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Old 04-21-2011, 12:58 AM
 
6,326 posts, read 6,622,258 times
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according to yahoo real estate States With the Healthiest Housing Markets - Yahoo! Real Estate (as meaningless as those ratings are). Using article' logic - NY state has one of the healthiest gas & cigarette markets Nevertheless ...

Maine
Debt as percent of income: 17%
Unemployment rate: 7.5%
Home ownership: 73.8%
Negative equity: 30.1%
Average home price: $210,000
Loan as percent of home value: 58.6%
Percent of U.S. Market: 0.11%

Many people point at low wages in Maine, but according to this table List of U.S. states by income - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia Maine' median household income ( $45,395) is little bit larger than that in Mi, OH, NC, IN. In Ohio, median house value is around 135k, for example.

So what are the causes of Maine' housing market "health"? Why is median Maine home value 210k considering above average supply of elbow space and relative abundance of lumber? I've spent some time in Maine and I didn't really suspect that I was driving through 210k/house land, it wasn't really that prosperous looking. Food prices bite that's true, but from what I've seen most people grow nothing but lawn grass on their 5,10, 20 + acre lots, so it shouldn't be that burdensome for their wallets to pay extra.

Last edited by RememberMee; 04-21-2011 at 01:10 AM..
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Old 04-21-2011, 06:29 AM
 
Location: Teton Valley Idaho
7,395 posts, read 13,144,100 times
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Perfect example of how southern and coastal areas can skew the numbers....
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Old 04-21-2011, 06:42 AM
 
Location: Northern Maine
10,428 posts, read 18,765,837 times
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Bingo, mollysmiles.
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Old 04-21-2011, 07:40 AM
 
468 posts, read 761,675 times
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Quote:
Originally Posted by mollysmiles View Post
Perfect example of how southern and coastal areas can skew the numbers....
Double bingo mollysmiles
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Old 04-21-2011, 08:25 AM
 
Location: Beautiful Rhode Island
9,364 posts, read 15,004,759 times
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Healthiest housing market is misleading because that often implies big demand and high prices.

States with affordable housing prices based on income to debt ratio is more understandable.
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Old 04-21-2011, 09:49 AM
 
Location: Los Angeles, but looking for my niche in ME, or OR
326 posts, read 435,554 times
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Another fact too is that ME never had a boom (or bubble) in the real estate market. That perhaps had an effect in maintaining a pretty stable market. Or maybe we're just smarter in ME and never really got loans with 0% down for a $600,000 condo!
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Old 04-21-2011, 03:48 PM
 
Location: Maine
6,639 posts, read 13,603,965 times
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Quote:
Originally Posted by MainerWannabe View Post
Another fact too is that ME never had a boom (or bubble) in the real estate market. That perhaps had an effect in maintaining a pretty stable market. Or maybe we're just smarter in ME and never really got loans with 0% down for a $600,000 condo!
Are you sure about that? (I used to work in a county Registry of Deeds.)
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Old 04-21-2011, 03:58 PM
 
Location: Los Angeles, but looking for my niche in ME, or OR
326 posts, read 435,554 times
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Maine Writer View Post
Are you sure about that? (I used to work in a county Registry of Deeds.)
To back up what I said, honestly I'll have to look it up. But I have never heard of a boom real estate market in ME. And, our state was one of the least affected by the burst of the bubble. I'm thinking in comparison to FL, CA, NV...
But if you have any further info, please bring it to us. I would love to hear your insights. It's never late to learn a thing or two from the pros
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Old 04-21-2011, 06:21 PM
 
Location: Maine
2,272 posts, read 6,685,942 times
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Well, regarding a "bubble", I can say we bought a house in Bangor for about $187k in 2005 and it would go on the market for about $149k today. We bought a house in Northport for $375k in 2007 and it would go on the market at $215k today according to two realtors (3 realtors for the Bangor house).
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Old 04-21-2011, 07:23 PM
 
Location: Northern Maine
10,428 posts, read 18,765,837 times
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2005 to 2007 was our "mini-boom". Waterfront has not dropped as much as other properties, but even waterfront is declining from 2007 prices. If you bought in 2001 you are in much better shape.
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