REALTOR Andrew Mooers' Maine Real Estate Blog

"Maine Ranch Style, First Floor Real Estate Please"...(Ding Ding Ding As Property Elevator Door Opens).

Wed, 25 Nov 2009 09:06:33 -0600

First floor...getting on one level as you contemplate a Maine retirement, relocation real estate purchase.

If you need a couple of examples of Southern Aroostook County homes.. the ranch style real estate, here are a couple. This Linneus Maine ranch video example...3 baths, finished cellar, 400' on a quiet side road with big deck. $95,000.

Here's another New Limerick Maine video example of a place with over 20 acres, near the Houlton ME Community Golf Course , several lakes like Nickerson, Drews, Skitticook and others. One owner, set off road, tile everywhere and 3 baths. Plus a five car garage for toys. $329,900!

Or need one that's a real blue light special, Black Friday Thanksgiving specially priced Westfield Maine home in the $teens ? This ranch is surrounded by trees, has a rolling lawn, new septic and extrra cabin. It's on a brook, offers nearby Big Rock snow skiing and Mars Hill Maine golfing.

It is a ranch, a bit cycloned but on a quiet side road.

Echo Lake, and Aroostook State Park are handy. Ideal Maine vacation place to live in summers and then spend winters in Florida or Arizona on a shoestring budget. This is a bargain priced Maine relocation, retirement home video option.

And if you are handy with a hammer but don't want to build from stratch...(reaching in to Santa's big red bag) here is a finish me off Maine real estate video example. 12 Acres. Extra guest cottage and on a dead end road. All on one floor. Amity Maine is where this home lives..where you will tell loved ones you hang your hat after you see it, buy it. $74,900!

Neat as a pin one bedroom Easton Maine real estate video shows a super place NOT big enough for lots of relatives to land here, to stay around long enough to wear out their welcome. Easy to heat, keep ship shape clean. Double garage too. $50's!

One more, this one is energy rated as a real miser. Economical but tiled, set off road and with a major Oakfield Maine foothills view. Watch this last Maine real estate ranch style video example. $159,900.

Oh..you wanted a ranch with over 200 Maine acres..something with space, Okay, one more Bridgewater Maine real estate video added to showcase this 214 acres of Maine land for sale in Aroostook County. Waterfront, fields, woods, wildlife here. Could not be much closer to the Canadian border either on this one. Dead end road quiet.. Monteith Road. Surveyed and has barn, extra machine farm shed. $224,900!

Maine REALTOR Andrew Mooers

info@mooersrealty.com Log on www.mooersrealty.com

Sweeping One Size Generalities, Statements Don't Fit The Real Estate Market.

Wed, 25 Nov 2009 06:20:30 -0600

The media has a tendency to report for the nation at large.

Efforts to made sweeping statements that generalize and apply for the entire country distort reality in many areas. There are so many extremes, unique markets within that huge nation.

With 50 states, broad brush statements that reflect the nation are not accurate and mislead. It boils down to not being like that everywhere and a feeling of disenfranchisement can permeate. In one blog post I read today on Active Rain it's indicated that one out of four homes is worth less than is owed on the four walls.

Boy, that is not a statement that applies to Northern Maine. Aroostook County did not have the foreclosure rates that happened in say a Detroit Michigan or parts of Florida. The Maine banks were making conservative, quality loans BEFORE the recession that hit other areas. Many homes are paid for. Not mortgaged to the hilt. Not saddled with grotesque, ready to pop at the seams equity lines.

Folks are not way over extended. People don't live day to day 20 minutes away from financial ruin. They have untapped equity lines with cobwebs and dust from lack of use. The lines set up for peace of mind if disaster hit but never utilized because savings are in place. Their standard of living below their means so funds are squirreled away for a rainy day. And reading that one in four statistic can send an alarm thru an area where the real estate air raid siren does not need to be activated...and does not apply. But think of the anxiety caused because the panic headlines are broadcast anyway.

