Real estate market? (Portland, Bangor, Orland: live in, moving, park)

[dogsandart]

Well, thanks anyway, but we are only interested in the areas I mentioned and we want to be in town. If anyone has any pertinent information on those areas, it would be much appreciated.

[ChristinePlovesME]

Originally Posted by mainebrokerman

I go to many small maine towns and the real estate market (from what I hear) is getting better,,,we were saturated with forclosures/short sales and auctions

I personally thought after 9-11 their would be an exodus to maine for thousands of people who want to be in a more rural place to raise a family

ive talked to many new faces in the past 5 years who have said this.... to get out of the rat race of the cities and one guy who is a new member of our golf course,,moved here because he is fearful of the blow-ups in the cities... the random terrorist attacks , and he wants a place he can target practice on his property

Gee...hope I can find a house for same price range as poster....and for similar reasons as you state.

[jw2]

Originally Posted by Maineac

K means kilo, or 1000X, as in kilogram, or 1000 grams, or kilometer (1000 meters). M means thousandth, or 1/1000 as in a Millimeter is 1/1000 of a meter. Different people use different letters, so you got to be careful and read in context. The convention is MM means 1000 thousand, or million (or, more properly a "millionth"). So K would be correct by convention, but M (as in "mils" for your property tax mil rate) means 1/1000th as well. Now that I think it through, K would be the applicable letter (1000 x the number), because M would mean 1/1000th. But the convention has been that either $325M, or $325K means $325,000, while $325MM means million. So "K" multiplies and "M" divides. But "M" is never properly used to reference "million." Sorry, too much science education.

I attended a real estate appraisal yesterday (I had an appraiser's license in another life) and the appraiser was guardedly optimistic about the real estate market offering a "marketing period" of 3 to six months properly priced and gave some examples of some high priced stuff selling quickly for long dollah.

In a lot of professions, such as accounting, M (or m) means one thousand. It is from mille, Latin for one thousand. MM (or mm) is a thousand thousands or one million.

[dramamama6685]

Originally Posted by Northern Maine Land Man

There are thousands of these folks. They don't want to come here and change everything. We are on the cusp of being "discovered". There used to be a sign on the pike down near Kittery; "If you lived here, you would be home already."

Simmah down, I've been working on getting there for quite a bit.

[TheKezarWoodsman]

So are those kinda people good or bad to move to Maine?

[Northern Maine Land Man]

People who are into self sufficiency are welcome everywhere. They are the best citizens a community can have.

[woxyroxme]

Originally Posted by jw2

In a lot of professions, such as accounting, M (or m) means one thousand. It is from mille, Latin for one thousand. MM (or mm) is a thousand thousands or one million.

When I was in the electrical field we used M for 1000 because it was 1000 in Roman numerals, for example when ordering wire. MM is 2000, MMXVI is the current year.

But back to real estate I have been watching home prices in Eastport for years, most will never get their asking price.

[Northern Maine Land Man]

The industry uses "time on market" as an indicator of the health of the market. That is a self serving number because it measures only those properties that have sold. It does no consider those listings that expire due to lack of demand or excessive prices on the property.

In the retail industry there is a value called "turnover". If a product like a cast iron skillet is in inventory of two years before it sells, what is the profit on that sale? The turnover number in real estate is called absorbtion. It is the rate of turnover or absorbtion of similar properties in a geographic market. This can be measured in an economic area like Farmington or Madawaska. Why did a property not sell?

Priced too high
Poor schools
Too much competition by similar properties
Property is in poor condition
General lack of demand
Poor job market
No hospital nearby
Lot size too small
Way overpriced compared to area homes

In order to legitimately evaluate a market, these other factors must be considered.

[gf2020]

To get back to the OP's original question...

The market has heated up and I would expect that inventory in Brunswick, Topsham and Bath will remain tight for the foreseeable future. The sub-$300K price range is very competitive so I would be prepared to act quickly if you find something you like.

Have you considered building new? There are some buildable lots in West Bath that you could put a modest home on and be in under $275K.

[TheKezarWoodsman]

Regarding Maine being "discovered" i will say that aside from the coast, i notice people in MA want to move to Maine alot less than they would want the rockies (all but ID/MT for potatoes and prarie), florida, or the southwest. Some parts of the coast as well, they seem alot less willing to move to, its mostly the coast around Portland. People here have heard of Bangor, but they consider it too small for their everyday needs, although there are a few (such as me), who consider it too populated.

I wouldnt worry about ME being discovered anytime soon to the degree of other states, although if that park gets passed i think there will be alot more people moving its general vicinity such the same as NW Wyoming.