Well, here goes. The start to our trek North to Maine, our new home-state. (Augusta: inspectors, cabinet)

[OutdoorLover]

Originally Posted by slyfox2

Lucky you. In Pennsylvania, at the bottom of the recession, none of that was true. I needed to do all the leg work. My buyer’s agent had many many many unsold houses in the inventory. There had to be a way to get mine put front and center. Taxes were cheap; schools were top notch(national blue ribbon elementary schools), property was immaculate.

But you can’t leave it up to a busy seller’s agent. You have to help. I even had a video playing on the large screen TV explaining the virtues of the house when visitors came in.

I hired a buyer's agent when I was shopping for a lot in Camden and Rockport. He was a very decent guy, but I still was proactive about my search, I didn't sit back and rely on him alone to bring me properties. It's a different situation than when selling of course, but I didn't mind - no one knows what I am interested in better than me, and fortunately in today's world, browsing real estate ads and doing online due diligence is something that anyone can do. The agent was still helpful in serving as a sounding board and giving me info on the community and then connecting me with resources when I was ready to move on a property... agree that it's a good idea to be proactive in real estate transactions, whether buying or selling. Even under good circumstances, you need to play an active role in looking out for your own interests - having a team-mate doesn't make them the whole team.

[JimG2]

Originally Posted by slyfox2

In a buyers market(too many houses for too few buyers), there will be lots of houses that are pretty much the same value. On-line resources don’t give Buyers the actual feel and smell of the house.

The problem isn't that Connecticut is a buyers market..... it's a buyerLESS market. CT is one of only 4 states that are LOSING population. Unfortunate for the OP, but the demographic that is fleeing is same one that in the past, before the recession that CT never recovered from, would be the one buying his house. My wife and I are upgrading our resume's for our departure. We are lucky that we don't have a house to sell.


Rooting for you OP....

[7th generation]

Originally Posted by Cuffler

I've been a member here for quite a while,gleaning as much information as I can about your fair state and contributing what I could when it seemed appropriate. I've eagerly followed many of the newcomers stories as they began their sojourn North with great interest so that I might avoid making common mistakes. As we approach mid-April, we are finally seeing the light at the end of the tunnel with our home updates as we ready our house for the Connecticut market. Our plan is quite simple, actually.

We will put our house up for sale and, I hope with bated breath, that it will sell relatively quickly. My wife is still working for the time being, I'm essentially retired. I've had a cabinet making business for 26 years but I've wound down all my projects and can't take on any new ones for fear that I'd be stuck without a shop if the house does sell. So, we will pack up our belongings into Pods and move the 1-1/2 miles up the road into my mother-in-law's home for the intermediate future. She's asked us a dozen times so we'll happily oblige. Then, after the dust settles and the homestead is sold, I will begin the task of spending days in Maine to reconnoiter for new digs. We are trying to stay south of Wiscasset. It is truly unfortunate that Wiscasset has to have such a traffic issue with that bridge. We've encountered it every single time we've traveled North in that area. We'd love to find a place in any of the towns East of Wiscasset but there's no way we want to inflict that sometimes hour-long wait on our visiting family and friends. So, we'll concentrate on the Western side and South of that area.

We'll be looking for a place under $200k, preferably ranch-style home on one floor (as we age ) with a garage and with a couple of acres were we don't see our neighbors every morning and night. Being within an easy drive to a city with access of physicians, of course, would be important as we age as well. I've noticed that there are a lot of homes coming back into the market after the winter. That's helpful to us, of course. We've found a few even in Freeport and Brunswick that met our criteria. We're not ready to plunk down bucks yet, however, until we unload our current burden. I do have a realtor feeding me streaming properties which helps a lot.

So, this begins our journey to the North that we have been working hard toward for the previous 5 years. It took me 3 years to convince my wife that it was time to leave Connecticut as they are working hard to make our retirement years very uncomfortable by taxing anything that moves and even tolling the local highways.

We'll be looking forward to anything you all find interesting to comment on as we begin our journey. I'll contribute information as it becomes available, especially when the house is actually on the market. It's a very special house in so many ways and, I believe, will call out to a family as it did to ours 32 years ago.

While so many of our friends prefer to move south, we're New Englanders to the end and moving up to Maine will be the culmination of a very long dream and we're looking forward to having you all as neighbors if only on the 'net.

Thanks!

Rome

Here is the original post and it has devolved into a "what a realtor should or shouldn't do."
Please stay on topic and don't hijack the op's thread.

