the evening news to give you your signal to jump in.  If so you may wait too long and miss out on the better properties and best prices.  If you need financing you are already missing out on the best rates.  Why not call your favorite real estate broker today and see what opportunities are there for you right now?

Jim Cosgrove

It Gets Better for First Time Home Buyers

    This is undeniably a great time to buy a home and even more so for first time home buyers.  Prices are lower than in a decade, interest rates, although they have ticked up slightly in recent weeks are still at post WWII lows, the Federal Government is giving first time buyers up to $8,500 in tax credit and now for first time home buyers in Maine, the Maine State Housing Authority will provide grants of up to $5,000 which can be put towards the down payment, closing costs or escrow funds.

   That's right, I said a grant.  The program is called The Gift of Green and it is just that, a gift.  This does not have to be paid back, there is no recapture of the payment upon sale of the property in the future.

   In addition to the grant first time home buyers will get a coupon good for up to $500 to specifically pay for an energy audit of the property they are buying. Buyers can use this to identify opportunities to save even more money in heating costs.  So not only will this program help to stimulate the housing sector of Maine's economy but possibly also the energy efficiency related industries.

   Dale McCormack, director of The Maine State Housing Authority is quoted as saying that in an average year 2,500 Mainers are first time home buyers and as many as 90% of these could qualify under the liberal guidelines for this program.

   Chris Pinkham, president of the Maine Association of Community Banks said the program could have a "trickle up" effect.  Making things easier for first time home buyers makes it easier for the owner of the home they buy to move on and purchase another home.

   The Maine State Housing Aauthority grants are funded by bonds sold by the Authority and not taxpayer funds.

   Here at Newcastle Square Realty we have seen a decided up tick in activity and properties going "under contract".  First time or any other buyers will want to start looking now as inventory is beginning to go down and the better properties are the first to go.  Why not call today and let one of our experienced real estate brokers show you what's available and just how far your money can go.

Jim Cosgrove

Timing the Real Estate Market

    I had an interesting conversation yesterday.  A fellow I've known for sometime stopped in to the office.  Said he wanted to see what was for sale in a specific price range and to "pick my brain" about the state of the real estate market in the Pemaquid Point area.

Well the picking of the brain didn't take too long, some will tell you there isn't that much up there anyway, but we did have a lot of properties to look at and I ran the whole list complete with pictures and related data off of the MLS site and printed them for him.  His plan was to "drive by" these properties and check them out just so he'd be familiar with them but he made it plain that he had no intention of buying at this time.  You see "he knows" that the market is going to go down further and he'll get a better deal in the future.  "He knows" the market has not hit bottom and he has no intention of buying until it does so.

   Now what you need to know about my friend is that in his former life he was an engineer. You may have heard that old saying about engineers; that if one person says the glass is half full and one person says the glass is half empty, the engineer says the glass was built too big. The point being that engineers tend to over think things.

   I'm afraid he is going to get burned trying to time the bottom of the market. Whether or not we've hit bottom remains to be seen.  We won't know where the bottom was until we're quite a ways past it.  Just as we didn't know where the top of the market was when we were there. No one makes an announcement and says"today is the bottom, prices go up tomorrow". Years after the fact a government office or a trade organization will compile some statistics and tell us how long of a recession we were in, when the stock market went from bull to bear and back to bull and where the real estate market bottomed. Unlike the other two the real estate market is trickier.  There is a mythological "national real estate market" that doesn't really exist.  Each market area is its own separate market with it's own set of dynamics and factors that determine value.  Sure interest rates and activity from other areas impact it but no two markets react exactly the same, unlike say the Dow Jones industrial average or the oil spot market.

   My humble opinion is that the mid coast Maine real estate market has already turned. It's almost imperceptible right now.  Just as at the moment the tide turns you can't tell. but it has turned.  Here at Newcastle Square Realty we've certainly seen an upswing in calls and inquiries over the past 2 months. We've shown more homes, we've written more contracts, we've scheduled more closings.  Are the statistics reflecting this? No not quite yet.  It takes time for these things to show up in the stats.  Rare is the property that closes less than 45 days after going under contract.  But in the late fall as big bank after big bank was going under and Congress was debating different "rescue' plans and politicians were running for office, the things that are happening now were not happening.

   Many of the better quality properties that saw big drops in price have already been sold in these past 2 months.  There are still a lot of properties on the market and that does depress prices.  But many of those that are out there have been on a long time and represent Sellers who have not made the mental shift to the new market reality. In other words they are priced for 2007 not 2009. By and large, those properties that have come on the market in the last 6 months have been realistically priced and a greater percentage of them have sold.

   Interest rates are at a 50 year low. The government is giving first time home buyers an $8,000.00 tax credit that doesn't need to be re payed when they sell. Prices are at a 10 year low. Trying to time the market under those circumstances is...well as I gently tried to tell my friend, not a wise mans game.

   Everyone in this business knows Sellers who got burned by holding on for a high price or pricing even higher than the market after what we now know was the peak.  And everyone in this business is going to know a Buyer who tried to time the market and missed a good deal because they thought prices would go just a little bit lower.  They may get a low price but they will miss the better properties or wind up with a higher interest rate or as I'm afraid will happen to my friend, have "analysis paralysis" and wind up doing nothing.

   Right now is a very good time to buy property in Lincoln County, Maine.  The glass is half full.

Jim Cosgrove

New Listing in Round Pond, Maine

     Tracy and I were in Round Pond a few days ago to work up a new listing.  It was a sunny day so we didn't pay much attention to the snow piled on the sides of the road.  It's only a short drive from Damariscotta.  We went through Bristol Mills, took the Lower Round Pond Road to Route 32, then a mile north to the village. I was singing "over the hills and through the woods," inspired by snow covered fields.

