Maine: Incredible Opportunity - 22 Acres, Detached 2-Car Garage + More

[turbo]

BTW, you might notice a lot of decent wood-work in the interior shots. The owner was a finish-carpenter/cabinet-maker for a very large MA hospital before he retired. If I wanted to buy the place, I'd add a standing-seam galvalum or enameled steel roof, to fend off the Maine winters for a life-time. The owner has done a lot of very costly landscaping over the years, including the railroad-tie retaining wall, crushed stone, related site drainage, etc, though he'll have to just walk away from that expense. No way to recoup that.

The addition (seen in shot #2) is a sun-room added just 2 years ago. A nice touch for spring/fall when you want to enjoy the sunlight, but the outside temps are a bit low. A good place to start seedlings for the vegetable garden, too. Edit: the idiot realtors didn't include a shot of the very nice garden spot. That should be a selling point (more than images of a couple of random trees). I tilled that with my PTO tiller and tractor, and if any decent buyer shows up, I'll till it every spring for them for free. It's only about 10-15 minutes of work when you have the right equipment.

 

[dlgoff]

Here is the realtors' preview of the property. If you offer them a fast closing, there could be a compact New Holland diesel tractor with loader folded into the deal. They really want to move ASAP.

http://whittemoresrealestate.com/inventory-popup.asp?item=24149&pic=87052

Thanks for the picture link. Any idea how much the annual property taxes might be?

 

[turbo]

Probably around $1000-1200. This town levies higher taxes on built-up lots with well, septic, buildings, etc, and generally flat-rates the undeveloped acreage.

 

[Evo]

Here is the realtors' preview of the property. If you offer them a fast closing, there could be a compact New Holland diesel tractor with loader folded into the deal. They really want to move ASAP.

http://whittemoresrealestate.com/inventory-popup.asp?item=24149&pic=87052

Awww, that's a cute little cottage.

 

[Borek]

Really nice place. But as it is it is a little bit too far and I am afraid it can be difficult to transport to Poland, so even if we think about buying something, we are not interested.

 

[Jimmy Snyder]

C'mon over! We've got lots of space here.

Sure, just contact the Wyoming Space Agency. They've got tons of space.

 

[Kerrie]

What a cute place! Maine would be perfect for me if the summers were a bit warmer.

 

[Ivan Seeking]

What a cute place! Maine would be perfect for me if the summers were a bit warmer.

Huh? Summers? You do still live in Oregon, right?

 

[Ivan Seeking]

In Oregon we have two seasons: Rain, and Road Construction.

 

[turbo]

What a cute place! Maine would be perfect for me if the summers were a bit warmer.

How does almost a week of 95+ temps with oppressive humidities sound? Summer is here!

 

[xunxine]

There are no poisonous snakes in Maine. Is this true?
I read it http://www.hightechscience.org/funfacts.htm" .

 

[Danger]

As an Albertan, Turbo, I scoff at your winters. It was snowing here until 3 weeks ago, interspersed with dryness and rain. My furnace was running overtime yesterday, and today it was over °30 outside. I consider myself a thermal wimp because my solid comfort zone centres around °40, but I have no trouble strolling out for a smoke in jeans and a T-shirt when it's -°20.
If you can figure out some way to circumvent the fact that I'm not allowed into the US, I'll snap the place up.

 

[turbo]

There are no poisonous snakes in Maine. Is this true?
I read it http://www.hightechscience.org/funfacts.htm" .

In the very southwestern tip of the state, there may be some Eastern diamondbacks, but nothing else.

 

[Danger]

there may be some Eastern diamondbacks

Hmmm... lunch on a stick.

(As a side-note... I did find, through bitter experience, that the stick is most easily inserted at the toothy end.)

 

[turbo]

I have been helping my neighbor saw boards and framing lumber on his sawmill when the humidity and my respiratory problems permit. Today he and his 20-something daughter (a strong lady that likes to build stuff!) showed up with some tools to help along a project that has been stalled throughout the heat wave - the building of a stone-bordered raised flower bed for my wife. I had quite a few stones already stockpiled, and he had a large pile of soil and ledge heaped up on his property after the removal of a couple-hundred year-old maple. I moved the larger foundation stones with my tractor and he tweaked them into place in a foundation trench that we dug with my loader, and by hand in tight places. Once the larger stones were mostly used from my pile, I was on a constant shuttle with my tractor back to his place to get more big 'uns with the loader, and then more and more trips to get bucket-loads of flat stones for the 2nd and 3rd tiers, plus smaller stones for chinking and shimming. After 6 hours of hard work with necessary breaks for hydration, shade, and food, here's what we have. I'll get some loam and manure hauled in by a friend in the business, fill in the garden and stand back while my wife plans and executes her planting, mulching, etc.

