One-day sales and multiple-bids can prove daunting to prospective home buyers, and price and location don’t always tell what they are getting for the money.
The Bangor Daily News looked around the state at $300,000 listings, the median sales price of Maine single-family homes last year and a sweet spot for prospective buyers. Depending on location, the size and amenities can vary greatly.
In that price range, Realtor.com lists the smallest home, a 525-square-foot cottage overlooking the water in Georgetown, up to a 1,900-square-foot, four-bedroom home on six acres in Dover-Foxcroft.
Only two Portland homes fell into that price range, a shortage that is driving many buyers to look farther away for affordable properties. Homes in the $300,000 range sell fast, sometimes the same day, with multiple bidders driving up the list price. Beach access, views and good schools may not be apparent from the real estate listing and are among the many tradeoffs in buying a home.
In Dover-Foxcroft, $300,000 is on the higher end of the listings on Realtor.com, which has homes ranging from $130,000 to $470,000 in the Piscataquis County town of just over 4,400 residents. The median sales price in that county was $171,250 during the first three months of this year compared to $203,000 in neighboring Penobscot County.
A $300,000 home in Dover-Foxcroft still drew multiple offers over its asking price one day after it was listed this week, said Dorothea Perkins, an agent with Realty of Maine. The sale of the 1,900-square-foot home, with four bedrooms and two bathrooms on six acres, is pending, so she could not reveal the selling price.
Perkins said the property went quickly because it is located in a good school district and has an ice arena, theater, children’s programs at the YMCA and a hospital.
“The home is in good shape, has good acreage and a garage,” she said.
A little less than an hour’s drive north in the same county, Perkins has an Ebeemee Township listing for $295,000. The year-round cabin is 803 square feet with two bedrooms and one bathroom, about half the size of the Dover-Foxcroft listing but around the same price. The amenities of the cabin are a water view and location 10 feet away from Pearl Pond.
An even smaller $300,000 cottage in Georgetown on the midcoast is 525 square feet and has one bedroom and one bathroom. Located amid a cluster of homes at Bay Point, it overlooks the Kennebec River and Fort Popham.
“This is for a unique buyer who wants a vacation rental or an investment property,” said Ian Dixon, a real estate agent with Keller Williams Realty. “This isn’t a residential property for a first-time homebuyer.”
Georgetown, with a population of nearly 1,100, is still known as a fishing and boat-building village, but it also is popular among summer residents and retirees. Realtor.com has listings there ranging from $65,000 to $1.5 million.
Sagadahoc County homes had a median sales price of $365,000 in the first three months of this year, about double that of Piscataquis County but lower than the $450,000 price in neighboring Cumberland County.
“This is a challenging market for buyers,” Dixon said. “It can be very discouraging.”
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