Think about it. You just had a huge dinner, with loved ones surrounding the table and the talk of buying a piece of real estate comes up.
Relocation to a friendlier, safe place. Lower cost real estate. Or maybe buying other Maine real estate, something on a lake or maybe something with lots of land like this sporting camp set up sitting on 386 acres. $249,900.
Or this 225 acres with a home that looks like a scud missle hit it..but you are not paying anything for the home so you decide reroof/reside or call a bulldoze operator, light a match as a firemen's practice exercise. $129,900.
Or maybe a Maine lake home is what the family thinks would be a good investment for a vacation, second home. A place on the water for next year's Thanksgiving, Christmas and all those vacations, three day weekends. $199,500.
Thanksgiving is a time to give thanks, count our blessings. To link up with family and eat plenty. But the lap top, the home computer gets fired up along with the hours in an airport killing time on line. Videos to see the property..to just sit there and everything spills out in to their lap. Like meat already cut, a plate fixed and served up for them. Even has a splash of cranberry, some killer green bean casserole and sweet potatoes.Real estate video..still hemming and hawing about it? Big mistake...folks and their five senses want video..on the property, the area, and to get to know you.
Not everyone is watching just parades and footballs this Thanksgiving.
Make sure you have plenty of real estate videos on hand to meet the crowd's needs on line.
Read a ActiveRain blog indicating winter real estate is slower, blah blah blah.
I don't think real estate markets stop during any season anywhere in the country. And like the water hose kink, when the flow is obstructed a little seasonally, the pressure builds up so the real estate conveyor belt keeps turning, straining to roll faster. As a Maine real estate broker you should not buy in to the logic a seller may spout about waiting until spring to put a pulled property back on the market. I would say, keep the property broadcasting..transmitting for the world to see.
You the real estate broker with fire, desire, and push that aggressively, skillfully puts one by one the marketing components on line for every property you list should not suddenly see the real estate plug pulled. Not without friendly objections made known loud and clear. Your blogs, video, real estate marketing machine working year round. That is the mission...no dead air, dark screens, or waiting. Don't see it removed if you can convince the owner of the mistake made by doing so. Modify the possession date, but don't stop the marketing due to a little white stuff on the ground, the roof of that property. Wait until spring to relist means you pull down an iron curtain around that listing that was live, active, radiating on line until withdrawn, deleted from consideration. Hopefully you had the place lots of spots on line. All that careful work undone..dismantled, tucked away in a dark real estate closet.
You have folks you are emailing on this particular place. Or were. Now theses folks wonder if it is sold, under contract. They watch real estate sites seriously..like real estate hawks. They see the missing hole on your site, realtor.com and other venues. And like a missing front tooth, it is obvious it is gone from consideration. Hidden so the buyer forgets all that you used for real estate bait on that one to make the phone ring, to generate specific incoming emails or visits to happen to your office. To generate business.
Lead lining it so no one sees it on real estate radar makes no sense. Don't stop marketing. Delay possession but never stop the real estate fireworks..keep sending up real estate ordinance, artillery, splash to attract attention of real estate buyers on line year round.
The well done video without snowbanks could be chugging along..the views tell you folks are watching it, planning, asking questions. Some of those viewers have to sell real estate first but are doing their "homework" so to speak. They need to see what is out there. And if traditionally owners and brokers opt to pull the listings until green grass reappears, they are missing marketing time, opportunities.
If the fear is if my home is on the market, I have to move in thirty, sixty or whatever time frame, remember the possession is part of the terms and conditions. The buyer may not want to move right now either but he is motivated to own before the end of the year for tax reasons. He has a 1031 real estate tax exchange sale clock ticking...or a myriad of other carrot and stick situations pushing him in to gear.
If your seller's property is suddenly gone, disappeared on line...just when this buyer was warming up to the neat imagery, copy, video you splashed....the prettiest girl at the junior high dance has suddenly left the building. No longer by the punch bowl. Darn...but like the expression that "the girls get prettier toward closing", the fewer homes that are remaining on the market may get a second, third look...and the flirting with what is there to work with comes in to play.
