The tax credit has been very beneficial to our housing industry and especially to the State of Maine!...(See Press release at the bottom of this message.) 

National statistics released by the National Association of Realtors (NAR) indicate a 7.7 percent single-family home sales increase in the past 12 months!

With your help, we can 'keep the ball rolling'. Please contact your State Senators and ask them to support the Dodd-Lieberman-Isakson amendment to extend the housing tax credit. 

To all you Maine Realtor 'Rainmakers':To contact Senators Snowe and Collins , you can send email directly from their sites, or get phone/fax info at: Sen. Snowe: http://snowe.senate.gov or Sen. Collins: http://collins.senate.gov.

TAX CREDIT EXTENSION: NAR reports that early next week the U.S. Senate will be voting on two amendments that would extend the first-time homebuyer tax credit. NAR is only supporting the Dodd-Lieberman-Isakson amendment because it will: provide the $8,000 tax credit to any buyer (not just first time); set income limits at $150,000/$300,000 for single/married buyers; make the credit available until June 30, 2010. 

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MAINE REAL ESTATE SALES UP 22.74 PERCENT IN SEPTEMBER

SOUTH PORTLAND (October 23, 2009)-Sales of single-family existing homes in Maine rose a strong 22.74 percent in September 2009 compared with the same month in 2008. The Maine Real Estate Information System, Inc. reported a median sales price (MSP) of $167,000, a decrease of 6.05 percent from last September, again highlighting the increase in the first time buyer market in Maine. The September median price is an increase from August 2009's MSP of $162,800. The median sales price indicates that half of the homes were sold for more and half sold for less.

 

"God Bless the USA"...(Lee Greenwood Video). It makes me so proud to be an American.

"While the storm clouds gather far across the sea, Let us swear allegiance to a land that's free, Let us all be grateful for a land so fair, As we raise our voices in a solemn prayer. "

I was doing a google search and discovered that the unofficial national anthem of the United States was composed by an immigrant who left his home in Siberia for the USA when he was only five years old. The original version of "God Bless America" was written by Irving Berlin (1888-1989) during the summer of 1918 (Thank you, Irving Berlin for these inspiring words and for sharing your incredible talent).

And..Thank you, Artist Gail Ribas, for sharing your incredible talent! I LOVE your paintings and value your friendship!

Happy 4th of July....Hope our paths cross during the day at the Bar Harbor Festivities! (My Home Sweet Home)
"God Bless America, Land that I love. Stand beside her, and guide her Thru the night with a light from above. From the mountains, to the prairies, To the oceans, white with foam God bless America,
My home sweet home. " Realtor GramEpat

"I think I can, I think I can, I think I can " ...

Don't give up looking for 'Your piece of Maine'. Let me know how I can help.(See info below about recent legislation).

PS: Just FYI:
I have no intentions of climbing the mountain and attempting to help move Balance Rock!
Many tourists in Acadia National Park have tried unsuccessfully to do that without my help! :)

Bubble Rock on South Bubble Mountain, Balance Rock on the Bar Harbor Shore Path, and white Lucerne granite are classic examples of glacial erratics found on Mt.Desert Island, home of Acadia National Park.

OUR MAINE GOVERNOR REMOVES TRANSFER TAX INCREASE: Thank you to Governor John Baldacci who REMOVED the proposed Transfer Tax increase on homes priced $500K or higher that was passed in the initial Tax Reform Legislation. The Maine Association of Realtors would have preferred a veto of the entire bill, however, the removal of this increase before passage of Tax Reform is HUGE for real estate in our State.

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I got a kick out of a recent Warren Buffett quote that a friend told me:

"Only when the tide goes out do you discover who's been swimming naked". Warren Buffett

FYI:The water temperature at Sand Beach, Acadia National Park's popular swimming area, rarely exceeds 55 degrees, so don't even think about skinny-dipping in those Maine waters. According to a posting at boston.com/travel,  "It's far better to stroll at night -- and bundled up -- when the shimmering bioluminescence from microscopic creatures in the bay can sometimes illuminate the adjacent rocky bluffs".

"If past history was all there was to the game, the richest people would be librarians".
Warren Buffett
"It's far better to buy a wonderful company at a fair price than a fair company at a wonderful price".
Warren Buffett
"In the business world, the rearview mirror is always clearer than the windshield".
Warren Buffett
**" If you're in the luckiest 1 per cent of humanity, you owe it to the rest of humanity to think about the other 99 per cent"**.

No worries on this end...I'm covered with Polar Fleece from head to toe!..

Realtor GramEpat

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I was so delighted to read in our MAR newsletter this AM that the Maine Association of REALTORS Foundation is one of the first REALTOR Foundations in the country to receive an Ira Gribin Workforce Housing Grant from the National Association of REALTORS.  Grants are now available to help low- and moderate- income working families secure safe and decent housing (http://www.realtor.org/iragribingrant).

In Maine, the $50,000 will be used to fund a new Foundation program called Live Where You Work, to help families with downpayment and closing cost assistance for a home purchase that is more than 30 minutes closer to their employment.  The Live Where You Work program will increase access to home ownership and decrease commuting costs for home buyers. We anticipate the program will kick-off during the summer of 2009.

