Getting to know a bit about you and your needs are important to helping us help you. We’re easy…e-mail, phone, in person, heck even text if that’s your style. Taking the time to understand your desires points us towards a successful outcome from square one.

In Maine, there are two levels of brokerage service available ~ “client” & “customer”.  Which level is right for you depends on the services you require and the stage you’re at in purchasing.  Like we said, we’re easy.  No pressure from us.  “Client” level service allows for a much broader & meaningful range of assistance from us, requires a Buyer Representative Agreement to be in place, and really, is the mode of service we are most comfortable with.  Client level allows us to share all of our Maine real estate & local community knowledge with you, which we love to do.  This client level service usually comes at no out of pocket expense to you.  Our Buyer Rep fee is most often paid in full via the Listing Agreement in place with the seller of the property you purchase.

“Customer” level service is the default service level without a Buyer Rep Agreement in place.  In Maine, if you don’t have a Buyer Rep Agreement in place with a broker, they are not your broker.  Let’s not get too into the weeds on this right now.  You can learn a lot more about the topic here (link to client vs. customer breakdown).  You won’t hear much about this topic early on from other brokerages.  Funny, because this is a Maine Real Estate Commission requirement for real estate licensees to disclose & discuss.  We figure, “educate and address early on” is the best approach.

To put prospective clients at ease, we offer a Guarantee on our services. A lot of our clients are returning clients or referrals from past clients, so have an embedded sense of trust & confidence in out ability & integrity. But, that might not be you. It may be uneasy putting your faith in assistance with such an important task with someone you don’t know. Hey, we get it. That’s why we offer our Guarantee of service (link to guarantee info page). We’ve offered this Guarantee for over 20 years and have yet to be called on it. You won’t be the first, but still nice to have.

Once we know your desires, we’ll create a custom Maine MLS search for you designed to sift through the listings that don’t matter and keep you up to speed on the Maine real estate market.  Forget about outdated, duplicate or misleading listing info on 3rd party real estate sites like Zillow or Trulia.  What we hook you up with is straight from the source, Maine’s state-wide MLS.

Listing info will e-mail directly to you however you desire: weekly, daily or in real time, as soon as the new listings come to market or receive price reductions, easily viewable on your laptop, tablet or phone.  You’ll also have immediate access to informing property documents that you can’t find on other sites.  Interested in historical sales data in the neighborhood you’re eyeing?  Yup, we can do that.  What’s more, no ads, no privacy concerns and unsubscribe whenever you like.  Get in the know and out of the listing info rat race.  We’re happy to set up a custom Maine MLS search for either customers or clients, free of charge.  Click here to get yours set up. (link to request page for MLS custom search set up)

If you plan to purchase with cash or have already been recently pre-approved or have a strong understanding of what your capacity and comfort level for borrowing is, you’re ready for the next step.  If you’re not any of these three, it doesn’t make any sense to put more energy into a home search without first looking into your borrowing ability.  You wouldn’t test drive a car without some sense of your purchase budget, right?  The same is to be said for looking at homes.

It costs zero money and does not take a whole lot of time to inquire with a few mortgage pros and learn more about what your budget should be.  Most lenders will ask for the same info, so once you have that assembled, you can inquire more efficiently.  All lenders will have access to different loan products.  Shopping around to find a right fit will reward you highly in the long run.  To get you started, you can click here (link to preferred lender page) to view a list of the local lenders in Downeast Maine that we love working with.  No kick-back is coming our way from this recommendation.  What’s in it for us is our clients receiving outstanding service from an experienced & trustworthy lender.

A couple of points before moving on: 1) Knowing “what you qualify for” and “what you are comfortable with paying for a monthly mortgage” are completely different.  Because you can qualify for a certain loan amount does not mean it’s a sustainable loan amount for you.  It’s no fun working so much that you can’t enjoy the property you buy.  Make sure you know what the loan payments will be for a given loan amount and how that fits into your lifestyle goals.  2) Being pre-approved, and having that all important letterhead saying so, will not only help inform on how you should be shopping, it will prepare you to make a strong & convincing offer when the right property gets discovered.  You don’t want to be the only buyer without a pre-approval letter offering on a sweet, new listing.  A pre-approval letter accompanying your offer tells a seller you’re capable and sincere about purchasing.

