Maine Real Estate Activity on the Rise

Despite the struggling economy, Maine home sales volume and median sales prices in 2012 were improved over 2011. Signs indicate that the trend for 2013 appears to be even better. Things may not yet reach the peak we saw in 2005-2006, but an upward trend is good news. Certainly, the buzz around real estate in our office is positive. Buyers are interested in moving, so it's a good time to get your home on the market and ready to sell. With interest rates at historically low levels, it's also a great time to buy.

Buyer interest is heating up in Maine.

Shelter Realty, formerly Midcoast Realty, continues to provide clients with thoughtful and clear guidance to both buyer and seller clients in this turbulent market. If you're listing or looking for anything from a custom timber frame home, to a 200-year-old farm house, to raw or ready-to-build land, Shelter Realty has seen and sold it all.

Shelter's many years of real estate experience and our building expertise provide our clients with a unique perspective that helps guide you through the challenging but rewarding home buying or selling experience.

Potential clients or students who want to list their precious home or land will find a dedicated advocate for their investment. Learn more at shelterinstitute.com/real_estate.

Find Your Perfect Maine Home

For many years, Midcoast Realty has been a partner in buying and selling properties for clients in the Midcoast region of Maine. We're still going strong, but we're now called Shelter Realty.

Shelter Realty specializes in helping buyer clients identify their needs and find just the right property. We'll help you find the right piece of land suitable for building or a fine and livable home.

Timber Frame beauty in Georgetown, ME

Call or email Shelter Realty with your parameters, and we will be pleased to consult with you about your options.

Potential clients or students who want to list their precious home or land will find a dedicated advocate for their investment.

For a complete list of Shelter Realty listings, visit our current listings page. Shelter represents sellers throughout the Midcoast Maine region.

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The Golden Rules of Finance No Matter What the Market Climate Holds

By Blueberry Beeton, Real Estate Broker

Shelter Realty, formerly Midcoast Realty, continues to provide clients with thoughtful and clear guidance to both buyer and seller clients in this turbulent market. Recent transactions include owner builders, foreclosures, custom timber frame homes, 200-year-old homes revived to be put on the market, raw land and more. With all of these come the abrupt starts and stops caused by lenders. This is a market where buyers and sellers alike have to hurry up and wait regardless of their particular debt-to-income ratio or property value. The climate of lending and borrowing money has gone through tremendous transition in the last five years and continues to evolve. However, no matter how a loan is packaged there are some golden rules that seem to be timeless.

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Bragging Rights: Past Students Current projects: Solar Integration

Shelter Institute students are some of the most talented, exciting, thoughtful and determined people in the world. And we love to keep in touch and hear what our graduates are doing. Check out this recent note from James and Kim who took the Small Housebuilding Class of 2008.


The evolution of our back porch from an 1850’s-era summer shade piece to the backbone of a solar generating plant happened over seven years. We first designed and installed a 10-panel electrical system, wiring the house for both 12-volts DC and 120 volts AC, constructing a sixteen-piece battery bank, and hooking up everything to run through a panel with a smart charger and house-sized inverters. Our original intention was to start with wind as our power source, but fortunately we took a chance with sun first. Now that we have both wind and sun systems generating electricity for us, the sun has turned out to be much more reliable a power source, although the wind provides excellent supplemental power and provides charging on windy nights and stormy days, when the sun isn’t an option.

A year ago, we finished the design for a solar water heating system using a re-circulating antifreeze loop and a 3 watt DC pump controlled by a Maine-designed electrical solar thermostat. We had difficulty finding plumbers in our area who were familiar with this technology, though we hired one company that had little experience with our type of design. In the end, we ended up reworking many of the lines, flow-meters, and check valves the plumbers installed to get our system to work. Our experience has been that many contractors try to sell themselves as “green” contractors and as having experience with alternative energy systems, but we have not found many that live up to their claims.


Disappointingly, Maine winter sun is insufficient to heat our small 40 gallon hot water tank to bathing temperature, so we designed and built a second parallel antifreeze loop to run off our wood stove. The heat exchanger is a fabricated deep water-filled copper pan in which our closed antifreeze loop is immersed. The antifreeze is re-‘circulated through our hot water tank using a second 3 watt DC pump and electrical controller. Since we heat our home with wood in the winter, this system provides sufficient hot water for our winter domestic use.