It used to be the headlines of upside down folks in other states were a concern, but not a worry for you personally. You thought "I'm in okay shape" if everything went black for a spell. You were brought up to plan for it, expect it, anticipate the ups and downs. But now we all have deeper jitters, worries because all of us will have to bail out the folks that did not live within their means. Those that never learned a life lesson on picking yourself up by the bootstraps, planning for set backs. Or taking care of your family without expectation the government will catch me, help me, fix it. Or that I am entitled, deserve the best others can provide with a permanent out stretched hand playing "beat the buffet" that others put on. Folks that brought no covered dish to the pot luck supper. Just arrived and stayed long with a large, bottomless appetite. It's the Titanic, late at night and have you taken a life boat count and done the math if an iceberg happens by the bow? Not planning for the unexpected, the unpleasant does not make it go away or not happen.

The Maine real estate house prices are lower than many other areas which helps. That average figure for a price tag in Northern Maine is in the $80,000 bracket.

Everything is so much lower, reasonable, down to earth and affordable here in Maine.

The ability to save money, to say no to everything going is another part of the equation. Getting the home paid for is a daily goal. There is an awareness that owing money is not fun. Not something you want to burden your kids with if something happened to your job or health. And it made me think further that the same logic of the "one in four" Americans living in homes worth less than is owed, means those same folks are upside down for reasons other than situations like the auto workers face, or our friends in Florida that took a major real estate set back, hit. Maybe that other household purchases are made are in the same unbalanced state. The cars they drive are worth less than is owed. Their high school kids drive better cars than mom and dad with seven year loans on them to prove what? The money saved for their kid's college accounts is less than it will cost, and on and on.

It may be not just be real estate market oriented but the way some follksrun their financial lives. If the average American, another media headline, is carrying $17,000 for credit card debt, maybe the economy spotlights the loose financial reins on the household spending. The recession is the smypton...the poor personal spending habits or addiction is the bigger illness, the cause of the cracks, aches, pains. I remember reading the Bearstein Bears books to the four kids when they were little and one in particular called "The Galloping Gimmees". Maybe not everyone else read that one, remembered the lessons of over indulgence and paying the piper if drunken sailor spending becomes a daily occurrenceor need, compulsion. Maybe living in Maine meant our outdoor recreation all four seasons was the fun were did not have to pay for living in "Vacationland". Money was not the end all, in shorter supply and handled carefully is the lesson we learned, saw demonstrated.

When you grew up, do you remember parents being on the brink of financial disaster? Was the money brought in to the household coffers spent as fast as it came in? Beyond the income stream? Were your parents conservative and did you feel secure that there were savings and you were aware that a mortgage burning party was a goal you saw worked at, achieved?

Maine REALTOR Andrew Mooers

info@mooersrealty.com Log on www.mooersrealty.com

Houlton Maine Rotary Radio, TV, Internet Auction Night Two Tonight.

Tue, 24 Nov 2009 08:41:39 -0600

Real time..what is happening in small communities like Houlton Maine in Southern Aroostook County.

The 54th Rotary Auction in Houlton Maine has over $52,000 worth of item to bid on over a three night period. The auctioneering starts at 6pm and winds down at 10:30pm each night. Here is the run down for this years auction on the Houlton Maine Rotary site.

Each year the Houlton ME Rotary Club designates certain projects to be the major beneficiaries of the Auction. This year's major project beneficiaries are:

Little League Field of Dreams Project!
SAMHA Southern Aroostook Minor Hockey Association

Auction Proceeds will also benefit the:

Houlton Community Arts Center Seat Campaign
Houlton Rotary Club Youth Exchange Program
Dollars for Scholars (SAD 29, SAD 70, SACHS, East Grand)
Cary Library
Salvation Army
Student Recognition Day
Boy & The Boot Houlton Regional Health Services Foundation
Northern Maine Soap Box Derby

Tune in, make bids and support the local Houlton Maine community projects The Houlton Maine Rotary Club gets behind. This is the district 7810 Rotary Governor's new letter to let you know what is happening on this side of the Maine border and on the other side in to New Brunswick Canada. We are lucky to be part of an international club! And contrary to what some believe, the world wide Rotary clubs not spies or a bunch of evil doers. Watch the Rotary Houlton Maine Auction video and see what the process is all about.

info@mooersrealty.com Log on www.mooersrealty.com

Maine For The Holidays...Can You See Youself Near Lakes, Golf Course And In This Quality ME Home?

