Vicki Doudera - Realtor, Author, Mainer

Sally Russillo, me, host Deb Neuman, and Vicki Worden at the studio on Wednesday.

Once upon a time, I hosted a radio show. 

It was called “Town Talk” and it was on the air every day from 6 am to 9 am, which meant that on the days I hosted the show (Wed and Fri, I think) I had to be at the studio in Rockland at 5 am.  I’m not a big fan of getting up with the sun, so this was a big sacrifice, but I did it because radio is such fun. And no one can see you so  you can pretty much roll out of bed and head to the station.

Yesterday I had the opportunity to be a guest on a weekly radio show called BACK TO BUSINESS, with my friends and fellow green-advocates Vicki Worden and Sally Russillo. Deb Neuman, an energetic Jill-of-all-trades is the host of the show, and it airs Sundays at two pm. (For a list of stations carrying the show, click here.)

The topic was making your office more green and environmentally friendly, and in my segment I spoke about how we are greening our spaces at Camden Real Estate, as well as what I see as green trends in residential and commercial real estate.  I said this on the show and I firmly believe this:  if you have to do any upgrades to your residential or commercial properties, please do them with environmentally friendly green features in mind. This is more than a trend. It’s not like granite countertops that are going to be passe (for some reason I can’t get an accent aigu in there, sorry…) in a year or two.  For lots and lots of reasons, green is here to stay.

Taping the show was fun and I hope you get a chance to listen on Sunday or check out the stations that stream it.  Sally and Vicki Worden both gave some great info, and the segment is a nice mix of take-away tips.

Our array of media is expanding all the time. Isn’t it  interesting that after a century, radio is still so important?

It’s happening once more … spring is coming to Maine.

In any other state this yearly event is a given, but in Maine, we’re never really sure.  The mounds of snow are still piled high. Christmas wreaths still adorn some doors. The temperatures are hovering in the 30’s during the day and still sneaking downwards into the twenties at night.  In other words, it still feels a heck of a lot like winter.

And yet …

The birds sense something’s different. They are singing like mad, the dripping of melting ice dams making for a steady drumbeat to their songs. The sun is climbing higher in the sky and the days — thanks to the sun and daylight savings time — are a good three hours longer than in the dark of December.  The roads are widening as the banks of snow slowly recede, and potholes are pushing up like crocuses through a crust of snow.

Spring eases into Maine with very subtle signs. You’ve got to be watching, waiting, and willing — once it truly arrives — to get that wreath off the door.

My friend Dede called today and asked if I’d do her a favor.  “Sure,” I said, because I like Dede, and also, I’m taking a public speaking class and our teacher has advised us to gracefully accept things by saying, “It would be my pleasure.”  “Sure” is pretty close to that, and it’s better than “maybe” or “no,” right?

Dede and her husband Paul live in Virginia, and last year I helped them find a lovely home overlooking Penobscot Bay in Rockport.  Her favor had to do with the Rockport house. Seems she ordered some fabric from France and was afraid ’la package’ was sitting outside in the elements. (If you’ve been following our winter weather lately, you know she was right to worry — we’ve had two major snowstorms in four days and the white stuff is piled unbelievably high.)

Dede assured me the driveway was plowed and asked if I’d keep the package until she returned to Maine. “It would be my pleasure,” I remembered to say. “I’ll go over there today.”

So this afternoon I drove over to Rockport to Dede’s lovely neighborhood. My first surprise: the driveway hasn’t been plowed — at least not since the last storm. Luckily, being a MAINE Realtor, I travel with snowshoes, which I quickly strapped on. Down the winding driveway I plodded, in search of the elusive French fabric, spotting the hoof prints of a deer who’d wandered through the woods and across Dede’s driveway not too long ago.

Her house was a snowy fortress with no packages in sight.  I tromped around the front of the property, searching for signs that a delivery had occurred.  I was just about to turn around and snowshoe back to the car when I spotted a tiny corner of something sticking up from the snow.

Over to the mysterious object I plodded, and sure enough, it was one of those thick mailing envelopes frozen solid in the snowbank. I tugged and tugged, then dug at it with my poles, finally wrenching it free from its icy prison.  I tromped back to the car, removed my snowshoes, and drove home.

