REALTOR Andrew Mooers' Maine Real Estate Blog

(Loosening Belt A Hole Or Two) After Thanksgiving Turkey, Pumpkin Pie..Real Estate Videos Are Watched.

Fri, 20 Nov 2009 17:22:24 -0600

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.

Maine REALTOR Andrew Mooers

info@mooersrealty.com Log on www.mooersrealty.com

Winter Real Estate Sales...Look At Your Notions On That Topic And Shake It Up, Do A 180 On Your Thinking Or Logic.

Fri, 20 Nov 2009 09:22:18 -0600

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.

Maine REALTOR Andrew Mooers

info@mooersrealty.com Log on www.mooersrealty.com

Maine Real Estate...You Are Way Way Over Due To Own Land, A Vacation Get Away.

Thu, 19 Nov 2009 20:53:53 -0600

Maine..your heart is already here.

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.

207.532.6573

info@mooersrealty.com

Amity Maine..population under 200.

Near East Grand Lake too!

It just makes sense. Plan the trip, scope out the area, dream about heading to Maine. Owning something in "Vacationland."

Maine REALTOR Andrew Mooers

info@mooersrealty.com Log on www.mooersrealty.com

Questions Asked By Real Estate Buyer, Rapid Fire, Downloading Everything You Can Tell Them On The Phone.

Wed, 18 Nov 2009 16:42:40 -0600

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" ?

Maine REALTOR Andrew Mooers

info@mooersrealty.com Log on www.mooersrealty.com

Onions...Do You Have One Or Two Kicking Around For Whatever Ails You?

Wed, 18 Nov 2009 16:25:52 -0600

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?

info@mooersrealty.com Log on www.mooersrealty.com

How Old Are You To Be Too Old To Rock And Roll?

Wed, 18 Nov 2009 12:21:24 -0600

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?

Maine REALTOR Andrew Mooers

info@mooersrealty.com Log on www.mooersrealty.com

You Failed The Test...(Room Oohs And Ahhhs Collective Sympathy Groan) Your Maine Water Test.

Wed, 18 Nov 2009 07:49:34 -0600

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.

Maine REALTOR Andrew Mooers

info@mooersrealty.com Log on www.mooersrealty.com

Twofer Tuesday..Maine Real Estate For Sale In Same 199 Population Town Of Amity ME.

Tue, 17 Nov 2009 19:38:01 -0600

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.

Watch this Maine real estate video and ask lots of questions.

207.532.6573. info@mooersrealty.com

Maine REALTOR Andrew Mooers

info@mooersrealty.com Log on www.mooersrealty.com

Maine Farm For Sale But This One Is On A River Too, With New England Home, Barn Included With 17 Acres - $90's!

Tue, 17 Nov 2009 11:48:32 -0600

Go In Many Directions With This One.

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!

Maine REALTOR Andrew Mooers

info@mooersrealty.com Log on www.mooersrealty.com

Your Real Estate Images....Like The Puppy Dog, Big Round Eyes, Head Hanging Low, And Guilty Looking?

Tue, 17 Nov 2009 08:46:13 -0600

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.

Maine REALTOR Andrew Mooers

info@mooersrealty.com Log on www.mooersrealty.com

English Tudor Design Home In Houlton Maine...They Made One, Broke The Mold.

Mon, 16 Nov 2009 10:57:55 -0600

Most Americans don't like to drive the same car, or have the same hairdo or color because they are special, different and just want something unique.

Why? They are worth it, and Madison Avenue marketing feeds on that "you work hard, deserve the best" logic. I'm not going to do that. Because this is the only one of its kind we have to sell.

If you are cranked up to own an English Tudor design home in Northern Maine, this is the only one. It's a real estate musical chair. When it is sold, that's it. Kaput. This 100 Court Street Houlton ME home is on a big corner lot, on the edge of town. It was in one family since being built around 1959.

Owned by the local Houlton Maine postmaster. No basketball or horseshoes played inside. The hardwood floors are spotless.

Special glass full time sun room too! No abuse or "troubled childhood or infancy" here.

Just overbuilt, well cared for, and it did not change hands many times with folks coming and going, or gouging woodwork moving in and out. Low mileage, tweaked with tile baths, modern kitchen, fireplace. Lots of glass and a three car garage. Enjoy the Maine real estate video. Ask many questions. Please. 207.532.6573. $149,900.

Maine REALTOR Andrew Mooers

info@mooersrealty.com Log on www.mooersrealty.com

Blogging Should NOT Cause A Hernia..And The Best Posts Write Themselves.