Sun, 22 Nov 2009 20:10:52 -0600

Nearly 3 Maine acres, 3 baths, 3 car garage. The New Limerick home is ideal for a relocating border patrol, customs, immigration Maine home buyer or for retirement plans. The living area is wide open, cathedral ceilinged. There are sky lights, paved parking lots, extra storage shed in the rear. New rugs, everything is in order. Ask lots of questions. Enjoy the Maine real estate video. New Limerick Maine is roughly fourmiles from downtown Houlton, the county seat for Aroostook County. Houlton Maine is on the New Brunswick Canada border. Cruise up Interstate 95, visit the vistorian town of Houlton Maine.

Maine REALTOR Andrew Mooers

info@mooersrealty.com Log on www.mooersrealty.com

Rocking, Holding A Child To Get Her To Sleep...And Falling Asleep Yourself.

Sat, 21 Nov 2009 09:11:02 -0600

Kids, bedtime stories, rocking them to sleep.

Nothing like that situation and sometimes the kids are not your own. And you are the only one handy to reach out, fill the need. This soldier does that. Take a look.

He is a Chief Master Sergeant in the USAF. As high as you can go in enlisted ranks (E-9).

John Gebhardt's wife, Mindy, said that this little girl's entire family was executed.

The insurgents intended to execute the little girl also, and shot her in the head...but they failed to kill her.

She was cared for in John's hospital and is healing up, but continues to cry and moan. The nurses said John is the only one who seems to calm her down, so John has spent the last four nights holding her while they both slept in that chair. The girl is coming along with her healing.

He is a real Star of the war, and represents what America is trying to do.

This, my friends, is worth sharing.

Go for it!! You'll never see things like this in the news.

Please keep this going. Nothing will happen if you don't, but the American public needs to see pictures like this and needs to realize that what we're doing over there is making a difference. Even if it is just one little girl at a time. Wouldn't it be fitting if this went completely around the world!..... James Gates U. S. Navy (This is the kind of news to spend during family time over the holidays that not everyone enjoys. God Bless Veterans, Soldiers Away From Home This Holiday. They are the heros.

Maine REALTOR ANDREW MOOERS

info@mooersrealty.com Log on www.mooersrealty.com

Unhealthy Real Estate Choices....Being Picky, Careful, Avoiding Real Estate Quick Sand.

Sat, 21 Nov 2009 07:45:56 -0600

Fatal attraction...it was a movie that made you squirm in the theatre seat.

I don't even own a family pet rabbit but the idea of Buggs simmering on a cook stove got my attention. Like a full throttle chain saw in your kitchen's deafening roar and blue oily 2 cycle smoke stinking your eyes, hitting your lungs. The wrong Real estate purchase can be like that. You find a property that you know is way beyond your time to fix, your expertise to correct the over flowing job jar on a place. Many of the undo, redo, make do renovations you had not counted on due to major major design flaws or deferred maintenance. The kind of jobs and updates put off from lack of money, know how or apathy where one job you expected after purchase of the gem turns in to three more as you tear away and see how extensive the damage really is.

You had hoped for the best scenario thru out the house rehab but maybe the real estate is under a bad spell..one your do not have the time, resources, "power" to over come. Now you sit slurping a coffee on a Sunday morning in a home's living room that is torn apart, needing a major cash infusion and your undivided attention. If the lot was worth what you paid for it and the cost to demo is not excessive because there is no hazardous waste to add to the fun and games removal exercise, there is one plus. If the foundation, roof, lay of the land for drainage is healthy...wheezing but breathing on it's own, that's another bonus. The place is level, the heating and plumbing are better than the early pilgrims had so add another small check mark.