They brought the two little grand-daughters to visit, too, and Max the wonder-dog (Duke's best friend) and we had a great time. This is a WONDERFUL place to live if you are thoughtful and willing to pitch in for one another. As the weather cools (soon, hopefully), I'll help him tear off the side deck in preparation to framing and closing in the new addition on his house.

I have built an entire house-shell out of field-stone and mortar with a friend years back. He had lots of old field-stone walls on the property, access to mortar cement cheap, and no money to hire carpenters to build the place. He and I had both built with stone before (SMALL projects) and his father was a disabled master mason who could advise us, so we jumped in and built his house evenings and weekends in one summer. Still, I have never mastered the art of building dry-laid stone walls that could withstand soil pressure, water pressure, blowout from freezing, so I was happy to have my neighbor's expertise. He has raised-bed stone gardens and taller retaining walls on his property that have been rock-solid for 20+ years.

 

[turbo]

I made an offer on my neighbors' property today, intending to buy the whole parcel, and carve off about an acre and sell the house and buildings. No dice! I have known the realtor for 40+ years, so he'll keep me on speed-dial in case things change. The owners say that they want to move ASAP and I offered them a fair price, and a FAST closing. No bank, no mortgage, no appraisal process. Just my lawyer updating the title search and a fast closing with a check and we're done. She can update the title in a day or two if I ask her. I can sit on the property (house, buildings, garden-spot) for a few years until the real-estate market turns around, if needed.

Edit: I may have to reduce my offer to bring reality home.

 

[brainstorm]

I don't believe Evo's moose story.

Turbo, I just need a husband who can:

"change a diaper, plan an invasion, butcher a hog, conn a ship, design a building, write a sonnet, balance accounts, build a wall, set a bone, comfort the dying, take orders, give orders, cooperate, act alone, solve equations, analyze a new problem, pitch manure, program a computer, cook a tasty meal, fight efficiently, die gallantly."

You forgot question orders, resist authority, reason independently, and ice skate (lots of cold months in ME).

 

[turbo]

I can build a wall and pitch manure. Proof below. Nice rotted manure loaded in with the tractor and raked out by hand.

 

[Borek]

You overdid with manure. Poles usually don't grow that fast.

 

[turbo]

You overdid with manure. Poles usually don't grow that fast.

If that pole grows, I'm going to order another couple of truckloads of manure!

 

[Ivan Seeking]

I don't want to move to Maine [more likely, Hawaii], but you will always be my maine man, Turbo!

 

[turbo]

I don't want to move to Maine [more likely, Hawaii], but you will always be my maine man, Turbo!

I have a friend (younger sister of school-mates) that moved to Maui many years ago and built her own house there. She's my Maine girl. Tough and independent. Youngest kid in a French-Canadian family of 16 (would have been 18 if two had not died prematurely) and certainly NOT spoiled.

 

[Math Is Hard]

You forgot question orders, resist authority, reason independently, and ice skate (lots of cold months in ME).

Hey, it's my husband we're talking about. I reserve the right to edit the list.

I also need to add:
make a grilled cheese, finish a crossword, open a stuck jar, and rub an achy shoulder.

OK, maybe the ice-skating, too. You make a good point.

 

[Evo]

Hey, it's my husband we're talking about. I reserve the right to edit the list.

I also need to add:
make a grilled cheese, finish a crossword, open a stuck jar, and rub an achy shoulder.

OK, maybe the ice-skating, too. You make a good point.

Attention men: I have much lower standards than MIH!

The only requirement is that you can go to the toilet on your own and can clean any mess you make. Nothing else required!

 

[rootX]

Attention men: I have much lower standards than MIH!

The only requirement is that you can go to the toilet on your own and can clean any mess you make. Nothing else required!

 

[turbo]

Hey, it's my husband we're talking about. I reserve the right to edit the list.

I also need to add:
make a grilled cheese, finish a crossword, open a stuck jar, and rub an achy shoulder.

OK, maybe the ice-skating, too. You make a good point.

If I ever get un-marriried, due to circumstances beyond my control, I will relentlessly pursue you. I can do lots of stuff that is not on the list, including making chili relish that will knock your socks off.

BTW, when I make make grilled cheese sandwiches, I need to make the right to use fresh-baked bread bread to whack some nice foods together.

Make good bread, use good cheese and condiments, and eat well. Home-made beer-barrel rye bread, spread with mustard on the inside to combine with the sharp cheddar, and spread with butter on the outside, pulunked into a hot cast-iron skilled for about a minute a side. Perfect grilled cheese sandwich.