Mon, 16 Nov 2009 10:29:08 -0600

Listened to a show from out of space radio while traveling in the Maine fog last night on the I-95.

And the show was three song writers who explained some of their so call "hits" did not connect for ten years. Blogging like song writing is something you need to consistently do and as you look back on earlier posts, you see growth. Blogging is a craft like anything. And if you don't feel like you need to do it, the quality of the posts show that. Like work, if you don't feel a strong compulsion to do something..like it is a life dream needing fulfilling, the blog production sliding out the other end of the writing process conveyor will show that. Lack luster, ho hum, plain jane and look alike. The best blog posts are written quickly but almost by themselves. They fall out, pop out. They ooze and need to be written.

Like the song writer's I listened too, they also offered no real advice for an aspiring song writer that would make any difference. If a song writer has talent and is driven to learn, improve, watch and learn, then they will be successful despite any advice. But if they are not talented, no advice will change that either. Kind of blunt but like real estate sales, not everyone is cut out to be Joe or Jane Broker. Skills, desire and hard work help in any endeavor. But the parting comment from one song writer on the show hosted by country singer Bill Andersen, how do you know you are getting better at song writing? Someone stole one of your song's last week. Like a blogger that has a shanghaied blog post that you stumbled on to that you like, and then realize, hey, that's something I created. If someone stole your blog post, you know you have talent and are getting better at creating them.

"I must be getting better at blogging...I got one post stolen last week."

Could that be a country song? One of the writers told about being exhausted, seemingly nothing more inside from working dawn to dusk cranking out song after song. And said that some of his best songs flowed like honey, spilled out when he thought nothing more was inside to work with to make a song. These are songs that have to be written. Like blog posts you have to write, that are in your head and heart that are being assembled inside that you bring out in to the light, dust them off and then get reactions to. One of the songs written like that was "Neither one of us wants to be the first to say good bye".

Maine REALTOR Andrew Mooers

info@mooersrealty.com Log on www.mooersrealty.com

Bloggers That Are Clever, Witty, Good Looking, Highly Social And On The Ball.

Sat, 14 Nov 2009 09:55:59 -0600

Those pick of the pack, best of the bunch, cream of the crop bloggers are a dime a dozen.

They are everywhere you look, turn on line. Give me the down to earth, meat and potato blogger. The ones that are not bigger than life, but like an old classmate or someone you feel like you grew up with. No airs, no puffed up chest. And what the average Joe's and Jane's blog about is something I can use, enjoy. I always know more of the same helpful, good wholesome value rich material will be offered up anytime I stop in. No spin. Real, not reality television that is staged, where I feel played with, toyed to the hilt. But like a music artist that when you looked back, you liked them better before they were discovered and hoisted to the top. Touted as a big shot, not a grass root blogger anymore. And like a President or a comedian, actor, their lines written by someone else now. Polished, spun, seo loaded language with other agendas besides sharing information with you involved not so subtlely. Because the creativity and originality dry up and making money is the shift in focus.

Popular or the perception that you are. Other bloggers on the who's who list stopping in, stratching each other's back...in a photo opportunity. (Ker cling, pop of several, out of sequence flash bulbs.)

Or like Bobby Vinton, who had a slew of songs from "Bluer Than Blue" to "Blue On Blue" and kept cranking out the sad ones. Once he hit the big time, he could not dish it out anymore. The song well dried up. He was not bluer than blue..but richer than rich. For awhile. He could no longer write the blues from the heart, because that was not the way his heart felt anymore. The connection snapped from pen to paper. And a Happier Than Happy theme was not a logical two step he could pull off in his song writing, production.

Blog about what you know, experiences you have had on the local level, thru out your life. Blog about the people you meet in your day to day. Blog about your area that you know better than anyone else on line who does not live there day and day out. Blog about the local slant on how in your community a national event happening real time, now is trickling down and affecting your local turf. What is happening in your corner of the world? Those Heinz 57, not polished perfectly but unrefined gems are where you get the beef, the information you want. There is a raw, cutting punch that you feel in your belly and know it came from fire in the blogger on the other end tapping out the electrons, posting them for the world to see. Real estate brokers are in the service industry. But we are people. Some with egos as big as Kansas. And rather than call attention to yourself, and what is in it for me...turn the focus on why would lots of people benefit from your blog in a low key sort of way without the fanfare? Hoopla...fanfare...big production anything from websites to blogs can make the average guy driving the mouse to his Commodore 64 or 128, on a 26.6 speed dial up with limited computer skills feel like he is under dressed for the event. He just stumbles int and backs out of in the six seconds you have to captivate or catapult.

