You own a pair of handcuffs? Chances are very good they came from Houlton Maine or Springfield, Massachusetts. Those are the manufacturing facilities for Smith & Wesson's handcuff operations. The six millionth pair of handcuffs was produced in my hometown of Houlton recently. And the town is so proud of the S&W brand.  Plant manager Terry Wade I know well and had sold a waterfront cottage to, snowsledded with and see alot at local Chamber of Commerce dinners, etc. He makes sure his brand is a big help to local projects and is a very good local partner to make the area strong. The Houlton operation started out with 18 people in 1966 and has grown to 150 today. Several moves in town along the way and now to an expanded industrial building at the Houlton Maine International Airport. S&W is... 03/20/2009

     Say you are an older couple retiring from a factory job in Connecticut. You may have been from Maine originally and went down to Pratt and Whitney, General Dynamics, Electric Boat and now coming home to small town country living. Safe, no traffic, low cost real estate, friendly people. And you like to play Bingo for one of your past times. It gets you out, you see people during the winter months, its is an easy social, low cost entainment. So show them the recreational events in your town, along with videos on the hospital, the police and fire, the 4th of Julys, etc. Not just homes.  Show them the area they may or may never have been to before. Here is a Houlton Rotary Club video of last night's annual event. Made money that the club gives back to the community in group study excha... 03/19/2009

    For years $250 an acre was a long standing benchmark when you bought a piece of Maine forty acres or larger. For the thousand acre chunks of acreage in Aroostook County the price per acre slid down as the price climb due to the higher the price, the thinner the buyers. Cut over woodland could be as low as $100 an acre because of remoteness, lack of power and in some case, lack of legal right of way access. The loggers worked out a temporary right of way to access the land, yard out the wood. Or so few people that no one seemed to notice the in and out usage of the road.  Eleven people per square mile live in Aroostook County, the largest of Maine's sixteen. Aroostook is the size of Connecticut and Rhode Island combined.      What affects the value of raw land? Features like the amou... 03/17/2009

     The warmer days, stronger sun mean time to prepare for the 14th annual Northern Maine Soap Box Derby race. For five years running, the Houlton Maine race was the largest in the country with close to 200 racers each year! Race directors Danny/Leslie Emerson say its time to start looking for car sponsors, digging out older cars to do the safety updates and to start thinking derby race. "The Thrill Of The Hill" is on a specially engineered hill modeled after the world series of derby racing in Akron Ohio. It makes it so much easier to have rallies in the spring and fall and to run the annual race. This year's race is June 20th.      Visit the NMSBD Site, All American Soap Box Derby Site and sit back..watch the highlights of the 2008 Northern Maine race below! Designed for racers 8 to ... 03/10/2009

     You have followed your sports team thru the grueling season..with one player in the line up with a torn ligament, another needing surgery during the off season. The pace of day to day grind takes it toll. A realtor who has been thru the ups and downs of the real estate season has the grit, stamina and recollection of lessons learned during the last challenging market dips.      In the 1980's, I remember 16% interest rates and comparing the real estate market today to the 1980's is apples and oranges logic. Currently mortgage rates are incredible. Four and five percent loans...yippee! If you saved some money over the years, there are some incredible sale prices, super selection  and the financing to go with it. These are the best of times if you prepared for them.       If you used ... 03/06/2009

     You know how you hear an old song and it takes you back to when you were younger and reminds you of being a kid? As you remember the fun you had growing up, do your kids have the same environment of living in a great place to spend their childhood? As a parent, you make sure the family traditions of holidays, church, chores around the home and routines are built into the raising of your family. You teach your kids values, common sense and to think about the bigger picture of what the road ahead holds in store.  You basically prepare the child to be a productive, contributing adult that has the same skills to raise his/her family or your grandchildren in this case. Houlton Maine is a small town in Aroostook County and I feel lucky to have grown up here. But you also realize the area... 03/03/2009

    I grew up on a farm, and I remember our own family garden.  Peat moss pots with seedlings started early on the glass sun porches to get a jump on the season were part of growing up.  Dad also built a greenhouse too and as a little boy I remember how hot it was stepping in but how remarkably fast the plants on the trays shot shoots skyward.  Tomato varieties called "beef steak", green peppers all potted to start early for transplanting into the orange brown rich rusting soil of Maine that is so productive.   Dad had an eight foot sign made painted dark green with a local artist carefully painting in from stratch a giant ear of corn...complete with the yellow and white kernels shining thru but the husk and tassle still on and pulled back just enough to show the corn hiding inside. The... 02/27/2009

