Reading Maine's Real Estate Market with Chris Lynch — Why Maine Moves Differently

Phrase of the Day: “Multiple truths can coexist.”

In this episode, I am joined once again by Chris Lynch, Founder, Owner, and Designated Broker of Legacy Properties Sotheby’s International Realty. Chris first appeared on Elegant Maine Living in Episodes 5 and 6, Leading in Luxury, and returns to share his perspective on Maine’s real estate market—where trends arrive last, if at all, and stability continues to define the landscape.

Highlights from This Episode

Maine’s market moves to its own rhythm
While national headlines often point to volatility, Maine experiences changes later than most markets—and sometimes not at all. Shifts that begin on the West Coast and travel east frequently lose momentum before reaching Maine. This lag has historically protected our state’s real estate values and contributed to long-term stability.

The data tells a balanced story

• Statewide home sales are up more than 5 percent year over year.
• The median sale price dipped slightly—about 1.3 percent—to around $402,000, only the second year-over-year decrease since 2019.
• On a rolling-quarter basis, median prices rose 4.5 percent in Cumberland County and 4.3 percent in York County, reflecting continued strength in southern Maine.

Maine’s fundamentals remain strong
With limited inventory and steady demand from both in-state and out-of-state buyers, neither of us expects home prices to decline. Instead, we anticipate moderate appreciation through 2026. Should mortgage rates fall into the 5 percent range, we expect more buyers to reenter the market, which could lead to renewed price increases.

A buying window has opened
There is a unique opportunity for buyers through the end of 2025 and into the first half of 2026. Those who act now will face less competition and may secure favorable terms before a potential influx of buyers when interest rates drop. Waiting could mean higher prices and more competitive conditions.

Cash and lifestyle continue to drive Maine’s luxury market
The definition of “luxury” has evolved. Properties in the $2 million to $2.5 million range and above now define the high end, and most of these sales are cash transactions. Today’s luxury buyers are motivated by lifestyle and quality of life, not speculation.

Generational wealth and real estate
Baby boomers and Gen X buyers remain powerful forces, often helping their adult children purchase homes. Real estate continues to be one of the most reliable long-term wealth-building strategies.

Maine’s enduring appeal
Every property in Maine is unique—there is little “com

Connect with Elise

🌐 Website & Listings: Legacy Properties Sotheby’s International Realty
📸 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 world of real estate with insight and intention. Each month I share market updates to help you navigate Maine's dynamic real estate landscape. But the true elegance of real estate lies in the communities we build. So I also spotlight Maine's visionaries, entrepreneurs, and everyday leaders.

Whether you're buying or selling or simply curious about life here, this podcast is your guide to the people and places. That make Maine such an amazing place to live, work, and play. Let's get started. The phrase of the day is multiple truths can coexist. If you look at the news on the economy and real estate in particular, you'll notice some conflicting national headlines, but [00:01:00] clear patterns are emerging in Maine.

Welcome again to my guest, my second time guest, Chris Lynch, founder, owner and designated broker of Legacy Properties, Sotheby's International Realty. Welcome. 

Thank you. Great to be here. 

Chris, really appreciate your coming in again for your first episode was back in the spring of this year, and I think it's super helpful to have you come in and we can all look at the national headlines and the local headlines about what's happening in Maine real estate.

But you as the owner of Legacy Properties with our six offices up and down the East Coast, have a 10,000 foot view and you get a perspective that advisors like myself on the ground. Don't always get to see. And so I think you're coming in with your perspective will be very helpful. And in fact, you were on our episodes five and six and we talked about how [00:02:00] luxury was leading the real estate market in Maine in terms of number of sales and appreciation in Maine and.

Could you give us a reminder, Chris, a little background again on Legacy Properties, the scope of the company, maybe a little bit of the market share and where we specialize. Sure. 

But before I do that, having done episodes five and six, I just want to say I am so impressed. What you've accomplished here is you've become that voice.

This podcast is amazing. You've had some great people. I've become a big fan and now I've met some of the people who are on your podcast who are such interesting people who bring so much to Maine. It's been terrific. Congrats on that. 