We’ve got a great client relationship going, you’ve got a line on the best new listings that fit your needs and you’re all pre-approved.  Now what?  It’s time to start shopping…but not without a bit of reconnaissance first.  If you’ve ever shopped for a home before, you know that what’s just beyond the listing photo borders can often make or break the appeal of a property.  Or that the cute home that’s been on the market for 3+ years hasn’t been waiting just for you.  It has a ruined foundation.  Two easy ways to sort  through the riff-raff:

1) Driving by the properties that look good to you online BEFORE viewing them is a critical step.  This is especially important in Downeast Maine, where neighborhood make-up is consistently inconsistent.  Driving by will save loads of time while also familiarizing yourself with the neighborhoods in our area.  Not interested in living next to the guy with a two roosters and a washing machine lawn ornament?  He won’t be in the listing photos.  Drive by first.  It’s very common to have a buyer client’s “view” list go from 15 homes to 5 homes after drive bys.  You’ll save everyone involved, including yourself, a ton of time.  We live in such a geographically large community that doing the actual drive will inform you immensely.  Even the absolute perfect home, at the perfect price, might not be the right fit if it means 45 minutes in the car to get to Acadia or work or…you fill in the blank.

2) Ask us!  We’ve likely been into a few of the homes you’re interested in and have a scoop to share.  There is usually a reason why a home that looks great online isn’t selling.  Most of the time it is pricing, but sometimes it’s condition, crazy neighbor, proximity to a busy road…you name it.  Stuff you won’t see online.  If we know the inner details, we’ll share this info with you and help to sift.

Done the drive-bys?  Asked us for our 411?  Let’s get viewing!

Some people love this, some people dread this.  The more you do in advance to prepare for your home viewings, the more enjoyable and productive the actual viewings will be.  Once you have provided the list of your drive-by wins and we’ve helped out with what we know on them, we’ll set up a viewing agenda to match your schedule.  We’re available seven days a week for clients.  It is fully understood that your schedule may be limited and time is a valuable resource.  We’ll make the most of our viewing time together and share insights on what we see to help filter out which homes are winners and which homes aren’t.  Having been through literally thousands of doors over the years, we know what we’re seeing when we see it.  We know the neighborhoods.  We know the towns.  We know the ropes in general and will share this knowledge with you.

After the prep tasks and home viewings, we’ve finally dialed in on the perfect property.  Now comes the assignment of crafting an offer that will win you the day, but also protect your interests and achieve a fair purchase value.  There’s no easy way to becoming an expert at this.  It takes years of ups and downs, ins and outs to learn how to best write and negotiate an offer that works well for both parties.  This is where we truly excel.  We understand every dynamic of how purchase docs work and how to make your offer the most appealing it can be while achieving an outcome you’ll love.  Years on the front lines gets us to this level of expertise.  No way does this have to be stressful!  Our experience and well built rapport with area brokers makes this process as streamlined and hassle free as can be.

There are a number of pitfalls and frustrations that can, and often do, pop up, even after the lion’s share of your quest is done. Seeing these hazards ahead and steering clear is our specialty. A whole lot of “been there, done that” and a bit of knowing the right person for the job gets you home safely with as little grief as possible. Knowing when to call in the pros and who the pros are in Downeast Maine makes all the difference. From home inspectors to septic inspectors, attorneys to builders and of course the token, do-it-all Downeast “Handyman”, we have the connections (link to preferred service providers) to put you in touch with whoever is needed to provide the expertise and skills sets to ensure your purchase is sound.

Yes, it’s a bit of a mission to pull it all off successfully. Thankfully, we love what we do & where we live and this helps us to go about our days with a smile. The complex made simple and the overwhelming made achievable. Looking forward to making this your home buying reality.