Maine REALTOR Andrew Mooers

info@mooersrealty.com Log on www.mooersrealty.com

The Maine "Girl" Knew What She Wanted To Be From The Start, Never Was Any Doubt Of Her Purpose In Life.

Fri, 13 Nov 2009 13:39:33 -0600

From day one, it was obvious what this "young lady" was designed for, why she was put here on earth.

Carefully put together, like a "brick house". But instead of being one large gal intended for one famly use, this one was always meant to be a four unit Houlton Maine rental property. Literally built from brick..one at a time laid to create an income generator that was always intened to have four carbon copy units. Two up. Two down. Enjoy the video.

Ask lots of questions.

207.532.6573. info@mooersrealty.com

Situated on a large corner property, with a four bay car pool, laundry facilities and tremendous storage in the walk out cellar. Block from Houlton ME high school, couple blocks from downtown.

Block from Houlton Maine police and fire protection too. Brick solid, well maintained, super occupancy numbers due to careful maintenance. Always, always quality renters here. Long long rental tenancy due to not many others like it. Happy bunch you inherit! They fall in your lap. This one is a Boardwalk, Park Place. $199,500! Your accountant said be on eagle eye status alert for something this great condition / rental history wise. He'll be asking your April 15th some of the same "How is the search for a quality money making income producer going?" Don't look at the rug, turn ten shades of red and go silent on him again this year okay?

Maine REALTOR Andrew Mooers

info@mooersrealty.com Log on www.mooersrealty.com

You Can See The Plastic Capped 5/8 Inch Rebar Surveyor Posts..Those Must Be Your Corners.

Fri, 13 Nov 2009 10:33:10 -0600

Maine surveys..in Northern Maine, everything is not up to date surveyed. Why?

Eleven people per square mile means you are not as concerned right down to the inch where you exact corners are on that 200 acres of Maine land. It if was a tenth of an acre you own, and if there were wall to wall neighbors getting ready to build garages, put up clothes lines, then where the heck is my corner becomes critical.

Years ago in the late 1800's everything in Northern Maine, Aroostook County was laid out in big tracts. Range this, lot that in perfect grids. So usually the land your buy is tied to that original survey that in the Houlton Maine area is called the Roe and Colby survey, on record at the registry of deeds. A big book of maps for all the organized and unorganized townships, plantations. Don't just rely on a Maine property tax map.

You will notice in the lower left hand corner of that four by three tax map sheet the words "Not legal for conveyances, to be used for tax purposes only".

Sure it is a map but the town does not have to survey everything out for you to run the town. The concern over potholes, plowing winter roads and keeping the school running smoothly is where your tax payer dollars go. Not surveying or helping figure out boundaries. That is why God created land surveyors with strict standards, licensing to keep boundary lines straight. In Northern Maine on the eastern borders of Aroostook County, a bulldozer and crews to remove vegetation show from the air easily where the America / Canadian border is. Plus there are concrete mounments in eye sight as you wander along that US / Canada border with it spelled out on each side which country you are in or leaving. The International Boundary Commision is in charge of keeping that line plain as the nose on your face. And with 9 / 11, lots of sensors like you see in the movies from Hollywood make anything happening along that border very obvious for security that has been beefed up to make the boundary more secure, safer, more drag net like. Little white helicopters with green stripes..soon to be changed to blue stripes troll, cruise up and down that border too.

Back to the survey question and what the lay of the land shows. Many larger Maine farm fields were marked with rows of rocks. A new rock crop each year being brought up by Jack Frost in fields around Aroostook County. And by hand hauled to the edge of each field boundary line. The property line dividing farms and neighboring woodlots clearly established and not relying on a rebar metal rod that could be pulled, lost or repositioned more to the liking of the neighbor in disagreement of where the property line really is in his head, not tied to the lay of the land.

It is pretty hard to miss a rock wall for all to see, stumble over. And if the property you are buying in Northern Maine has a colored capped piece of iron or steel 5/8" rebar protruding out of the grounds in the corners of what you think you are buying, remember sometimes those 3 foot pieces of rebar can spring legs and move, usually at night. You have a neighbor that does not care what your surveyor says.

His grandfather's dying words were the property starts at the elm tree between he and your great uncle Billy.