Oh, Chris, that's very generous of you to say thank you. This has been a not really a labor.

This has just been a really fun activity. And you're right, we have so many interesting people in Maine, and as we were just saying, they're not all the big CEOs, no offense, but the big leaders in business. I have had leaders in business and I've had my [00:03:00] high school girls that I mentor from Poland, Maine, and everyone around that whole genre because everyone has such a unique perspective of why they're here and it's very intentional when you come to Maine.

It's not on accident 

and the depth of talent, it's just, it's across the board. It's so interesting. 

It is, it's, it is really interesting. So I love doing this. I am I am surprised how much I love doing it. But it's been super fun. And thank you for saying that. And one of the things that makes Maine special is we have a lot of talent and we have a lot of talent at Legacy properties, and you had a great vision for the company.

And for those who are new to the area or new to real estate in Maine, can you give us a little background on the company and Sure. 

The company now, we are about 125 people in total. And that's quite a bit larger than I ever thought we'd be, but it just turns out that what we are doing and how we are doing it is working.

And so we just continue to have more and more demand for our services. And what we are doing is we are really taking properties now in, in more [00:04:00] places and more often and more depth in the more markets with better people, better branding. Better marketing. Our social media program has been fantastic.

We have really been investing in products to help our clients. Find better homes or sell their homes at better prices. And it sounds so simple, but there's so much out there. It's very complicated to get the right people in the right places with the right information at the right time. And We have been working on that, extensively, as 

and it's interesting because to sell a home in Maine, one of the things that makes Sotheby's unique and so special is the global reach. And the sophistication of our marketing from our photography to the staging assets that we have to the print and digital marketing that we do. And we were just talking about the Legacy Collection, which you created.

We did for the company. As a proprietary print periodical that comes out, highlighting some of our [00:05:00] special properties, has really gotten great review and a strong interest to people. The feedback on that has been really strong. 

Chris Lynch: we are working on our next edition as, as recently as this morning, and that should be going out next week.

But, as We have forgotten a little bit, I was really the first real estate newsletter in the Sotheby's International Realty System globally. I started doing these newsletters that were more market and orientation. It wasn't about bragging about what we are doing or talking about us. It wasn't a sales piece.

It was really, let's look at market trends and let's communicate those good, bad, or in. And we started that in 2006, which was really before anybody had thought about real estate newsletters. And now We have grown that distribution to probably 150,000 people per month. Most all of whom have a, a direct interest in Maine real estate.

Elise Kiely: That's amazing. Yeah. And great exposure for our clients. It is and great education for those looking to come to Maine because we talk not only about the houses, but we also you have [00:06:00] other periodicals that talk about the communities, and it's so important to share with someone what their life could look like living here and moving to Maine.

Chris Lynch: When we started the company, I would argue there were very few people who didn't already have a connection to Maine, that were coming to Maine. And really what's changed in the last decade is people who had no connection have discovered it in large numbers. And once they see what's here and see how available it is and the accessibility, probably 10 years ago I did a in-person accessibility tour.

Where I went around the country and I went to all the Sotheby's offices in some of our feeder markets like Boston and Greenwich, Connecticut and New York City, Washington, DC in Naples, Florida, and Dallas and Fort Worth. And I just talked about the accessibility that people find when they get here is if what, whatever you like to do, you can move here day one and do it.

If you were, if you wanted to have a boat slip on the Potomac and you're in Washington DC it's a 20 year [00:07:00] wait list, right? You wanna join a country club in Greenwich, Connecticut. It's a 10 year wait list. You move here, you have a boat on the water the next day. You put your application in for the country club.

It might be a week or two or three but it's just it's the quality of life here. Pound for pound is just, it doesn't exist in many places. 

Elise Kiely: I think that's so true. And we were just saying before we hit the record button that there are also so many really interesting community organizations. If your passion is mentoring young people, there are some great organizations for that.

If your passion is helping people learn young people learn squash, for example. There's a great organization in Portland for that. If your passion is helping people. In recovery, there's great organizations for that, and all of those guests are going to be guests or have been guests on the podcast, and I think that's, we are accessible not only for skiing access to the coast, we are accessible for intellectual interest as well, and I think that's what [00:08:00] makes it such a rich place to, to live, work, and play.

