Michelle Flaherty's (michelleflaherty) Blog

  Last Wednesday, I got a mid-week break from work to take a 5-hour sail aboard one of the Windjammers on display in Boothbay Harbor for the town's annual Windjammer Days festival.  Each year, the town organizes the festival, which includes sailing, a parade, food and games for kids, along with s...

This weekend, I had the opportunity to spend a night on Peaks Island, which is just a short boat ride from Downtown Portland.  (The pictures above were taken this weekend: From left to right - the ferry from Portland to Peaks, One of many sailboats cruising on the bay, All the gear for a day on t...

As one of my real estate role models Barbara Corcoran said recently on the Today Show, "You can never know.  But most people agree that we are IN the bottom, and the smart people - the sharks - are out there buying right now." Those people - the sharks - are the ones who know how to find the righ...

When locals think of Old Orchard Beach, often the pictures that come to mind are ferris wheels, french fries, and tourists partying it up on the boardwalk.  However, their is a quieter side of Old Orchard, called Ocean Park.  This area is very "Old Maine" with cottages, quiet streets, and just a ...

As many of you know, I am part of the community focus group for Westbrook Housing.  Westbrook Housing has many roles in the community (affordable developer (ownership), market-rate developer (ownership), property management company, and facilitator for affordable and/or subsidized rental housing ...

For the past month and a half, I've been helping with the Your Piece of Maine YouTube contest, put on by the Maine Association of Realtors.  Monday at midnight was the deadline, and we ended up with a total of 155 videos.  The winners will be determined by a panel of celebrity judges and announce...

If you were the Maine Association of Realtors, you'd give it away to some fabulous, creative, and deserving Maine residents!Yesterday, the Maine Association of Realtors announced the launch of the Your Piece of Maine YouTube Contest.  The purpose of the contest is for people in Maine to share thr...

I heard a talk recently given by Rich Casto, a trainer with RealEstateCoaches.com and former Prudential Franchisee, and although much of what he said irritated me (that is not a criticism, but a mark of success in his signature "break-you-down-to-build-you-up" approach), one thing really hit home...

I just returned from Cambridge, MA where I attended the New England Realtor Committee (NERC) conference.  It was one of the most enlightening and inspirational conferences I've attended as a Realtor.  There were a few hundred attendees, consisting of the local and state leadership and from each o...

 Real Estate sales in Cumberland County and statewide were down for the rolling quarter of August-October of 2006 to the same 3 months of 2007.The dirty details:In Cumberland County, median sales price from '06 to '07 dropped by .02%, and the number of sales dropped by 6.82%. Statewide, the media...