Episode 7: Financing with Confidence - A Conversation with Greg Dauphinee of Androscoggin Bank

“Financing with Confidence: Navigating Interest Rates and Lending in Maine with Greg Dauphinee”

In this episode of Elegant Maine Living, I sit down with Greg Dauphinee, Vice President and Senior Loan Officer at Androscoggin Bank, to discuss financing options in today’s real estate market and how buyers—particularly those not purchasing with cash—can still be competitive in Maine’s dynamic housing environment.

With over 24 years of experience and an impressive track record of service, Greg brings both data and heart to this conversation. We explore:

• The current interest rate landscape and how it’s affecting buyers at all price points
• How out-of-state buyers are impacting local affordability
• Why strong public schools, community, and lifestyle continue to drive value
• Tips for setting smart expectations during the loan process
• How to tailor financing strategy to your personality, timeline, and needs

Greg also shares his fascinating background as a U.S. Navy rescue swimmer and how that experience shaped his methodical, high-integrity approach to client service.

This is a must-listen for buyers, sellers, and anyone curious about how lending fits into Maine’s evolving real estate story.

🔗 Links & Contact Info

Contact Greg via his email - GDauphinee@androscogginbank.com, LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/gregdauphinee/

💼 Learn more about Androscoggin Bank:
 https://www.androscogginbank.com

Elegant Maine Living explores Maine’s homes, communities, and people—through the lens of lifestyle, values, and thoughtful living. I host conversations with leaders, creators, and advisors who help illuminate what it truly means to live well in Maine.

Connect with Elise

🌐 Website & Listings: EliseKiely.com
📸 Follow Elise on Social Media:

• Instagram: @elisekielyrealestate
• Facebook: Elise Kiely Real Estate 
• LinkedIn: Elise Kiely 

Have Questions or Topic Suggestions, e-mail Elise at 

• Elise@EliseKiely.com
  
  

Subscribe, share with a friend, and join Elise every other week to discover what makes Maine not just beautiful—but beautifully lived.

Please remember this podcast is for entertainment and educational purposes only and does not create an attorney client or real estate advisor client relationship.  Please reach out to me directly if I can assist you in your real estate journey.

Transcript

Elise Kiely: [00:00:00] Welcome to Elegant Maine Living, where we explore the beauty, charm and sophistication of life in Maine. My name is Elise Kiely, your host, and a real estate advisor with Legacy Properties Sotheby's International Realty. On each episode, we dive into Maine's residential real estate market, sharing key trends, inventory, insights, and notable sales, while also highlighting the extraordinary lifestyle that makes Maine such a special place to live, work, and play.

Elise Kiely: Whether you're seeking a coastal retreat. A vibrant community or an escape into nature. Elegant Maine Living is your guide to the home and experiences that defined our great state. Let's get started. The number of the [00:01:00] day is 32. That is the percentage of homes purchased last year in Maine with cash, which aligns pretty much with the rest of the country and may even be a little bit less than in previous years.

Elise Kiely: Well, this is going to be a fun and informative. And very timely topic In today's competitive real estate market where buyers are often still vying with multiple bids on properties, we're going to go over a lot of helpful information, some storytelling, and we are going to discuss the role of interest rates and the fluctuation of those rates and the impact it's having in Maine's current real estate market.

Elise Kiely: But before we get started, I have one favor to ask. If you find this podcast interesting or helpful, please hit the follow button that will allow me to continue this podcast and bring you current updates for all of you. Whether you're from an old Maine family, currently living in Maine, [00:02:00] working or playing here, or dreaming of making Maine your home, as we welcome you to come and explore this wonderful state.

Elise Kiely: Welcome to this episode of Elegant Maine Living Financing With Confidence, A conversation with Vice President and Senior Loan Officer Greg Dauphinee of Androscoggin Bank. In this episode, we're going to talk to Greg, who is a top loan officer in Maine, who's going to share some expert insights onto the current interest rate environment, different financing options that affect Maine's real estate market and how those who need to finance, who do not have the cash reserves or cash options available can compete in buying a home when there is so much cash out there. 

Elise Kiely: We are going to learn a little bit about Greg's extremely interesting background and involvement in the community and how that impacts his business. And then we are going to end with some advice for buyers at all price points in [00:03:00] 2025. 

