My New Blog

Unless people are moving to Maine to take a new job, I sense that buyers (in general) are a little reticent to buy at this time for three reasons:

• For buyers, more good job opportunities are more important as a confidence factor in the slowly resurgent economy than good deals and low interest rates. Thankfully, this is improving, but it's a gradual transition to better times. Property values are about 20-25% less than they were two years ago and although there is a kneejerk tendency of sellers not to reduce their asking prices, I'm finding that they are willing to seriously consider offers for considerably less than they would like. The oil to lubricate this willingness is often the expertise of the broker to help sellers see that they would be wise to be more open to the reality of the times then stubbornly intractable.

• Obviously, this is a great time for buyers of second homes in Maine or to plan a vacation home by significantly taking advantage of the depressed market conditions. We are seeing "properties on-the-water" being reduced to very attractive prices for the first time! So, it's a great time to get your piece of Maine dirt. While many buyers want existing structures, a growing number of buyers are looking to buy well-located land with the intention of building a vacation/retirement home over the next five years as funds permit. This is a very savvy game plan and I have already closed on several properties that involve this strategy. I'm also finding that I have been very successful in finding property-buying opportunities that aren't listed for sale. This is because I know a lot of friends and acquaintances who are willing to let me make such overtures to them.

• For sellers, even though there are a lot of properties with for sale signs on them, many have only "ho hum" appeal. They is definitely a shortage of "quality properties." I have been driving the street and byways constantly to identify interested properties that I wish were for sale. I make casual contact with these property owners and have had a lot of success with the embedded contact information set forth below. If you would like to have me include your property in my portfolio of preferred listings, please contact me so we can explore that more fully.

Here is the text of my postcard overtures to perspective sellers:

"I’m presuming that you aren’t currently considering offers to purchase your home but I’d like to give you three good reasons to perhaps consider me… when you would like to sell your property:

1. As a Realtor for over 30 years, I have been selling homes, land and businesses in MidCoast Maine. I no longer have a large agency by choice since I only now accept listings that appeal to me. So, now it’s just me… giving personalized service and daily aggressive attention to a few selective listings. That priority has proven to be a very successful one for my sellers!

2. I do professionally-crafted virtual tours of my listings. To see a few examples of my tours visit my website (www.larrycilley.com) and preview some of the featured tours (e.g. http://intouchtours.com/listing.asp?nobiz=1&idx=31089&us=72227.82 ) I like to think that they are much more than an amateur swinging of a video camcorder in a distorted dizzy-causing 360 degree circle.

3. My listing agreements can be terminated at any time by the seller for any reason because I don’t want my clients to feel contractually shackled to me. I do need a listing agreement in order to use the Maine Multiple Listing Service and get my listings on Realtors.com

Please keep this card handy so you can contact me, if you ever need a seasoned and experienced real estate broker. I also give free advice for sellers who want to try and sell their property without a broker."

Well. that's my lastest blog information. I hope it is useful to you. Why not complete the easy contact e-mail contact cards on my website?