The tree long gone, and distances of where this starts or stops property line wise long gone with the dying relative's recollection.

Also, the owner of property says the property was surveyed. But closer inspection of the paperwork shows a Class IV or Class D survey that is really a quick down and dirty recon look to see if on first glance without a formal full blown survey if it appears if anyone elses garage, driveway, well or septic is on you. And if your home, garage, well, septic, driveway and power poles are on your land under the new home you are moving furniture in this weekend that you just bought. The hedge out back, the fence may or may not really be on your property. Surveys are expensive but save problems later.

Maine REALTOR Andrew Mooers

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When Showing Maine Real Estate, Buyers And Broker Talk About More Than Property.

Fri, 13 Nov 2009 09:01:32 -0600

You spend a day with a real estate buyer from eight states away looking for Maine land, a home, farm or waterfront listing to own.

You learn a lot about that prospective buyer, their family. I like to have the buyer(s) in the jeep as we tour.

When the two boys off to college now were hockey players and we crossed the border in to Canada frequently for games in New Brunswick, the Ford Excursion with seating for nine was a way to "bus" the real estate buying families around easily. With 11.1 miles per gallon, it was roomy but thirsty and rang the gas station bells a lot as it squeezed that rubber hose at gas stations along the way to this and that property around Aroostook County.

Sometimes you have a buyer that just wants to take their own car..maybe because of the two pitbulls they brought along. Or maybe they are nervous driving with someone else? When the tractor beam is put on to "pull" them from this and that property, it means real estate office on wheels.

You are freed up to call attorneys, banks, buyers, sellers and of course, no calls while we are moving right?

But the empty real estate escort means you don't get feed back on that last Maine farm or lake log home or cottage we just showed them. What did they like, not like and what is the place they live in now like? Once in awhile the buyer will wonder why I am curious about their current home, but you learn a lot with this question. Like the wife's mother is in a rear apartment and likely to make the trip to Maine so a first floor bath, bedroom might be another consideration of what to show them as you lift the lid on the real estate box of chocolates.

As for what else we chit chat about? One buyer looking for Patten Maine area landwas in the Dutch Navy. Andy Spyker was his name and he was in a submarine when he learned the German army had taken over Holland. So the news came to report with the other 23 submarines in the Dutch navy to the nearest British naval yard for refueling, rearmament and for future instructions on where to head on the next underwater mission. The Dutch submarines were like the German models so the British and American intelligence groups wanted to study the "ships" to know the weaknesses they could exploit to stop the U 2 boat success. The one raising havoc in the English channel, Atlantic Ocean and disrupting shipping from America's Lend Lease operation.

History lesson about world war two courtesy of my main daily job of listing, marketing, selling Maine real estate. I am grateful to meet so many neat people, not be pinned in an office behind an office desk day in and day out.

This time of year wearing orange if you are tramping Maine woodlots, back forties on farms that are for sale is the only "hazard". Usually the fellow that pops a beer leaving Boston on 128, 495 or I-95 is pretty hammered by the time they get to say Lewiston Maine where the 30 pack takes it effect. That's where they start shooting cows during hunting season and never make it to Aroostook County thanks to the Maine State Police, US Border Patrol, Sheriff's Patrol and Local Houlton Police. That's why I tell folks Houlton Maine is insulated, not isolated and has its benefits.

ME REALTOR

Andrew Mooers

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You're In Houlton Maine, In Town With A Home On A Large River...Sweet.

Thu, 12 Nov 2009 22:19:15 -0600

Not typical to have a Maine home with a river for a neighbor.

But we listed one. It's been gone thru from top to bottom. New efficient oil hot water furnace, new metal roofing, tilt in windows, two bathrooms. Yellow pine wood floors, open side porch and the lot over looking the river. Houlton Maine is on the Canadian border with New Brunswick.this Mill Street home is a short walk to a friendly downtown, shopping, the hospital. Watch the video. $70's.

And for another waterfront place, check out this Maine lake home...right on the water for hundreds of feet. No camp, a full cellar home with 2 baths, 3 bedrooms. Has a garage, extra storage shed. Miles of snowsled and atv trails to explore. Other lakes in the area too. This one is a Maine log lake home, Rear sun porch, open deck on the front with handicap friendly ramp. Enjoy the video. $199,500. Maine waterfront real estate. Let's talk about it. 207.532.6573.

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Maine Farm For Sale, Where You Can Grow Food, Heat With Wood, Enjoy Your Family.