Chris Lynch: Sure. And I know a bunch of those programs that you speak of, and they're a big part of our charitable giving process from Legacy Property Sotheby's International Realty. we are at the point now where we probably give to 70 or 80 different charities. Yeah. As We have grown as a company. Our ability to give more has also grown, and that's been super rewarding.

Elise Kiely: That, that's been great to see. And Chris, let's talk a little bit about the company and then I am really excited to get in and talk about your thoughts on where the market is, where the market's going, and some of the drivers, you have a really talented team at the company, everyone from operations to financial to marketing has you, you've really developed a really strong talent pool and I don't think clients see behind the curtain that much and have exposure to that, but you have you have a dynamic team that is constantly doing research about what is happening, what are the numbers in Maine, what are the numbers regionally, what are the numbers in some of our [00:09:00] feeder markets where, you know, one of the nice things about Maine is we get things last. Changes in the rest of the country happen first and then they slowly make their way to Maine.

That includes fashion and design trends and sometimes market. Market shifts, 

Chris Lynch: it's so slow sometimes it never gets here. It is. It moves across the country. It usually starts in California, sometimes in New York. It works its way across the country. It gets to New York, comes to Boston, sometimes even gets to Portsmouth, New Hampshire, but may never make it to Maine.

And by the time it does, the trends already going the other way. And so we miss whole cycles here, which is good and bad. But so far it's been really good for us. 

Elise Kiely: Let's dive into some of the trends that we are seeing on the national level. And, you could look at headlines and see conflicting information.

NAR right now says that year over year sales are up a little over 4%. And median sales price and median is half or above and half or below median sales price nationally is up just over 2%. It's around 415,000 [00:10:00] month over month. It's that number is closer to one and a half, and you hear headlines from the Wall Street Journal that luxury sales are slowing down.

As uncertainty rises the next week, you could have another article that says real estate is a hedge on potential recession. Yahoo Finance said that 1 million plus homes are still the fastest part of the market and they're up 8.4%. Other studies are showing and I think this is very accurate, is that first time home buyer age is now 38.

That's amazing. That's amazing. That's a significant shift and I think we are seeing some of the effects of that when we do our, our day-to-day deals and the affordability pressures. And we are going to talk about that. But I'd love to get your perspective if someone were to come to you and say, Chris, I see all these headlines in the national news.

Should I be worried about my property in Maine? What's happening here? 

Chris Lynch: So Maine is, again it's I said all the trends nationally [00:11:00] eventually get here, almost to all of them, but there's ones we miss the whole cycle. There's things about Maine that are unique, some of these bigger states, these bigger markets a.

There's a lot more turnover, it's a lot faster. The markets move a lot more quickly just because every single sale is a data point, and as those data points proliferate both up and down, those markets tend to move a little faster than Maine. In Maine, we are just, we are slower. We have a much smaller market.

There might be, I don't know 15,000 homes, 16, 17, maybe 17,000 homes that sell in the whole state and the whole year. That's not very many. So we don't have that velocity, that turnover. It's not like car sales. Cars, you have to sell, X many, so many cars a day.

And I look at car sales, interestingly enough as a leading indicator and Maine car sales. I am actually on the board of Lee Auto Malls, which is a terrific company great company, family owned business, and really enjoy getting together with them, which we do four times a year. The but auto sales have a lot [00:12:00] of same dynamics. They are tied to interest rates, they're seasonal, they're cyclical. A lot of the things that we look at are, influential in the same buyer, making the same kinds of decisions. They're big decisions and they just have more velocity. So what happens with cars, because it happens more quickly, is usually a leading indicator for what's going to happen with real estate.

Elise Kiely: Oh, interesting. That's a, that's an observation I think most people wouldn't have assumed. But it makes sense and I wouldn't have either, had I 

Chris Lynch: not been on this, 

Elise Kiely: Board. That makes complete sense and when you look at the Maine numbers, just to, not to go through them in too much detail, but just looking for trends.