If winter means traditionally in your market that there are fewer homes, farms, land or whatever for sale...then I want my seller's listings front and center. Beaming those image jewels, blogging about the real estate, videos showing on portable screens everywhere from airport travelers killing time. And eyeballing what you post to families crowding around the computer after way too much turkey around Christmas who get the bright idea to see what is on the market in Maine. Maine snow...any snow or times of the year when the red in the thermometer lowers on the glass tube are still important real estate marketing opportunities to not waste. Does not mean you have to be holding an open house when the family is drinking egg nog by the fireplace and eating divinity fudge. You can black out showing times...just don't stop the internet marketing on line.
It's been here. When you are stuck in traffic, dealing with wall to wall people in the population centers, something has to be out there to recharged, regroup and make it all worthwhile. Maine..this 67 acres of ME land with hidden cape second home is what you need to serious consider. $54,900. Watch the video. Ask lots of questions. That's why I am here.
You answer a Maine real estate buyer call. The lights dim as energy is transfered over the phone line.
And one by one, in rapid fire succession, questions are posed, disected, answered with many more, a steady stream coming bang bang bang right after it in marathon fashion. Some easy but many in a sequence so you can feel suddenly drained of information as your brain starts to deflate, shrink from the one way flow out. You get easy questions, and other hard ones like "what will it cost, for sure, to make this $20,000 Maine home liveable..up to speed." Define up to speed. And quality of workmanship, materials used, time frame to get it done, etc.
It can be like the question "what is a diamond worth?" If you ask the Maine real estate buyer this question, it can slow the pace of interrogation..I mean questioning so that a one sentence answer is not coming with out a few of my own questions to really say, it depends on you. And we need to know more about you, the caller. How talented you are with a hammer?
What does liveable mean to you beyond heat, good roof, clean and safe.
Detailed videos on the area, the property, lots of images and detailed thorough copy can help the degree of questions from callers. If they tap in to those media options. That is why well written real estate blog posts on area subjects, rehabbing a home, local weather, etc are part of the answer follow up after you get off the phone. A good collection of these gems, well written with helpful images, links, video embeds can add information without you the broker needing to tell the same thing over and over. Let your blog posts help you take some of the real estate work load. Kick your blog in to gear. How hard working is your blog and do you let it do much of the "heavy lifting" ?
A downstate Maine real estate broker shared this with me.
"A friend of mine told me a story about how when he was a kid he was in the hospital and near dying. His Italian/African grandmother came to the hospital and told a family member to go buy her a large onion and a new pair of white cotton socks. She sliced the onion open then put a slice on the bottom of each of his feet & put the white cotton socks on him. In the morning when he awoke they removed the socks. The slices of onion were black and his fever was gone. The following story that someone sent to me might have some truth in it. We are going to try this winter.
"In 1919 when the flu killed 40 million people there was this Doctor that visited the many farmers to see if he could help them combat the flu. Many of the farmers and their family had contracted it and many died. The doctor came upon this one farmer and to his surprise, everyone was very healthy. When the doctor asked what the farmer was doing that was different the wife replied that she had placed an unpeeled onion in a dish in the rooms of the home, (probably only two rooms back then). The doctor couldn't believe it and asked if he could have one of the onions and place it under the microscope. She gave him one and when he did this, he did find the flu virus in the onion. It obviously absorbed the bacteria, therefore, keeping the family healthy."
"Now, I heard this story from my hairdresser in AZ. She said that several years ago many of her employees were coming down with the flu and so were many of her customers. The next year she placed several bowls with onions around in her shop. To her surprise, none of her staff got sick. It must work.. (And no, she is not in the onion business.)
The moral of the story is, buy some onions and place them in bowls around your home. If you work at a desk, place one or two in your office or under your desk or even on top somewhere.
Try it and see what happens. We did it last year and we never got the flu. If this helps you and your loved ones from getting sick, all the better. If you do get the flu, it just might be a mild case. Whatever, what have you to lose? Just a few bucks on onions!!!!!! !!!!!!!!