Elise Kiely: So let's get started. First, Greg, welcome 

Greg Dauphinee: Elise. It's great to be here. Thank you for having me. 

Elise Kiely: Oh, it's my pleasure, Greg. We were, we were just chatting before we sat down to record this. I think we'd known each other. 15 or 20 years. 

Greg Dauphinee: Time goes by fast. 

Elise Kiely: Yes, it did. Really does. And we have lived through many different real estate market cycles 

Greg Dauphinee: Oh boy.

Greg Dauphinee: In Maine, without a doubt. And, and we are in, we're definitely in a, a noteworthy cycle. Now, by way of background, Greg, let me just applaud you because you are routinely ranked as one of the top lenders in the state, and you've, you've been doing this for how long? 

Greg Dauphinee: About 24 years. 24 years. Just before September 11th. I got in. 

Elise Kiely: Wow. Wow. So you really saw vibrant, robust real estate markets and you lived through the great recession in real estate as well as I did, yes. 

Greg Dauphinee: '08 was, that was a tough time for sure. 

Elise Kiely: It was. Yeah, it was interesting. And um, your volume of deals in your price points is [00:04:00] very impressive. And the type of loans I know you do is very impressive and I, I want to share a little bit about your background in the US Navy and what you did there, and we'll, we'll talk about that and we'll segue that into how that has impacted your career.

Elise Kiely: And I know you have a very deliberate and intentional methodology when it comes to client service and deal execution. And, and we've done, I don't know how many deals we've done together, Greg, but, but quite, 

Greg Dauphinee: quite a few. 

Elise Kiely: We, we've helped quite a few people, uh, start their next chapter in Maine. And, and before we get started, full disclosure, um, as some of you may know, listeners may know my husband, um, Neil is the CEO and president of Androscoggin Bank.

Elise Kiely: But I did not ask Neil to strong arm you to come. Um, he may not even know that you're here today. I can't remember, but I wanted to make sure that was being transparent. Um, but Greg, again, thank you for coming. And so how did you get into your career as being a mortgage broker?

Greg Dauphinee: I actually [00:05:00] wanted to be part of real estate, but I didn't want to have to show people houses on weekends.

Greg Dauphinee: It just wasn't my. A strong suit I felt, but I wanted to be more on the finance side. Mm-hmm. So I specifically went out trying to get myself in front of lenders that would gimme an opportunity and eventually one did. And that's how I got started. 

Elise Kiely: That's, you know, you have such a great reputation. How many deals do you think you've done over the course of your career?

Elise Kiely: It's has to be hundreds, if not thousands. 

Greg Dauphinee: Right. Um, it's really changed in the last. Probably six or seven years once I came to the bank, uh, I just got a lot more opportunity, had a lot more product mix to be able to offer clients. Mm-hmm. And it really catapulted my career here towards the end. Wow. So now it's probably on a clip of a little over a hundred, 120 deals a year, typically.

Elise Kiely: Wow. Yeah. And do you have a sense of your volume of the loans that you Yeah, 

Greg Dauphinee: I mean, right now. Uh, especially since Covid, [00:06:00] uh, COVID was, it was a lot of volume as you can imagine, and you saw that right now it's around 65 to 70 million a year. 

Elise Kiely: That's incredible. You know, yeah. 

Greg Dauphinee: Those numbers, it's probably about 650 average loan amount.

Greg Dauphinee: Mm-hmm. So that's, that's where it fluctuates out, 

Elise Kiely: you know, and Maine, Maine is such a affordable option. When you look to some of our friends in other states, in the other markets, in other states, we are still very affordable. What you can get for, um. A lovely home in a community, or even on the coast or on a lake or a river, is much more affordable than we have in some of our feeder markets.

Elise Kiely: And so our price points aren't as big as California, Florida, DC, Chicago. They've appreciated for sure in the last few years 

Greg Dauphinee: it's changed dramatically. Yeah. Especially for people that are already here. It's hard to put your mind around where things are at right now compared to where they were five years ago.

Elise Kiely: Yeah. Yeah. I mean, it's, it's really incredible in the, in the [00:07:00] greater Portland area, it is hard to get into some communities for under $750,000, if not a million dollars in some of these.

