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2012 Statistics For Sellers

Posted on by Kevin Murphy

Here are some recent interesting statistics that were published by the NATIONAL ASSOCIATION OF REALTORS®

• The typical national seller lived in their home for nine years. The median tenure has
increased in recent years. In 2007, the typical tenure in home was only six years. In
Maine, the median tenure is eight years.
• Eighty-eight percent of sellers were assisted by a real estate agent when selling their
home nationally, and 89 percent were assisted in Maine.
• Nationally, recent sellers typically sold their homes for 95 percent of the listing price, and
60 percent reported they reduced the asking price at least once. In Maine, recent
sellers sold their homes for 95 percent of the listing price and 60 percent reduced the
asking price at least once.
• Forty percent of sellers offered incentives to attract buyers nationally, most often
assistance with home warranty policies and closing costs. In Maine, 36 percent of sellers
offered incentives.

Posted in Uncategorized

2012 Statistics For Buyers

Posted on by Kevin Murphy

Here are some recent interesting statistics that were published by the NATIONAL ASSOCIATION OF REALTORS®

• Fifty percent of recent home buyers were first-time buyers in Maine, compared to a
national level of 39 percent, which is a slight rise from 2011.
• The typical buyer in Maine was 41 years old, while nationally the typical buyer was 42 years
old, a modest decrease from 45 in 2011.
• The 2011 median household income of buyers was $67,100 in Maine and $78,600
nationally. The median income was $54,000 among first-time buyers and $81,500 among
repeat buyers, compared to $61,800 among first-time buyers and $93,100 among repeat
buyers nationally.
• Nationally, 65 percent of recent home buyers were married couples—the highest share
since 2001. In Maine, the figure was 58 percent. Sixteen percent of recent home buyers
were single females nationally—the lowest share since 2001; 18 percent were single
females in Maine.
• For 30 percent of recent home buyers nationally, the primary reason for the recent home
purchase was a desire to own a home. In Maine, this was the primary reason for 39
percent of recent home buyers.
• The typical home buyer in Maine searched for 12 weeks and viewed eight homes,
compared to 12 weeks and 10 homes on a national level.

Posted in For Buyers

Timeline of a home buyer

Posted on by Kevin Murphy

Typically it will take 30-60 days from when you make an offer on a property until you close. Currently the average is about 2-3 months of home searching before entering into a contract to buy.

  •     Sign Buyer Brokerage Representation Agreement, no upfront cost.
    Binds the broker with the duties of loyalty, obedience, disclosure, confidentiality, reasonable care, diligence and accounting to you.
  •     Review listings from your broker, meet with broker at properties to see them
  •     Meet with a loan officer for pre-qualification
  •     Broker will review property disclosures with you and prepare offer to submit to seller
  •     Broker will negotiate counter-offers with you and selling agent if the offer isn’t accepted as-is
  •     Write Earnest Money check for the offer, this money is held as a deposit and applied towards closing costs
  •     Once accepted, the offer becomes a contract.
  •     Meet with loan officer, apply for the loan. At this point you will receive and estimate of your closing costs.
    Sometimes the loan officer will collect an application fee
  •     Broker or loan officer will help you find a home owner’s insurance agent
  •     Broker will help you schedule a building inspection. Typically $350 upfront for inspection.
  •     Meet broker and building inspector at the property, go through home with them
  •     Review report from building inspector and any other information collected from town, code enforcement, etc.
  •     Broker will negotiate modifications to the contract or leave contract as-is and move past inspection contingencies
  •     Lender will order an appraisal, appraiser will contact listing broker to schedule walk-through
  •     Lender or Mortgage broker will set up the closing transaction with a title company or attorney
  •     Broker will meet you at property for a final walk through the day before or day of the closing.
  •     Loan officer will give you an updated closing cost estimate and give you the amount to bring to closing in certified funds.
  •     Broker will collect account numbers and contact info for utilities that need to be transferred into your name
  •     Home owners insurance policy will be provided to the closing attorney, paid at closing
  •     Both buyer and seller brokers, loan officer, buyer(s) and seller(s) will all meet for the closing. (Don’t forget your checkbook and license)
  •     Lots of signatures, the closing attorney will explain the paper work.
  •     If there are any heating-fuel prorations broker will calculate how much you owe the seller and have you write a personal check
  •     Seller will give you keys and any other relevant info you might need for your new home!
  •     Title attorney will have the signed deed and mortgage note recorded at the registry of deeds.