The most recent statistics from Main Association of Realtors shows that sales are up a little over 5% year over year. And We have had a slight dip in the median sales price, just over 1% dip, and we are around 402,000 for median sales. Price and inventory seems to be increasing a little bit, and I have people anecdotally come to me and say.

At least I feel like I am seeing more for sales signs, what's [00:13:00] happening in the market. And if you look at, for example, Cumberland County, where we are sitting today in Portland or York County in the southern part of the state, you see pretty healthy increase in sales and median sales price. I think Cumberland county's up over about 10.5% and this is on a rolling quarter basis and median sales price is up about four and a half percent to around $605,000.

York is increased about 10% in sales, and the median sales price was up about 4% at 550. And so you look at those two counties and you have to read below the headline. Of median sales prices decreased in Maine. Okay. It decreased 1%. Do you think that's a big tailwind telltale that of things to come, that slight dip in median sales price?

Chris Lynch: First of all, you know your numbers. 

Elise Kiely: You have to know your numbers. 

Chris Lynch: So what's interesting about that and you're right, the statistics for September [00:14:00] looking year over year just came out and it showed a slightly, basically 1% dip in the median sales price. It's only the second time since 2019 that We have had a year over year. Decrease. And the last time was in March it was 0.9%. So call it, 1%. It is neither one of those numbers, in my opinion, are meaningful. And yet We have also seen over the last year, it just said low single digit increases. What I would call bumping along the top of the market.

Maine was the fastest, had the highest percentage increase in sales prices of any state in the country. That's amazing. Amazing. But we are starting with a great product that had limited inventory, just because of the size of our, this is just a small real estate market, and all these people that we just were talking about who've discovered what Maine has and even when I first moved here, I'd be like, a lot of the people I met were here.

They didn't necessarily move here for a job. There aren't a lot of big companies in Maine. It's basically a small [00:15:00] business economy for the most part is they were here because they could be. They were here because they did something special, they did something different.

They did something where they could bring what they do from where they were to where they want to be. And most of them were looking for less traffic, less noise, less crowding, more access to all the things we talked about. And so it's still, it's just going to be hard for this market if you're a buyer and you're on the sidelines now and saying, oh good, it's down 1%, it's down 1%, kinda year over year.

This is a new trend. I is, I think you're going to be sadly mistaken. I, it's just, we still have too many people who want to live here. 

And even though our inventory is growing. Right now there's just under 5,000 single family homes in the whole state available for sale. And I don't know how many buyers are, 'because it's, there's no measure of that, there's no statistics.

But I am going to say it's five fold that, let's say it's 25,000 buyers. And that's probably not a bad number. And so if and a lot of these [00:16:00] buyers in waiting for one of two things, one, they're not going to see, which is big decline in price and the other is looking for a big decline in mortgage rates.

With the Fed easing. They believe they're going to wake up one day, they mortgages are going to be back at four. I don't see that happening. Could they be back at five and a half? Absolutely. If I were to pick a number for the end of next year being, we are six and an eighth, six and a quarter now, somewhere in there that five and a half percent seems very reasonable.

And that's, and there's a big difference. The caution is all the other buyers are going to see that too. And so we'll have limited inventory and a lot more buyers will say, oh, five and a half, that's my number. Coming into the marketplace and then prices are going to go up again. 

Elise Kiely: And 

Chris Lynch: so all that, you're taking from one side and giving to the other.

Elise Kiely: I always caution, and it's mostly people buying. If not their first, their second home. And often it's the children of clients of mine who are nervous about getting into the market and they're waiting for this big dip, this big reduction in prices to happen. And as they've been waiting for the past [00:17:00] year, the prices continually go up.

And at some point you need to get on the train because you're not going to be at the head of the train. Now you're you're in the middle or maybe at the end of the train. You've got to get into the market because that is where one of the traditional avenues for wealth creation, and if you continually sit on the sidelines, you're denying yourself opportunity for appreciation for the stability of living in your own home, the equity buildup and whatever tax benefits there are and there, and you can't do it naively, you have to go in with a trusted advisor and do it strategically, but there seems to be this increased opportunity for people that are incumbents, people that have, are in the real estate market, and then people that are in the stock market and people that are increasingly getting shut out.

