Possibly relocating from FL, have some questions. (Bangor, Augusta: hotel, high school)

[Northern Maine Land Man]

For those folks who don't need to run to Boson for medical situations, Millinocket has some awesome home deals. You can buy that $140,000 home for $35,000 in Millinocket. Live with no mortgage. Just be advised that the town government still imagines that $35,000 house is worth the $185,000 it was worth a decade ago. They tax accordingly.

(By the way; pay no attention to what some spammer put under my handle, "Real Estate Agent". I have not been a real estate agent for over a quarter of a century and have no listings in Millinocket.)

Hey; Look at that. My rep just hit 10,000 after 13 years on here - delivering the truth about Maine.

[Submariner]

I sometimes start threads here when Zillow shows me a Bangor-area home for $40k or less.

I have no complaints with Maine's medical industry. I am in my fifth year of dealing with prostate cancer. Brewer has a very nice cancer center, it draws a lot of patients down from Canada, so beware that sometimes the waiting rooms are filled with medical tourists.

Originally Posted by Northern Maine Land Man

For those folks who don't need to run to Boson for medical situations, Millinocket has some awesome home deals. You can buy that $140,000 home for $35,000 in Millinocket. Live with no mortgage. Just be advised that the town government still imagines that $35,000 house is worth the $185,000 it was worth a decade ago. They tax accordingly.

(By the way; pay no attention to what some spammer put under my handle, "Real Estate Agent". I have not been a real estate agent for over a quarter of a century and have no listings in Millinocket.)

The real estate profession has its own unique vocabulary. I am not sure of exactly what a 'real estate agent' is. I know there are 'listing agents' and 'buyers agents'.

I got upset one time, here in Maine, when I was walking the property lines of a property and I had a question so I called the 'listing agent', come to find out she had never stepped foot on the property that she was listing. That diminished the profession in my eyes.

I would have called you a 'realtor', not meaning any insult, but due to my own ignorance. A number of times I have been asked for a reputable realtor and I have referred people to you.

What is the proper term for what you do?

[Northern Maine Land Man]

I am a broker with over 30 years in the business.

"Agent' is a legal term of a licensed person who works in behalf of another person such as a buyer or seller.

"Customer" is somebody who is served by somebody else, but that customer is not represented by anybody. His status is like the person checking out at WalMart. The cashier does not represent the buyer in any way.

"Client" is somebody who engages a licensed person to represent him in a transaction. He could be a seller or a buyer.

There are three levels of licensure in Maine. A "Sales Agent" is a newbie with less than two years in the business. The sales agent must upgrade his license within two years or he is done.

Next level is "Associate Broke". That person has some experience and has passed a test to move up. An associate broker can stay at that level forever, just renewing his license every two years. He has to get 21 hours of continuing education in those two years, but there is no test to renew.

Then there is the Broker. He may not run his own agency, but he could. That is the top level of licensure. An agency, whether it is a one man show or has a hundred associates of various license levels must have a "Designated Broker". He or she is in charge of EVERYBODY at that agency. It is a big responsibility.

Maine has something called a "transaction agent". This person doesn't represent anybody. He just fills out the paperwork for a sale. In the business, these people are sometimes referred to as a "monkey with a pencil". There is no license level for these people. Most states do not allow this to happen.

A Realtor belongs to a club called the National Association of Realtors. Most states have branches such as the Maine Association of Realtors. Within the states they have local boards.

States vary a lot regarding license levels. This applies only to Maine. In some states, agents just list and show properties. If they find a willing buyer and seller, they jot down the pertinent facts and hand them off to lawyers. Lawyers write the contracts. In Maine, agents and brokers write the contracts. Once a contract has been signed by both the seller and buyer, that contract is handed off to a lawyer who prepares a new deed for the seller to sign and usually provides title insurance for the buyer.

Whew! This is way more than some want to read, but only scratches the surface as to what it's all about.

ALWAYS buy title insurance.

[movintime]

Originally Posted by Northern Maine Land Man

I am a broker with over 30 years in the business.

"Agent' is a legal term of a licensed person who works in behalf of another person such as a buyer or seller.

"Customer" is somebody who is served by somebody else, but that customer is not represented by anybody. His status is like the person checking out at WalMart. The cashier does not represent the buyer in any way.

"Client" is somebody who engages a licensed person to represent him in a transaction. He could be a seller or a buyer.

There are three levels of licensure in Maine. A "Sales Agent" is a newbie with less than two years in the business. The sales agent must upgrade his license within two years or he is done.

Next level is "Associate Broke". That person has some experience and has passed a test to move up. An associate broker can stay at that level forever, just renewing his license every two years. He has to get 21 hours of continuing education in those two years, but there is no test to renew.

Then there is the Broker. He may not run his own agency, but he could. That is the top level of licensure. An agency, whether it is a one man show or has a hundred associates of various license levels must have a "Designated Broker". He or she is in charge of EVERYBODY at that agency. It is a big responsibility.