Dede’s fabric is now defrosting and seems as if it will survive the ordeal, at least better than the mailing envelope, which disintegrated upon removal from the car.  The pattern is elegant, even when soggy, and doubtless will look lovely when made into curtains, or whatever Dede is planning to make from it. I picture her project complete, then imagine the room’s other furnishings begging to hear the story of winter survival. I see the fabric giving a little smile, and then one of those Gallic shrugs, before answering nonchalantly, ”Avec plaisir.”

            Camden, Maine — Vicki Doudera with Camden Real Estate Company has been awarded the National Association of REALTORS®’ (NAR’s) Green Designation, the only green real estate professional designation recognized by NAR.

            Vicki achieved this prestigious designation after completing 18 hours of course work designed specifically for REALTORS®. The courses were created in collaboration with a multidisciplinary team of industry experts from across the country, ensuring designees gain a comprehensive knowledge of green homes and buildings and issues of sustainability in relation to real estate.

            More specifically, Vicki was trained in understanding what makes a property green, helping clients evaluate the cost/benefits of green building features and practices, distinguishing between industry ratings and classification systems, listing and marketing green homes and buildings, discussing the financial grants and incentives available to homeowners, and helping consumers see a property’s green potential.

            “As energy costs rise along with concern for the environment, homeowners are looking for innovative ways to save money and live responsibly,” said Dick Gaylord, NAR’s immediate past president.  NAR’s Green Designation was developed in response to growing consumer awareness of the benefits of resource-efficient homes and buildings. The designation helps consumers who care about energy efficiency and sustainable building practices identify REALTORS® who can help them realize their green real estate and lifestyle goals.

            “This designation is brand new and I’m proud to be among the first handful of real estate professionals in Maine to earn it,” said Vicki. “I’m hoping it catches on and there are more and more of us out there.”  She recently attended the Build Green Maine conference in Augusta, both in her role as a REALTOR® and as President of Midcoast Habitat for Humanity.  “The architects and builders I spoke with were pleased to know that the real estate industry is getting up to speed on sustainable building practices. As one speaker at the conference said, ‘Green is the key to energy security and climate change,’ and with 80% of Maine homes dependent on oil, the implications are huge.”

Okay, I had to snap a picture of Hoover on top of the snowbank.  No, he’s not looking for a groundhog…. it’s a family of squirrels he’s after. I don’t have any great comments to offer about real estate, life in Maine, or anything else — not right now, anyway — but thought you’d like to see this eager spaniel enjoying life on a snowy day in Camden.

Yesterday’s Build Green Maine Conference was an energizing mix of informative speakers and knowledgeable attendees, and I’m very glad I journeyed west to Augusta to participate.  In true Gemini fashion I was there in two roles:  as a Realtor (I’ve just earned the National Association of Realtor’s new GREEN designation) and as President of Midcoast Habitat for Humanity, which I’m hoping can soon begin to build with more sustainable principles in mind.

Governor Baldacci gave an address, as did Dale McCormick from Maine State Housing.  Ms. McCormick, author of several carpentry books and former state Treasurer, pointed out that 80% of Maine’s households are dependent on oil — the most of any US state — and said “we absolutely must diversify and conserve.” My friend (and client!) Vicki Worden from the Green Building Initiative (that’s her in the photo with me) did a great job as a panelist outlining the work being done on a national level, especially with regard to a new rating system from Canada called Green Globes.

For the keynote, the organizers (Newforest Institute and Midcoast Magnet) brought in the big guns:  Joe Lstiburek, Ph.D., author of scores of technical and journal articles on building and a sought-after speaker. His main point:  Green is the key to energy security and climate change. He claimed that the typical family carbon footprint is half the house, and half the car, and that the energy sector and building sector will soon be competing for the same energy.  ”The most energy efficient appliance is the one that’s not running” he said, making the case for both smart building and conservation.  One of my favorite quotes (and he had lots of good ones) was when he suggested the US morph from a carbon-based economy into a carbohydrate-based economy. “The US can be the Saudi Arabia of carbohydrates,” he quipped.

