Aroostook Internet, Fairpoint DSL (formerly Verizon), Pioneer Wireless, GWI, and a slew of other high speed internet options exist in Houlton Maine & Southern Aroostook.  Maine in general is pretty savvy when it comes to offering fast internet service in remote areas you would not expect to be able to log on without the standard pokey dial up option.  Make sure to do a site evaluation if you plan to telecommute to your regular job on line where you live now in the move to Maine.  And BEFORE you buy a particular spot of real estate in Maine.  The terrain and mean even removing a limb or tree will not yield the high speed you desire! Maine REALTOR Andrew Mooers - Houlton Maine & Aroostook County Real Estate & Area Information Links 07/13/2008

You have shelled out a tidy sum for new windows and  new siding with insulation board added underneath.  You have updated heating systems, added new insulated doors..you are all set right? No...many Maine homes or business property that are one floor have no hatch or a small opening to access the attic.  What is in your attic in this Northern state that needs to be added to for insulation? Make the opening in a closet ceiling...and beef up what is there..heat rises remember? And around a chimney, there may be a gap causing a major draft. Don't just lay insulation over that gap..seal it off..put gasket insulation into the crevice in the attic and in the cellar to stop the draft.  Duct tape and seal off the heat loss and make a blanket of 2 feet of insulation in that attic before next win... 07/12/2008

Warm weather, sunny skies and lots of local community effort to make the Houlton 4th of July fun, safe and offering something for everyone! Parades, fireworks,animal exhbits, truck pulls, mud runs, concerts, rides, food, demolision derbies, shows, and mingling with your neighbors at "midnight madness" retail shopping just part of what the 4th of July is all about. The Houlton Fair works hard all year long on this event. Over $200,000 invested. Maine is "Vacationland" and more and more out of towners settle in to the Houlton venue for the state fair.  Watch the video on the event here at this link  below....   http://www.youtube.com:80/watch?v=AeXxiY0ZmpY! Maine..the way life should be! Visit www.houltonfair.com For All The Events! 07/07/2008

Great weather, super local community involvement.  That is small town, home made family fun.  Most of the local folks working on some aspect of the 4th of July in Houlton Maine which adds to the involvement and home town pride.  Parades, fireworks, animal exhibits, horse shows, beano, rides, food...food and more food.  Visiting with alumni home for school reunions, catching up with relatives you bump into, watching the demolish derby.  Houlton Maine's state fair is one big operation.  Over $200,000 invested and runs for 4 days1 The entire Southern Aroostook area takes part..starting with "Midnight Madness" retail business sales town wide! Great job Houlton Fair Committee that starts today on work for next years event..booking shows, performers, brainstorming on what went right, where th... 07/07/2008

     Neat website to check out that shows you July 4th fireworks from different areas around the country.  Can't be in New York for the 4th?  Go on line, hooked to your 52" wide screen and take in the hundreds of thousand dollar show put on around the nation!  Ahhh..the internet and ability to go boldly where no one with a mouse in their right hand has gone before..all from the comfort of your home sweet home.  Check out the fireworks in Boston MA, New York NY, Washington DC, Philadelphia PA and San Francisco CA at the EveryScape website!  The site is neat to scope out...and you can become an "Escape Artist" making sure your home town or city is represented on line the way it should be. Visit www.houltonfair.com for all the events from mudruns, truck pulls, horse shows, demolision derby... 07/03/2008

As a Jimmy Olsen cub reporter  or a Clark Kent that doubles as a full time real estate broker, your job is to capture and post area information.  You as a broker feed the local portal to the world thanks to the internet.  Within ten minutes of the news event, it is posted and everyone who cares about your home town sees it.  Nothing the NBC News would need to cover but news to local folks around the area.  They saw smoke and wondered what's that all about.  In small towns, no local TV outlet to capture and post.  But with video camera, you can post it.  Not just the parades, local ball or hockey teams and listings you have for sale.  Capture the local flavor of your area and in this case, see the Houlton Fire Department in action.  Offer to feed it to the nearest TV station which in Hou... 07/02/2008

     You finished your second cup of black coffee as the sun rises...off to the barn to throw some hay down for the small critters you are raising.  Your partner is getting up too and fixing breakfast and you have plans if the weather cooperates to climb on the old John Deere B tractor to pull a plow thru the back five acre field. If you get rained out, there is a box stall door needing repair and a long list from the job jar to tackle.  Jack up the settling porch. Fix the fence charger. Head to town for parts. This is Maine farming. No extra money to hire out the chores, repairs, updates.  You can do it. You become a bit of a mechanic, part gambler, a half baked carpenter but all with the satisfaction of working the good earth.  You burn wood from the sections out back that are studded... 06/30/2008