Greg Dauphinee: I was just looking at a place today where I, it was a fairly new development in the last few years, and I know some of the clients purchasing in there, brand new homes five, six years ago it was 450 to 750.

Greg Dauphinee: Now they're selling for one and a half million. It's, it's, that's just dramatic.

Elise Kiely: It's the appreciation that we've had post covid is, is really been extraordinary. And where, where do you see most of your clients that, that are coming from out of state? Where, where do you think they're coming from? Mostly 

Greg Dauphinee: Right now I'm seeing a lot from the Carolinas, Georgia area.

Greg Dauphinee: Uh, I'll see him from out west. Like Washington State, Oregon. Uh, but there's a big contingency that's coming from Massachusetts, the greater Boston area. Uh, and they, 'because they're seeing appreciation because people are going from New [00:08:00] York and Philadelphia into their markets. 

Elise Kiely: So buying their homes, freeing them up to come to Maine.

Greg Dauphinee: Right. And it's just the domino effect. And then they come up here and everything looks like a deal to them. Right? Just like the people in New York think Boston's a good deal, but I see a lot of people, they want the quality of life. 

Elise Kiely: So it's a lifestyle decision. You're seeing that as much as a career.

Greg Dauphinee: It is a lifestyle decision, especially since Covid, when people started to work remote and they knew they didn't have to geographically live in the area in which their company was.

Greg Dauphinee: Uh, it really, it just changed the dynamic of who can buy, right? Because typically if you want to top executives, well, only people that could, that were buying were people that worked for. WEX or IDEXX or maybe LL Bean. Some of the hospitals, 

Elise Kiely: maybe some of the law firms. Unum.

Greg Dauphinee: Yeah, exactly. But now it's now when you're trying to buy a house, you're not competing with just them.

Greg Dauphinee: You're competing with people that work for Facebook. You are [00:09:00] competing Google. Yeah. You know, things like that. 

Elise Kiely: Yeah, that's, that's a really interesting point. So it does change the competitive. Landscape of who you're competing with as a buyer. Right. Because since Covid, the competition among buyers has been, it, it's been a full contact sport, um, the competition and still, we still see multiple bids.

Elise Kiely: At least I'm seeing that in my career. 

Greg Dauphinee: And they're happy paying the prices, not just the real estate. They're, I have a, we have a client that closed last month. They bought an Falmouth for side coming from South Carolina. And as I'm talking to him and he was saying how. Just even though he was paying, he went over asking.

Greg Dauphinee: Mm-hmm. And explaining how it's so worth it to them for many reasons, not just the house. And his explanation was his wife is in education, not just a teacher, but education. So she understands school systems and all that. So when they looked at the school systems here, he was explaining how. [00:10:00] I don't think you guys understand how good your school systems are.

Greg Dauphinee: Mm-hmm. Your public school systems are so good here. Like I don't have to put my, I can take my kids out of private. Mm-hmm. Which I'm paying down here after tax dollars 40,000 a year. Yeah. 

Elise Kiely: After taxes, 40,000. 

Greg Dauphinee: Yeah. And your public school. And Falmouth is better than the private school down there, so I don't have that cost anymore, and I can put that into the house.

Elise Kiely: You know, that's interesting point that you bring up Greg, because I remember thinking that during Covid, especially those early days of Covid when houses were getting sold well above asking price and it was just a almost an auction and I recognized that people were buying, as you said, more than a house.

Elise Kiely: They were buying a safety net. They were buying a sense of community because I think we have such a strong sense of community in this part of Maine, and they were buying access to the outdoors. They were buying a lifestyle. So you couldn't co, you couldn't comp that [00:11:00] with what the house next door sold for.

Elise Kiely: Right, right. And that's something we have to remember, those of us that are fortunate enough to live in Maine, what a gem we have. In living here because we have all of those things to go hiking, isn't pack everybody up in the suburban or the station wagon and drive somewhere for the weekend. It's go out the back door, grab the leash.

Elise Kiely: Right, exactly. Grab the dog, put some mud boots on and off you go. 

Greg Dauphinee: Whether it's hiking or going to the beach or. It's, it's, so, I always say paddleboarding on the lake. 

Elise Kiely: You could, you could surf and ski in the same day. It would be cold and you'd have to wear a wetsuit and then you could go down to Portland and have a great dinner at a fabulous Portland restaurant.

