You need to get outside..do some hiking in Maine where the fall leaf peekers are coming in to scope out the ME foliage colors.

Plan to visit to fill your lungs with some Maine fresh air, take in the sights, gets some exercise moving your legs while gawking at the pure beauty of Maine. 

Your heart's already here in Maine.

Help the rest of your body catch up.

Maine, Welcome To Vacationland.

    

As a Houlton Maine real estate broker, welcome to Houlton.

The second statement I make to new home owners to be with kids, is make sure the superintendent of the school system for the town you are considering buying in has given his blessings if you want the child to changes school systems. Often a new border patrol, customs, immigration agent assigned to duty in Houlton Maine will have say a talented music student they want to go to SAD 29, the Houlton Maine school system. But the new home they are considering purchasing is in the SAD 70 Hodgdon Maine school system. Or the home in Houlton, Littleton, Hammond or Monticello which is the SAD 29 district has a new owner to be who wants Jimmy or Jill to go to the smaller SAD 70 schools.

     Don't assume that students just cross district lines and the state subsidy of $4500 to $5500 goes with him to the new school. With cut backs, tightened economic conditions, no school system wants to let go of that subsidy. They need all those state checks to pay the salaries, heat the school, fund the sports, music, extra curricular activities that basically keep the district doors of education open, vibrant, effective. 

     Get it in writing and for the record, SAD 70 or SAD 29 are both super smaller school systems with caring, hard working sincere teachers. But instead of worrrying about paying tuition above and beyond or starting in one system and getting a letter the next year that no more swapping district checks, get it spelled out in writing from both systems. If the superintendent changes, you are still all set. There are also home schoolers and a strong back up/support network if you want to go that route. And the Houlton Christian Academy has roughly 200 students enrolled and serves as another education option in the Houlton/Hodgdon Maine area. We mentioned the music program...this is an example of SAD 29th's state choral competition music video.

Keys To Your New Maine Home Here - Learn About, Explore, Find Maine Information

    

You work for say homeland security, for border patrol, customs, immigration or some new department in between and are assigned to head to Houlton Maine.

Houlton is on the Canadian border of the New Brunswick province and has been beefed up secuirty wise considerably since 9/11. So you own a home back where you are coming from, have it rented and want to rent until it sells in Houlton.

     Easy as pie right? Not really. Not so fast, need to have a little talk, show you the financial reasons why it's like musical chairs..with not enough empty chairs when the tunes stop, everyone scrambles. A typical home if you can find one rents for $450 to $600 on average with you the renter picking up all the utilities, lawn care, snow plowing. By the time you heat the place, you start thinking with the low prices in Houlton, maybe picking up a $30,000, $40,000 or multi unit rental makes more sense as your old out of state home sits and sits on the market, waiting for a buyer to come along to pass the front door keys to. If you are lucky enough to find a home rental in Houlton, 9 times out of 10, it is for sale, on the market with you getting a day's warning for any showing.

You live in the shadow of "gee..if this buyer likes the place, I'm getting a thirty day notice to skidaddle, get scarce.

     Why are homes to rent that are not for sale so rare in Houlton Maine? Because of the low low cost to own which keeps the rents you can get low even with the scarcity. And if an owner of a home can not break even renting after mortgage, insurance, taxes and upkeep, they are not going to do it for the fun of it. It can be argued that if you own a home, it is empty heading into winter and you the owner are going to heat, plow it out and keep the power on, insurance active, a good renter subsidizing that operation makes good business sense.

     Some homes are empty because the last renter was less than loving or kind to the place so the owner says better off to be empty, to brag up the quick occupancy for a buyer to slide into. And if there is a mortgage, it is so small and easy to handle that being empty keeps the owner's sanity because he just does not want a renter, any renter in the place that looks like Mr Roger's lives here....with the sneakers lined up neatly, sweaters arranged in a row in the closet just so. You get the picture of this owner and lack of motivation to rent. He's heard horror stories on what happens to a place with the wrong non-paying renter and with angry mixed up kids that do crazy, twisted things with power tools to his home sweet home.

But an empty home is something insurance companies make a big frown about and could cancel your coverage on which gets the mortgage holder jacked way up on the crank factor. If you the owner do secure coverage from say Lloyds of London, it is ching ching...expensive. Long term home rentals are nearly non-existent unless the owner is coming back in a year or two, and you the renter may not want that long a term either. Once your home eighteen states away sells, you are back in the driver's seat to put your name on the deed to another on in Houlton Maine, where the price tags are about a third of what you are used to. That's always a pleasant surprise for a buyer to get way way more, for much much less.

     As for Houlton Maine apartment rentals, there are approximately 600 units last count. There is roughly a two percent vacancy rate which tells you either folks are not overly excited about building more rental units to meet the demand or the tight supply means landlord's can run a looser ship with a very captive tenant audience.

Maine, Head North Quick As You Can - ME Real Estate Broker Andrew Mooers Has Your New Home Keys.

Fall rally stock, superstock and master car racers head to Houlton Maine to gravity race this weekend. 

The engineered derby hill is being spiffed up after the Northern Maine race this June.  Learn about derby racing at the NMSBD race. 

Boys and girls from around the nation will show up for our spring and fall rallies to learn driving skills, to race for points to head to Akron Ohio's world series of racing.

Northern Maine's race was the world's largest derby event in the country five years in a row.. 1997-2001.

Maine REALTOR Andrew Mooers - Learn About Maine, See Videos, Read Posts.

What happened? You'll whisper those words as you enter this one.

But remember, $teens pricing, on a stream, neat lots of fun, modern new septic and yes, a job jar.

If she was Obama's second home, vacation place you and I could not afford it right?

Round up your sporting buddies, spend those three day vacations here. Questions? info@mooersrealty.com  207.532.6573

 

Maine...Visit, Drive, Get Here. For Maine Real Estate, Check In With Mooers Realty's REALTOR Andy Mooers