About Oxford County, ME

Allow me to go back a bit - before iPods and laptops, HDTV and MTV, all wheel drive and triple-bladed razors, and ATMs and IRAs - to a time when families watched Walt Disney on Sunday nights, girls always put their hair up in curlers at night and wore dresses to school, and boys went fishing and played baseball, a glove always hanging from the handlebars of their bicycle.

Back in those days, you were lucky if you knew someone who had a camp somewhere - it didn't have to be far away, just someplace other than where you were most of the time. Someplace not quite familiar. It was usually on a pond or small lake. Rustic. Simple. It probably had electricity, but maybe no indoor plumbing. Just a place to get away to - to relax, to nap, to swim and fish, to listen to the cicadas buzzing in the trees, to hear the June bugs bumping on the screens at night while the easy voice of Curt Gowdy called the game at Fenway, coming in over the transistor radio.

These days most camps have been updated, at least a little, but finding that semi-remote place on a small body of water, where a 10 horse motor is all you really need for your boat, and one bathroom with a shower is more than sufficient, is getting a little harder to find. However, Mr. Lakefront loves these modest places that feature peace and quiet. Here are a couple that come to mind:

West Pond in Parsonsfield is off the beaten path, 140 acres in size and has a maximum depth of 28 feet. Smallmouth bass are plentiful, I'm told. The loons do that weird laughter thing at night. The sunsets are gorgeous. The West Pond Asscociation keeps a watchful eye on the health of the pond and invites seekers of tranquility to vacation and recreate here. If you seek a straight-forward camp on the water, look no further than 92 Shady Lane for $199,900.

Sand Pond in Norway is just ten minutes from McDonald's and Dunkin' Donuts, but might as well be a hundred miles away. Down a country road, not far from a beautiful, old 9-hole golf course (the Norway Country Club), Sand Pond is a 136 acre gem, clear and cool, and 56 incredible feet deep. It, too, has a concerned group looking after it - the Lake Association of Norway. If an authentic L.C. Andrews log cabin at water's edge sounds interesting to you, you might want to check out this one at 421 Sodom Road for $275,000.

As a real estate broker specializing in the purchase and sale of lakefront property I often hear from folks how expensive lakefront real estate is. Well, it's true. It has become expensive - I agree - but I also like to point out that you used to get a year at Harvard for $8,000. Remember when Ford introduced the Maverick? Brand new for $1,995! But I date myself. The point is that lakefront property is expensive - compared to what it used to cost. And so is everything else.

Then I saw this listing on Kezar Lake in Lovell - a 4 bedroom, 4.5 bath contemporary with 290 feet of frontage on Kezar Lake sitting on 3.7 acres. The list price? $4,495,000.

Now, let me say right up front, I have never seen this property. No doubt, this is one fantastic and wonderful property and I'm sure the listing broker and the owner have excellent reasons for arriving at the asking price they did. However, I have just been getting used to seeing properties - exceptional properties - blow through the million dollar mark around here. A two million dollar list price is a very rare property for local lakefront. Three million is unheard of. Now this. This is really expensive.

When we advise buyers what to offer for a property we ask them to look at the two main components - the lot and the structure. For example, if the structure is 2000 square feet and is of average or better contruction, one might use a mulitplier of $150 per square foot for an approximate cost basis. 2000 sf x $150 equals $300,000 - the estimated value of the structure.

The value of the lot is a little trickier because its value is determined by its size, its amount of frontage on the lake, the contours of the terrain, what the entry into the water is like, and what the lake itself is like. This is where an experienced real estate agent with lakefront knowledge can really help.

When I looked at this $4.5 million listing I said to myself, "Well, maybe it is of the most superb and incredible construction, so let's more than double the construction estimator to $350 per square foot. This house is 5000 sf, so that's $1.75 million in the structure. That still leaves a balance of $2.75 million for the lot - 3.7 acres with 290 feet of shorefrontage on Kezar Lake. This may be a little unfair (like trying to figure out how much A-Rod gets paid for each plate appearance), but that's more than $9,400 per linear foot of shore frontage."

Now, you will get no argument from me that Kezar Lake is one of the most desireable lakes around and necessarily commands the highest prices for lakefront properties. (I will write more about the attractions of Kezar Lake in a future blog). In fact, there well may be someone out there who would part with $4.5 million to own such a magnificient property. Good luck to all involved. (Heck, maybe I'll bring the buyer!) But, for someone who remembers the $1,995 Ford Maverick, $4.5 million is an awfully big number.

Mr Lakefront is often asked by lakefront buyers "which is a better deal for me: finding a nice lakefront lot and building exactly what I want or is it better to find an acceptable existing home and taking a run at it

From a good deal standpoint I would say that, in this current incredible buyer's market, it is better for one to find a nice existing home and negotiate the best deal you can. How come?