Maine has something called a "transaction agent". This person doesn't represent anybody. He just fills out the paperwork for a sale. In the business, these people are sometimes referred to as a "monkey with a pencil". There is no license level for these people. Most states do not allow this to happen.

A Realtor belongs to a club called the National Association of Realtors. Most states have branches such as the Maine Association of Realtors. Within the states they have local boards.

States vary a lot regarding license levels. This applies only to Maine. In some states, agents just list and show properties. If they find a willing buyer and seller, they jot down the pertinent facts and hand them off to lawyers. Lawyers write the contracts. In Maine, agents and brokers write the contracts. Once a contract has been signed by both the seller and buyer, that contract is handed off to a lawyer who prepares a new deed for the seller to sign and usually provides title insurance for the buyer.

Whew! This is way more than some want to read, but only scratches the surface as to what it's all about.

ALWAYS buy title insurance.

NMLM, as always fantastic summation & clear as a bell! TY!

[mainegrl2011]

Sorry to hear about the cancer, Submariner. Real estate info probably useful info to someone but a bit off topic from the inquiry of the OP who wants to be a stone's throw from Mass. Millinocket is far from Massachsetts. Real estate vocabulary lesson could be helpful. I was aware of the real estate deals there. Also aware of Brewer medical facility--have been there with relative. ....useful info yet far from desires of the OP. People who choose to live in Maine are aware that travel is required for certain services. Services are not all within a 15 minute drive and that fact is accepted by those who live in Maine. If can't accept certain things, certain realities guess it's time to move.

[Submariner]

My wife and I have previously bought homes in California, Scotland, Connecticut and Washington. In those situations, the banks added dozens of forms into the contract, along with thousands of dollars of extra 'fees', that also seemed to shock us. But the realtors themselves were generally not that bad to work with.

Okay the realtor in Connecticut, kept changing how much we needed to bring to the closing, in cashier check, even up to one hour before the official closing they changed it again. They had changed it over a dozen times, which had gotten us pretty frustrated, so we opted to bring cash instead. "This is legal tender, refuse it and I will sue you".

Shopping for land in Maine was a different experience for us. We felt as if each realtor was projecting 'Mister Haney' [slimy dishonest horse-trading used car salesmen].

Regardless of how we worded what we were looking for, each of them tried to fit us into some house they had listed. It felt like we could have been speaking Greek the whole time because they were going to sell us that one house regardless of what we wanted, or what we said.

They looked at how I was dressed, and they tried to 'peg' how much I could spend, then they would insist on showing us houses selling 2X more than what we wanted to spend.

I have never been so frustrated talking to realtors, as I was shopping for a home in Maine.

I made five trips to Maine shopping for land, each of my trips was one-week in duration, the process involved multiple contracts with realtors. That experience culminated when I looked at a property that the listing agent admitted to me that she had never been to the property she was listing.

After that I only looked at FSBO properties.

In the end, We agreed to a price. I hired a 'real estate transaction' attorney, he charges a flat fee of $200 per transaction. I wrote him two checks, one for the agreed sale price, and one for his $200 fee. A week later I held the new deed and title insurance in my hands.

That was the smoothest real estate transaction I have ever experienced.




In 2016 I bought a mixed-use commercial building in Old Town. It is a shame that the sellers had not posted it FSBO. Instead, they used a realtor, so we got a realtor. I paid cash [no bank loan] and the 'Mr. Haneys' still managed to add 100 forms that all had to be signed and $8,000 in stupid fees.

[OutdoorLover]

From what I have been able to learn, the most advanced hospitals in Maine are in Portland and Bangor, but also pretty good are Lewiston, Augusta, Brunswick and Ellsworth.

[mainegrl2011]

Originally Posted by OutdoorLover

From what I have been able to learn, the most advanced hospitals in Maine are in Portland and Bangor, but also pretty good are Lewiston, Augusta, Brunswick and Ellsworth.

i would add EMMC in Bangor especially the cardiac care unit. Ellsworth is good for some things... a friend had a bicep reattachment at Maine Coast... excellent doctor. There are certain times when they send you to EMMC via ambulance.

[OutdoorLover]

Originally Posted by mainegrl2011

i would add EMMC in Bangor especially the cardiac care unit. Ellsworth is good for some things... a friend had a bicep reattachment at Maine Coast... excellent doctor. There are certain times when they send you to EMMC via ambulance.

Yep, Bangor is on my list ;-)

[Northern Maine Land Man]

In most of the USA, Bangor would be considered a small town. You can hunt in Bangor. My wife was a regular in-patient a couple of times a year. She much preferred St Joseph's. They have an excellent staff that truly cares. The old Eastern Maine was good, but nearly all the Docs have left. Most nurses and Docs have left. They have been replaced by temporary people on three month contracts.