Last month, a string of fires in downtown Lewiston claimed 10 apartment buildings and left almost 200 people homeless.  Fortunately there were no fatalities and only minor injuries.  The community rallied together to help those affected by the fires, but the events also brought to light a problem that has been brewing for decades.  Century old buildings that have been allowed to deteriorate to a dangerous level. A once thriving mill town, Lewiston has had it's ups and downs, but has enjoyed something of a renaissance over the last 10 years with new businesses moving in to the downtown area and renovating the beautiful old structures that have defined the city.  The inventory of apartment buildings however, has not enjoyed the same renaissance. Larry Baril of Lewiston gives a great asses... 06/11/2013

Get Inspired Outdoors in Lewiston and Auburn Maine Yes, you can help the Tree Street Youth Center in Lewiston Maine win a grant by simply taking a few moments to watch their great video.  In partnership with the Androscoggin Land Trust, they submitted their video to the "Get Inspired Outdoors" grant program.  The video submission that gets the most views will earn a $2000 grant to continue their work. The twin cities of Lewiston and Auburn Maine are committed to ensuring that everyone gets the opportunity to explore and enjoy our incredible natural surroundings.  Thank you for taking a few minutes to help this great organization!   04/03/2013

Some of us have decided that life is too short to spend any time behind a lawnmower. Others decide that the real reason we have a mate is so that we can offer him or her the opportunity to get out in the fresh air and sunshine…to mow. Children can be the recipients of that very same opportunity, which will build character through hard work. Alternatively, a healthy lawn – especially a well-watered one in late August – provides an opportunity to keep the Lewiston-Auburn economy humming by employing a lawn service to keep it in top shape. But for those of us who personally oversee the yardwork, earlier this month, CNN’s Money website put together a four-point tip sheet that caught my eye: it rounded up some of the best common sense lawn care ideas I’ve seen in one place. The author (Josh... 08/28/2012

Buying a Lewiston-Auburn Foreclosure Property?  “Fixers” Reward Prudence, Realism, and Cash   These days the words “bank owned homes” have become practically synonymous with a single word: “opportunity.”  With prices and mortgage rates this low, first time home buyers, investors and seasoned property owners alike are looking at a raft of buying options unlike any the Lewiston-Auburn and Central Maine area has seen in a very long time.     That option of buying a bank owned home has certainly opened a viable route for those looking to own a home at the fraction of what it cost just a few years ago. But not without a price:  the best Lewiston-Auburn bank owned home bargains are almost certain to fall into the ‘fixer-upper’ category.   When considering the purchase of one of our Lewiston-A... 05/29/2012

The number of new listings increased while sales dipped just a bit in the Lewiston-Auburn Maine real estate market for the week of April 29, 2012 through May 5, 2012.  This past week's numbers were skewed a little by an extremely low priced bank owned property that sold, bringing the average sale price down, and a home listed by an unrealistic seller that sat on the market for 611 days, bringing the average days on market way up for the week.  The home finally sold when they lowered the price to the actual market value. We are generally running about 110 days on the market. The good news is that on average, homes in the Lewiston-Auburn area are receiving 95% of list price when they sell. Weekly Market Activity Residential Properties: 04/29/12 - 05/5/12 Lewiston-Auburn Maine New Listings... 05/10/2012

That's right.  I said are you having any fun?OK, call me crazy.  I guess I'm just one of those irritatingly cheerful people who like to have fun with whatever mundane task I am tackling.  I am guilty of playing loud funky music while I vacuum, singing while doing the dishes, and dabbling in "the dusting game"  (my mother's invention - as you may imagine it worked like a charm on me as a child.)Now I realize that selling your home is not exactly a mundane task.  Whether you have chosen to tackle the job on your own or through a Realtor®, you are probably well aware of the imposition having your home on the market can be on your life. So why not get organized and have a little fun.  Sometimes organization can be the key to keeping things on the light side and avoiding situations that will... 05/07/2012

3 Quick Fixes For those who are just about ready to put your Lewiston-Auburn area home on the market this May, several simple yet cost-effective projects can be sure-fire buyer-pleasers. I am often asked to help my clients identify areas in their home that will benefit from improvements to add value to their central Maine home. I like to point to some simple changes that materially help a property’s ability to compete with any other house for sale in greater Lewiston-Auburn and Augusta Maine areas. Here are three of my favorite inexpensive fixes: 1.Painting walls in pale but warm earth tone colors.  Freshly painted walls erase years of wear from any room. They send prospective buyers a subtle message: here is a home where your family can create your own memories.  Neutral tones are impo... 04/30/2012