In our area,(Acadia National Park) it is not uncommon for our workforce to live 'off island' and commute from the mainland. I am hopeful that some of our commuters will be able to benefit from this grant program...and be able to live and work on Mt.Desert Island.

Realtor GramEpat

Contemplating 'Your Piece of Maine"?
My friend, Ben Kimball offered to let me use his self portrait in my recent ads.
He took the photo this past December. It's on Champlain Mtn. overlooking The Bowl. The knob just above his head is the backside of The Beehive.  (Thank you, Ben!)

Now is the time to take advantage of the $8000 tax credit for qualified buyers.

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I found an interesting piece of history when I was doing some research online

(when I should have been working or Spring cleaning)

American Women's Realty New York 1927

American Woman's Realty Corporation, was formed by the American Woman's Association, Inc., for the purpose of financing the construction of a club/house for working women.

Spring Clean?....or head for the Club House today?... Tough choices. Realtor GramEpat technorati tag

1761 funding formula/stimulus package....Grants from Great Britain to development an Island off the coast of Maine...now the Home of Acadia National Park.

      
When I trek around the Somes Harbor, it's hard to imagine that the first permanent settlement on Mt. Desert Island (founded by Abraham Somes in 1761) turned into a thriving industrial center with seven mills and five shipyards! ...The mills are gone...and so are the shipyards...but the Harbor and the fjord remain as incredible as they must have been when he first arrived on the Island from Gloucester, Mass.

I did a little research and found out that Abraham obtained the land for development on grants from Francis Bernard, who was the governor of Massachusetts .Securing the property for Great Britain, he chose to establish a village (along with James Richardson) at the North end of the fjord which cuts through the center of the island. (located across the street from my office)... The harbor would later be named after him as Somes Sound . His settlement , named Somesville, would develop into an important trading location that largely allowed for the rest of the island to be permanently colonized in the years following the American Revolutionary War.   (All of this island development starting with a person with vision , courage...and imagination...requesting a stimulus funding grant from Great Britain!)

Abraham served in the military, then returned to Somesville where he raised his family of 13 children.

I am so delighted that my friend Dr.Virginia Somes Sanderson honored his memory with the memorial stone at the harbor and captured his memory in her book, "The Living Past". Thank you ,Virginia. I think of you often when I rest near Abraham's stone, and gaze out over Somes Sound......and ponder the amazing beauty of Abraham's settlement on the coast of Maine...."The Living Past" funded by GRANTS!
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 "I hope that battery is still working on that electronic lock box"!

(Glad each office was provided with a spare back up battery!)

We're not used to using lock boxes in Acadia National Park. However, we'll adapt with time and patience.

It's been really helpful to use the key card for multiple purposes ...I like using the card for our educational courses and tracking CE credits online. (Thank you, MAR for making those arrangements).

I know I can do this...just 'One Step at a Time"....(Thanks to my LLBean 'Tubbs')

Gotta Love Maine Winters!  

Especially On Long Pond, in Acadia National Park! Life is good :)

Realtor: GramEpat

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I get such a kick out of it when new agents say "I want to be a real estate agent because I LOVE to show kitchens" :)
I was thinking about that yesterday when I went in almost blizzard conditions (15+ inches of snow predicted)...to meet a buyer's agent and building inspector at one of my favorite listings (Higgin's Store in Somesville, Maine).
The first thing I had to do at my office was shovel my way to the car. (Couldn't snow shoe because the "LLBean Tubbs" were in the trunk of my car)...Then I had to 'de-ice' the car before I could take it down the highway. Good thing I have front wheel drive because the snow plow driver had not yet made his afternoon swipe through my door yard. 

When I got to the listing, I parked out front because....again....LOTS of snow in the normal parking areas behind the building. (Probably the guy who plows my driveway also plows Julie's...He's also a fireman...so I wouldn't be surprised if he was in still in Northeast Harbor, helping clean up after the most recent fire!. )

   

Fortunately the seller left a shovel, broom, and sand and salt for the ice...(Thank you , Julie).

Once the walkway was shoveled, the back steps and apartment steps shoveled and swept...and sand and salt put down over the ice,...I was ready to try to retrieve the hidden key and unlock the door.......While all of this is happening...my car is again covered with snow and ice. (Which means that ,after we finish with the inspection,....I start all over again...shoveling the door yard, 'de-icing' the car, etc...)                
The other hearty souls arrived....high spirited...with chats about ice fishing, skiing, and the other fun winter sports that were on the agenda for the 'snow day'....We all decided that when the inspection was completed, we would just call it a day and either settle in by our wood stoves and/or fireplaces, or opt to don the winter gear and play in the snow.

Gotta love selling real estate in Acadia National Park in January.



I LOVE Maine winters and Sellers, Buyers, Agents and Affiliates who embrace change and challenges!...I find myself reminiscing about why so many Realtors got into this business in the first place.

"They love to show kitchens" :) Realtor GramEpat technorati tag