May 1, 2006
Waterfront, back and sides | Owning a private island in Maine isn't for everyone. Same goes for the job of selling them.
By Nancy Rosenbaum
In 1985, Mike and Carol LaRosa from Groton, Mass., took a summer camping trip to Moosehead Lake. After spending three soggy days in a wet tent, the couple decided to dry off by looking at local real estate. Within a month, the LaRosas had purchased Wilderness Island, a 10-acre property on Fish River Lake in Maine's North Woods.
Like many love stories, the LaRosas' romance with Wilderness Island began with a leap of faith. The couple spontaneously decided to cash out their savings, mortgage their house and borrow money from family members to subsidize their island adventure. "We were insane to do what we did, [but] we weren't afraid to try it," says Carol LaRosa, now 59, who declined to say how much they paid for the property. "There aren't a lot of people in this world who can say they lived their dream. It's been the best 20 years of our lives."
Jim Trimble, owner of Trimble Private Brokerage in Bangor, has built a career out of selling islands and other waterfront real estate. Like the LaRosas, Trimble's love affair with Maine islands happened suddenly. Trimble was on vacation when he bought his first island on Moosehead Lake at the tender age of 21. He says the $45,000 he paid for the property was too much, but he kept it for 10 years before selling it in the early 1980s for $138,000. Over the years, he acquired and sold other Maine islands, ultimately turning his hobby into a business in the mid 80s, when he launched Trimble Private Brokerage. "I collect them,"
says Trimble, who says that owning an island is like "buying a piece of water in an ocean where you want to be."
There are more than 3,000 islands dotting Maine's coastline and lakes, according to the Maine Office of Tourism. Roughly half of those islands are privately owned, say real estate professionals, with the remaining under management by conservation groups and government agencies. But despite Maine's abundance of islands, the inventory of available island real estate at any given time tends to be low. "Islands are limited commodities,"
says Terry Sortwell, a regional manager and principal with LandVest in Camden. "And islands with good geographical features that are close to civilization are even more limited."
But it isn't just lack of available property that makes island real estate a small niche: Being the king or queen of your own island hideaway just isn't for everyone. Traits such as self-sufficiency can help owners weather the challenge of being a boat ride away from modern-day conveniences like supermarkets and gas stations ˆ not to mention medical services. "Living on a private island may seem idyllic, but an island lifestyle requires a certain kind of personality," explains Renée Redmond, director of operations for Toronto-based Private Islands Online, a brokerage that sells islands in the United States, the South Pacific, Africa and the Caribbean. "Once people own an island, they realize the expense or upkeep was beyond their expectations, or the remoteness and difficulty of accessing the island wasn't something they imagined."
Still, brokers say the allure of island life ˆ and Maine's relatively large number of islands ˆ keeps buyers coming. Trimble estimates that nearly all of his clients hail from out of state, many from the South in particular. That means the market is directly impacted by trends in buyers' home states. For example, September and October tend to be Trimble's busiest months for selling island real estate, but the spate of floods and hurricanes that hit the Southeast in the summer and fall of 2005 kept prospective buyers at home.
Since then, though, demand seems to be on the uptick, Trimble says. While he hasn't sold an island listing in recent months, Trimble has seen other waterfront real estate go under contract recently. And he expects buyers soon may be putting down deposits on offshore properties as well.
Tools of the trade: boats and GPS
The LaRosas are textbook examples of people who embraced the do-it-yourself approach to island living. The couple took pride in transforming Wilderness Island from a neglected former sporting camp that was "knee deep in leaves" into an eight-cabin, 30-guest bed and breakfast where they lived off the grid six months out of the year and grew fresh flowers, fruits and vegetables. "We started out with overcoming obstacles and then got into beautifying the island," says Carol LaRosa. "Mike raised a cabin and put new sills in. We've done all sorts of things we didn't know we could do."
But not all island owners are interested in rolling up their sleeves (or paying someone else to do the work for them). Trimble recalls a client who uses the family island as a day-trip destination for private entertaining and boating. When night falls, the owners either sleep on their yacht or sail back to the mainland. LandVest's Sortwell calls these properties "picnic islands," and for many would-be island owners, the desire for privacy and autonomy is the primary reason they seek out a patch of land in the middle of a body of water.