Here is the latest newletter from Rotary International our Houlton Maine club just circulated for all to see. Are you a member of Rotary which is world wide, serving others above self? The Houlton Maine Rotary club meets mondays at noon at the Episcopal Church on Main Street. If you are ever in the area, call me and let me take you to a Rotary meeting. The food is super, the fellowship immense and we always learn something plus have fun along the way. Maine REALTOR Andrew Mooers - Maine Real Estate For Sale And Area Information 02/23/2009

    Air force brats just get used to an area, make friends and then its time to move to another base. As a kid my dad was a Maine potato farmer and had eight trucks that hauled those spuds to market in the cities of Boston, Hartfort and New York. So I learned the world was not flat by going on truck trips at the age of 10 and seeing the markets of these cities. My parents took my three older brothers to Winter Carnival in Quebec and we rented many places on the Maine coast for a family vacation. They also took lots of picnics and hiking trips to the many parks in Maine. So we grew up knowing there was life beyond our little town. I think traveling is key to know other areas and to settle where you are supposed to be in an area that fits. I have taken my own kids on many Carribean cruise... 02/18/2009

   Lots of talented folks meet here at ActiveRain. They are real estate agents, brokers, owners and bankers stagers, home inspectors, attorneys, escrow companies, technology pioneers and everything in between.  I enjoy "broadcasting" about the neat small town I live in of Houlton Maine, Aroostook County and the great state of Maine. Learning about new developments in the real estate industry, having a question pop up and posting it, and bingo...a slew of answers or varied perspectives make this a think tank. It's a place to brainstorm with a slew of professionals on free "retainer" 24/7.  Over the last 3 decades of being a full time real estate broker, I have seen several economic cycles, met so many nice buyers, sellers and folks associated with the business and been blessed to love go... 02/11/2009

     While the technicians are fixing the electron tube of the translator diode circuit on the transporter beam machine, you have a hour to spend in Houlton Maine. What do you have to see, do while here for that hour? For starters you visit Cary Library on Main Street and are amazed at the large collection for a smaller town and realize this is not your typical library.  The children's library portion has an original fireplace used during Christmas story time and Cary Library has an innovative summer reading program to teach children the joy of reading books. Next you stop in to the Houlton Chamber of Commerce door to bulk up on information brochures for Aroostook County and Maine.  Looking at your watch you still have time to tour the Historical Museum and then trot up Main Street to s... 02/09/2009

The Images Show You The Fun.  Imagine Hundreds Of Kids Sliding, Laughing, Competing In Different Age Groups For Prizes. Horse Drawn Sleigh Rides! Suppers, Gut Busting Breakfasts, Free Movies At The Temple Theatre, Free Skating, Hockey Games, Bon Fires..Sliding On Derby Hill, Wild Winter Foot Race, Snowsled Parade Thru Houlton Maine ... Okay..You Get The Idea That Being In Houlton Maine This Weekend Is Important!Have Some Fun And Celebrate Winter This Weekend And Every First Weekend In Houlton Maine Because "The Moose Is Loose!"Maine REALTOR Andrew Mooers - Promoting Houlton Maine Real Estate And Special Local Events        02/05/2009

    Bonfires, arena and outside skating, ice fishing derby, a snowmobile parades. Thru down town Houlton Maine, with free passes to our movie theatre, a Moosestomper's Ball, baked bean supper, sled poker run, half dollar scramble, horse drawn sleigh rides, cross country skiing, winter games and sliding down "Derby Hill" . Maine winters..we celebrate them, not hibernate or dread them.  The weather is predicted to be super..blue skies, crisp air and kids laughing as they scramble in the half dollar search in different age groups. Play in other family fun games and events in Houlton Maine.   "The Moose Is Loose!" idea came from past Houlton town manager Alan Bean who was the commander of Loring Air Force Base in Limestone where the event first started. With the closure of LAB, the winter c... 02/03/2009