"Now there is a P. S... to this for I sent it to a friend in Oregon who regularly contributes material to me on health issues. She replied with this most interesting experience about onions: Weldon, thanks for the reminder. I don't know about the farmers story...but, I do know that I contacted pneumonia and needless to say I was very ill...I came across an article that said to cut both ends off an onion put one end on a fork and then place the forked end into an empty jar....placing the jar next to the sick patient at night. It said the onion would be black in the morning from the germs...sure enough it happened just like that...the onion was a mess and I began to feel better. Another thing I read in the article was that onions and garlic placed around the room saved many from the black plague years ago. They have powerful antibacterial, antiseptic properties." So, have any onions or stories to share about them?
Maine housewives...around the 10 - 2 time slot listening to Bangor Maine Radio...liked to tune in to Z-62.
Tim Comer was the crooner that had the following of this audience segment. I was Z-62 radio news director and did weekend music shifts after college.
The radio jacket Tim wore was embroidered with the expression "You are never too old to rock and roll?" He was in his early 50's at the time. Tim had goats, lived on a hobby farm with his wife and was trying to be somewhat self sufficient. But his on air Maine radio job was not like a job and he was good at it. In any product or service sale, your advertising has niche audiences but still overall, the larger the audience the better. Unless you are selling brain surgery tools, diamond cutting devices which are a pretty narrow market to tap in to.
The Bangor Maine radio arbitron ratings kept tract of who was listening each quarter hour. Our station had listeners tuning in for news that had local sound bites of the new makers, not just rip and read AP copy for something happening two hours away down state. It was local marketing, coverage of the community alot like the blogging we do for Southern Aroostook/ Maine.
Tim had a following, played rock and roll and kept the big share of housewives happy.
Who is your audience? What is your target/ Who is listening, reading, watching, following you? If you played only music you liked, you would have a pretty small audience. If you only blogged on a narrow menu of topics, the same applies. Broaden your blog audience by blogging about what they want to read, see, hear around and give them what they want. Identify with the audience you serve and talk one on one to them, not at them or over their heads. What is the purpose of your blogging?
The kitchen water faucet strainer/ screen was carefully removed like a skilled surgeon attending to every small detail.
A match was lit, rotated around the exposed rim of the faucet.
Be careful, some are really mobile home plastic and can melt if you whip out a blow torch to over do the sterilization process. Air getting to bacteria...there's where your problems start.
Like a cancer patient that everyone always says, once they open them up, everything accelerates like wild fire progression of the cancer disease.
The place has been occupied. Lots of laundry being done. Teenage showers that are the extended version happen here a lot. Maybe coin operated showers like car washes should be installed in showers with kids. Giving them a certain number of weekly "tokens" is the key to water conservation. Anyway, lots of water going thru the system is the point here and nothing stagnant laying in the pipes. You let it run thru the pump cycle in the case of a rural private water well. The sample taken, zipped in quickly to a Maine water testing labratory. And the wait for results. Mr. mailman a few days later brings you an evelope or you have the lap fax the results. And eyeballs scan the paperwork, you see a coloform bacteria count of one, two or the worse that can happen, TNTC. (Too numberous to count). Only had two of those in 30 years of peddling Maine real estate.
Now what? For starters in the case of a one or two designation, that is not the end of the world. Shock the system per instructions that come with the paperwork giving your the failing grade from the water testing lab.
Don't put in a 55 gallon drum of bleach thinking if a pint is good, how about really over achieving in the bleach department. The test not two days later but three weeks later will still reek of bleach and you will think you are living inside a laundromat.
Hey, how come your hair is that color?
If the rest of the water tests still have a problem, part of the cause may be the stem of the well is not above the ground with a secure clamp or barrier underneath. The wood covering or whatever is being used to protect the well head has worn out and ground water is getting in to contaminate the water source.
