Go time in southern Maine
We hear it all the time about the “two Maines,” the part in the north and the part in the south.
As Staff Writer Laurie Schreiber reports in her story about real estate in York County, houses are selling at a premium, $10,000 to $20,000 over asking price. Snooze you lose. For the first time since the recession, developers are building houses on spec. One builder made the remark, and I'm paraphrasing, that buyers start showing up after the sheetrock goes up.
From 2004-16, York County accounted for 18% of the single-family home sales in Maine — the equivalent of Aroostook, Franklin, Piscataquis, Sagadahoc, Somerset, Waldo and Washington counties combined, according to the Maine Association of Realtors.
In the Portland area and pockets along the coast, we're hearing reports of bidding wars on houses.
It's not always clear where the dividing line is between the areas where houses are a hot commodity and the areas where houses sit on the market — or worse, fall into disrepair. Our friend Tony Ronzio, former director of news and audience at the Bangor Daily News, calls it “the Volvo line,” the part of the state where you stop seeing luxury cars.
Mainebiz recently visited Sanford as part of our “On the Road” series. Sanford is in York County, and is seeing some of the real estate boom. It still has a strong manufacturing core and its citizens feed many of the big employers in southern Maine, including the Portsmouth Naval Shipyard, as Senior Writer Renee Cordes writes.
But some Sanford leaders told us the city is often overlooked by companies looking to expand. It's too far off the Maine Turnpike or too far from the coast for some. No doubt that's true, but some in the “other Maine” would welcome at least being in the proximity of York County's growth. At the same time, I think we're all aware of how fleeting growth in Maine can be.
Mainebiz wins three AABP awards
Mainebiz won three industry awards, including silver in the “Best Newspaper: Small Publication” category, in the annual Alliance of Area Business Publishers' annual competition for regional business publications.
The award presentations took place June 24 at the end of the AABP's three-day conference in Dallas.
AABP is a Los Angeles-based trade association representing 55 independent magazine and newspaper members in the United States, Canada and Australia. For the awards, 43 publications submitted 483 entries, which were judged by faculty members from the University of Missouri School of Journalism.
“It's quite a validation for the dedication and talent of the Mainebiz team to be recognized among our peers in local markets across the country for the outstanding work we do — we are so proud to bring these awards home to Maine,” said Mainebiz Publisher Donna Brassard.
Mainebiz also received silver awards for “best overall design” and “best ancillary publication” for the annual Fact Book, both in the small newspaper category.
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