Greg Dauphinee: That is such, when my wife and I, we go on vacations and go places we, every time we go places we realize how spoiled we are because it's so hard to find a good restaurant sometimes. That's right. When you're traveling, 

Elise Kiely: it's so true. 

Greg Dauphinee: And you can stumble on three or four just walking down the street in Portland.

Elise Kiely: That's true. And I want to, I want to get [00:12:00] back to, to Covid and, and the real estate market and, you know, interest rates. There's so much to talk about. We could. We could probably have five episodes on this, but I, I do want to come back a little bit to your background because I think it's such an interesting background.

Elise Kiely: And I know you told me you're not technically a Mainer 'beacuse you weren't born here. 

Greg Dauphinee: Correct?

Elise Kiely: Um, nor am I. Um, but our children are Yes. Or one of your children is, and, um, but you have a, a significant history in Maine. And I'd love, if you don't mind, just to share a little bit about that, having grown up in Maine.

Greg Dauphinee: And it, it was something that I really appreciate more. Now, at the time you, I grew up in Northern Maine, up by Monka. Toin. Mm-hmm. A little town called Patton. And it was quintessential too, because of the time that it was, as far as the late seventies, early eighties, you didn't have cell phones. You didn't have internet, you didn't have video games, was just starting to be something. [00:13:00] Mm-hmm. So there was, it was a time in history where you still went outside, took off for the day, came home at the end of the day for dinner and 

Elise Kiely: washed your hands. Remember that? You always had to wash your hands before dinner 'cause you were out playing all day.

Elise Kiely: That's right. Drinking from the hose. There were no water bottles. There was 

Greg Dauphinee: Exactly, yeah. Jumps with your bike, making cabins, you know? Mm-hmm. Going, playing in the river. Uh, and you could, you could get jobs. Yeah, you could work at the grocery store, you'd pick potatoes, hay in the summer, work on the farm, uh, deliver newspapers.

Greg Dauphinee: I mean, it was just mow lawns, you know, you could always, it was a, a, I feel a quintessential time in growing up, and you could still be a kid. There was no arranging play dates. Right. There was. You go over and knock on someone's door and Hey, is Johnny there? Can you come out and play? Mm-hmm. So it was, it was a great time to, you know, be in Maine and I really, a lot of close friends from [00:14:00] going, you know, through school and stuff.

Greg Dauphinee: Mm-hmm. That you're still super close with. 

Elise Kiely: And then you graduated high school and then you went. Uh, directly into the service 

Greg Dauphinee: I did, uh, at the, I didn't have money for, for school. Mm-hmm. Didn't really know what I wanted to do. Even if I did have money, it probably would've been just wasted. And so I figured for me personally, I needed to kind of see what was out there and it was better for me to go and I could always come back.

Greg Dauphinee: Mm-hmm. But if I never went, I wouldn't know what I was missing really. And at the time, it was, uh, the late eighties and the Navy seemed like a good opportunity. I wanted to get into the aviation side. 

Elise Kiely: You wanted to fly planes. 

Greg Dauphinee: I wanted something to do with aviation. I mean, top Gun just came out, out for crying out loud.

Elise Kiely: I was going to say, yeah. Top Gun. 

Greg Dauphinee: So it was one of those, uh, opportunities that, uh, I went and I. Signed up and by August after graduation I was going through training and it was a great thing for a young man to be doing [00:15:00] at that time of time of life. 

Elise Kiely: So Greg, you're being very humble and very modest, but when I read your bio, and I don't want to misstate, but it was warfare specialist and rescue swimmer, right? Yeah. So that, that sounds like you were top gun, so you were jumping out of helicopters. 

Greg Dauphinee: So the, there's, there's two missions. One mission is, so you're in a helicopter crew, there's a pilot copilot and a couple crewmen in the back, and I was one of the crewmen and we would run radar.

Greg Dauphinee: Infrared, we would do a lot of, we would track submarines, so we use sonar, uh, magnetic laminating detection. Mm-hmm. All, you know, different things to track subs, kind of hump, infrared October stuff. And you would track, you know, you know how to Soviet H class or typhoon and you know, is it diesel, is it nuclear?