Put a pvc extension on the well head steel casing that was cut off to avoid northern Maine snow plows from backing into it, and retest for just the bacteria..not the whole shooting match of analysis. Save some money because your nitrites, ph, iron, and all the rest are all in the safe ranges right? If the retest still shows anything more than a big fat "0" for bacteria coloform, consider buying an ultra violet (UV) light that water passes thru and comes out squeaky clean all the time. Many folks with a small number of bacteria that the retests show is all fine and dandy after the extra precautions are taken with shocking the system, still are wary of the water. And always will be. So the UV application takes care of that. I think for under $700 was the number I remember for the last unit a local plumber installed to take care of the problem.
A chlorinator that is adjustable and makes you nice clean country water taste a little like intown muncipal grade is another option. A drip drip drop is what is added to take care of any bacteria that drifts in or out. The smart route to go is to figure out why the bad test, fix the problems in the trouble shooting one by one and not have to have the quick fix chlorinator or uv lighting option. But with pending Maine real estate closings, and anxious buyers, sellers, bankers and yes, even brokers who buy their groceries from the closing sale happening on time and at all, these remedies are out there to get to that long table in the bank or lawyer's office.
Not much happens in a town six miles by six miles with under 200 people in it.
That the way you like it? Okay Jimmy, bring out the first property. New Maine real estate listing...67 acres, has a vacation cathedral cape property, a pond, and is half mile off US Rt 1 for peace and quiet.
Easy to blow by the entrance to this one..Like trying to find the batcave entrance.
Set off road, 1800 of frontage and that road dead ends. Almost in Canada. $54,900. Watch ME Land / Cottage video.
Aroostook County is the largest of Maine's sixteen counties. Parked so far north we are almost in Canada. The nation's fourth lowest crime state is what Maine is able to boast...but Aroostook County is less than that super average on top of it all. Less people, but friendlier folks that will help you. Maine..it is the way life should be.
Property number two, new listing in Amity Maine. This one has nearly a dozen acres of Maine land for sale. Get a new 40 long sided home, extra guest cottage and also on a dead end road, no neighbor in side. This one is pretty darn handy to Canada too. $74,900. All sheetrocked inside, well, septic but needs mudding to that rock, paint added.
You Can Live Here, Grow Something Behind The Home. Or Raise Critters, Horses, Small Animals On the 17 Acres. Or You Could Run An Inn Where This One Is Near Grand Lake.
In The Heart Of Super Hunting In The Famous Haynesville Maine Woods. Which Brings Up Another Use. Use The Maine House As A Sporting Lodge And Cabin Made Of Local Logs That Are Built One By One. Rent The Cabins Out, Feed the Guests, Have Fun Running The Lodge.
You Work Too Hard..This Is Your Maine Vacation Farm/Waterfront Getaway Home. $90's!
Watch the Maine real estate video. Ask lots of questions. 207.532.6573 The Mattawamkeag River is an awesome water source for recreational fun!
Real estate images can perk your interest or make you feel sorry for the place.
Presentation is everything and whether it is a piece of parsley on a dinner dish with low lights, soft music and a candle on the table to go with it or just a paper plate with food plopped on it tossed on a bar without finesse, just a here...and an attitude of "I don't care if you eat it, like it, or lump it." The images you use in your day to day real estate operation. Fuzzy, look like they were shot thru vaseline, layers of waxed paper? Or like they were photocopied, scanned a few hundred times and then put on line for all to see?
Your image collection. Is it sad, indifferent and do 90% of them have a driver's side mirror in them because someone is too lazy to unbuckle and trot around to capture a side shot?
A different real estate perspective than the carbon copy "this is what it looks like from the street" that everyone sees. Maybe that is not the "good side" of the subject you have been commissioned to list, market, sell. You do want to sell the place right?