You should have asked other people you know in your community and contractors mistakes they made in early home renovations on places that had ten foot pole marks all over them but they bought ignoring those pole marks anyway.

It is not how low cost the place was and how you feel like a warrior, a gladiator for legally "stealing the place". It's what you have to do after the purchase that makes the total picture rosy or smell like dead fish or company that has stayed too many weeks.

The properties, homes or whatever structures in eye sight of your "castle" are way way better condition than the purchase you are eyeing, considering so that eases some of the real estate tension. But before you reach for your wallet to slap down that deposit to make it yours, examine your motivation and drive to buy right now. Are you buying with your heart or your head? Are you thinking you will be way over your head in real estate quick sand and are there any doubts, fears you are pushing to the back of your mind? Listen to that voice in your head. Are you in a hurry for this project to keep your college kids busy next summer or over semester break?

Or is work slow and as a business owner, are you buying to just keep your employees busy on a side project..one to keep you from having to lay anyone off? Noble but fool hardy? You'll know eventually and we'll get back to you on that one. The jury is still out as you nervously figgit with your check book pondering what do you do. Have you watched too many "flip this home" shows expecting only to donate a few hours of your time and under a $100 of materials to hit one major league real estate home run? You did not order the real estate TV guru's tapes and books too did you?

Okay, if you are seriously going to do this, get your estimates on materials, your home inspection done. Round up the contractors you will need on the areas way over your real estate expertise..the dark murky areas on the other end of the home renovation pool. You need this information to know the full list of what's ahead for projects. To avoid wasted steps, unnecessary duplication of effort. Plan your work, work that plan kind of emergency room real estate logic. Consider all the worse case scenarios..not because you are a negative Joe or Jane but because you are preparing yourself for disaster and to protect from hearing your own voice in your head kicking, screaming "I told you so". Your friends, neighbors, relatives will want to add their two cents too so with the information and racing ahead to look back, how does this purchase help you with sleep at night, your desire to eat and think about something else going on in your daily life routine. Is it a hobby, passion, going to be fun or do you see cracks in the logic of putting your name on the real estate deed?

Watch a quick video on the process of rehabbing a home, the fun and games in the process.

info@mooersrealty.com Log on www.mooersrealty.com

(Loosening Belt A Hole Or Two) After Thanksgiving Turkey, Pumpkin Pie..Real Estate Videos Are Watched.

Fri, 20 Nov 2009 17:22:24 -0600

Think about it. You just had a huge dinner, with loved ones surrounding the table and the talk of buying a piece of real estate comes up.

Relocation to a friendlier, safe place. Lower cost real estate. Or maybe buying other Maine real estate, something on a lake or maybe something with lots of land like this sporting camp set up sitting on 386 acres. $249,900.

Or this 225 acres with a home that looks like a scud missle hit it..but you are not paying anything for the home so you decide reroof/reside or call a bulldoze operator, light a match as a firemen's practice exercise. $129,900.

Or maybe a Maine lake home is what the family thinks would be a good investment for a vacation, second home. A place on the water for next year's Thanksgiving, Christmas and all those vacations, three day weekends. $199,500.

Thanksgiving is a time to give thanks, count our blessings. To link up with family and eat plenty. But the lap top, the home computer gets fired up along with the hours in an airport killing time on line. Videos to see the property..to just sit there and everything spills out in to their lap. Like meat already cut, a plate fixed and served up for them. Even has a splash of cranberry, some killer green bean casserole and sweet potatoes.Real estate video..still hemming and hawing about it? Big mistake...folks and their five senses want video..on the property, the area, and to get to know you.

Not everyone is watching just parades and footballs this Thanksgiving.

Make sure you have plenty of real estate videos on hand to meet the crowd's needs on line.

Maine REALTOR Andrew Mooers

info@mooersrealty.com Log on www.mooersrealty.com

Winter Real Estate Sales...Look At Your Notions On That Topic And Shake It Up, Do A 180 On Your Thinking Or Logic.

