Bangor - good place to live, or not?

[bigchuckie]

Massimo's best Italian food north of Boston

[janetmc]

My husband and I recently retired from NJ and are in Bangor looking for a house to buy. Christmas is just a few days away and the housing market should be slow. We asked our realtor to show us 6 houses today. Right away he told us that 2 were "sale pending." We really liked one of the other 4 houses and wanted to put in an offer. Our realtor contacted their realtor. First we were told there was another offer. Then it changed to the house having a contract of sale within a couple of minutes. The house had a contract stipulating that the buyers had to sell their house. If the buyers didn't sell their house, the sellers could have a new contract of sale with someone who had no stipulation of sale. Within a couple of minutes, we were told that the buyers sold their house.

Why did they show us the house if it was already under contract? The owners would have certainly known. They vacated the house and took out their pets and plowed so we would be able to see the house.

A few days before this, we went to the town hall in the small town about 15 miles from Bangor and spoke to someone there about our interest in the house. The house was on a private road and we needed information about any possible road agreements. The guy from town hall knew someone who lived next door to the house we liked.

This just seems so strange to us. Could it be possible that the buyers don't want to sell to someone from out of state? We don't know what to think. We told the people in town hall how much we like the town and they told us that they hoped we would buy the house.

Maybe some people from Maine could tell us if we are being paranoid or do we have reason for concern.

[Brodels]

I'm not convinced that this is a matter of people not wanting to sell to you because you're from away. I think it's more about someone not disclosing all of the relevant information to you.

[EmK999]

janetmc-

Sorry for the luck you're having finding a home near Bangor. :-/

It's a bit of a strange situation, but I agree with Brodels. There's no reason to think they don't want to sell to you because you're from out of state. The seller's agent may have thought the financing wasn't going to come through, or that the buyers wouldn't be able to sell their home as fast as they did, so there wasn't any harm (to the seller) in continuing to show the house. Or, any number of other reasons why this kind of thing occasionally happens. The idea that Maine is that isolationist or "foreign" (out of state)- phobic has always struck me as more than a little overblown. I'm sure you definitely didn't mean it this way when you asked the question, but I always cringe when someone asks about whether or not something occurred because they're from out of state. In business transactions like real estate, it seems to imply that Mainers are so hateful or fearful of outsiders or stupid that they would turn down a good offer on the off chance that they'll get another one, in December no less! If you've ever been to the Maine coast, you've seen those gorgeous estates with ocean views. Many, if not most, are owned by folks from NJ, CT, MA, NY, and beyond.

Keep looking and I'm sure you'll find a great house! You're right that the real estate market in Maine is slow during the winter, there aren't too many people who want to move in the freezing cold. Since you are willing to, you have a good chance at finding a great deal. Good luck :-)

[janetmc]

Thank you for the responses. I'm sorry for the paranoia. Everyone has been really nice that we have met here. We are living in a one room efficiency, with two people and a dog for the last month while we have looked for a house, so we are anxious to move. On the other hand, I am really glad we found this place, which caters to people looking for a short term furnished rental.

There is something going on with the real estate market here in Bangor. Of the 6 houses we wanted to see on this past Friday, 2 were already sold in the past week. Then there was the house we wanted, which was sold. One of the other houses may also be already sold. That is really strange, considering that Christmas is less than a week away.

We found more houses to look at and hopefully, we will get one of those.

We really like this area and are anxious to get settled.