Vicki Doudera - Realtor, Author, Mainer

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.  […]

[Read more →]

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 […]

[Read more →]

It was always a dream of mine to have a small lakefront home tucked in the woods on some peaceful unpaved road. Ten years ago, the cheerful little structure that you see above came on the market, and my husband and I made an offer. When it was accepted, one of my most cherished dreams […]

[Read more →]

You know it’s springtime in this state when you can get out on your bike. Yesterday I did a 30 mile ride out to Warren, Union, and back through Hope and Rockport to Camden. Today’s an even better day — sunny, in the 70’s — but my schedule’s too booked to take two hours off today.
What does […]

[Read more →]

Right around Valentine’s Day, I drove over the snowy roads to visit friend and client Jeff Cleaveland. Jeff and his wife Cathy moved to Maine from Seattle about two years ago. They bought a new home in a small rural town, got their two young children situated in schools, began making friends and even starting new businesses. (Cathy […]

[Read more →]

I’m back from Alabama, where we started with a slab and ended with a nearly finished house… pretty amazing, considering that we worked only 4 days (one being a total washout due to rain).  I’m more impressed than ever with Habitat — the operation in Mobile is huge — 20 houses being built at once […]

[Read more →]

For brokers, real estate is usually about buying and selling homes, not building them.
But next week I’m off with a group of 19 Maine realtors to hurricane-ravaged Mobile, Alabama, to construct a whole house in a week. That’s right — the challenge of Operation Home Build, a National Association of Realtors Habitat for Humanity trip, is for each state’s […]

[Read more →]

Last week I had the pleasure of meeting a new couple, Cliff and Maj-Lis, and taking them to look at waterfront property. I always enjoy getting to know people while we drive from house to house in my red Toyota:  it’s a great time for me to answer questions about the midcoast and hear my new […]

[Read more →]

I spent last weekend with Mike and Sarah from the mountains of North Carolina. Their dream: to find an authentic Maine farmhouse within a 30-mile radius of the coast.
We met at my office and began touring the countryside.  Right away I knew I’d enjoy the day. Personable and optimistic, Mike and Sarah seem to make […]

[Read more →]

It’s November and the snap in the air makes me realize I am running out of time for one home improvement project:  putting up a fence.
Although it’s mainly to contain our two dogs, I’ve decided not to go the invisible fence route. Pedro, my friend Nancy’s beagle, has busted through his force field a few times […]

[Read more →]