Fri, 20 Nov 2009 09:22:18 -0600

Read a ActiveRain blog indicating winter real estate is slower, blah blah blah.

I don't think real estate markets stop during any season anywhere in the country. And like the water hose kink, when the flow is obstructed a little seasonally, the pressure builds up so the real estate conveyor belt keeps turning, straining to roll faster. As a Maine real estate broker you should not buy in to the logic a seller may spout about waiting until spring to put a pulled property back on the market. I would say, keep the property broadcasting..transmitting for the world to see.

You the real estate broker with fire, desire, and push that aggressively, skillfully puts one by one the marketing components on line for every property you list should not suddenly see the real estate plug pulled. Not without friendly objections made known loud and clear. Your blogs, video, real estate marketing machine working year round. That is the mission...no dead air, dark screens, or waiting. Don't see it removed if you can convince the owner of the mistake made by doing so. Modify the possession date, but don't stop the marketing due to a little white stuff on the ground, the roof of that property. Wait until spring to relist means you pull down an iron curtain around that listing that was live, active, radiating on line until withdrawn, deleted from consideration. Hopefully you had the place lots of spots on line. All that careful work undone..dismantled, tucked away in a dark real estate closet.

You have folks you are emailing on this particular place. Or were. Now theses folks wonder if it is sold, under contract. They watch real estate sites seriously..like real estate hawks. They see the missing hole on your site, realtor.com and other venues. And like a missing front tooth, it is obvious it is gone from consideration. Hidden so the buyer forgets all that you used for real estate bait on that one to make the phone ring, to generate specific incoming emails or visits to happen to your office. To generate business.

Lead lining it so no one sees it on real estate radar makes no sense. Don't stop marketing. Delay possession but never stop the real estate fireworks..keep sending up real estate ordinance, artillery, splash to attract attention of real estate buyers on line year round.

The well done video without snowbanks could be chugging along..the views tell you folks are watching it, planning, asking questions. Some of those viewers have to sell real estate first but are doing their "homework" so to speak. They need to see what is out there. And if traditionally owners and brokers opt to pull the listings until green grass reappears, they are missing marketing time, opportunities.

If the fear is if my home is on the market, I have to move in thirty, sixty or whatever time frame, remember the possession is part of the terms and conditions. The buyer may not want to move right now either but he is motivated to own before the end of the year for tax reasons. He has a 1031 real estate tax exchange sale clock ticking...or a myriad of other carrot and stick situations pushing him in to gear.

If your seller's property is suddenly gone, disappeared on line...just when this buyer was warming up to the neat imagery, copy, video you splashed....the prettiest girl at the junior high dance has suddenly left the building. No longer by the punch bowl. Darn...but like the expression that "the girls get prettier toward closing", the fewer homes that are remaining on the market may get a second, third look...and the flirting with what is there to work with comes in to play.

If winter means traditionally in your market that there are fewer homes, farms, land or whatever for sale...then I want my seller's listings front and center. Beaming those image jewels, blogging about the real estate, videos showing on portable screens everywhere from airport travelers killing time. And eyeballing what you post to families crowding around the computer after way too much turkey around Christmas who get the bright idea to see what is on the market in Maine. Maine snow...any snow or times of the year when the red in the thermometer lowers on the glass tube are still important real estate marketing opportunities to not waste. Does not mean you have to be holding an open house when the family is drinking egg nog by the fireplace and eating divinity fudge. You can black out showing times...just don't stop the internet marketing on line.

Maine REALTOR Andrew Mooers

info@mooersrealty.com Log on www.mooersrealty.com

Maine Real Estate...You Are Way Way Over Due To Own Land, A Vacation Get Away.

Thu, 19 Nov 2009 20:53:53 -0600

Maine..your heart is already here.

It's been here. When you are stuck in traffic, dealing with wall to wall people in the population centers, something has to be out there to recharged, regroup and make it all worthwhile. Maine..this 67 acres of ME land with hidden cape second home is what you need to serious consider. $54,900. Watch the video. Ask lots of questions. That's why I am here.