The living room in your northern climate home is warm as can be as you eat popcorn and watch reruns of "Gunsmoke".  Meanwhile, the pipes in the cellar rec room and upstairs in the mother-in-law bedroom are slowly freezing from lack of heat.  Pellet stoves...they heat the space you are in but unless you have a pellet furnace that's providing central heating thru out the Maine home, oh oh.  Or you could install another pellet stove and like the five fireplaces in some old New England victorians, stay busy making sure all those stoves are burning brightly. The thermostat that is often in the living room is told there's plenty of heat so it does not call for heat in other areas in homes that are not multi zoned in the case of hot water baseboard heating.  With hot air, same problem with th... 01/26/2009

You may have had a Walton's like up bringing, free of much tragedy or drama.  But say you had a fire as a little child that you remember, and everything was wiped out. That stays with you. The event imprints within you.  As a REALTOR working with someone that had a fire as a child, you start to realize the fire department in your town is critical to this person. Others wonder about your library and judge your area first on what type of library you have and how it is supported. A buyer with a medical condition suddenly makes the local hospital the number concern that decides if they locate in Houlton Maine or Portland Maine.  Asking questions of the buyer is helpful, but posting details on every aspect of the local turf that you can image, descripe, video and promote.  As a broker, when ... 01/23/2009

     Living in a small Maine town with roughly 6700 people, not 6.7 million locals means new dollars put into the revenue stream is critical.  Unlike a city worried about urban sprawl or protective zoning to control development, small rural Maine towns put their efforts in to different endeavors.  Instead of worrying about where this subdivision goes or how large to allow it to be, you put your efforts into different planning exercises. For starters, if you have an ice arena and a strong local hockey program, helping set up tournaments where teams, their parents and fans travel to your town is economic development. These tournaments bring in new dollars...the out of towners spend money on gas, food, tournament and get a hopefully good first impression of your town.  It is part of local ... 01/18/2009

Climbing on a big bus, traveling four hours to a pair of hockey games... and an overnighter.  Ice hockey in Maine is big and here's a video of the highlights of a game between the Houlton Hodgdon Blackhawks ice hockey team and Greely. Fast paced, shift changes every minute and a half or less, players jumping over the boards, working together as the pace intensifies. As a fan, the games are a trick to catch everything happening on the ice, and you have to pay attention. No..not sitting down or talking with you fellow sports fans. On your feet, hollering support, proud of your hometown and the work ethic of the players on both teams, their coaches, their fans! Watch a game below. Visit the Houlton Hodgdon Blackhawks hockey site. Maine REALTOR Andrew Mooers - Following Maine Hockey And Bas... 01/13/2009

The Houlton Maine Humane Society has your Christmas present. The perfect gift for any age recipient! With close to 160 cats of all sizes, color, ages, and personalities, consider giving a living, loving present this holiday season. Don't adopt if the newness of something small and cute is going to wear off. Adopt because your family will be responsible for the care and attention of a four legged purring machine.  Or adopt because you or someone you know is all alone much of the year.  A cat is always glad to see you, especially when they hear the can opener going or wonder what you are snacking on. You will find yourself talking to the cats, reaching down no matter how busy to pat them on the head or stratch behind an ear.  And they are always near by...when you watch tv, my cat Allie, ... 12/19/2008

You may start by watching some movies or videos on Maine before investing, selecting the area. You read somewhere Maine's crime rate is the nation's 4th lowest.  You like the sounds of that. In Aroostook County, the northern section of the state is as big as Connecticut and Rhodes Island with half the state's crime rate, no traffic and 11 people per square mile.  You can warm up to those numbers in your day to day life.  Top it all off with low low cost homes, farms, waterfront and land and Maine has gotten your attention as a place to live, to spend time for four season recreation. You want to invest here and are hungry for more details before you slide behind the wheel to drive here or climb aboard a plane to see for yourself first hand.  That's where video comes in...you don't tell t... 12/10/2008

The Millar Civic Center ice is back on line and local Southern Aroostook Minor Hockey Games (SAMHA Website) And High School Varsity Blackhawk contests are underway! The Bangor Rams traveled north to battle the Blackhawks in the season opener.  The Blackhawks held the Rams until the third period when penalties tipped the scales for a Ram win 4-1.  In the second JV game, the Blackhawks won 6-4.  Watch the highlights in the Blackhawk's video below.  Log on to the Blackhawks website! Next game is against the Presque Isle Wildcats on their home ice at The Forum. December 9, 2008. Maine REALTOR Andrew Mooers - Local Houlton Maine Sports Part Of Living In Aroostook County 12/08/2008