Helping Hand Having A Happy Home For The Holidays.

The American Dream just made brighter. I had read over 1.6 million home buyers nationwide had benefit from the earlier $8000 tax credit that had a sunset provision of the end of November. Many folks sweating bullets to get the homes under contract to close in time have been struggling with title issues, occupancy requirements and all the loose ends any home buying real estate sale can have.

That November 30th 2009 earlier deadline was getting awfully close. Dangerously close.

     Do you own a home, how long for this part of the program, and basically do you qualify, meet the test guidelines? The NAR chart helps easily work you thru to see if you are a candidate or not. Single, married, income limits, sale price / mortgage ceilings..see the chart for an easy to digest quick peek at how you stand.

It's no secret that for a smaller Northern Maine school, Houlton Maine's jr and sr high schools excel statewide in music.

     Currently, a new Houlton Community Arts Center is being built and the Houlton Maine jr / sr high school auditorium is being totally renovated, expanded. Balcony seating, new lighting, new sound..stage, the works. The local Houlton Maine taxpayers approved a bond to get the project rolling and local citizens have put their shoulder in to the project.

Currently, sale of new seating in honor of your class, a departed love one, or your tax deductible business contribution is gaining momentum.

Earth. Why are you here and what kind of difference can you make during that short stint?

     Choices, considerations, patience and thirst, hunger to sample more ways to see what is missing? The number one underlying theme I hear over and over, see day today in running a Houlton Maine real estate office comes from emails, calls from outside or office visits to  "Vacationland". Folks that are not happy, not in their right place, anxious to fly the heck out of where ever they are currently parked on the planet.

     Some carrying tasers. Many bone weary, tired and wondering if a stroke, financial ruin is just a heart beat away. Sure they have super homes. Kids raising themselves and not home much either. Way over booked, thinnly stetched to be here, there, in every activity with the bottom line high entertainment experience. Having fun full time, wide open. Parents and kids both not home much. Rarely there and mom/dad working two jobs each to keep their nose above the day to day financial water line. Many tell you openly their credit is a disgrace. Scattered debris behind them with relationships with family, creditors, employment.

Venturing to a new land, to shake the etch-a-sketch to begin again. Fresh, a new start but armed with nakedly brutal learned lessons the hard way under their belt.

     And often the common request to just get away from people. Not because they are anti-social. But their hub bub, problems to date usually center around bothering their neighbor. Or being weary of hours and hours spent in needless traffic, or waiting in line for some product, service that robs precious life moments. Maine, with 11 people per square mile in Aroostook  County, this is what the largest of the state's sixteen counties is here for. To regroup, to enjoy the unspoiled, under populated four season beauty. To get away from wall to wall people. To spend some time with yourself and loved ones. To breath, think. To figure out life and the direction your feet should take day to day. Are you overwhelmed, over taxed, bewildered? Maine, get here quick as you can. You get everything you need, have gone without that really matters in Maine.

The real estate buyer was supposed to be in Maine last week to look at a Main Street Houlton ME victorian.

     Can you see living in the upstair of a Maine victorian home, while running the tables, serving the meals, shooting the breeze with dinners downstair? Asking them "How was your steak?" "Do you like my grandmother from the old country's Italian sauce on that chicken? Too spicy?" Or like the big fella pictured, "How was your fish?" knowing the only fish fresher is still swimming in the Maine sea, the Maine lake.

Serving the public...literally feeding them something they enjoy.

     What images, artwork, pictures for the walls around your in home restaurant that show the essense, the flavor of the area of Maine you are from? Mr Moose caught taking a Saturday afternoon bath might be on one wall if you are living in Maine, showing the diners what the area is all about.

     Designing your menu with the right colors, a certain font and the right diner lingo to fit the cruisine you are serving. What table clothes, dinnerware pattern?

     Dining is an experience and you are not operating a drive thru.

     Your meals are not to be hurried and conversation, a little laughter and a glass or two of wine  or your favorite livation part of the experience or not. Up to you. To each his own.

     And after the meal in your favorite part of the home, you walk to the local movie theatre, take in a show. Or if your small town provides a local Maine McGill's band like Houlton ME does, that may be the last course of the dining out meal extravaganza.

Our area is lucky as we are not far from the ocean, and right on the Canadian border. So border hopping to shop, eat or just leave the country for a few hours is common. I joke that  not many of us on the American side would not pass the test of being at least a quarter Canadian dna.

Maine waters in the lakes, rivers, streams are crystal clear.

     So when you buy a vacant ME waterfront lot or an existing structure on a Maine lake, river, stream, what can you do? Always, always check with local towns or cities that the property is in. In the event the Maine waterfront real estate is in an unorganized townships, check with Augusta Maine to see if permits were received for earlier work so you know what you are walking into. Real estate box canyons are not fun and Maine takes water quality protection very very seriously. Remember, Maine is the way life should be. And so much of what we do is tied to the great outdoor natural resources that the state is loaded with.

     The DEP (Maine Department of Environmental Protection) And LURC (Maine Land Use Regulation Commission) are super, dedicated folks to work with.

When you hear someone complaining about those offices, it is 99% because violations were made, or lack of permiting from the previously owner and after the fact resolutions can be as much fun as a colonoscopy.

     Cloudy, silt rich lake, pond, river or stream water is not fun for a fish to live in. And algae bloom, milfoil water vegetation further cuts off the oxygen levels. Maine, fill your lungs with clean fresh air. The Maine waterfront is treated the same way...keep it clean, unspoiled and a safe habitat for fish, birds, animals that depend on it. Questions about what you can do or not do and the process of what needs a permit? 207.532.6573.