I was very impressed with Habib Dagher, an award winning professor at the University of Maine, who outlined all the possible energy sources for Maine (tidal, solar, nuclear, natural gas, etc) and then demonstrated in true professorial style which ones could realistically meet our state’s energy needs in the future.  Although many alternative energies can be “a piece of the energy mosaic in Maine,” the conclusion he led us all to see is that offshore wind is really the only solution powerful enough to completely take our state off oil and end the 17 metric tons per person of carbon dioxide each Mainer footprints per year.  If we pursue offshore wind energy (as are some other coastal states to our south), we may soon be known, along with “Vacationland,” as “The GREENest State,” a moniker the architects, contractors, and service providers at the conference would gladly embrace.

Just the other day a buyer client told me she was interested in a waterfront property she’s eyed for months now, but that she was going to wait until the spring as the market was going to continue to fall.  She could be right — I don’t think anyone thinks a recovery is imminent, and prices could lower in the months to come. On the other hand, interest rates are at nearly historic lows, and the dead of winter is always a good time to purchase property in Maine. (I’ll address the reasons why in my next post.) Plus, there certainly are some deals out there. So what’s the right course right now? Should buyers continue to sit on the sidelines, or should they lace up their sneakers and signal the coach?

Some people are waiting because they think they can buy at the bottom. I think it’s impossible for anyone to ever really “time” a market. It’s like trying to get on top of a wave –it’s either about to crest or leave you in its wake. So where are we now? It certainly seems from my activity and that of our office that interest in purchasing property is starting to pick up.  The past two months have been slow (of course it was the holidays) but steady, but the change of year has brought a quickening of interest from people who are serious about hitting the pavement with the intent to buy. In fact, while I’ve been writing this insightful little piece, two clients (neither one of them my waterfront lady) called on my cell, ready to start looking at in-town properties in stable neighborhoods. Kind of proves my point, huh?

There are so many reasons people purchase property — retirement, second home, divorce, job relocation, or a deal too good to pass up — so your motivation may or may not mean that now is the right time for you.  That’s something only you and your real estate professional can decide.  I will say that here in midcoast Maine, if you’ve got the money, there are some good buys out there.  Good enough that you just may want to get off the sidelines and into the game.

Hope your holidays are wonderful, whatever you celebrate.  Here we are on Christmas Day, ready to enjoy a fabulous dinner.  With me are my daughter Alexandra, son Nate, husband Ed, and mother, Gloria.

This morning finds me looking out a hotel window to palm trees and what looks like a sunny Thursday.  I’ve left the coast of Maine for Florida and the start of the National Association of Realtors newest continuing ed core course:  the Green Designation. 

Like most of us, I’m doing my best to “green” myself and my home.  CFLs now shine instead of traditional lightbulbs; our old farmhouse is getting an energy efficent facelift; and my old Sequoia SUV is a thing of the distant past.  But what about my real estate practice?  Are there ways in which I can become more useful to my clients, my community, and hopefully the planet by becoming more societally conscious, sustainable, and knowledgeable?

After nearly nine hours of classroom time yesterday (with another two days to go) my answer is a resounding yes.  I realize I’ve just dipped my toe in the Green Pond and that I’m not going to become an expert any time soon.  I’m humbled to realize that my carbon footprint is still way too big and that I have alot to learn.  But I’m off to a greener start today, a journey I’ll be pleased to share with you. (That’s me hitting the books in Orlando with Jessica and Brianna Frazier from Riverside, CA.)

It’s the first day of autumn, my favorite season here in Maine. Minutes ago I walked our dogs around the neighborhood and noticed an orange-leafed sugar maple, glowing in the afternoon sun, one of the fist harbingers of this colorful time of year.  Before long, all of the trees will be similarly clad, and the pumpkins that are beginning to be displayed at roadside farm stands will adorn front stoops and walkways.

This September has been unusually chilly.  We’ve had the heat on once or twice, and today I grabbed a jacket on my way out to show property.  There is a definite change in the air, more than just a drop in temperature, but a real awareness that summer is behind us and winter on the way. The light is beautiful: it must be the angle of the sun at this point in the calendar, and everything from the fading goldenrod to the dusty brown-eyed Susans are as crisply defined as the taste of a just-picked Mac.

There is uncertainty in the news, instability in the financial markets, and unease in the political arena, but the change of the seasons is reassuring. The cycle goes on, whether altered by the ozone’s thinning or not, and I am a grateful witness to the graceful appearance of this bountiful, beautiful time of year.