Personally, your own image. Do you have a good or bad side? Or is it always good, always bad from every angle or never thought about it? Take a stroll thru your real estate website, your statewide mls, your realtor.com and compare images. Your's and brand "X". Does Country 22 have sets that make you feel sorry for the property? Do you laugh, feel sad, or wonder why bother? Or are they many empty sockets with "no image available"? Is a place more apt to sell with the fewer images used...less is more thinking? Like a class project you threw together in grade school and in comparison with the young lady in front of you and the lad to the left. Is your project looks like you put about 90 seconds, tops, into this one that makes you red faced, embarrassed to have your name on the the upper right hand corner? Do you figure throw something in there...and maybe when you have time, you'll trot back to do a better job, tweak the shots.
Imagery..the eye candy goes hand in hand with the copy, the video, heck even the font type, size and color. Do you see many green McDonald's arches as you roll along the highways and byways of this great land? Nope. There is a common theme, a degree of excellence and consistency that flows and ties them all together like Christmas light strings that all stay lit brightly. Here's the problem with a multi agent office..one with enough agents to not all be on the same quality control page but not enough agents to hire someone that takes care of the "look", the image for consistency.
Disclaimer: ActiveRain Corp. does not necessarily endorse the real estate agents, loan officers and brokers listed on this site. These real estate profiles, blogs and blog entries are provided here as a courtesy to our visitors to help them make an informed decision when buying or selling a house. ActiveRain Corp. takes no responsibility for the content in these profiles, that are written by the members of this community.
markets stop during any season anywhere in the country. And like the water hose kink, when the flow is obstructed a little seasonally, the pressure builds up so the real estate conveyor belt keeps turning, straining to roll faster. As a Maine real estate broker you should not buy in to the logic a seller may spout about waiting until spring to put a pulled property back on the market. I would say, keep the property broadcasting..transmitting for the world to see. 
If the fear is if my home is on the market, I have to move in thirty, sixty or whatever time frame, remember the possession is part of the terms and conditions. The buyer may not want to move right now either but he is motivated to own before the end of the year for tax reasons. He has a 1031 real estate tax exchange sale clock ticking...or a myriad of other carrot and stick situations pushing him in to gear.
people in the population centers, something has to be out there to recharged, regroup and make it all worthwhile. Maine..this 67 acres of ME land with hidden cape second home is what you need to serious consider. $54,900. Watch the 
Some easy but many in a sequence so you can feel suddenly drained of information as your brain starts to deflate, shrink from the one way flow out. You get easy questions, and other hard ones like "what will it cost, for sure, to make this $20,000 Maine home liveable..up to speed." Define up to speed. And quality of workmanship, materials used, time frame to get it done, etc.
His Italian/African grandmother came to the hospital and told a family member to go buy her a large onion and a new pair of white cotton socks. She sliced the onion open then put a slice on the bottom of each of his feet & put the white cotton socks on him. In the morning when he awoke they removed the socks. The slices of onion were black and his fever was gone. The following story that someone sent to me might have some truth in it. We are going to try this winter. 
Tim Comer was the crooner that had the following of this audience segment. I was Z-62 radio news director and did weekend music shifts after college.
every small detail. 
Now what? For starters in the case of a one or two designation, that is not the end of the world. Shock the system per instructions that come with the paperwork giving your the failing grade from the water testing lab. 
Okay Jimmy, bring out the first property. New Maine real estate listing...67 acres, has a vacation cathedral cape property, a pond, and is half mile off US Rt 1 for peace and quiet. 
Property number two, new listing in Amity Maine. This one has nearly a dozen acres of Maine land for sale. Get a new 40 long sided home, extra guest cottage and also on a dead end road, no neighbor in side. This one is pretty darn handy to Canada too. $74,900. All sheetrocked inside, well, septic but needs mudding to that rock, paint added.
Critters, Horses, Small Animals On the 17 Acres. Or You Could Run An Inn Where This One Is Near Grand Lake.
everything and whether it is a piece of parsley on a dinner dish with low lights, soft music and a candle on the table to go with it or just a paper plate with food plopped on it tossed on a bar without finesse, just a here...and an attitude of "I don't care if you eat it, like it, or lump it." The images you use in your day to day real estate operation. Fuzzy, look like they were shot thru vaseline, layers of waxed paper? Or like they were photocopied, scanned a few hundred times and then put on line for all to see?
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