I encourage people to just look at an opportunity to get in, and I think some people still are hung over from the 2008 Great Recession [00:18:00] when we did see some reduction in prices. Not the reduction that people are looking for now, given the buildup we had during COVID. I just, I don't see the prices coming down.

Chris Lynch: I don't see the prices coming down either. And the other thing, which all those sidelined folks are actually renters now.

So they're driving up the price of rents. So it was five years ago, if you were paying whatever, $1,500 a month, that was $1,500 a month, that wasn't going towards equity in your home. That was 3000. As those rents, so now it's 3000 a month. That's not going towards the equity in your home, and so it's a big, it's really a super interesting time. 

Elise Kiely: Yeah. 

Chris Lynch: There's one concept I want to introduce. We haven't talked about it, but is seasonality. So Maine historically was a seasonal market.

The season was really from call it March through the end of October, and so now we are at the end of October and what has, what was happening for many years before COVID is we would go into this really quiet, slow period from November 1st, [00:19:00] Thanksgiving in there to Valentine's Day, and right after Valentine's Day, mid-February, we'd start to see the market go up again.

And a lot of the sellers, particularly that had seasonal homes would close 'them down for the winter. Would not put 'them on the market and buyers say, I really don't want to come to Maine if I don't have to right now. 'because I am enjoying myself somewhere that's really warm. And I will say in Maine's not nearly as bad as people think.

It's

Elise Kiely: That's true. So true.

Chris Lynch: It really is. Especially coastal Maine. It's, anyway, it's so much more temperate. We can go back to that but what what I think is happening this year for the first, so when Covid hit, we had no seasonality 'because we had so many people who wanted to buy and so few houses for sale that it didn't matter if you bought it on in mid-January, mid-February, the end of December, Christmas day and New Year's Day.

We had agents that were showing properties on Christmas day and New Year's Day and New Year's Eve, Christmas Eve, Thanksgiving Day and there was no seasonality to speak of. I think this is going to be, because there has been that increase because there are so many people on the sidelines, at least early on [00:20:00] starting November 1st, starting Thanksgiving next couple weeks, is I think we are going to see more seasonality and in my mind that's the first opportunity I see for buyers who really are motivated, who really do want to get in ahead of. Not wait until the mortgages, mortgage rates come down. And get in ahead of all the competition that's going to come in when mortgage rates come down is there's a unique buying opportunity I think over the next three or four months.

Elise Kiely: I think, I think that's exactly right. Chris I a hundred percent agree. And I think sometimes buyers, when they look at the market, they look at inventory levels, which makes perfect sense. And you touched on this earlier, one of the things I think they don't think about is their competition. And who are the other buyers looking at what they're looking for in the market and how many are out there.

And we have so much cash in the market right now, and we are going to talk about that in a minute, and where that cash is coming from, that's also having an impact. And if you are a cash buyer, if you have access to cash, [00:21:00] I feel like this is the sweet spot. Fourth quarter, first quarter, 26. This is the sweet spot.

And one of the things that and in full compliance with clear cooperation rules, but one of the things I think our agents really specialize in, and I know it's about a third of my practice is finding off market opportunities and that is a real opportunity for buyers and there are advantages to the sellers for that as well.

There's, there are pros and cons to both, but if you are a buyer that is, has an opportunity to strike in this calendar year, the beginning of next, this really could be a prime opportunity but if you wait until second quarter of 26, you may be regretting that you didn't get in earlier. 

Chris Lynch: Absolutely. 

Yeah, absolutely.

Interestingly enough, over the last year and a half both my boys who are right around 30 years old little over bought homes. And neither one of them really worried about, am I buying at a market peak or not. 

Both of them were recently married. Both of them [00:22:00] were renting, both of them were paying a lot in rent.

They saw the rents going up and they decided no influence by me, in fact, I was surprised. They decided independently of each other. But around the same time, within three or four months of each other, they both bought homes. One in Washington, DC one, one here in Maine. 

Elise Kiely: So a little younger than what we are seeing.