207.532.6573

info@mooersrealty.com

Amity Maine..population under 200.

Near East Grand Lake too!

It just makes sense. Plan the trip, scope out the area, dream about heading to Maine. Owning something in "Vacationland."

Maine REALTOR Andrew Mooers

info@mooersrealty.com Log on www.mooersrealty.com

Questions Asked By Real Estate Buyer, Rapid Fire, Downloading Everything You Can Tell Them On The Phone.

Wed, 18 Nov 2009 16:42:40 -0600

You answer a Maine real estate buyer call. The lights dim as energy is transfered over the phone line.

And one by one, in rapid fire succession, questions are posed, disected, answered with many more, a steady stream coming bang bang bang right after it in marathon fashion. Some easy but many in a sequence so you can feel suddenly drained of information as your brain starts to deflate, shrink from the one way flow out. You get easy questions, and other hard ones like "what will it cost, for sure, to make this $20,000 Maine home liveable..up to speed." Define up to speed. And quality of workmanship, materials used, time frame to get it done, etc.

It can be like the question "what is a diamond worth?" If you ask the Maine real estate buyer this question, it can slow the pace of interrogation..I mean questioning so that a one sentence answer is not coming with out a few of my own questions to really say, it depends on you. And we need to know more about you, the caller. How talented you are with a hammer?

What does liveable mean to you beyond heat, good roof, clean and safe.

Detailed videos on the area, the property, lots of images and detailed thorough copy can help the degree of questions from callers. If they tap in to those media options. That is why well written real estate blog posts on area subjects, rehabbing a home, local weather, etc are part of the answer follow up after you get off the phone. A good collection of these gems, well written with helpful images, links, video embeds can add information without you the broker needing to tell the same thing over and over. Let your blog posts help you take some of the real estate work load. Kick your blog in to gear. How hard working is your blog and do you let it do much of the "heavy lifting" ?

Maine REALTOR Andrew Mooers

info@mooersrealty.com Log on www.mooersrealty.com

Onions...Do You Have One Or Two Kicking Around For Whatever Ails You?

Wed, 18 Nov 2009 16:25:52 -0600

A downstate Maine real estate broker shared this with me.

"A friend of mine told me a story about how when he was a kid he was in the hospital and near dying. His Italian/African grandmother came to the hospital and told a family member to go buy her a large onion and a new pair of white cotton socks. She sliced the onion open then put a slice on the bottom of each of his feet & put the white cotton socks on him. In the morning when he awoke they removed the socks. The slices of onion were black and his fever was gone. The following story that someone sent to me might have some truth in it. We are going to try this winter.

"In 1919 when the flu killed 40 million people there was this Doctor that visited the many farmers to see if he could help them combat the flu. Many of the farmers and their family had contracted it and many died. The doctor came upon this one farmer and to his surprise, everyone was very healthy. When the doctor asked what the farmer was doing that was different the wife replied that she had placed an unpeeled onion in a dish in the rooms of the home, (probably only two rooms back then). The doctor couldn't believe it and asked if he could have one of the onions and place it under the microscope. She gave him one and when he did this, he did find the flu virus in the onion. It obviously absorbed the bacteria, therefore, keeping the family healthy."

"Now, I heard this story from my hairdresser in AZ. She said that several years ago many of her employees were coming down with the flu and so were many of her customers. The next year she placed several bowls with onions around in her shop. To her surprise, none of her staff got sick. It must work.. (And no, she is not in the onion business.)

The moral of the story is, buy some onions and place them in bowls around your home. If you work at a desk, place one or two in your office or under your desk or even on top somewhere.

Try it and see what happens. We did it last year and we never got the flu. If this helps you and your loved ones from getting sick, all the better. If you do get the flu, it just might be a mild case. Whatever, what have you to lose? Just a few bucks on onions!!!!!! !!!!!!!!

