Maine real estate buyers have a top ten list of what they will not, can not live without, must have to purchase.
But if quizzed, the same buyers can quickly rattle off from memory what they don’t want in a Maine property listing. In the Maine real estate they are targeting to purchase. Especially if from out of state from the location of the Maine sticks and bricks now.
Maine is famous for outdoors, four season natural beauty.
It’s no longer a secret. Someone spilled the beans. Had loose lips. And the local folks living in Maine are friendly, hard working. Pretty family first oriented. Not hard to get along with as long as you take care of the outdoors, environment. With as much respect, good stewardship as they were brought up to practice.
So after all the hoopla about low cost Maine real estate listings, and the vast array of affordable properties, the best part gets rolled out on stage. What we don’t have in Maine. That is just as special, important as what we do.
For starters, (pulling squealing easel legs across floor to center of stage) what Maine does not have that is not going to be missed. That is a given in population centers. From the top….in order of importance to most.
The list includes no traffic, 4th lowest crime so no drive by shootings. No gangs or Hell’s Angels. No long commutes
to get to the suburbs where you can afford a out of state property listing.
No grime, no round the clock sound of vehicles, passenger trains, police, ambulance, fire truck sirens.
No big jet engine roars overhead and windows jarring, rattling.
Heck a half mile out of one of Maine’s 108 small towns and you are in the country without a cloverleaf exchange, traffic lights.
Finding yourself in the peace and quiet of being in the sticks and able to spread out. Not bother anyone, not have anyone else in your face, your space.
Room to roam happens in Maine.
Lots of it. In every direction. And your only neighbors are the furry, four legged kind. Your awareness of what’s important in life cranks up several notches to whole new exciting levels.
Have heard it said a lot and just smile. “I feel like I just starting living my life when I moved to Maine, bailed out of the city”. Or “I did not think small town values, simple living was offered anywhere in the country these days”. Sadly, eight out of ten people live in a city but given their druthers, would like to rip cord out when the opportunity to bail out presents itself.
What else don’t we have in Maine that many warm up to as so different, special, unique?
Night star shows, intense displays that razzle dazzle naturally for free. That you can actually see 
constellations at night. That you only thought existed in history, in grade school science text books. Amazement from all those brilliant star patterns and oohs, aahs happen.
Jaws drop, mouths open, speechless is heard with the long silence paues. Heads cranked skyward.
No light pollution because not a gazillion people.Too many people is where your problems stem.
Foods grown close to home that is fresh, wholesome.
That you know where it comes from, what you are putting on the family table to eat.
Closed, latched but not locked doors…only to keep the weather from opening them and coming in along with critters, Maine wildlife.
But as a rule unlocked. No dead bolts, no security chains. Why? Not needed. Same reason the keys are in the cars, trucks, SUV’s and all the outdoor toys from snow sleds, dirt bikes, four wheelers to sea doos, other boats. Being a little further up the pike means the criminal element that can pull off misdeeds in a city don’t travel. They are lazy, gas is expensive for them too.
And the exotic stuff to five finger discount everywhere around them in the cities is not low
hanging fruit, easy to find in Maine. Involves a lot of needle in the haystack traveling, time.
The pulling off a theft easier in a city where no one knows you. Not in a small town Maine. Where people get involved. Watch out for each other.
Good luck finding lots of Porsches, European high end automobiles sitting in the most doors yards in Maine too.
Not the priority to gotta have in Maine.
Not having a mortgage, saving for college educations takes the front and center spotlight on the day to day here.
Not out to impress anyone with a swanky car that you could buy three or more Maine houses for the price of one ride of the rich and famous.
Our cars have pet names, we are pretty attached and hate to let go of them.
I have a 1998 red jeep the kids call Sally four kids learned how to drive in, that I felt she looked out for, protected them from getting stuck in a winter snow bank. Even after 200,000 and more miles she’s part of the family. There is 
a respect. To take care of what you have, earned, paid for with hard work. A gratitude for having all we need and more.
Not whining about what we think we want, must have at any cost to be store bought happy. Our fun is low or no cost because we live in Vacationland full time.
It’s home made, coaching a little league team, working on a church Christmas pageant. Everyday is a vacation. We are already here in Vacationland.
Not settling for a week, long four day holiday a year and that’s all you get until twelve months passes by on the calendar.
What else happens, what don’t you see in Maine unlike populated areas?
Long lines and many levels of permits, procedures and take a number, have a seat. Small towns, less loads of the paperwork heaped on, needed. You don’t have to control sprawl in a town of 45, 86 or just a whisker under two hundred people that is six miles by six miles big, unspoiled. There is not a job for heavy duty code enforcement other than on the waterfront which is extra sensitive and protected, treasured by every Mainer.
The need to throttle back growth or intense city planning is not needed in a small Maine town or plantation.Or unorganized Township this, Range that.
Houses in Maine are built one at a time. Loved, pampered, passed down. Not slapped together, landed in 300 or more subdivision tracts waves. Where you need GPS to find the one that is yours because they all look pretty similar. After a hard day and a couple hour dog eat dog road rage daily commute in and out of a city where the out of state worker chases the dollar.Tries to make ends meet in the high cost, the toll it takes on more than just their wallet or purse.
Maine, you’ll love what we don’t have as much as the beauty of what we do. Come sample ME.
I’m Maine REALTOR Andrew Mooers, ME Broker
