Q. Troy, we're not ready to sell our house just yet...is there any way we can take advantage of this hot real estate market anyway?

 

Just like residential real estate on the Seacoast, there’s a lack of inventory when it comes to vacation rentals. But there’s an upside to this for many locals! According to the IRS, if you rent out your [...]

Welcome Home!

 

Our Bristol Pointe luxury condos are located near one of the prettiest harbors in Maine.

 

And historic York Village, incorporated in 1642, gracefully yields to the Harbor right at the doorstep of Bristol Pointe condominiums.

 

Step outside your door, turn right towards the Village, and be surrounded by some of America's [...]

The F.A.R.M. in South Berwick, Maine

 

With the decline in traditional farming, farm animals often find themselves in auctions, sold for whatever purpose the buyer wants.

 

Sometimes their needs are neglected due to the ignorance ofowners of how to care for them properly. Sometimes a family needs to re-home a beloved farm animal due to the [...]

 

A Landscape Designer's Top Tips

 

First impressions matter - especially in real estate.

 

Award-winning Maine landscape designer Thomas Lynch outlines five affordable ways to increase your home's curb appeal. This is especially important during the selling process, when you want your house to shine!

 

1. Trim Trees and Shrubs

Removing dead and diseased trees and limbs along with proper trimming and pruning of shrubs instantly improves curb [...]

 

Williams Realty Partners realtor Halley Smith doesn't just know the Kittery Maine real estate market, she also knows the restaurants in Kittery from an inside vantage point.

 

Halley's husband Jake is the executive chef and co-owner of one of the many outstanding dining choices in the area, The Black Birch, as well as Chapel & Main in [...]

 

The days are getting longer, it’s getting warmer, and the beach or mountain trails beckon. If you love to walk for weight loss and general fitness - or hike  - we’ve got a suggestion for you that’ll increase your pace, your calorie burn, and your overall fitness. Pick up a pair of Nordic walking [...]

 

Outsmart Those Rocks!

Raised bed gardening is extremely popular right now, particularly in New England, and with very good reason. New England gardeners digging in their yards sometimes feel like they’re not really digging in soil, they’re digging in rocks with a little dirt thrown in to hold it all together. Once built, a raised bed or hugelkultur mound (we’ll get to hugelkultur in a moment) placed on top of all those backbreaking stones turns gardening from work to joy. Raised bed gardening also hugely increases where you can garden. Heck, you can even build a hip-high container, put all terrain wheels on it and pull it wherever you want!

 

But wait, there's more!

Raised beds also have several other advantages. They drain better and the soil is less compacted, which makes it easier for roots to grow (just don’t walk in your raised bed!). Gardeners aren’t stuck with whatever soil they happen to have in the yard, either. It’s common for gardeners to add topsoil, moisture-retentive compost and other nutrient rich matter to their raised beds, ensuring healthy, high-yielding vegetables or flowers. Need another reason to love raised beds? In the spring, soil in a raised bed warms faster than the cold, thawing ground. With a raised bed and the addition of a landscape cover over your plants, you can begin the spring growing season early by a month or more, and extend it well into the fall.

 

Raised Bed Materials

There is no one-size-fits-all when it comes to raised garden beds. A raised bed can be as practical and homely as a simple heavy-duty black plastic garbage bag filled with soil, or a work of art made out of sculpted cedar that would look right at home at Martha Stewart’s next garden party. They can sit on the ground or be raised up on stilts, which is a godsend to those who love to garden but have some physical limitations. Raised bed kits made of wood, plastic, or metal are easy to find at a local Wal-Mart, Home Depot, Lowe’s or through an online retailer, often under $100. DIY versions include hollowed-out hay bales, pallets, or even a simple mound of soil.

 

Hugel-what?

And that simple mound of soil brings us to hugelkultur. Hugel is “hill” in German, and hugelkultur is the practice of cultivating plants on a hill or mound that is composed of layers of decomposing wood, branches, leaves, grass and plant clippings, topped off with soil. The decomposing wood from the logs and branches at the base attract earthworms and other beneficial soil life, which in turn provide aeration and nutrients to the plants grown on the sides of the mound. Decomposing wood is also wonderful for water retention, meaning less watering. Once a hugelkultur mound is built, plants can be grown in that rich environment for years to come with little further effort. We hope we’ve convinced you to give raised bed gardening or hugelkultur a try, because they certainly make growing your own vegetables and flowers a heck of a lot easier, and the ways you can use these beds is practically endless.

 

For more information about Hugelkultur:

https://extension.umaine.edu/gardening/2019/09/01/maine-home-garden-news-september-2019/#article-1

 

Williams Realty Partners of Keller Williams Coastal and Lakes & Mountains is the #1 KW Team in Maine. We strive to provide an exceptional experience to all our clients, whether they are buying, selling, or investing in real estate. The team can be reached at 1-207-351-8188.

 

A simple way to reduce potential toxin exposure in the home is to choose your paint carefully.

 

Paint is a commonly used product that may contain volatile organic compounds, or VOCs. It’s the VOCs in paint that make it smell like paint.

 

According to the EPA, VOCs are chemicals that are emitted as gases from certain solids or liquids. [...]

 

Meet The Realtors!

It is with great excitement that Williams Realty Partners (WRP) announces that three new Realtors have joined the team; Anne Pope, Halley Smith, and Tanya Campbell.

 

“As WRP continues to expand, we are happy to bring three new agents onto the team who epitomize WRP’s core values of excellent service, loving the [...]

 

For many families, downsizing comes at a time when an older relative is no longer safe living at home. For our family, that time arrived during the summer of 2020. My 86 year old Mom had become unsteady on her feet, and she had started to experience falls. Those falls had happened when Dad - who is 89 - wasn’t home to help, and after a [...]