"Islands excite the imagination in ways that regular waterfront cannot," says Redmond. "Being surrounded by water for 360 degrees creates a feeling of complete autonomy and control."
While there can be unique challenges to living on an island, the business of selling islands also comes with its particularities. For starters, there's the simple matter of showing a property. On the mainland, a broker might shuttle a client to a handful of properties during the workday. But for Trimble, a jaunt to one island necessitates a full day out of the office, not to mention some serious nautical abilities. Trimble keeps three different boats: a small one for ponds and lakes, a 22-foot boat docked on Moosehead Lake and a third oceangoing boat outfitted with GPS.
Trips out to view properties can sometimes get "a little dicey," he says, especially when he's steering through choppy waters with a prospective client's children on board. "You have to be very careful," Trimble says. "You have people's lives in your hands."
Trimble adds that it's impossible to make a living only selling islands in Maine, which is why his company also brokers properties on the mainland, as well as out of state. Besides the limited quantity, there's also the brief selling season: The market picks up in the summer and ends once the leaves start to turn, which means Trimble is gearing up to start showing island properties again. "We don't advertise these properties this time of year," says Trimble. "You don't want to show [a property] with the shutters closed."
The cost of buying boats, coupled with the danger inherent in taking people on them, are other factors that keep the number of real estate firms specializing in island properties relatively low, Trimble says. He cites three companies in the world that specialize in selling islands. Brokerages like LandVest also compete, but according to Sortwell island sales account for a tiny percentage of the company's business. It also can take anywhere between a few months to a few years for an island property to sell, depending on the price and the location. But given the extra costs and time involved, Trimble says brokers at his firm earn a 10% sales commission on an island property versus the six percent to seven percent a broker would normally get for selling a house.
And while the asking price of mainland properties can be calculated by evaluating comparable sales data for the neighborhood, assessing an island's value is sometimes more art than science. Factors such as distance from the mainland, acreage, topography, tree density, marina accessibility and wind exposure all contribute to an island's fair asking price. Existing infrastructure also can make an island more attractive on the market, says Redmond, because doing any kind of development on an island can cost almost double what a property owner would pay on the mainland.
But the golden rule of real estate seems to apply equally to offshore properties: location, location, location. Islands situated closer to Portland and Boston fetch a higher price tag than those near, say, Calais. Coastal properties generally command more than those in the middle of a lake. For example, Fog Island, a 60-acre property perched in the desirable stretch of water between Deer Isle and Blue Hill, is protected by a conservation easement that restricts development to a few buildings, but the property nevertheless is listed at $1.8 million. (For more on current island prices, see "Your own private island?" page 41.)
The conservation option
Island owners looking to sell their properties don't have to wait for a buyer with the right combination of independent spirit and deep pockets to emerge. In recent years, nonprofit conservation organizations like the Topsham-based Maine Coast Heritage Trust have emerged alongside private buyers to acquire selected island properties across the state. But spokesman Richard Knox says MCHT enters the open market infrequently, and only when it sees a strong reason to conserve a particular property that's for sale.
Instead, MCHT's primary strategy is to develop long-term relationships with island owners so that when the time comes for that owner to move on, he or she chooses to have MCHT conserve the island in perpetuity. In other cases, the organization works with owners to secure an easement that allows an island to still be privately owned but may restrict development, depending upon the terms of the easement. To date, MCHT says it has conserved roughly 260 Maine islands; it maintains outright ownership of less than 40.
But in a market with limited turnover, Knox says that conservation groups like MCHT are accused of making available island real estate even more expensive. "There's a perception out there that we're driving up the price of land or doing something that's not voluntary," he says. "[But] our window is to contact conservation-minded land owners before they decide to list [their properties]. We can't expect to compete for islands listed in Down East magazine.
Trimble is one broker who's concerned about the impact of Maine's conservation groups. Once an island comes under the stewardship of a conservation group, "they're never seen again," he says. He predicts that "one day you'll wake up and there aren't going to be any [for sale]."
But LandVest's Sortwell has a different take. "If you are an owner of an island, [conservation groups] are good for business," he says. "They are a buyer and they have cash."