Greg Dauphinee: And that was one part of the mission. And then the other is, uh, aviation, rescue swimmer, so [00:16:00] down pilots. And they, they got the shoots and the lines and jump in, untangle 'em, figure out how to get 'em out, hoist them up. So it was pretty exciting, exciting stuff for a 18, 19-year-old kid 

Elise Kiely: and incredibly intense.

Elise Kiely: I just, I think that's, first of all, I should have started this, this podcast with Thank you for your service. That's an, that's an incredible thing to do, uh, through, through the Navy. How many people did you rescue? 

Greg Dauphinee: Uh, this is one of those things where just like, or you're not allowed to say just like a no, just like a fighter pilot.

Greg Dauphinee: You can do all this training and there's a whole lot of training and maybe not a whole lot of rescues, rescue wise, right? 

Elise Kiely: Yes. But you were ready, willing, and able. Exactly. I bet. Eager, almost sometimes eager to jump out of that helicopter. Well, I bet, um, doing lending during Covid was a lot like rescue, swimming, jumping out of helicopters, rescuing people, people,

Greg Dauphinee: I think oh eight was a little more crazy.

Elise Kiely: Yeah, that's probably true. Yeah. 

Greg Dauphinee: That was, yeah. Oh '08 was a very different brutal time. That was brutal. Yeah. Yeah. 

Elise Kiely: And the, and the world is so [00:17:00] different. I've had people say, Elise, do you think what's happening now in the market? Do you feel like that's '08? I feel like nothing is going to be like '08.

Elise Kiely: No. Um, it's just, it's very different. And there's some. You know, there, there's stressful parts of it and there's, you have to be very strategic and thoughtful in advising clients in both situations. Um, but this is a very different, this is a very different time, but, but during COVID when we felt like we had a tremendous number of people looking to buy in Maine, and, and to be clear, I always want to make sure I, I make this point.

Elise Kiely: The vast majority of people buying homes in Maine are us. They're Mainers. But we're a small state, so it doesn't take much right for out from the out of state, from people from away to, um, to have an impact when they move to Maine. And so it, it feels like we have a lot of out og staters, but it's because we're so small.

Elise Kiely: But during COVID in that late twenties, 21 time period, there was a lot of activity. And a lot of people [00:18:00] uncertain, and we had a lot of people almost panic buying coming into Maine. How did you deal with that sort of stress and that onslaught of volume that really happened so quickly? Not a lot of ramp up time.

Greg Dauphinee: The other piece to that isn't just the added volume that happens and the tension, but everyone was sent home. You weren't working in an office, so then you had to deal with. I mean, the bank was great at getting the technology in place so you could still be at home and work at the same time. And by the way, you're doing quadruple the volume that you were doing before, 

Elise Kiely: but you don't have the person in the office next to you 

Greg Dauphinee: exactly.

Greg Dauphinee: To to work. So everyone's trying to figure out spaces where they can work at their house. Mm-hmm. But it was, it was amazing to see how people adapt and really rose to the challenge. Yeah, I was really impressed.

Elise Kiely: It's, it's, it's remarkable. 

Greg Dauphinee: Yes. And I think the number one thing when you're in that situation is, [00:19:00] and I, this has been my thought for a long time.

Greg Dauphinee: Whenever you're dealing with someone and they're doing this emotional purchase, the number one job is to set expectations. Mm-hmm. How fast you can get the deal done, what is possible as far as interest rate, what they can go to as far as loan amount. People aren't upset if you say no, they're upset when you give 'em the expectation that this is possible, but then you find out later it's not possible.

Greg Dauphinee: Mm-hmm. So whether it's your job, my job, controlling my wife's expectations at home or my kids. Expectations are the biggest thing that need to be set, I feel. 

Elise Kiely: And how do you, how do you work with that in your daily practice of in, in, you're doing your loans? How do I work with that? How do set, how do you set expectations for clients?

Elise Kiely: If you're meeting a, a new client and you know what they're looking for, they've got lots of competition for the same type of property that they're looking [00:20:00] for. How do you set expectations in terms of opportunity to get a property and the financing of the property? 

Greg Dauphinee: A lot of times I wanna find out where they want to be at the end.