     Thinking about expanding a business in Aroostook County Maine? Or starting one? Look into the economic advantages with the Aroostook County Empowerment Zone!  The Northern Maine Development Commission is an Aroostook agency that helps educated business people on new programs the federal, state and local goverment's offer in Aroostook County.  Together, Northern Maine is growing and becoming know as the best place on earth to live, work and play! For more on all the resources and areas NMDC works, visit their website!  For Southern Aroostook area information and help with development visit the Greater Houlton Chamber of Commerce and The Southern Aroostook Development Corporation MAINE REALTOR ANDREW MOOERS - HOULTON /AROOSTOOK COUNTY REAL ESTATE & AREA INFORMATION 06/28/2008

Is pulling into a lake lot cottage with full bath, microwave, satelite tv and video games for the kids your idea of "camping"? Or is hiking with a 60 pound back pack up into a remote tent site and drinking hot black coffee at sunrise in the woods your desire?  Or something in between?  The word camping is wide in meaning for folks making the trek to Maine this summer.  Some "campers" strap on cross country skis, and shoe shoe thru ice and snow to a summit of a mountain to crawl into a tent with gas heater. No power, no people, just the wide open Maine outdoors.  Depending on your age and stamina, camping can mean many things to Maine bound real estate buyers. Over and over I hear the comment that "we just want to get away..feel cramped and crowded where we live now".  Maine countryside... 06/28/2008

     The weather turned out super, over 50 drivers raced down Derby Hill in Houlton Maine June 21st! And the winner of the Stock division was Sara Heath..for Super Stock Lucas Grant came out on top! Safe race, families helps the drivers and a big party afterward at Community Park!  Watch the You Tube video for more action and imagery from the big race!  Maine Realtor Andrew Mooers' Property And Area Information 06/22/2008

Does your son or daughter have to tote a taser to a school that has 2400 kids in the graduating class alone?  One of the top three reasons to move to Maine is the high quality educational system, small class sizes (70 in the graduating class) and a friendly community helping raise those children.  A happy childhood full of love and confidence building events is a given in Maine. No taser, no drugs dogs, no metal detector. Simple family oriented lifestyle. Couple the school atmosphere with low cost housing and areas where white tail deer out number the local population of people, and you have the right place to live, work and play.  Maine's outdoor unspoiled 4 season beauty awaits you...Maine...the way life should be.  Come for a vacation and stay a life time! For a visitor's package of ... 06/19/2008

Promotion of the area you live in.  It starts with the thoughts and perceptions in your head.Do you figure you lack some man made attraction like Disney Land or a major league baseball or other franchise team, etc and that you have nothing to toot your horn about?  Sometimes what you don't have is what you promote.  This is the way it is in Northern Maine...what we don't have..tons of people and traffic. No pollution. The folks that live here are friendly, we don't lock doors, we don't have crime.  What we do have is unspoiled 4 season beauty..crystal clean lakes, miles of rolling fields and forest, plenty of wildlife, and scenery like no other place.  Capture the beauty and let others see it.  Share it. Create a photostream of what you do have but also push what you don't have that is ... 06/13/2008

     Get a big fat crayon, and circle September 6th a bunch of times...for the Colin Mochrie & Brad Sherwood Comedy Show coming to Houlton Maine.  Stars of the hit show "What's My Line Anyway" will entertain at the Millar Civic Center as one more comedy act hits Houlton Maine in a string of top performers with the likes of "Larry the Cable Guy" and others! Visit the Houlton Maine State Fair site at www.houltonfair.com for all the details.  While you are in there seeing about tickets to the comedy show...take a gander at all the events around the 4th in Houlton.  This July offers Midnight Madness shopping promotions with local merchants, the state's largest fireworks display, animal, car and exhibit competition, Demolishing Derby, truck pulls, a midway of family orient rides and way way ... 06/10/2008

Many areas with population centers have many zip codes for the same city or large town. But in Houlton Maine and Aroostook County zip codes mean something different. For example, Houlton's 04730 zip covers all of Houlton that is six miles by six miles in size geographically. AND you get parts of the town of Littleton...to the north. Some of the northern section of Littleton Maine spills into 04760 which is the post office jurisdiction of Monticello Maine. To the west of Houlton you get Hammond, Ludlow, to the south into Hodgdon, Linneus, etc. So when someone says you are looking for a home on such and such an address with the Houlton Maine 04730 zip, don't assume it is actually in Houlton. For years everything from RFD 1 and up which at least helped the reader know oh...that is out the ... 06/08/2008

