All Forum Posts by: Harrison Smith

@Darryl Knight Maine is a great place to invest. I would be happy to connect with you all of those. I will send you a message to get us connected. 

@John West There are a number of lenders in Maine that can work with you to evaluate the property. The banks are tightening up how much they will allow to be cashed out and also underwriting with larger vacancy expectations, but it sounds like you have a deal that might work for a number of them. I would recommend you connect with:

Karl Suchecki at Gorham Savings

Alex Lopes at Bangor Savings

Joe Delano at Bar Harbor

I can't send contact info so I will send that to you via message. They may ultimately have someone on their team work with you, but let them know I sent you and they will take good care of you.

Good luck!

@Zhiyun P. As an agent and investor in Southern Maine, I can say that direct mail has been working really well of late. We are getting a better response than ever to letters and postcards. I would highly recommend putting together a simple letter and mailing the target areas or properties to see if you can get into a discussing with a property owner. Being a landlord is tough right now, so you might some people ready to move on. 

Portland, Maine is a great market. We own 500+ units and manage another 500+ units for other investors and we are 100% collected since this began, while still being able to take minor rent increases. If you want somewhere to invest with great quality of life, then Maine should be where you go! 

@Sara Rush I sent you a message. Happy to connect with fellow investors.

@Amy A. is correct about wholesaling in Maine. You can assign a contract in Maine, that is entirely legal and is even considered in Paragraph 19 of the State P&S form. It is acceptable to do so, but you must keep in mind that a true assignment means the next party is inheriting all of the original terms so make sure the eventual buyer can perform or the seller is open to amending if needed. You need to be careful in how you market the property as that is where you could get in trouble. If you are marketing it as for sale to the public and providing opinions or statements of value than you can get in trouble for practicing real estate, so just be careful who you market it to and how you do so.

I can help you on the agent and property management front. The two best real estate lawyers I know are Nick Morrill at Jensen, Baird, Gardner, and Henry in Portland and Drew Anderson at Murray, Plumb, and Murray in Portland. Nick does most of the hard money closings and title work in the area, not to mention he is our real estate attorney on the Scarborough Downs project. Drew drafts most of the major leases and agreements in the area. Plenty of resources in Southern Maine and I happy to make some connections for you if needed. 

@Samuel Silver Yes, we have a monthly meetup in the Greater Portland Area. @Ivan S. schedules it. Keep an eye out for the Southern Maine Monthly Investor Meetup. It is usually the second or third Wednesday of the month and we rotate between South Portland, Scarborough, and Saco. 

@Ken P. is an active investor in that area, you should connect with him. 

@Jon Mccarthy

@Jonathan Gilbert @Randy Forcier @Chad Pouliot @Annalise Kingston @Peter Brandon