[OutdoorLover]

As one person mentioned, having a listing on the market for more than 2-3 months can decrease buyer interest. If the OP were to take the house off the market for a little while and relist it, would he automatically get a new MLS number so it wouldn't be so obvious how long it's been on the market in online real estate listings like Zillow and Trulia? Would that help?

[WhoFanMe]

Originally Posted by OutdoorLover

As one person mentioned, having a listing on the market for more than 2-3 months can decrease buyer interest. If the OP were to take the house off the market for a little while and relist it, would he automatically get a new MLS number so it wouldn't be so obvious how long it's been on the market in online real estate listings like Zillow and Trulia? Would that help?

Each MLS establishes its own rules. Maine Listings rule is 30 days. Unfortunately Zillow lists all of the history from previous listings.

[Cuffler]

Well, we've taken a break from trying to sell this house and have scheduled another wonderful camping trip to Seawall on MDI. Just thought we'd let you all know. Nothing super special. We will be looking at a couple of properties west of Wiscasset just because they look really great on the listings. I'll also be making a small detour to Edgecomb and collecting a few dozen fresh oysters from Glidden Farm. They are the best! We're just needing to replenish our batteries and need some detached, disconnected time in the woods. I'll get some trout fishing in with my new Tenkara rigs, grabs a few hikes, and picnic as much as we can. I bought two new folding bikes too! We are looking forward to trying out the carriage roads on them. We plan to visit Seal Cove's auto museum where we've donated quite a few period pieces for their displays. Sure, we'll also be killing our share of lobsters. Don't forget, I live by the phase I coined:

A Lobster A Day Cooked Any Way!

This year I also plan on camp cooking some thermador and newburg as s surprise for my wife. We probably carry as much cooking gear as camping gear and do pretty much everything in our camp kitchen that we can do at home including baking. Makes for a great time especially with locally sourced ingredients.

On the way on Sunday (01/sept) we'll stop just outside of Portland and stay at a hotel dropping our small trailer and head into the city to have a great meal. Got to say that Portland has one of the best dining opportunities on the Northeast that, in my humble opinion, that includes Boston. I'm very familiar with Boston as my kids live there and I've eaten my way through most of the nicer places. Portland is like a gold mine, however, and the deeper you dig the better the opportunities to experience a great meal. Ive lost count as to how many times we've just grabbed a couple dozen oysters and an ice cold martinis at Jay's .

So, well see you all soon, figuratively speaking, and recharge our compelling desire to become Maine residents as soon a humanly possible. When we return we've got appointments to keep with some realtors who are saying they are the ones to sell for us. We'll see.

[slyfox2]

Have a good time. This is the time when the crowds drop from 650,000 a week to 400,000 in September after Labor Day. And less of them are cars.

Be prepared to be paying for parking in Bar Harbor this year though(either in meters or at kiosks). And if you park in places that have a green sign that says Permit parking, that is for residents like me(they have our license numbers in a database), and if you park there you are in danger of getting a ticket that will be reciprocal to your state. The ticket is about $50. It will come in the mail, and (I believe) your local cops MAY get a kickback to enforce it if you ignore it. I ENCOURAGE you to take the bus when possible.

You can still park free at Hannaford food shopping, but not all day as they have a parking security guard to keep people from doing that.

No meters in other places though.

[Cuffler]

Thx for that info. Good to know. I did read about a number of changes regarding parking in and around the park.

[mainegrl2011]

I love Bar Harbor and have spent lots of time there. This year I'm visiting some other places relatively close to me where visitors are more appreciated imo and parking is still free. Examples: Southwest Harbor, Northeast Harbor, Camden, Bucksport, Ellsworth

Parking is also free in Freeport. Boothbay Harbor has some free 2 hour parking spaces and a whole day in a special parking lot is $7 (much less than Bar Harbor); after 12 p.m. $5.

[Cuffler]

After a wonderful time up North exploring some of the very rural areas below Belfast and other towns, we are home once again. A shout out about the Wiscasset Woods Lodge. We broke our trip home as we usually do when exploring and found this place and enjoyed the room very much. Nice people, too.

We have found, we believe, the broker for us. This firm, a private brokerage, sold 175 homes last year with only 10 employees. They approached us knowing that we have had two failed attempts. They only listed 75 on their own so they actually sold 100 homes that other brokerages had placed on the market. They have, they've said, a list of people who would love to see our home and will market it until it's sold. Talk about an operation! The owner and his wife work together and visited last night. I'm crossing my fingers that 3rd time is the charm. We so badly want to be out of here now. Our Gov has just decided he needs to charge tax on.......food. Anything that is readily eatable like donuts or sandwiches and other prepared foods. 7.35%, too. Unbelievable! Will keep you posted. Wish us luck!