If building inspections are unsatisfactory, financing cannot be obtained, or seller can’t close on time for another reason the contract can be terminated and your deposit will be returned.

I used the term “loan officer”, but either a loan officer or a mortgage broker would be typical. Either have their advantages and dis-advantages.

Posted in For Buyers

Bacteria in Water Test

Posted on by Kevin Murphy

If you have a water test come back positive for coliform bacteria does that mean your septic system is leaking waste into your drinking water?

Coliform bacteria isn’t actually a health risk. It is tested for because it is an indicator bacteria to confirm the presence of decaying organic matter. This can even be from grass! They are now recommending that the caps of the well be changed to the sealed style pictured to the right. Because it wasn’t actually sealed, grass and bugs could find their way in to the well water..

There is however Fecal Coliform or e.coli which is found in the colon’s of animals(eew!) However typically the bacteria is filtered out in a small amount of soil. The way to determine if your septic system is leaching in to your water supply is actually to do a detergent test. Detergent is dissolved into the liquid and will travel with the water through soil without being filtered out. It is also important to consider indoor sources of e.coli and fecal coliform that may have contaminated a water test.

Posted in For Buyers, For Sellers

Project G.R.A.C.E.

Posted on by Kevin Murphy

Buy or Sell a home with me in 2012 and I will donate 10% of my commission to Project G.R.A.C.E. (Granting Resources and Assistance Through Community Effort) which is a local non-profit providing help to families and children in Scarborough. http://www.projectgracemaine.org/


207-883-4327 Ext: 15
Cell/Txt: 207-756-3776

Posted in For Buyers, For Sellers

Recent Statistics

Posted on by Kevin Murphy

Recently the National Association of Realtors and the Maine Association of Realtors released some interesting statistics they had collected. Here are some interesting excerpts:

One in four home sales are in Cumberland county (25%)
More sales occur in Cumberland county than in Aroostook, Franklin, Knox, Lincoln, Piscataquis, Sagadahoc, Somerset, Waldo, and Washington counties combined.

Forty-four percent of recent home buyers were first-time buyers in Maine, compared to a national level of 37 percent – a drop from 50 percent in 2010.

The typical buyer in Maine was 43 years old

Nationally, 89 percent of buyers purchased their home through a real estate agent or broker

The share of home sellers who sold their home without the assistance of a real estate agent was 10 percent nationally. Forty percent of FSBO (For Sale By Owner) knew the buyer prior to home purchase. Nationally, the typical FSBO home sold for $150,000 compared to $215,000 among agent-assisted home sales. In Maine, the typical FSBO sold for $78,500 compared to $180,000 among agent-assisted home sales.

Nearly nine in ten buyers would use their agent again or recommend them to others, both nationally and in Maine.

* Data was collected from the NAR “2011 Profile of Home Buyers and Sellers Maine Report” and MAR eleven-year Maine home sales statistics

Posted in For Buyers, For Sellers

Great Time To Buy, What About Selling?

Posted on by Kevin Murphy

“Great time to buy!” is a mantra I’m certain we’ve all heard, especially recently. Most people think that means it must be a bad time to sell, but that simply isn’t true. What will you do if you sell your house; buy another one!

Say you paid $300,000 two years ago. You sell your house for $200,000. In the next town over (which is closer to your job, think how much gas money you’ll save) you buy a house for $200,000 that was for sale for $350,000 at the same time you bought your house two years ago.

Since prices are lower right now you can purchase a new house at a low price too. It’s hard to break down a home into a numerical value, the easiest and most natural way to think of it is what you paid for it. If you buy a gallon of milk for $4.00 and the next day someone ask how much you would sell it to them, the answer is pretty obvious! Ask a stock broker though and you’ll get a much more complicated answer about milk futures and the current value of the dollar. From a buyers perspective the value of your home is dictated by the comparison to other homes that are for sale and not what you paid for it.

Posted in For Sellers