Existing lakefront home prices have fallen about 15% on the average. So if a place was worth $500k in late summer of 2005 it is worth $425k today. Bad news for sellers, great news for buyers.

In some rare cases, I have seen motivated sellers parting with their lakefront properties at 20 to 30 % less than what they could have gotten four years ago. These situations are not normal, but they happen

My advice was just the opposite in 2004-2005. Back then it was a better deal to find a nice lot and build what one wanted. Sellers were demanding seemingly inflated prices for their existing homes and, more often than not, getting them. Here's an example.

I did a market analysis for a seller in late Spring 2004. The analysis indicated a market value of $480,000. I recommended this asking price to the seller. The seller said "Let's list it for $550,000″ .

For a few months it sat on the market but by the end of the season we got an offer which was accepted for $529,900. The seller said, "See Tom, I knew my place was worth more" The truth is, he was right. Over the course of the season, about a period of 5 months, market values had escalated quickly because of incredible demand and short supply.

Back in the summer of 2004 it would have been better for a buyer to find a nice lakefront lot and build a place. Existing lakefront home values were priced at their highest - and then some. While the cost of building materials and labor had also gone up , it was still a better deal to build.

So, in a nutshell: Seller's market = BUILD, Buyer's market = BUY.

Speaking of buying, you can check out all the current offerings for lakefront property in Maine right on our website. Our Lakefront Locator is the only tool you need to find just the right lakefront property for you.

_{Dream Realty is a full service real estate company in Maine and your best resource for buying or selling real estate throughout the Sunday River area. With an office located in the heart of Sunday River, in Newry, Maine, we are able to provide our clients with an outstanding array of real esate services. Our specialties include relocation to Maine, residential, waterfront, luxury, investment, and mountain lifestyle properties. Our Sunday River office serves Western Maine from the Mahoosuc range to the lakes region where you can embrace the magic of living in a four-season resort area.}

_{Dream Realty also features Sunday River Artisans! As a commitment to the Community, Dream Realty supports and promotes local artists and craftsmen. Stop by and see the current exhibit.}

Dream Realty office and artisan gallery

Denmark is a small, but attractive village located in the southwestern hills of Maine, close by the New Hampshire border. Over 1000 people call Denmark home, but the summer population swells considerably with the vacationers who come to visit the many clean ponds in Denmark and enjoy a slower and more relaxing pace of life.

The main bodies of water found here are Moose Pond, Hancock Pond and Sand Pond (aka Walden Pond). Lesser ponds are Granger, Long, and Pickerel.

Denmark attracts vacationers in winter as well as summer as it is close by the Shawnee Peak ski area, is criss-crossed by abundant snowmobile trails, and provides ample opportunities for cross country skiing.

For those interested in the lakefront real estate market, here are the current lakefront listings for Denmark:

Hancock Pond, 153 Shore Road - your basic 3 bdrm. cottage on the pond, 100 feet of frontage, private - $229,000.

Hancock Pond, 253 Shore Road - another basic 3 bdrm. camp with 100 feet of frontage, compare to above - $239,900.

Moose Pond, near the bridge on Mountain Road - 233 feet of frontage, boat and ski, year rounder - $245,000.

Long Pond, 176 Long Pond Drive - winterized 5 bdrm. chalet, 260 feet of frontage, screened porch, deck - $299,000.

Moose Pond, 10 Coast Lane - flat lot, 100 feet of frontage, newly updated, sandy swimming, reduced - $379,900.

Sand Pond, 27 & 43 Shady Lane - two separate cottages, 388 feet of frontage, 60 years in same family - $499,000.

Hancock Pond, 12 Wabunaki - year round, 3 bdrm, 2.5 bth home with 200 feet on the water, 2800sf+ - $539,900.

Moose Pond, 1 Wood Island - one bdrm camp on 3.5 acre island, 1500 feet of shoreline, solitude - $595,000.

Moose Pond, 64 East Edgewater - 10 rooms, 5 bdrms., on 260 feet of frontage, 2 car garage - $595,000.

Moose Pond - the two above properties combined - house plus island - $1,150,000.

Hancock Pond, 1 Octagon Drive - 40 acre compound, 3315 feet of frontage, main lodge, 3 cottages, one home - $1,599,000.

Lakefront Land

Granger Pond, 77 Granger Drive - little less than an acre with 131 feet on quiet pond, wooded lot ready to build - $165,000.

Pickerel Pond - 973 acres including all the frontage on 40 acre Pickerel Pond - $1,750,000.

Pickerel Pond - 1668 acres, same as above, just more acres - $3,150,000.