Housing Bubble? Your thoughts, predictions (2009, homes, neighborhood)

[dmyankee]

I have heard through some grapevine that as many as a few hundred homes might be bought from base personnel by the government at Brunswick. Has anybody else heard about this? This also figures for about 400 or so homes dumped on the market in a relatively brief period.

[tlb71]

I haven't heard anything about that but word around BIW is that Boeing is looking at the base. Anyone else hear this?

[dmyankee]

One of the ideas for BNAS is for a jetport and or related facilities. What everyone is wondering, is if this will conflict with Portsmouth and Portland, etc. Don't know the details.

[forest beekeeper]

Originally Posted by tlb71

Forest Beekeeper- small world, he was a NavET also out of Bangor. Went to BOOST, Tulane, then a SWO, now a reservist. Still gets called Bubble head now and then!

Hmm, there was a guy, ...

hmm, NavET @ Subase Bangor in 95, always talking about Maine, is he from Bar Harbor?

Is he into square dancing?

I was on various subs stretching out over a fairly long and blurry career, I got on my last boat in 1978 and I left my last boat in 1997. Or I may be confusing your hubby with another bubblehead. So many that wear the dolphins, and yet so few beers.

As for him being called: "Bubblehead" obviously he still wears the fish and a patrol pin. Deal with it.

'Tulane'? Is he from NO? If so then I am thinking of someone else.

[tlb71]

Not from Bar Harbor and never talked about Maine until the job offer w/BIW, but I would love to see him try to square dance!! He wears his "dolphins" along with his SWO pin, and I didn't mean to imply he doesn't like being called "bubblehead". Actually it is just the opposite... he only went SWO because he didn't want to go to nuke school and he was selected to go to NPS for his masters right out of Tulane.
Not from NO either, just wanted to go to an excellent university.

[dramamama6685]

Originally Posted by Elcarim

If only we were independently wealthy and our move did not depend on the sale of THIS house. I'd walk away and leave it in the hands of the realtor in a heartbeat!

EL, I wish things were progressing faster for you. I am stressing here just waiting for your dreams to come true (living vicariously through you, I suppose). Your happy thought for the day, you will still beat us up to Maine by over a decade. Good luck!

[Elcarim]

Originally Posted by dramamama6685

EL, I wish things were progressing faster for you. I am stressing here just waiting for your dreams to come true (living vicariously through you, I suppose). Your happy thought for the day, you will still beat us up to Maine by over a decade. Good luck!

Thank you, DM! That's so sweet!! You're just the kind of friend I'm headed to Maine for. I'll be glad when you make it too! Yaya!

[Boomerang]

Originally Posted by RMFDGUY

i really dont think there are any serious buyers on craigslist. they all ask one or two questions and then poof! they're gone! oh well. hang on to your prices people, the banks will correct their foolish ways soon enough.

I'm a very serious buyer and I've just "discovered" the Craigslist real estate section, and I use it in addition to my MLS listing. I strongly disagree with the advice to "hang on to your prices". If you want to sell in 2008, you have to be realistic about the harsh reality of the current falling market. Maine's been largely immune to the real estate crash compared to the rest of New England, but I'm seeing the same kinds of signs here now, that my friends out-of-state first saw before the hard reality of dropping prices hit them.

If anyone asked me for advice on selling a house - since I was finally successful :-) - I'd say...

1) HIRE AN AGGRESSIVE, ACTIVE REALTOR. If you've already contracted with someone who isn't advertising your property as promised, isn't offering to do open houses, isn't bringing you at least a couple showings per week OR isn't initiating discussions with you about lowering the price or offering incentives to generate showings, dump them NOW. It isn't going to get any better. Trust me on this one. Every day your realtor isn't working for you in this market, you're losing money and opportunities to sell. If you've noticed one realtor in your area selling multiple homes recently, talk to that one first.

2) PRICE IT RIGHT - that means, less than your competition. Watch the market like a hawk and drop again as necessary to keep your house on the top of people's lists. The best possible outcome of this strategy is that you might get multiple offers. At worst, you hope someone will choose yours over similar homes because yours is the bargain they can't resist. Note: if you can't afford to sell for less, you may need to reconsider selling at this point in time.

3) DO DE-CLUTTER AND PAINT/REPAIR AS NECESSARY PRIOR TO GOING ON THE MARKET. Whatever you do, do it well. Buyers notice bad work! You don't have to copy HGTV staging programs, but use your head. Light colors in small spaces. Painting cheap and/or dark panelling may be an improvement. If necessary, re-arrange furniture for better appeal, traffic flow, or to expose pretty architectural elements. Look at your home as if you were seeing it for the first time and it belonged to someone else. What would you change? Remove all items that clutter your counters and rooms and distract from the attractiveness or size of the space. Remember to clean/fix outside as well. Touch-up paint or perform minor repairs as necessary. Get rid of junk. Remove clutter. What not to do: don't stress too much over daily cleanups. Yes, keep it neat and clean as possible, but once you've done the major cleanup and things look good, no serious buyer who likes your house is really going to care about seeing a normal daily chore left undone. Just make sure they don't see it twice if they ask for a 2nd showing :-)

4) BE WILLING TO NEGOTIATE. When that person or couple who seriously loves your house comes along with pre-approval and the means to close quickly, be willing to negotiate a little. Yes, you've already dropped your price to bargain level, but if you want to sell NOW, be willing to consider throwing in a litttle bit more to sweeten the pot. Do the math. What's worse - negotiating just a little more now, or losing the deal altogether? Only you know the answer to that.

One more thing: start packing now. No matter how long your house in on the market, you'll still be scrambling when that offer rolls in :-)

[WhoFanMe]

Welcome to the forum Boomerang and well said. Houses are still selling every day in this market, but it takes a team approach from the owner and the REALTOR. The REALTOR brings the prospective buyer to the curb and then the home takes over. Marketing (particularly online) has never been more important and there is a difference in what different agencies do to market homes. Prospective sellers need to take the time to evaluate what each office can offer. Congratulations on your sale!

[Elcarim]

So what do you do when your agent is marketing online and locally in the newspapers, sign is in the yard, listed on MLS and still no showings in 8 weeks? Only 4 showings in 3 months! The house is supposedly priced right, according to comps. So what next?