Average first time home buyers. Quite a bit younger. 

Chris Lynch: Yeah, quite a bit. And really smart. Yeah, smart. And 

they both really bought super nice interesting homes. Homes in places that really suit them. Yeah. 

Elise Kiely: Chris, let's talk a little bit about the high-end market. And the luxury market, and we have talked many times how the definition of luxury market has, is evolving.

It used to be pre COVID, a million, 1.2, 1.3, That was high-end. That was luxury. It's not the case anymore. And I would argue, and it's subject to debate, but I would argue that it is at least 2 million. It's probably around two and a half is what I would consider the high end. And there's some [00:23:00] communities around Portland where a million is pretty close to the entry level price point 

Chris Lynch: Absolutely. For a single family home. 

Elise Kiely: And it's interesting I am always looking at the numbers of and of sales at different price points and I looked this morning and your figure of 15,000 homes.

To date, there've been 15,200 homes that have closed this year. 

Chris Lynch: Okay. Pretty good. I was just guessing. 

Elise Kiely: Yeah, you were spot on the ballpark. And if you look 

at what, which of those homes were a million plus. Over a thousand homes year to date have sold for a million plus. Then you step it up, you look at 3,000,000, seventy eight homes.

Then you look it up at 5,000,000, twenty three homes this year in the state of Maine, sold for over 5 million. That's extraordinary. Where pre COVID, . I think it was somewhere in the neighborhood of five. Oh sure. Yeah. And that was extraordinary. That would've had a Portland Press Herald article, and that would've been all the talk.

And now it's, it's 23. I didn't look above that. But one of the significant sales that We [00:24:00] have had this year in our office was the old Betty Davis Estate in Cap Elizabeth. And that was marketed and successfully sold by Bill Gainor out of our. Kennybunk office and Sam Michaud out of our Portland office.

They did a great job in marketing that lots of press, and that sold for around 13 and a half, I think it was 13 point, 

Chris Lynch: 13.4 million. 0.4 million. 

Elise Kiely: That was an incredible sale. 

Chris Lynch: It's a record sale in all kinds ways and in a record sale for us. Yeah. For us as a company, 

And it was just slightly beaten by the last record sale, which was I think around 12.

Yeah. 12 million. 12 million. 12 million even, which closed in was also Bill Gainor, which also in Kennebunkport . So it, that's an, that's a milestone. 

Yeah. 

Elise Kiely: And we look at that and I continue to think that the high-end buyer. Who was cash and that, I don't think, I don't think it's public, whether that was cash or that was financing.

I am assuming that was a cash deal on the Betty Davis estate. 

Chris Lynch: You have to assume, so the banks in Maine don't lend $13 million. Yeah, right on. On single [00:25:00] family residential real estate, 

Elise Kiely: and I would argue that the high end buyer, the two and a half plus buyer is almost all cash. It's, and they're having such an influence on the market and from what I see, it is someone coming usually from away looking for a lifestyle property and two and a half probably won't get you on the water.

You might be close to it, might see it. I think you're looking at a three, three and a half to be on the water in the greater Portland area. My sense is they've done very well in the stock market. Maybe they sold a business, done real estate, done well in their real estate portfolio, and they're treating themselves to something special.

I, I call this group labs luxury active, usually baby boomers. And I say that very affectionately with that name, but they're having such a strong influence on the market. Are you seeing that at the 10,000 foot level? 

Chris Lynch: I absolutely. With the exception you kinda hit on it a little bit, is I was born in 1962.

So 63 years [00:26:00] old, I just at the tail end of the baby boomers, and so it's really now that the buyer, so once upon a time it was all baby boomers. And it was, when I started the company 20 years ago our youngest buyers were probably 55 on average, but really 60 to 70 recently retired.

Typically executives that were looking to buy a summer home for over a million dollars to, have their friends family come and spend the summers with them. And now the buyers are much younger. I am going to say 40 to 55. 

Elise Kiely: I am going to have to car start calling them lax luxury active.

Ex X Generation. I think that's the X laxer. Yeah, Laxs. So we'll think of that, but that's interesting. Yeah. 