Thu, 12 Nov 2009 21:15:46 -0600

Life on the Maine farm is not all glamorous but it is a real living, a good way to raise a family.

This 88 acres farm has an indoor riding arena, many out buildings and in the center, a Victorian homestead. Watch the Maine farm real estate video. Ask lots of questions. 207.532.6573.

This property has a brook, ponds, major view, fields and woods. Three bathrooms, updates in heating, wiring, from top to bottom.

Quiet side road and not far from several lakes.

Is getting back to basics, trying to be more self sufficient something you've thought about? Hurry.

Get to Maine as soon as you can. Come see the Southern Aroostook County area and watch our local videos.

$299,500.

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Maine, Situation Is A Home With Ten Year Renter And Now Real Estate Owner Says Let's Sell.

Thu, 12 Nov 2009 08:30:50 -0600

Imagine you rented a Maine home for ten years.

The place feels like "your home". There's the garden. That is where you have hoisted up and torn down the yearly Christmas tree in the corner of the living room. You have a good relationship with the owner. The rental fee each month on a single family home is not a get rich figure, and barely covers the taxes, insurance. And with a mortgage payment, it would be in the red on an accountants ten column ledger. So the seller decides let's sell.

The renter is not in a position to buy. Credit has holes like swiss cheese. Income is a disability and no cash to lock and load in to an owner financed sale. The terms would be like the same limp along rent and to no benefit to the seller if an installment sale was entered in to. That is why she is selling. No longer wants to real estate "tread water". One less thing to worry about or for her kids to tackle when the owner leaves this earth for a better place. So as a Maine real estate broker who has the t-shirt, merit badge, been to this rodeo a number of times, seen the movie, read the book, I warn the seller that a sympathy factor is going to kick in, hang over the sale like a cloud. A dark guilty cloud obscuring the sun.

If a buyer wants the place for the shed out back, the extra land to sell to the neighboring farmer, the renter could stay in the home chugging away with the monthly payment. And life goes along like it has for the last decade. Pretty much. But if the buyer of this Maine real estate wants the place to live in, guilt over being the Grinch who stole Christmas and being the cause of the renter having to move kicks in.

No one with a heart wants to be the one to give the renter the boot.

And the renter follows your buyer around in each showing. Explaining how she wishes to purchase, how great living here as been and how not sure where I would go if it sells, etc. This song gets played, replayed with each buyer. Also, seller painted a little darkly with follow up remarks that "she said she would never sell the place, I could stay here as long as I wanted and not to worry. This monologue gets played for all to hear as Joe Maine real estate broker tours the residence. In the dooryard after the showing, here it comes. "I hate to be the reason this nice lady has to move." "Isn't there a way to help her buy the place? " I explain that we will help her find another place. That the buyer does not have to do that unpleasant job of "you have to move" notice. The seller is the "bad guy" who won't be getting any more Christmas cards from this renter.

Buying a place in Maine with a renter on board means you just inherited a renter. One to go thru the Maine rental eviction process with from stratch, by the book. And no one but lawyers like that dog and pony show. Renters...long term ones in a property with lots of cargo, pets and kids can pull on the heart strings of the trail of real estate buyers you bring thru a place already occupied with a person that feels and thinks she is the owner. Lots of her heart and soul, history in the place. A person adamant that she is going to buy, but with no option to do so unless an inheritance pops out of the sky, or a winning lottery ticket shows up under a refrigerator magnet tomorrow. Sure there are programs to buy for less than perfect credit...but too imperfect make some buyers and poor condition homes loans with ten foot pole marks all over them. No one wants to touch them. You could say just have the real estate home owner move the renter before marketing out of the place. So no one for the buyer's heart to get tangled up with...but this owner needs the renter heating the place, for insurance reasons keeping the home fires, so to speak, burning.

Maine REALTOR Andrew Mooers

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Pennies During World War Two Were Made Of Steel, Rusted And Copper Needed For Munitions.

Wed, 11 Nov 2009 10:16:17 -0600

Veterans day..means different things to Americans.

Sometimes it a personal experience where you missed holidays being on the other side of the world. Listening to Bing Crosby sing I'll be home for Christmas..if only in my head, my heart kinda logic.

Or Elvis singing Blue Christmas from Germany where he was stationed. My dad was a tail gunner on a B-24.

