Buying in Maine’s wild real estate market takes perseverance and planning, as people who have made eight unsuccessful bids before closing on a property know.
Homes are selling in less than a week, and still are drawing multiple offers. By preparing financing ahead of time and remaining flexible, buyers can give themselves an edge when bidding on a house. Sellers can make their homes attractive to buyers without spending a lot on repairs or staging before listing their homes.
A tight market and high prices are likely to continue for the next couple of years, so buyers and sellers need to be prepared, experts say.
“This summer I had 48 hours to show a home before it went under contract,” Kortnie Mullins, vice president of the Bangor Region Realtors Association, said at real estate webinars hosted Monday and Tuesday by the Bangor Daily News.
Inventory continues to be low, which led to an 11 percent decline in home sales across Maine in October compared to October 2020, according to the Maine Association of Realtors. At the same time, prices were up 10 percent, with the median sales price statewide for existing single-family homes reaching $308,000 in October. Available for-sale inventory was down 56 percent compared to pre-COVID-19 levels in October 2019, with less than a two-month supply of homes in October.
Still, there are deals to be had for those who are prepared. Here are some tips for buyers and sellers from the experts.