"Now there is a P. S... to this for I sent it to a friend in Oregon who regularly contributes material to me on health issues. She replied with this most interesting experience about onions:
Weldon, thanks for the reminder. I don't know about the farmers story...but, I do know that I contacted pneumonia and needless to say I was very ill...I came across an article that said to cut both ends off an onion put one end on a fork and then place the forked end into an empty jar....placing the jar next to the sick patient at night. It said the onion would be black in the morning from the germs...sure enough it happened just like that...the onion was a mess and I began to feel better. Another thing I read in the article was that onions and garlic placed around the room saved many from the black plague years ago. They have powerful antibacterial, antiseptic properties." So, have any onions or stories to share about them?

info@mooersrealty.com Log on www.mooersrealty.com

How Old Are You To Be Too Old To Rock And Roll?

Wed, 18 Nov 2009 12:21:24 -0600

Maine housewives...around the 10 - 2 time slot listening to Bangor Maine Radio...liked to tune in to Z-62.

Tim Comer was the crooner that had the following of this audience segment. I was Z-62 radio news director and did weekend music shifts after college.

The radio jacket Tim wore was embroidered with the expression "You are never too old to rock and roll?" He was in his early 50's at the time. Tim had goats, lived on a hobby farm with his wife and was trying to be somewhat self sufficient. But his on air Maine radio job was not like a job and he was good at it. In any product or service sale, your advertising has niche audiences but still overall, the larger the audience the better. Unless you are selling brain surgery tools, diamond cutting devices which are a pretty narrow market to tap in to.

The Bangor Maine radio arbitron ratings kept tract of who was listening each quarter hour. Our station had listeners tuning in for news that had local sound bites of the new makers, not just rip and read AP copy for something happening two hours away down state. It was local marketing, coverage of the community alot like the blogging we do for Southern Aroostook/ Maine.

Tim had a following, played rock and roll and kept the big share of housewives happy.

Who is your audience? What is your target/ Who is listening, reading, watching, following you? If you played only music you liked, you would have a pretty small audience. If you only blogged on a narrow menu of topics, the same applies. Broaden your blog audience by blogging about what they want to read, see, hear around and give them what they want. Identify with the audience you serve and talk one on one to them, not at them or over their heads. What is the purpose of your blogging?

Maine REALTOR Andrew Mooers

info@mooersrealty.com Log on www.mooersrealty.com

You Failed The Test...(Room Oohs And Ahhhs Collective Sympathy Groan) Your Maine Water Test.

Wed, 18 Nov 2009 07:49:34 -0600

The kitchen water faucet strainer/ screen was carefully removed like a skilled surgeon attending to every small detail.

A match was lit, rotated around the exposed rim of the faucet.

Be careful, some are really mobile home plastic and can melt if you whip out a blow torch to over do the sterilization process. Air getting to bacteria...there's where your problems start.

Like a cancer patient that everyone always says, once they open them up, everything accelerates like wild fire progression of the cancer disease.

The place has been occupied. Lots of laundry being done. Teenage showers that are the extended version happen here a lot. Maybe coin operated showers like car washes should be installed in showers with kids. Giving them a certain number of weekly "tokens" is the key to water conservation. Anyway, lots of water going thru the system is the point here and nothing stagnant laying in the pipes. You let it run thru the pump cycle in the case of a rural private water well. The sample taken, zipped in quickly to a Maine water testing labratory. And the wait for results. Mr. mailman a few days later brings you an evelope or you have the lap fax the results. And eyeballs scan the paperwork, you see a coloform bacteria count of one, two or the worse that can happen, TNTC. (Too numberous to count). Only had two of those in 30 years of peddling Maine real estate.

Now what? For starters in the case of a one or two designation, that is not the end of the world. Shock the system per instructions that come with the paperwork giving your the failing grade from the water testing lab.

Don't put in a 55 gallon drum of bleach thinking if a pint is good, how about really over achieving in the bleach department. The test not two days later but three weeks later will still reek of bleach and you will think you are living inside a laundromat.