Greg Dauphinee: Mm-hmm. So you start with the end in mind and work backwards and find out what's important to them. And you don't find that out unless you're asking questions and. You don't go into the deal with, this is what I have, this is what I can offer you. I want to find out what it is. It's like the old, it's like the saying about the doctor.

Greg Dauphinee: Mm-hmm. The prescription prior to diagnosis is malpractice.

Elise Kiely: That's good. I like that. 

Greg Dauphinee: So it's important to find out what, what is it that they need? Is it speed? Is it a, a lower rate for a certain price point? Mm-hmm. Uh, is it, I, they have no cash right now, so we have to help them figure out a way to get cash.

Greg Dauphinee: Mm-hmm. To go into the deal, but they're gonna have the cash later. So just figuring that out with the consumer or the client is. [00:21:00] Is how I like to approach that. Yeah. 

Elise Kiely: Very, very thoughtful. Very methodical. Which doesn't surprise me. You, you, you strike me as you have a very clear system in how you interact with clients, the level of communication that you give and the information that you continually share throughout the process.

Greg Dauphinee: And it's important to find out what it is that they want, some people want to know a lot of information. Other people, they just, just gimme the, the facts, right? Just tell me this and move on. 

Elise Kiely: You know, it's so interesting you say that there, in some of the trainings that I've done, there are, you know, four distinct personality types and you've got to mirror those those personality types. If somebody is, listen, I'm a power person, just give me the straight facts. I'll make a quick decision and we'll move on. I don't wanna spend an hour talking about the different formulas in the underwriting process. I just wanna know what I need to know and move on. And then there's some people that are just want lots of conversation. Um, they're gonna be pleasant, but, [00:22:00] and they're gonna make a quick decision, but they want lots of conversation. And then there are people that are extremely detail oriented and they want precision. They want lots of long emails, lots of brochures. And then they're people that are just extremely nervous and need lots of handholding.

Elise Kiely: And I think in, in my practice, I respect each of those personalities and I know which one of those I am. And I need to accommodate for the other three. 'cause it's not my personality that matters. It's the client's personality that matters. 

Greg Dauphinee: Right. And their comfort. And that's where the partnership comes in between the lender and the, or the realtor.

Greg Dauphinee: It's nice to know that if you've already done that, a little bit of that assessment ahead of time. Mm-hmm. Greg, he's not gonna want to have a lot of conversation or he's in meetings all day, or he has a clinical all day. He just needs the facts. Right. Or my client's downsizing. She's very nervous. Her husband passed away recently.

Greg Dauphinee: He did all this stuff before, so she's gonna really need some handholding. Mm-hmm. [00:23:00] And we'll probably have to explain things multiple times and just take it at a slower pace. 

Elise Kiely: That's so true. And it all that matters is how the client feels. And that the client is comfortable with the experience. 

Elise Kiely: Right. Greg, thank you so much for coming in this morning and sharing your wisdom and your strong expertise on the mortgage industry in Maine.

Elise Kiely: It is very helpful for our listeners to hear about some of the different opportunities and challenges associated with financing in today's real estate market. I look forward to continuing this discussion on the second part of our series where we will tell some really interesting stories and some anecdotes about things that have happened in the financing world with Maine's real estate.

Elise Kiely: So thank you and I look forward to continuing the conversation. 

Elise Kiely: Thank you for joining us on Elegant Maine Living, and remember, if you are dreaming of a lifestyle in Maine or already living it, this podcast is for you. Be sure [00:24:00] to subscribe so you don't miss an episode. And I invite you to take this journey with me.

Elise Kiely: Please share it with your friends, family, neighbors, and coworkers. I would love a review and welcome feedback and encourage you to reach out with questions or topics you would like to hear about. You can find me on Instagram, Facebook, and LinkedIn, or simply an email to elise@eliseKiely.com, and all of those links will be in the show notes.

Elise Kiely: And remember, this podcast is for entertainment and informational purposes only and does not create an attorney-client or real estate advisory relationship. I am happy to engage. If you have any questions or if I can help in your real estate journey, simply click on the links in the show notes to contact me through social media or email.

Elise Kiely: I am always happy to help in any way that I can, and we welcome you to come and explore Maine. Thank you for [00:25:00] listening to Elegant Maine Living where elegance isn't just an aesthetic, it's a way of life. Until next time, keep living with elegance.