Home Buyer's Tax Credit Deadline

The federal government's "First-Time Home Buyers" tax credit expires on Nov. 30. The current offer is a tax credit for 10% of the purchase price of a property, up to $8,000. First-time home buyers doesn't just mean young people buying their first home -- this term applies to anyone who has not owned a principal residence during the three-year period prior to the date of purchase. For married taxpayers, the law tests the homeownership history of both the home buyer and his/her spouse.

First time home buyers are flooding the market and creating a flurry of showings and activity in the real estate world. Mortgage approvals, residential inspections, and other steps in the buying process typically take about two months, buyers hoping to take advantage of the incentive will need to have a contract by the end of September at the latest.

Those of you planning to take advantage of this tax credit at the last minute should be aware that mortgage approvals are currently taking longer than normal because home Appraisals have been placing very different values on homes than the buyer and seller agree to and for which the buyer tries to get financing. This is not an issue when the appraisal is too high but can bring the transaction to a screeching hault when the appraisal is too low.

What can you do? If you find yourself in a transaction where the appraisal has devalued your house or your perspective house, find out why. Ask for a full copy of the report and information on any comperables that were used. Be sure to point out any features of a property that would enhance the value and consider requesting a new appraisal. In many cases Appraisers are using other recent local sales to provide a benchmark value for your own property. The problem with this in the current market condition is that some of those comps may be Short Sales and/or Foreclosures meaning that the circumstances under which they were sold were perhaps different from the circumstances in which you are trying to sell or buy.

The critical message here is that real estate value is not a science. It comes down to a combination of factors

1. What are current market conditions?
2. What dollar value does the buyer place on the property?
3. What dollar value does the seller place on the property?

Remember that you can seek alternate sources of finance. Remember to shop for your financing and in doing so you may find that the appraisal value is not as important. The foreclosures and short sales are bringing values of homes down but that doesn’t mean that the value of your home has to change.

DRESDEN OPEN HOUSE

Open House August 29, 2009 3:00-5:00 pm

email: info@shelterinstitute.com for more information

Join us for an open house at this home in Dresden.

MLX # 931383 Listing Price $147,000
Featuring

• 3.3 Wooded acres which provide plenty of firewood for this home
• high efficiency wood stove
• Dry unfinished basement
• Easy access to Midcoast or Augusta
• Views of beautiful blueberry fields across the street
• Space for an addition
• Freshly painted walls
• vinyl siding
• New roof in April 2009

Land Price Reduction

This beautiful 7-acre parcel has just had a price reduction to $65,900! It is the last lot in the subdivision, on cul-de-sac, connects to miles of wooded trails for skiing and hiking. Private and remote location with easy access to the midcoast region and the rich culture it has to offer. Rights to association moorings available in deepwater Kennebec River just a mile away. Please call 207-443-9905 or email for more information.

Brunswick, Maine Real Estate

2000 Square Foot condo for Sale in Brunswick:
Built in 1984 this condo just had a face lift with two additional rooms and a half-bath added to the second floor. It Offers first floor living w/spare bedroom on 2nd floor, spacious dining and living with walkout to wooded lot. Washing Machine, dryer, Refrigerator, stove, dishwasher included. One car garage offers addition storage and protects your car from Maine winters! It is easy to heat with propane direct vent heater (last years heat bill amounted to under $1000) on city water and sewer. Association fees just $195 per month and annual taxes $1869. Great location with easy access to beaches, hiking, restaurants, movies, healthcare, shopping & more. Your right in the midst of it with this home but the setting is secluded and even offers a glimpse of the Maine woods! $179,900 Email for more information: info@shelterinstitute.com

Wooded Acreage in Maine

LAND FOR SALE! This is a beautiful 7-acre parcel -- the last piece in a well built subdivision. It is at the end of the road with miles of hiking trails abutting it. This very peaceful location offers quick and easy access to Bath/Brunswick or Wiscasset and points north. A lovely northwest facing slope affords the perfect site for a walkout basement. The driveway has been roughed in and electricity and cable are on the property already. Call or email today to learn more about this special piece. Listing is represented by Blueberry Beeton of Midcoast Realty. blueberry@shelterinstitute.com