As a kid I heard stories from my dad. My four kids were lucky to hear the same stories. They are proud of their "Buppy's" service to his country in the 15th Army Air Force, 882 Bombardment Squadron Group. Dad or Buppy would tell stories of how important farmers back in America were to supply food so the troops, flight squandons, navy enlisted men and officers would not have to march, fly, swim to shore to defend a beach or fight on an empty stomach. Gas was rationed, new rubber tires were rare, copper was diverted to the war effort. Steel pennies in 1943. Folks had victory gardens to spare food to be used on the front lines to win the war for democracy, and all the freedoms we enjoy and take for granted.

If you had troops marching by your front door daily. Feared what you said, thought, who you associated with.

And loved ones awakened at night and hauled away into the darkness for unknown reasons, these freedoms and safety would be more precious. In Maine, bunkers along the coastal islands still exist as a reminder of German U-2 submarines capable of making it to the shores of this country.

Today is veterans day...not just another day. One to stop and think about the many who gave some. And the some that gave all. God bless America. In Houlton Maine, local communities on this side of the US border worked hand in hand with Canadian neighbors and relatives. Tractors run by local Maine farmers hauled planes across the border during Lend Lease. A treaty violation before War World II was declared said don't fly planes into an ally of Germany's enemy but did not say anything about "driving", or "dragging" them in to Canada where folks under the Red Maple Leaf flag scurried them aboard ships or had them flown to England to use to drive back the V2 rockets, the German advances. What a period of history.

Andrew Mooers - Maine Real Estate For Sale

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Veterans Served In The Army- Air Force It Was Called In World War Two, My Dad A B-24 Tail Gunner.

Wed, 11 Nov 2009 07:22:07 -0600

On the way home from a trip downstate in Maine, as a kid I remember in the winter when we were driving a little slower during falling snow stories about my dad's service in World War Two.

It was not that Dad did not talk about the war...it just seemed the stories were told more while driving back from some where to pass the time or on porches on summer evenings, depending on the audience.

My Dad served in the 15th Army - Air Force as it was called at the time. In the 882nd bombardment wing and his job? He wanted to be a pilot of a bomber but they had plenty of those so due to being pretty wiry and skinny, he was able to squeeze into the rear of a B-24 bomber to run the two rear 50mm machine guns. Think of sitting, jammed in the rear of a four engine noisy plane, that smelled like a latrine, without a pressurized cabin, wearing an oxygen mask in sub zero winter weather approaching the enemy target you were briefed on before the sun came up this morning. Not knowing if the mission would happen or not due to the weather patterns as you tried to sleep the night before.

Thinking of his girlfriend, my mom back home that he wrote to every day. (It's fun to read the letters now between the two and realize mom and dad had another name...John and Marylou. )

Serving in the war effort with ten other 19, 20 year olds and being superstitious to keep your flight crew in tact. Sleeping together in a tent with a gas heater in a field back in Italy. Playing cards, talking about home. A curvy not over clothed young lady painted on the nose of that bomber you flew in the back of. You got pretty close to the others you depended on to make the bomb run, and to high tail it out of harms way in a sky filled with the smell of cordite from shells exploding at your altitude.That's if the German 88 anti aircraft gun operators were doing their job with the help of radar. To mess up that radar, my Dad has a small chute to stuff tinsel, small metal strips into the air space behind him, beneath the Liberator plane they flew in. It confused, jammed that radar and bought them time to open the bomb bay doors to drop the 500, 1000 pound incendiary or percussion or whatever bomb type was needed for this mission. Bombs that had the pins to make them live pulled a few minutes before being over the target. The bombardier having a new Norden bomb sight that made more precision, accurate bombing possible later in the war.

You had P-47, P-51 "little friends" Dad called them fighter planes to escort you like a date to the prom around the flying formations of B-17 and B-24 American bombers. But they bugged out close to the IP zone and are helpful to rid you of the raiding German ME 109's or whatever other planes the German's were putting in to production at the time. But you suddenly were by yourself without the fighter plane protection with enemy planes trying their best to blow you out of the sky before you dropped your present, the payload. The whole country in America, England and the free world were behind the war effort after Pearl Harbor's fleet sinking. They grew victory gardens, recycled copper for bullet casings, rationed gas, watched news reels about "Loose Lips Sink Ships" back home. In Houlton Maine, the local potato farmers benefited from German prisoner of war spud pickers at the local airbase where there were rows and rows of barracks.