Sea 40 located at 40 East Avenue in Lewiston Maine (next to where the old Ames department store used to be) offers much more than great, fresh Japanese food: it’s a show! My colleagues and I, at The Maine Real Estate Network, had lunch here this week and was so much fun! These multi-talented chefs’ are master entertainers as well! I’m not sure how the chefs concentrate on the technical aspects of cooking while they engage the crowd sitting around the Hibachi, throwing knives in the air, spinning eggs on a spatula, launching food and saki in the mouths of patrons …  This is clearly a higher end restaurant and a welcome addition to the twin cities of Lewiston and Auburn. People are raving about this new eatery everywhere you go! It certainly has a “Wow” factor we haven’t seen in a while.... 03/21/2012

By the end of February, The Wall Street Journal felt confident enough to print a headline touting, “At Last! Banks Rev Up Lending”.  FHA loans are among the most popular loan programs funding real estate purchases in Maine right now. But there is much confusion over the term “FHA Loan”. To be perfectly clear, let’s get some terms straight. “FHA” stands for the Federal Housing Administration. And “FHA Loans” aren’t … aren’t loans that is. But that doesn’t mean that FHA loans aren’t going to continue to be significant to the Central Maine real estate market from Lewiston-Auburn to Augusta through 2012. The term “FHA loans” actually refers to real estate loans made by companies other than the FHA. If that isn’t contradictory enough, the banks and other loaning entities are called ‘FHA Len... 03/04/2012

The Lewiston Winter Farmers Market celebrates all there is to love about Maine, her people, and her products with a “Lovin' Maine Made” theme in honor of Valentine's Day. The market has become the community's connection to area farmers, producers, and artisans with more than 20 vendors offering in season fruits and vegetables, pastured meats, milk and dairy products, artisan cheeses and breads, baked goods, seafood, prepared meals, sweets, cut flowers, maple products, fiber arts, hand crafted soaps, herbs and herbal products, pottery, art and more. The “Lovin' Maine Made” winter farmers market will be held at the St. Mary's Nutrition Center on Thursday, February 16th from 5:00pm to 7:30pm. Market goers can enjoy dinner from the popular Winter Market Cafe, music by Jerry Carrier, and ent... 02/13/2012

The bedrock of the residential real estate industry is the American Dream of owning your own home. Current market conditions have amplified another motivator: those looking for great investment opportunities. There have always been professional “Flippers” in the market but today shrewd buyers recognize that the current market conditions offer some outstanding investment opportunities in Lewiston-Auburn and Kennebec County. It’s not just professional investors considering foreclosures; many first time buyers and existing homeowners are looking for unusual bargains. The appeal is understandable due to some commonsense consequences caused by the mortgage meltdown (and the headlines that followed).  When banks come into possession of foreclosed properties they find themselves in an unenvia... 01/30/2012

Few will argue that buying and selling real estate isn’t a specialized business transaction, or that when you want to buy or sell a property in the Lewiston-Auburn area, hiring a Lewiston-Auburn real estate agent isn’t the most common way to get the job done. It may be an excellent idea, but it doesn’t go quite far enough. All real estate agents aren’t the same, because there are two types of specialists: residential and commercial real estate agents. At the Tanya Busch Team, we specialize: Cookie Dean, with years of personal commercial investing experience, handles our commercial sales and leasing while Tanya Busch specializes in residential sales. When economic activity grows sluggish, agents may try to cross over in their efforts to keep business humming. Whether you are buying or s... 01/16/2012

Enough already! Economy this! Housing market that!. It seems like we have been bombarded with mostly bad news forever. Every month Lewiston-Auburn would-be home sellers and prospective buyers hope for signs that the economy has turned around, and this month was no exception. Despite the relatively good news that unemployment numbers continue to show promise, the question remains: just how will we know when the Lewiston-Auburn real estate market begins its upswing for real?  Market forecasting is always a bit like reading tea leaves, but for a change let’s take a look at a couple areas that could be indicators of positive economic signs for a real estate recovery:  “Inventory Level” Inventory is one of those real estate terms that can be misunderstood by anyone who thinks of its everyday... 01/13/2012

Tear it down, or spend a kazillion dollars renovating the space? The City of Lewiston Maine has long struggled with ideas for what to do with the Bates Mill No. 5 building.  Much of the city center has been undergoing a revival over the past ten years.  This landmark remnant of Lewiston's textile mill hay days came to the forefront this past year when an initiative to build a casino, hotel, and convention center on the site failed to get voter approval. Most of us in the Lewiston/Auburn Maine area have never seen the inside of the building that we pass by each day.  From the outside, it appears to be fraught with possibilities.  Mainers pride themselves on their creative utilization of the old for something new.  Other mill buildings in the area have been successfully renovated, althoug... 01/08/2012

