Our Newest Listing is a Movie Star (or Forget "Message in a Bottle" How About "The Seventh Day"?)

Maine has been the backdrop for a number of Hollywood movies. Who can forget such classics as "Casper the Friendly Ghost", "Graveyard Shift" and that near Oscar winner "The 12 Dogs of Christmas"? But long before Forrest Gump ran to the Marshall Point Lighthouse or Kevin Costner was moping around Shaw's Wharf with his "Message in a Bottle" there was "The Seventh Day". Not to be confused with "The Seventh Seal" (who knew a movie about a chess game could be so boring?) or even the "The Seventh Sign" (Please Demi, put a top on) but a 1922 silent movie starring Richard Barthelmess and directed by Henry King who came back to Maine 34 years later to film "Carousel" in Boothbay Harbor with Mrs. Partridge).

The Seventh Day is interesting only if you have a fondness for old wooden boats, New Harbor and John's Bay. Or if you like stories involving local folks getting mixed up in the shenanigans of rich people from away who have questionable morals and a fondness for captain's hats. But what I found really interesting about the movie was local scenery, including the fort,  the lighthouse and particularly the house in the movie at about 7:45 in.

This is the same house that Becky Brown and I have just listed in New Harbor at 8 Monument Lane. There have been some changes to the house since the 1922 movie but it is easily recognized as the same home. From the trim details above the windows to the stained glass window pattern in the double front door and the decorative moldings on the porch, much of the exterior has stayed the same. I have to admit that I have not watched all 6 of the 12 minute clips of the movie but I am working on it. The house also appears in the third clip a couple of times and because it is such a nice backdrop I am certain in the last 3 reels as well.

Feel free to contact me for more info.

Click here if you would like to see more pictures of 8 Monument Lane.

Selling Homes Instead of Houses

I was picking up a Newcastle Square Realty (Midcoast Maine’s Favorite Real Estate Agency) sign a few weeks ago from a listing that I had just sold when my cell phone rang. Coincidentally it was the former owner of the property returning my call to work out some final details. We talked a bit about the sale, the people who bought the house, how happy we were with the price and then she said something that really touched me. She had printed off the lengthy ad copy I had written about her parent's home the previous night when she got a little teary about selling the home that she had grown up in. She explained that she was relieved that she was selling the house but that the sale marked an end of a chapter in her family's narrative and the beginning of a new one, not only for her family, but for the people who were moving into the house. My ad copy gave her a written reminder of what it was like growing up in that house, on that street and in that town in a way that pictures couldn't. Her parents had been gone for some time now but while she and her siblings still owned the house they still had a connection to what had made them a family.

I was very surprised that she was keeping the ad copy I had written. It isn’t often that a client will mention liking either the photographs or advertising copy and this was the first time that someone said that they were keeping anything that I had written aside from my mother (who can take my 6th grade report about the moon colony I predicted would exist by now off the refrigerator). It also reminded me that selling a property can sometimes be more like an adoption instead of a business transaction. I see this all the time when I am taking pictures. Every house tells some sort of story of the owners but some homes are a book while others are a short magazine article.

There are tell tale signs of life in almost every house. Scuff marks on the ceiling of a bedroom from a lacrosse stick, a tennis racket or hockey stick. Dents from a ball against the back of the house or the side of the garage and crudely constructed tree houses with rusted nails and now rotten 2x4s.The graduated marks in a doorway that are almost always near the kitchen or basement steps with dates and initials spanning several years, starting near a couple of feet from the floor and ending close to the top of the door. Sometimes you can just almost hear what was said with the last height mark. “Ah mom, really?”

I don’t think those details sell houses. Most buyers are looking for a place that does not need to be painted or have holes that need filing. They are looking for a blank page to start their own narrative but I have worked with other clients who feel that they are not buying a house so much as applying for a care taking position. Some will even go so far as to write a letter introducing themselves to the sellers and promising to look after their home as part of their offer. Some sellers really appreciate knowing that the person who wants to buy their home can see that their house is more than just a three bedroom, two bath Greek Revival that sits on a couple of acres. That there is a history that goes along with the place.

So the next time you are out house hunting remember that you may not just be looking at someone's house you may be looking at a part of their family as well.

Desperate Home Sellers Resort to "Parting out" Their House

   I recently read a story in the Boston Globe about a couple in East Baldwin Maine who have decided to "part out" their house and donate the Jonathan Porter murals to a local museum. It seems the owners of the house were unable to sell the house after two years on the market without so much as a verbal offer. So they have resorted to doing what many Mainers who are stuck with a car do when they can't find a buyer. Selling it for parts. Well not really. They are actually donating the murals to a local museum after removing the walls where the murals were painted (and making themselves eligible for a serious tax deduction) and sending them to the Rufus Porter Museum in Bridgton.

But this got me thinking about how much I could get for my house if I were to sell it in pieces rather than all at once. The lot alone should be worth about $100,000 because of its location and pre-existing well and the sewer connection. Then we have the some wicked modern propane wall mounted forced hot water system should go for about $8000 (unless someone finds out that it needs to be "rebooted" after every power outage), then a few thousand for the copper pipes, a couple hundred for the copper wiring and then another couple hundred for porcelain. Which brings us to the real money makers. The wide pine floors and the beams. Since the house was built in 1830 it is post and beam construction and if you have ever priced out a a 12x12 beam for an architectural effect in a new house that is over 20' long you'll know that I am sitting on a gold mine.

Then we have the foundation materials. What do you think your landscaper would charge you for a piece of cut granite that is 6'x4' and 10" in height? Multiply that by 5 then add in a couple hundred smaller pieces that would be perfect for steps or retaining walls and all of a sudden you are talking some real money.

So if you happen to see me this weekend with a large crowbar and a sledgehammer feel free to stop by and make me an offer on some fireplace mantles. I'll make you a great deal. Just don't tell my mortgage company.