“As is, where is” and if it is to be it is up to me.
Your approach to day to simple living in Maine is different in rural parts of the Pine Tree state. When you are raised working hard for what you have and respecting other people’s personal property too. Life becomes crystal clear.
Your appreciation for what you have and what is really important in life starts early in small town Maine.
Independence, a skill set to not just survive life but to glean lots of enjoyment from it means hands on training. Shaping the right attitude and take away from life events now playing around you. How dependent are you on others? Even say replacing the inside toilet valve with a new one when even jiggling the handle won’t stop the run run run of supply water to the tank.
Or shingling the garage or porch roof when it needs it before it leaks. You climb the ladder, strip the shingles to prepare the roof for a new protective layer. The lawn work is done by members of the family not hired out each week. Our exercise is win win because it’s not at a gym on a tread mill boring. There are line items on the chore list accomplished at the same time. But saving money that maybe you just don’t have… That does not stop you from tackling a DIY project like the low cost Maine home for sale with 4 acres of land below.
The video for that one to sneak a peek and check out for $27,500 if you are ambitious and full of fire in your belly to bring it back to life.
Do you know how or can you round up friends who exchange the bartering help to perform the task?
Or are you highly trained in one discipline and pretty much helpless in all the rest so you have to stop everything. And wait, and wait some more for a someone hired to do the simplest of jobs?
I grew up on a small Maine family farm and all the household members pitched in and had important roles.
Working together to perform tasks also meant more time for conversations to learn about the family. To have the older family members teach the younger ones what they learned to save time and do tasks correctly around the four farm seasons.
Had a fellow from the Windham Maine area come into the real estate office lobby this past week.
He shared with me how he learned to sheet rock. He was young, a teenager and his uncle was low to the ground short but tall in reputation for hanging sheet rock. This uncle known for his expertise at applying just the right amount of joint compound mud after lift after life of sheet rock was skillfully put into place. With just a couple men in the crew, an entire single family Maine home was sheet rocked in a day.
Moving on like gypsies to do it again and again as the work week progressed in southern Maine hanging sheet rock to prepare the place for the first home owner.
How did you learn when starting out green I asked this jack of all trades seasoned Maine carpenter?
Quickly was his answer. It was like sink or swim or no time to fuss or coddle. What does coddle mean? The word definition …
Coddle is an old word. Originally, it meant to cook gently in water that is near boiling, as in coddling an egg. It most likely gained its association with pampering and taking care of someone via a drink made for invalids that was prepared by coddling. “Mollycoddle,” a synonym for coddle, originally meant a person who coddles himself, or an effeminate man.
This fellow says his uncle had no doubt whatsoever that the nephew was going to be a quick study and a true asset to the sheet rock hanging crew. There was little time for pampering or “there there counseling” in the early on trial and error A – A indoctrination. To develop valuable skills in how best to hang to tape to mud and sand sheet rock placed on the walls and ceilings of his uncle’s job assignments.
Knowing that confidence comes from within not outside forces.
As you yourself figure out if it is to be, it is up to me approach that works best. The nephew says he watched the hanging, the finishing process in action all around him. As he lifted on one end of the sheet rock board to deliver it room by room to where needed.
Seeing, listening and watching any task performed in action is lots better than just reading about it. Before the first day on the job was done, the uncle moved the nephew into the closet. No no, not for punishment or attitude adjustment for misdeeds like a time out corner after a melt down occurs.
Why moved to the home under construction closet?
To sheet rock where it shows the least behind all the clothes and in the darker regions of the house. To begin the building confidence and developing the skills that would stick with him for life. Then after the six or so closets in a typical 5-3-1 ranch style home, to move on out into the ceiling and wall work through out the house.
Too much attention and too few boundaries back when a child is being raised. Spoiling a child does not just mean giving them everything and the Sun without working for a thing. The approach behind the eyes and between the ears in simple living rural Maine is to be grateful for what you have that you worked hard to obtain.
As a child growing up in a small Maine community, you know in the family you are loved conditionally but that life comes with rules.
It is not all about you. You have to pitch in. It’s about others. You don’t want to be known as lazy or self centered.
Being tough skinned but tender hearted helps not to take things personal. And instead of any delay looking around for someone to wait on you or for help or coddling, a Maine youngstercan quickly moves forward. No fuss, more get the job done and do a good it like you were taught. The self satisfaction feeling just opens the door to learn more if a parent will not deprive the child of chores and the skills needed to do them.
Feeling good about yourself starts way back in childhood and avoiding over indulgence. Meg and I had the privilege of taking care of a two year old granddaughter last night. I am proud of the parents who are teaching this hair of gold one of three grandchildren to be responsible. To gently remind her to pick up toys when play is done, that the household has structure and routines without being militant about it. They practice what they preach in a playful but firm consistent way.
Please and thank go a long way in creating an atmosphere of healthy appreciation in a household.
Instant gratification does not mirror real life either. And sticking with it, you can do it encouragement helps the child clear the life hurdles with too much parental intervention.
Fast forward to buying a Maine home and the buyers and sellers I deal with today.
It is no secret the Maine real estate market listing inventory is selling faster than the supply replenishes. There are shortages of all types of real estate categories and bidding wars are not uncommon.
To win the bid to get the price, the house or land or lakefront property in Maine.
The buyer must put on their big girl and big boy pants if they hope to be selected by a Maine real estate seller. In this hot seller’s market, the property owner does not have to agree to much other than conveying with a clear title.
The last Maine REALTOR’s state convention before the COVID pandemic arrived, legal beagle Linda Gifford who shepherded our group for many decades told the large room at Sunday River in Newry she had to counsel her own kids. On just how to approach buying or selling a home in Maine.
Her kids were making an offer on a property and loading up the wish list of what they expected the seller to do in their contract property pitch. Linda reminded them think like a seller. Would you accept a heavily loaded up Christmas tree list of pork barrel purchase and sale agreement items if presented that way?
To win the bid and expect success negotiation the real estate sale. Up the size of the deposit, do the top to bottom inspection rounding up your family members you trust in the trades to know what you are buying without the home inspection contingency. Keep it simple, even pay over the listed price “as is where is” and roll up your sleeves. To ‘if it is to be, it is up to me” thinking on your approach to buying a house, anything in life. To make your offer stand out from all the rest and to help the seller in the pick me, pick me please.
Expect more from yourself, less from others and you won’t be disappointed.
Pull the focus off the outside World by working instead to a shift from within. As Dale Carnegie reminds “it isn’t what you have or who you are or where you are or what are doing that makes your happy or unhappy. It is what you think about it.
No place for “stinking thinking” especially during this time of high school and college graduations as a new crop of students enter the workforce.
I think growing up in small town Maine really prepares an individual for the wild blue yonder. Life skills come from experiences and being taught how to do it yourself with confidence. Never giving up but being patient and realistic is just common sense right?
As is, where is and if it is to be it is up to me approach to each new day. Hope you have a great week Me In Maine blog post readers.
I’m Maine REALTOR Andrew Mooers, ME Broker
207.532.6573 | info@mooersrealty.com |
MOOERS REALTY 69 North ST Houlton ME 04730 USA