New Mainers Hoping For Home Repairs… It’s Going To Be A Minute
So you just bought that new house in Maine...
Maine has seen a housing boom in the last year or so, very much unlike anything it's seen in years. During the pandemic, likely fueled by people's desires to get out of bigger cities, houses in Maine started being snatched up left and right. As it went on, especially with out-of-staters, the market went ballistic.
People were going well above the asking price, waiving inspections, and buying properties they'd never actually set foot in. Call it the thrill, greed, impatience, whatever you want... People were being borderline irresponsible about how they were purchasing homes. Now, here we are a year later, and people are discovering a possible error in their ways.
Have you tried getting a contractor or house painter or plumber recently?
According to the BDN, a lot of these folks are now in kind of a pickle with a bunch of these new houses. After making all these purchases sight unseen, they're discovering that many of these homes need repairs that were not obvious in the real estate listing or the photos. You never put your bad qualities on a resume, right?
With staffing shortages, supply chain issues, and rising costs of materials, some folks who spent well over the asking price are now adding on $100k in repairs. Now add the frustration of there being no one available to do the work. I imagine it's maddening. But, sometimes impatience comes back to bite you in the backside.
"Will I be able to hire anyone in the near future?"
Probably not. Most contractors in this area are booked well into 2022. Any ones that aren't, there might be a reason for that. Same with plumbing and electrical work. Most of those folks are also booked out for months. I need the simplest of plumbing jobs done in my own house, and can't get anyone to come out and deal with it. It's nuts.
We'll see what the next several months bring, but a lot of those "dream homes" in Maine that those flatlanders wanted, are turning out to be money pits. Sure, instant gratification in this Amazon culture is cool, but it seems like most things in life, better things come to those who are willing to wait.