My Dad said the chatter on the intercom stopped as the target, a ball bearing factory or oil refinery outside Germany, the target of choice n today's war menu approached. Secondary targets in mind and planned on depending on cloud cover that might roll in. And the most dangerous place in the plane? The ball turret operator underneath in a plexiglass bubble. He had two 50 mm guns too that hopefully did not jam and that bubble swiveled to track fighter planes. But it was not a good place to be when hydraulics were shot out and the lift mechanism stopped working. Getting that crew member out of there if he was still alive was one of the biggest concerns as a crippled plane on less than the four engines hobbled back to the friendly Italian airfield that it had taken off from earlier that day. One or both landing gears not operational and that ball turret operator bleeding, not talking as the pilot, co pilot discussed how to land on the belly of that plane but where the can opener was to get a valuable, injured crew member out of that hole before running out of fuel and that ditched, forced belly landing.

Dad said every 55 minutes the Ford plant in Detroit rolled another Vulcan B-24 off the assembly line when production of cars shifted to airplanes. I have a 1941 Cadillac that a fellow stores winters at a farm I own. He told me that car his grandfather bought after the war and it was the last Cadillac rolled off the assembly line when production shifted to making tanks out of that GM facility. So on veterans day, I think of my Dad in a rattling plane, in an electric flight suit and with a survival kit for a crash landing or parachute jump in hostile lands. That kit having an ampule of morphine, some silk thread, a chocolate bar, a map of the area for that mission on that day. And silver certificate currency in case the Germans, or whatever country folks worried if the money was any good or not. I am sure a bible verse was in there to remind you to stay strong, to fear not that God was protecting you (Isaiah 41:10) in the fight for freedom and the American way of life. Have two brothers too that were Vietnam era Amy soliders...but one was in intelligence in Germany, the other in the corp of engineers in California toward the tail end of the war as it wound down. They were lucky to have missed the recon walks thru a rice paddy with a gun over their head to keep it dry and all the worries of being "out of country" at a time when their efforts were not nearly as popular state side as the attitude during world war two my dad enjoyed.

Thank a veteran, say a prayer for those in harms way around the country now. Men and woman, parents of children, sons and daughters of other veterans, civillians that know the risks. That are in danger and need our thoughts, prayers, support every day. Not just on Veterans Day.

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Houlton Maine Home For Sale.. Option To Buy Up To 3 More Land Acres, 799 US Rt 1 Real Estate Property Listing.

Wed, 11 Nov 2009 05:58:01 -0600

Maine is famous for low cost real estate.

Laying awake nights worrying about making payments, not being able to sleep because of major debt. That's not the way we live in Southern Aroostook County.

This is a prime example of lower cost Maine real estate. The ME home at 799 US Rt 1 in Houlton is sided, has an updated bath, front glass sun porch.

Tremendous storage in the rear shed entry. This area is where the future first floor bath/laundry can go. Just finish off the inside of this area...the walls, foundation, roof are all there.

Extra storage in rear outbuildings too.

This home has a super tenant in place, is filled with hardwood patterned floors and natural original wood trim/doors.

Acre with white birches, view in to Canada comes with this Houlton Maine home too. Get 3 bedrooms. $60's. Ask lots of questions. 207.532.6573. Please watch the Houlton Maine real estate video...let's tour the inside, outside right now.

Also, if you want more land, this one is in the country north of Houlton and can be purchased with an additional 3 acres Maine farm field. Grow vegetables in this rich soil, sell them at a North RD farm stand. Over 400' of frontage is you combine the two pieces of Houlton Maine real estate. $20's! Slow down, live longer and healthier in Northern Maine.

Andrew Mooers, Maine REALTOR

This extra 3 acres of land to the south of the home for sale can be bought together or seperately. Same owner. Enjoy the show!

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Maine Growing Season...How Long, What's Grown, Where's the Market?

Tue, 10 Nov 2009 10:44:51 -0600

Weather and growing season are two big questions Maine real estate buyers ask when emailing, calling or actually visiting our office at 69 North Street in Houlton ME.

For weather if they are from out of state, never been here but have misinformation, we send this this video. For an overview of New England that has a 120 to 180 day growing season, this website hits the highlights, generalities.

The Maine Agricultural Site helps point out the popular Maine food stand / farmer's markets vegetables in demand, and the time you need to create them either from seed or as transplants to speed the process up. The state of Maine has many valuable resources in how to start a farmer's market.

Blight is always a problem in Maine's growing season too. Scope out this site too for everything from Maine Farmland Trust to Maine Organic Farming information. Certain soils are better suited for trees, others for row crops. If the land has lots of ledge, hard rock out croppings, then okay for cattle to graze, raising horses or small animals.