   Round Pond is a picturesque Village within the Town of Bristol.  It has its own Post Office, a couple of lobster places, a restaurant, a market and the best candy store anywhere.  Church steeples dot the landscape.  During the summer fishing boats and pleasure boats are moored in the harbor and you can watch lobstermen unloading their catches at the docks.  Several artists call the place "Home."

   The village gets its name from the shape of the cove it surrounds, as you can see if you follow this link and look at the map.  That page will give you the nitty-gritty statistics about Round Pond, but not the real flavor of the place.  Here are some thoughts from a former resident: A Special Place.

   Round Pond village is the scene of one of the wackiest and most popular, Fourth of July parades anywhere.  It attracts many hundreds of visitors from near and far, especially after being written up in The New York Times, which described the parade as "quintessential Americana turned on its head, a cross between a charming, Rockwellian parade, a roast and a political protest. Its claim to fame is that everyone- from the tourists who invade this village of 550 residents each summer looking for lobster to the current powers that be, regardless of party - gets made fun of."

   Even bigger than the NY Times piece was a blog post Tracy did right here on last summers parade!

   Getting back to the reason for our trip to Round Pond, pictured below is our new Listing, right in the heart of the village.  Visit our Newcastle Square Realty website for more information or see the home on Realtor.com.  You could have your own front row seat for this years parade.

 

   The village is the perfect place to spend your summers, close to many activities along the Coast of Maine.  It's an even better place to call home, your own home in Maine.

Bill Babcock 

Buying A Home; New or Used?

     This mornings paper brought the news that "housing starts" for the month of October were at their lowest monthly levels in 50 years. The Commerce Department, which tracks such things reported that construction of new homes fell for the fourth month to an annualized rate of 791,000 units.  In the fifth paragraph of the story you find that this is good news because experts and analysts had expected it to fall to a rate of 780,000 units.

   Now I'm not an expert and I don't think I'm an analyst although I'm not really sure what the necessary qualifications are to be one but after I got over my first thought which was, isn't it amazing that they're even building one new home never mind three quarters of a million of them, I started to think about what was the more rational economic choice, buying a brand new custom built home or buying an older home.

   I began by doing some basic research and called a few builders to see what it costs to build a new home these days.  Apparently none of them were participating in building the 791,000 homes currently under construction as they all answered their phones on the first few rings. After getting over their disappointment that I wasn't a customer or the government calling with their bailout they were glad to talk to me. The estimates I got of cost per square foot to build a new house ranged from $180. to $300. depending on the level of amenities one desired.  And this did not include land acquisition and development costs.

   So if we average on the low side at $200 per square foot to build (mostly because round numbers make it easy for me to do the math) we see that a 2,000 square foot home would cost $400,000 to build.  Again averaging on the low side lets say it cost another $100,000 to buy the land, dig the cellar hole, put in a driveway and a septic system and drill a well. For $500,000 you could have the house of your dreams assuming you haven't been dreaming to extravagantly.

   But if you were to make a call to your helpful Realtor (I know a real good one so it was easy for me) you would find that for a lot less than $500,000 you could buy a very nice home in Lincoln County, Maine. Your Realtor could show you 2,500 square foot homes ready to be moved in to today for half the price of a new home or for $500,000 they could show you lovely homes right on the water here in town.  You could probably buy a very nice older home with charm and character (read: real wood) and with the money you saved compared to building new you could refurbish your new home and buy new appliances.

   As of today in Lincoln County, Maine there are over 700 previously owned homes for sale.  All different sizes and shapes and in a wide variety of locations. If you've been thinking of building a new home or simply want to explore your housing options why not call your favorite Realtor and see just how far your housing dollars will go.  I bet you'll find a great bargain and I know you'll confound the government experts!

Jim Cosgrove

No Better Time for First Time Home Buyers

     Let's start with a fact.  The fact that right now the real estate market stinks!  It is a lousy time to be trying to sell your home. Okay, so why is that?  Why is it a lousy time to be trying to sell your home?  Because, there are a lot of homes on the market and that is driving prices down.  There are a lot more homes on the market than there are buyers so...buyers have lots of options and are in position to pick up any one of multiple properties at pretty attractive prices compared to just 2 years ago.

   So, this leads us to another fact.  It is a great time to be trying to buy a home. That's right, that's the way it works.  It is never both a bad time to sell and buy.  Or to buy and sell. One side of the equation has to be better. 

   Right now in the central Lincoln County towns of Damariscotta,Newcastle, Bristol, South Bristol, Bremen and Nobleboro there are great buys available on all different sorts of homes, from starter homes to mid price homes to luxury retirement homes.  There are cottages and camps, building lots and large tracts of land on the market and a buyer would have multiple choices in any category.

   On top of that mortgage rates are still quite reasonable.  Although mortgage rates fluctuate according to bond prices and those have been all over the place lately, rates are still under 7%.  Our local banks right here on Main Street (and Church Street) have money to lend and friendly, helpful and knowledgeable loan officers that would very much like to talk with buyers.

   As if that wasn't enough, if one is a first time home buyer, the Federal government is offering a tax credit of up to $7,500.00.  To qualify, buyers must buy before July of 2009, may not have actually owned a home in the last 3 years and must have a combined household income of $170,000. or less.  There is no pre purchase authorization or approval process.  Buyers simply claim their credit on their tax return.  Of course you should discuss this and any tax related matter with your tax preparer or other qualified professional before acting.

   If you are a home seller, these are tough times.  Don't worry, your time will come again.  But, right now this is the time for home buyers.  There will never be a better time to buy a home than now.  Why not make an appointment to sit down with us and see what is available?

Jim Cosgrove