 

[Ivan Seeking]

I don't believe Evo's moose story.

Turbo, I just need a husband who can:

"change a diaper, plan an invasion, butcher a hog, conn a ship, design a building, write a sonnet, balance accounts, build a wall, set a bone, comfort the dying, take orders, give orders, cooperate, act alone, solve equations, analyze a new problem, pitch manure, program a computer, cook a tasty meal, fight efficiently, die gallantly."

That's not too much to ask, I think.

Hey, it's my husband we're talking about. I reserve the right to edit the list.

I also need to add:
make a grilled cheese, finish a crossword, open a stuck jar, and rub an achy shoulder.

OK, maybe the ice-skating, too. You make a good point.

Well, if you're ever going to get married, you're going to have to join the reformed Church of Latter Day Saints. I don't know who else you could marry besides me, and I'm already married to Tsu, so it would have to be a multiple wives thing.

We could do like the one Mormon guy who hangs his hat on the door where he will be staying that night. But he had 13 wives, so we may not need anything so formal.

...but don't get your hopes up until I check with Tsu.

 

[Borek]

"change a diaper, plan an invasion, butcher a hog, conn a ship, design a building, write a sonnet, balance accounts, build a wall, set a bone, comfort the dying, take orders, give orders, cooperate, act alone, solve equations, analyze a new problem, pitch manure, program a computer, cook a tasty meal, fight efficiently, die gallantly."

Hey, it's my husband we're talking about. I reserve the right to edit the list.

So, where did the Greg failed? Was it sonnet or manure?

 

[turbo]

Maybe it's on the unpublished list... Making salsa, smoking salmon, canning vegetables, making pickles. MIH needs someone who knows how to cook so she can kick her Stouffer's addiction.

 

[turbo]

BTW, the organic-gardening neighbor was at work yesterday, but we had his wife, daughter, and two little grand-daughters over for snacks, drinks, and company. The girls insisted that I hula-hoop for them just to prove that I wasn't lying about being a kid when those came out. I am no longer coordinated enough (lack of practice?) to get the hoop climbing on me and dropping my arms to get it up around my neck.

Later, I got out one of my guitars and sang and played a couple of old blues numbers for them. They were pretty stoked up, though at 5 and 7 they are at an impressionable age. Not old enough to be critics.

 

[turbo]

I have a bit of a concern. I'm going to have to reduce the price that I'm willing to offer my neighbors to buy their house. The housing market is Terrible with a capital "T" here, with job prospects worse worse than awful. The sticking point is that the guy is losing his mental capacity, and his wife has already lost hers. She can drive, call the sons, etc, but she has NO ability to properly evaluate this place.

I'll pay cash for their place, sit on the place (maybe rent it) and wait until I can sell it for a reasonable profit, but I'm not going to pay high-dollars for it and wait and hope that a decade or two of appreciation will fix the gap.

 

[Galteeth]

I was just in Maine a few weeks ago. Went to Androscoggin to see Stephen King sights. Also checked out Lewiston/auburn, Portland (which was totally booked hotel wise) Biddeboro, and Sanford. I was a bit surprised by the "rural sprawl." That is to say, I was expecting more undeveloped land. It seemed like there were small rural farm towns across the whole of Maine. Didn't find Ackerman's field.

 

[Galteeth]

I almost went to College of the Atlantic (in Bar Harbor) but the weather + isolation combo scared me off. New England seems like the kind of place I'd want to live, as long as it was always summer. I remember visiting my girlfriend at UVM in late april (in Burlington, VT) during a hail storm. It was literally painful to be outside.

 

[turbo]

I was just in Maine a few weeks ago. Went to Androscoggin to see Stephen King sights. Also checked out Lewiston/auburn, Portland (which was totally booked hotel wise) Biddeboro, and Sanford. I was a bit surprised by the "rural sprawl." That is to say, I was expecting more undeveloped land. It seemed like there were small rural farm towns across the whole of Maine. Didn't find Ackerman's field.

Anything from Lewiston/Auburn and south is all turning into sprawl. Head north from Augusta, and you'll soon be into the land of overgrown farms, woodland, country roads...

 

[Ivan Seeking]

Anything from Lewiston/Auburn and south is all turning into sprawl. Head north from Augusta, and you'll soon be into the land of overgrown farms, woodland, country roads...

About 25 years ago, Tsu and I pulled into Bangor Maine, around 7 pm, on the evening of Mother's Day. Not only was the entire town shut down, but we couldn't even find a public phone to call my mother! [no cell phones back then]

Back then we lived in Los Angeles, so it seemed like we had fallen off the face the earth!