Chris Lynch: So that's probably been the most notable change. And also to your point, just the size of the market, over a million dollars. Back in 2009 when the market was in, in some tough straights, there were 99 homes that sold in Maine, in the whole state in a whole year for over a [00:27:00] million dollars, 99 homes.

And so it's. That part of the market has grown so much and the higher the price point, the more likely it is to be all cash. Which is interesting. Again, counterintuitive. 

Elise Kiely: Yes. 

Chris Lynch: Yeah, counterintuitive. Yeah. 

Elise Kiely: And when I talk to my CO, and one of the great things about being affiliated with Sotheby's is our network across the country, across the globe.

And I, like a lot of agents in our office, am on in networking groups with other Sotheby's advisors throughout the country and in parts of Canada. And that's a trend I am seeing nationally with our other colleagues. It is that and again, it goes to this incumbency issue of, people that have been in the market for a long time have created a significant equity.

They're con equity heavy in their other real estate portfolios because they bought so early on. Yeah. Which I find really interesting. One of the advantages of get to we get to meet and really get to know really interesting people that are moving here or they're already here. And trading [00:28:00] houses is, you learn from them.

You learn their history, you learn what they did in business, and you take some wonderful tidbits and lessons from people that have had great success in life. And I think it's important to look at that and see what they did and emulate it where you can. And I think being involved in the real estate market at an early age is, I would argue, is probably a common denominator from a lot of these people.

Chris Lynch: Absolutely. Absolutely. It's funny and. When I am meeting with a prospective home seller, one of the things I like to know is, why did you buy this house? 

What were you thinking about? What was it that made it attractive to you and how to take some of that information and share that with the marketplace, because in all likelihood, the buyer who's going to buy your home is going to buy it for a lot of the same reasons you did.

Elise Kiely: That's interesting, Chris, because I have had the privilege of selling some significant properties this year that have been in the same family for generations, [00:29:00] and it is really, it's, and it puts a lump in the seller's throat when they are at a position, when they're going to sell a generational home, and it's usually on the water and tremendous memories.

Baptisms, birthdays, weddings that have taken place at in these homes, and they are a magnet and a glue for a family. And I think that's really what's so difficult. It's not the value of the asset that is, that's significant, but it is a milestone. When you sell something that's been in the same family since the sixties, 

Chris Lynch: the value of the memories Yeah.

Is huge. Yeah. 

Elise Kiely: Yeah. And. I think that's one of the things, and you've touched on this before, that makes Maine real estate so special that if you find a really special property and it's could be on the water lake, ocean could be on a mountain. Sure. If it's really special when someone buys it. They're going to keep it and they're going to do what they can to keep it in their family.

Chris Lynch: Absolutely. And the flip side of that is if they find it, they see it and they don't buy it, [00:30:00] they may never find another one again. 

Elise Kiely: That's right. 

Chris Lynch: Because each property is so unique even side by side, next door across the street. Half mile every property has its own unique set of characteristics that speak to different people in different ways.

And it sounds funny saying that, but really is the fact of the matter in Maine. 

Elise Kiely: I think that's, I think that's so true and it's we don't have a, we have some, we don't have gated communities here in Maine, like our friends in Florida do. We have neighborhoods and cul-de-sacs, and they're wonderful.

Tomorrow is Halloween. They'll be wonderful and active on trick or treat night. And we have quiet. oasis that draw people. And we don't have a lot of commodity real estate in Maine. 

Chris Lynch: Almost No two houses the same. 

Elise Kiely: Yeah, exactly. Yeah, exactly. And it's a privilege to be a part of that transition. And one of the things I like to do when I am marketing a home like that is to emphasize.

How few people have owned this home for the last a hundred years. That means something. That's, if you can find something that's [00:31:00] treasured that much, that's a significant value, I think to, to the property itself. Sure. 

Chris Lynch: Our house is going to be a hundred years old next year, 2026. Oh yeah. 

Elise Kiely: Congratulations.

Chris Lynch: Thank you. 

Elise Kiely: And I don't see you selling it anytime soon. 

No. 

We have been there for 

Chris Lynch: 25 years now 

already yeah.

Yeah.