But other than haying and pasturing if there is lots of ledge or even rocks poking thru in lots of place, it's like an iceberg. Looks innocent enough from the terrain view, but the real tale is below the ground.

Early Maine history and needs were pretty simple. Farming is not all glamorous..hard work as this Maine potato picking digger / youth crew video demonstrates. Also double covered low tunnels can extend the season on the truck gardens, the people who supply the farmer's markets too.

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Maine Lake Home, Made Of Log, 2 Baths... Many Places Forget About Living Next To A Lake, Too Expensive.

Tue, 10 Nov 2009 09:11:38 -0600

Maine real estate prices...way way lower than most places.

You can own a Maine lake home ... not just dream about it.

Walk out finished daylight cellar that does not feel like a basement. Full bath with tile floor/counter top like the kitchen's on the first floor. Another full bath in cellar. Garage, tool shed and nearly 260' on Russell Lake, Linneus Maine.

Maine waterfront home with the loons singing.

Sunsets that set the sky on fire. And every night they are different, memorable.

Sunrises with birds singing, fish jumping and you on the deck. Happy, not in a crowded area..with time and space to think, figure things out and for the family to enjoy.

Built 2003 and has year round 4 season easy access. Paved driveway (2 of them). Watch the video. $195,500. 207.532.6573..Pick up the phone and call us right now!

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If You Are Comfortable...If It Does Not Hurt A Little, You Are Not Doing It Right.

Tue, 10 Nov 2009 08:29:36 -0600

Hold your right arm over your head for five minutes.

No..this is not the hokey pokey demonstration. Get that hand up (looking at wrist watch). Okay, add a four and a half pound weight..keep that hand up. And imagine you do this for a long day of taping/filming for a television show. A PBS children's show and you've done this for forty years straight. If you are not uncomfortable in parts of your job, your life, you're probably not doing it right.

No pain, no gain was the 1960's expression. Right on. Far out. Out of sight. Get down with your bad self. What it is brother. (High five hand slap) Inside the big yellow costume, walking in oversized bird feet, with a yellow bill and a small television monitor inside that 4.5 pound head is Carroll Spinney. He's the voice of Big Bird, Oscar The Grouch who lives in a trash can near you. Spinney controlled the eyes, the beak to time it to his speech, the emotion of the scene as he recited his lines for each appearance on the show.

He said those years of arm raising, maneuvering has helped him be a whiz at ceiling painting.

No doubt there are world series pitchers like Pedro, CC others have arms well worn. They pitch thru pain, with discomfort from over use. The demand and effort needed to pull down million dollar salaries. For a while. Can you tell me how to get..how to get to Sesame Street? Today is brought you by the number one and the letter R...the hardest working letter in the alphabet if you are a Realtor.

Big Bird, Grover, Cookie Monster, Mr Hooper, Bert, Ernie, Kermit and the other stuffed characters have educated, babysat, counseled toddlers, young tikes every day. I remember plugging in, learning from exposure to The Count, Prairie Dawn, and a slew of others. Big name celebrities would stop in too. Don't think I ever saw David Bowie or Captain Kangeroo, Mister Green Jeans or the Friendly Giant stop in on the PBS set but the show was a hit for me. A kid eating animal crackers, watching "how many is ten" or whatever number today's filming provided me as basics to reading, writing, arithmetic. Growing up in Northern Maine in the country, not a lot to watch on television with two Canadian channels, one Maine "cherry picker" allowed to broadcast the best of the three major networks ABC, NBC, CBS at the time. And PBS as the last option.

Wouldn't it have been neat if the President of the National Realtor's Association made a stop on Sesame Street. Sat on the front steps of a city brownstone with a sea of kids, garbage cans around him/her. And gave a little talk about diminishing returns on what improvements are worthwhile on real estate when buying real estate. What the term "flipping a house" on a simple but powerful level to the young captive, interested audience is all about. The future home buyers of year 2032 getting a dose of real estate 101. The importance of saving money, keeping a good credit score. What points are, why home ownership makes you a tax paying part of a local community. Providing a place for their kids to watch the lazer version of a new hit kid's show..."This Little Solar System Of Mine" with the opening theme, "Can you tell me how to get, how to get to the Milky Way, Neptune etc"? It's neat to see Google recognize each day new Sesame Street character around their name logo. Have you noticed them and been a bit nostalgic? Got a minute to go fishing with the boys?

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