Small town real estate markets operate a little differently when your location is in rural Maine.
Things operate a little differently. When the national news talking head rip and reads the headlines, often when the topic is centered on real estate, the information does not quite apply to a small rural Maine town market.
Get out the map. Maine is a big state and located quite a hike up in he left hand upper corner of the country.
That is part of it. And even within this nine hour plus tall state, what applies in one real estate market location does not represent the same stats in another of the sixteen counties either.
For example, an average house price of say $71,000 in my home town of Houlton ME if you jacked it up, rolled it down I-95 to the Portland area. And then easy does it boys... let's put it on the exact same size lot where it would fetch $212,000 or greater.
Dependent on how intense a bidding war develops due to big demand, low supply, the price could go up up up before the highest and best buyer is located for the precious real estate listing. That scenario does not happen in small Maine towns with struggling local economies and life like you are on the edge of a recession. Which is the way you live to play it safe and to be prepared for anything that comes at you just around the next corner.
So it is going to take longer to pay it off, you better be pulling down more weekly income to make the monthly mortgage installments. The cost to insure it is higher and probably so are the taxes that need to be kept current on the property.
The day to day is runs differently in a small town Maine location too.
More do it yourself and bartering happens with help from family and friends. Less pick up the phone and tapping out the number sequence to ring up the paid profession when you need a repair or renovation to the home sweet home.
You also don't dig deep and pay pay pay for all the fun and recreation when you are lucky enough to be living in Maine full time.
The events you do attend are usually ones you work behind the scenes in some fashion to make them happen. Most things are home grown, slow cooked, live and local. Like I said money is removed from the equation. Your real estate values are three and four times less than many out of state buyers are used to struggling with up until now. Free and clear happens in Maine and we avoid debt as much as possible. There is a difference between cheap and frugal too.
The connection in small Maine towns is quite a bit tighter.
Everything is brought in closer to the local level and kept simple. Basically, money is removed from the equation as much as possible. More self sufficiency and less dependency rules the day. To me this makes life more real and a person to feel like they have some control over their day to day events. On the small town level, the people in the smaller spread out population are more empowered and changes in the community and personal lives can happen more quickly.
So when the national news headlines claim the real estate market is hot or cold, or somewhere in between we take it all in. But the realize better discount the information when trying to apply the same trend to the local real estate market in Maine in your own small town location.
Our values and property listing prices just don't swing crazily up high and down low. in small rural towns.
You get more for less. Plain and simple. You don't find homes suddenly worth a hundred grand more or less because of a shortage of supply or a bigger demand pressure points in the current market conditions. The house can be on the market for $29,500, $39,900, $49,000 and the only adjustment is marketing time extends while the right buyer in the real estate musical chairs is located.
The supply of suitable affordable houses is great in a small rural Maine towns.
You can not make that same statement in a city setting and that explains the mass exodus to the suburbs to located affordable real estate listings when you do work in the concrete jungle. In small Maine towns, there is no suburbs or need to escape the pressure of high cost, no space, lots of crime. And to get out into the country means only a half mile drive.
Read more on simplified living in Maine towns under 4000 population.
Thinking of buying or selling? Here to help in whatever your Maine real estate need is when you are ready.
Comments(12)