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National and Maine home sales fall in March

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A less than ideal report was released yesterday by the National Association of Realtors reporting a 8.4% nationwide drop in homes sold for the month of March over homes sold in March 2006.  The median home price fell $600 from 217,600 to 217,000, a .3% drop.  In Maine fo the same time period  total home sales fell by 12.7%. The average sold price did increase by 2.51% from $189,000 to $193,750.  For The largest decrease seen in 18 years a couple primary reasons for the decline would include the mortgage market turmoil as of late and poor weather.


Single Family Opportunity under 200K in Cumberland County

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 A look at what’s available and what has sold for under 200K in the Greater Portland Maine real estate region.

With an average median income just shy of 45K and the average cost of a SF home at approximately 275K in Cumberland county affordability continues to plague the area, but low priced homes are available and knowing where to look and being ready to jump when opportunity strikes are the keys to success.


LD 1775 Private Well Testing

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The Maine legislature continues to propose ever increasing stringent policies on the real estate industry. Restrictive shoreland migratory bird nesting policy,  the proposed Maine real estate transfer tax increase and now a new law aimed at requiring all private wells to be tested prior to the transfer of the property.   The bill stipulates who must test the well, and then requires the tests be sent to the local municipality and any relevant health agency.  For a struggling economy the last thing Maine legislature needs to be doing is hindering the real estate industy, one of the bright spots.

More information on the proposed bill.

 


How Maine Foreclosure Works

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Given the recent turmoil within the mortgage markets and the escalating foreclosure rates nationwide (FYI: In the 4th  quarter of 2006 Maine’s foreclosure rate was at 4.9% or 21st in the nation) here is a layman’s explanation of the foreclosure process in Maine.  Lender gives a notice of default to the borrower at which time the borrower then has 30 days to pay past amounts due and reinstate the loan.  At this point if the borrower has not paid, the lender begins foreclosure.  A lawsuit is filed and the borrower has an additional 90 days to pay all amounts past due.  At the expiration of this period the lender may foreclose, file a notice of sale and have a public auction 30-45 days after the first notice of sale advertisement is published in a local newspaper.  The entire process takes approximately 9 months to complete.  Before notice of default is filed the current owners can sell their property at anytime. After notice of default is filed all offers need to be approved by the lender. 


Maine real estate Transfer Tax Legislation

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In any Maine Real Estate transaction a closing cost to buying a home is the Maine State Transfer Tax, currently set at the confusing $2.20 per every $500 of purchase price split evenly between the buyer and the seller, phew!! So basically for every $1000 of purchase price the buyer and seller are required by state law to pay $2.20 each to the State of Maine, thus on a home that sells for 200K, both parties would ultimately pay $440 each, not a small figure but far better than some states that have transfer tax rates as high at 3% of the entire purchase price!

Recently multiple new legislative initiatives are being proposed that would raise the this Maine real estate transfer tax to as high as 1% of the purchase price of the transaction, thus the $440 number would jump to $2,000 greater than 4 times the current amount that would ultimately dampen real estate sales in Maine as closing cost would become increasingly higher and place ownership out of reach for many first time home buyers. 

 


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