Part of the everyday vocabulary for everyone who deals with our Lewiston-Auburn real estate market are the words “MLS” and “MLS Listings”. First-time buyers and sellers can find the term confusing because it is used in so many different ways.  You may hear people ask if a house you are considering is “on the MLS”; you might hear that “it was withdrawn or expired,” or has been “relisted”. Especially to anyone trying to do a “FSBO” (For Sale By Owner), the MLS Listing status can assume strategic importance. “MLS” is an acronym for Multiple Listing Service. In many parts of the country, there are county or regional MLS’s. In Maine, we have a single, statewide MLS, which is owned by the Maine Association of Realtors, and only it’s members have direct access to the database. Each property is... 12/21/2011

 Any informed Lewiston-Auburn homeowner (or future Lewiston-Auburn homeowner) is keenly aware of the national and regional real estate trends. It’s hard to avoid hearing about them, because the TV and print media headline them all the time. Often the headline angle of those reports focuses on “distressed” statistics, which deal with foreclosed home and REO (real estate owned) sales and prices. Even though our Lewiston-Auburn foreclosed home numbers don’t usually match the national statistics, the impression we come away with is nonetheless hard to ignore.   Those headlines and 10-second news bites are important because everyone hears them, and for good or ill, those are the ‘everyones’ who make up our Lewiston-Auburn market. Yet such reports seldom tell the whole story. Realistically, ... 12/14/2011

While “Buy Local” campaigns seem to be gaining momentum around the country this year, Mainers have long valued locally made products.  The Lewiston/Auburn area has a wealth of small owner/operated businesses for holiday shoppers to choose from.   On Thursday, December 15th, the Lewiston Winter Farmers Market will be transformed into a Holiday Extravaganza, making it easy for area residents to shop for a home grown holiday.You will find hand-crafted unique foods, gifts, & even gift certificates.  Stock up on Maine grown and Maine made products including fresh fruits and veggies, pasture-raised meats, eggs, seafood, fresh milk and artisan cheeses. Buy bread and baked goods to freeze for the holidays, maple products, and one of a kind sweets.   Find unique gifts like hand crafted soaps, po... 12/11/2011

After the huge success of the Sunday Lewiston Farmers Market at Bates Mill 5 over the summer, the community has been waiting patiently for the Winter Farmers Market to open. Finally, our waiting days are almost over.  This Thursday, the Lewiston Winter Farmers Market will have it's grand opening at it's indoor location in the St. Mary's Nutrition Center (208 Bates Street) from 5:00pm - 7:30pm. The winter market will have well over 20 vendors offering Maine grown/produced in season fruits and veggies, meats, eggs, milk and dairy products, bread, baked goods, herbs and herbal products, holiday wreaths, art, pottery, chocolates, hand crafted soaps, fiber arts, and more.   Music for the grand opening will be provided by local favorites Robin Rockett and Jason Moreau.  The Winter Market Cafe... 11/14/2011

Lewiston and Auburn Maine are referred to locally as L/A.  Two Maine "cities" sometimes called the Twin Cities located on either side of the Androscoggin river in Central Maine.  With a combined population of just under 60,000 they form the second largest metropolitan area in the state. Lewiston and Auburn have been experiencing somewhat of a renaissance, with new businesses and restaurants opening every year, adding to long standing local favorites.  Recently, the popular program, Food Coma TV (based on the blog - Portland Food Coma) paid a visit to LA and made a splash visiting our local eateries. (fair warning-rated PG13 for language towards the end) Sounds like these guys need to pay a visit to our local farmers market after their restaurant trip to stock up on some wholesome, local... 11/12/2011

Once you have decided to sell your home, you will find family members and friends coming out of the wood work to "help" you with advice.  They may even try to burst your bubble by yammering on about the "buyer's market." Do buyers have a ton of choices in this market?  Well...yes and no. There is a lot of inventory out there.  However, I have noticed that it seems to be dominated by sellers who have resigned themselves to the idea that we are in a buyer's market and have simply called shotgun letting the buyers remain in the drivers seat. STOP IT!  Don't relegate yourself to passenger status.  You can rock your home sale by hopping in the driver's seat and taking back the wheel. How?  Well I'm glad you asked.   Here in the Lewiston/Auburn Maine real estate market you can drive your hom... 06/10/2011