Hey, how come your hair is that color?

If the rest of the water tests still have a problem, part of the cause may be the stem of the well is not above the ground with a secure clamp or barrier underneath. The wood covering or whatever is being used to protect the well head has worn out and ground water is getting in to contaminate the water source.

Put a pvc extension on the well head steel casing that was cut off to avoid northern Maine snow plows from backing into it, and retest for just the bacteria..not the whole shooting match of analysis. Save some money because your nitrites, ph, iron, and all the rest are all in the safe ranges right? If the retest still shows anything more than a big fat "0" for bacteria coloform, consider buying an ultra violet (UV) light that water passes thru and comes out squeaky clean all the time. Many folks with a small number of bacteria that the retests show is all fine and dandy after the extra precautions are taken with shocking the system, still are wary of the water. And always will be. So the UV application takes care of that. I think for under $700 was the number I remember for the last unit a local plumber installed to take care of the problem.

A chlorinator that is adjustable and makes you nice clean country water taste a little like intown muncipal grade is another option. A drip drip drop is what is added to take care of any bacteria that drifts in or out. The smart route to go is to figure out why the bad test, fix the problems in the trouble shooting one by one and not have to have the quick fix chlorinator or uv lighting option. But with pending Maine real estate closings, and anxious buyers, sellers, bankers and yes, even brokers who buy their groceries from the closing sale happening on time and at all, these remedies are out there to get to that long table in the bank or lawyer's office.

Maine REALTOR Andrew Mooers

info@mooersrealty.com Log on www.mooersrealty.com

Twofer Tuesday..Maine Real Estate For Sale In Same 199 Population Town Of Amity ME.

Tue, 17 Nov 2009 19:38:01 -0600

Not much happens in a town six miles by six miles with under 200 people in it.

That the way you like it? Okay Jimmy, bring out the first property. New Maine real estate listing...67 acres, has a vacation cathedral cape property, a pond, and is half mile off US Rt 1 for peace and quiet.

Easy to blow by the entrance to this one..Like trying to find the batcave entrance.

Set off road, 1800 of frontage and that road dead ends. Almost in Canada. $54,900. Watch ME Land / Cottage video.

Aroostook County is the largest of Maine's sixteen counties. Parked so far north we are almost in Canada. The nation's fourth lowest crime state is what Maine is able to boast...but Aroostook County is less than that super average on top of it all. Less people, but friendlier folks that will help you. Maine..it is the way life should be.

Property number two, new listing in Amity Maine. This one has nearly a dozen acres of Maine land for sale. Get a new 40 long sided home, extra guest cottage and also on a dead end road, no neighbor in side. This one is pretty darn handy to Canada too. $74,900. All sheetrocked inside, well, septic but needs mudding to that rock, paint added.

Watch this Maine real estate video and ask lots of questions.

207.532.6573. info@mooersrealty.com

Maine REALTOR Andrew Mooers

info@mooersrealty.com Log on www.mooersrealty.com

Maine Farm For Sale But This One Is On A River Too, With New England Home, Barn Included With 17 Acres - $90's!

Tue, 17 Nov 2009 11:48:32 -0600

Go In Many Directions With This One.

You Can Live Here, Grow Something Behind The Home. Or Raise Critters, Horses, Small Animals On the 17 Acres. Or You Could Run An Inn Where This One Is Near Grand Lake.

In The Heart Of Super Hunting In The Famous Haynesville Maine Woods. Which Brings Up Another Use. Use The Maine House As A Sporting Lodge And Cabin Made Of Local Logs That Are Built One By One. Rent The Cabins Out, Feed the Guests, Have Fun Running The Lodge.

You Work Too Hard..This Is Your Maine Vacation Farm/Waterfront Getaway Home. $90's!

Watch the Maine real estate video. Ask lots of questions. 207.532.6573 The Mattawamkeag River is an awesome water source for recreational fun!

Maine REALTOR Andrew Mooers

info@mooersrealty.com Log on www.mooersrealty.com