    For starters, nearly every National Association of REALTORS ad will end with the tag line..."every market is different." Many of the ads have the premise that interest rates are lower than ever, the selection is plentiful and you have lots of choices. But in the back of the mind of listeners, viewers, readers, there's the nagging notion from the media that EVERY market is dire, that homes left and right are being foreclosed on. Images of long lines of sad looking, dusty former home owners looking like the Beverly Hillibillies loading up the old pickups with family heirlooms, and slowly leaving cities or where ever they live run thru their heads.  In Houlton, Maine we are fortunate to be parked in the upper left hand corner of the country.  We enjoy lower cost living across the board... 06/08/2008

What's coming up for events? There are many but some of the big ones...for June!  5th Houlton High School 2008 Graduation - Millar Civic Center 7pm  6th Hodgdon High School 2008 Graduation - HHS Gymnasium 7pm  7th Great Houlton Christian Academy Bike A Thon/Walk A Thon. Call 532-0736 For Details  8th Knowles Corner ATV Club Regular Monthly Meeting At Club House - 2pm 11th Compassionate Friends Support Group - Meeting At 6:30/7:30pm At Houlton Regional Hospital 12th McGill's Community Band Concert In Monument Park 7pm 12/13th Houlton Fair Picture Passes For Agricultural Fair Go On Sale! Visit www.houltonfair.com 14th Alpaca Shearing Clinic For More Information Dial 207 532 9696 16th Catch The Reading Bug at Cary Library. Program Begins June 23rd. 207 532 1302 20th Northern Maine Soap Box... 05/29/2008

Looking Down The... Meduxnekeag River in Downtown Houlton Maine.  Now that's a setting. The east end of the Houlton Maine foot bridge will lead to a new housing project in the Shiretown. Over 2.5 million to be invested in the Market Square parking lot development.  Coastal Enterprises, the owner of the complex, will offer units to residents meeting eligibility guidelines. Tenants will expect to pay rents in the $430 to $575 range which includes all utilities.  CEI's John Egan talked recently at the Houlton Rotary Club to announce the plans to the group.  This project is adjacent to the Temple Theatre and offers real community living with a short walk being the key to reaching everything from the post office, shopping, library and summer nights listening to McGill's Community Band. This... 05/26/2008

     You know winter is over when you can throw on some shorts after your day job, run to the Houlton Community Park and climb on a bleacher to watch an exciting little league game.  The parents are great and not matter how tired you might have been that day because of adventures at work, it all disappears when you hear the crack of the bat and see an inside the park home run.  Little league is exciting!  Here is a link to Houlton Maine's little league for sponsors and game schedule/times. Commission Ben Drew has done a super job with getting this year's program underway with lots of support from fans, coaches, parents and players.  Ben helped spear head the "Field Of Dreams" project for new fields needed due to increased popularity and scheduling conflicts for games and practices. The ... 05/14/2008

You know spring is in Maine when the canoes are everywhere on top of pickups and paddlers enjoy swollen rivers in yearly races.  Little league tryouts are over, teams begin to play this week in Houlton Maine. And fiddleheads are another part of Maine culture.  A fiddlehead is the early stage of an ostrich fern.  A delicacy to many, an unknown to most.  The plant that looks like the head of a fiddle grows in wet, moise areas along Maine waterways as a rule.  Learn everything you wanted to know about fiddleheads.  Fun to clean, steamed and with a little vinegar added eat! Have to fill your bag along the river and stream beds quickly as the little Maine black fly comes out this time of year too! The black flies don't like fiddleheads but your neck and arms look pretty good to their air for... 05/04/2008

     As real estate brokers, we help in the moving and relocation process by locating and selling homes.  Personally, have you moved a few times in your own life or pretty much stayed within a few miles of your current home? The expression "air force brat" (or other armed services branch) is used proudly by some I deal with.  I often ask if that 14 move childhood was good or bad and get a 50% return on the process being a positive thing.  Some folks are more resilent to learn about new areas, others are a tad bitter because they were uprooted and had to start the make friends / enter a new school routinel over and over.  I grew up on a Maine farm for most of my life and can remember as a little guy the move from Franklin Avenune  in Houlton to the farm. International pickup loaded high,... 05/03/2008