Conservation isn't the only factor limiting the supply of islands for sale at a given time. Island buyers in emerging markets like Central America, for example, might flip their properties in hopes of scoring a profit, but Redmond says the Maine market is much less speculative. At the same time, all it takes is one hurricane or typhoon to spook an island owner in other parts of the world who expected to own a tropical paradise, Redmond adds, which also contributes to rapid turnover. The same can't be said for Maine. "The buyer profile is different in Maine than other parts of the world," Redmond says. "People from Maine take their island stewardship more seriously."
Trimble agrees, saying he rarely sees buyers flipping island properties in Maine. And when he does encounter buyers with unrealistic expectations, he says he tries to educate those customers. In general, Maine island owners tend to hold on to their properties as good long-term investments, he says.
That description rings true for Wilderness Island owners Mike and Carol LaRosa, who are now reluctantly selling their property for $795,000. Mike is battling an illness, and the couple decided they had no choice except to sell, choosing to list their property with Trimble in 2005. While no conservation groups have contacted the LaRosas about taking over their island, a prospective buyer from Europe is "nibbling," according to Trimble.
Until a buyer with an offer emerges, the couple plans to spend some quality time on Wilderness Island this summer, tending to their garden, and hopefully grooming the next generation of owners to take over their summer retreat. "We always felt that we were custodians of the island. It was our responsibility to nurture it and keep it the way it should be," says Carol LaRosa. "It's a different attachment than you have to home. You're surrounded by water. It gives you a sense of liberation from the rest of the world. It's hard to equate with any other kind of living."
Like many love stories, the LaRosas' romance with Wilderness Island began with a leap of faith. The couple spontaneously decided to cash out their savings, mortgage their house and borrow money from family members to subsidize their island adventure. "We were insane to do what we did, [but] we weren't afraid to try it," says Carol LaRosa, now 59, who declined to say how much they paid for the property. "There aren't a lot of people in this world who can say they lived their dream. It's been the best 20 years of our lives."
Jim Trimble, owner of Trimble Private Brokerage in Bangor, has built a career out of selling islands and other waterfront real estate. Like the LaRosas, Trimble's love affair with Maine islands happened suddenly. Trimble was on vacation when he bought his first island on Moosehead Lake at the tender age of 21. He says the $45,000 he paid for the property was too much, but he kept it for 10 years before selling it in the early 1980s for $138,000. Over the years, he acquired and sold other Maine islands, ultimately turning his hobby into a business in the mid 80s, when he launched Trimble Private Brokerage. "I collect them,"
says Trimble, who says that owning an island is like "buying a piece of water in an ocean where you want to be."
There are more than 3,000 islands dotting Maine's coastline and lakes, according to the Maine Office of Tourism. Roughly half of those islands are privately owned, say real estate professionals, with the remaining under management by conservation groups and government agencies. But despite Maine's abundance of islands, the inventory of available island real estate at any given time tends to be low. "Islands are limited commodities,"
says Terry Sortwell, a regional manager and principal with LandVest in Camden. "And islands with good geographical features that are close to civilization are even more limited."
But it isn't just lack of available property that makes island real estate a small niche: Being the king or queen of your own island hideaway just isn't for everyone. Traits such as self-sufficiency can help owners weather the challenge of being a boat ride away from modern-day conveniences like supermarkets and gas stations ˆ not to mention medical services. "Living on a private island may seem idyllic, but an island lifestyle requires a certain kind of personality," explains Renée Redmond, director of operations for Toronto-based Private Islands Online, a brokerage that sells islands in the United States, the South Pacific, Africa and the Caribbean. "Once people own an island, they realize the expense or upkeep was beyond their expectations, or the remoteness and difficulty of accessing the island wasn't something they imagined."
Still, brokers say the allure of island life ˆ and Maine's relatively large number of islands ˆ keeps buyers coming. Trimble estimates that nearly all of his clients hail from out of state, many from the South in particular. That means the market is directly impacted by trends in buyers' home states. For example, September and October tend to be Trimble's busiest months for selling island real estate, but the spate of floods and hurricanes that hit the Southeast in the summer and fall of 2005 kept prospective buyers at home.
Since then, though, demand seems to be on the uptick, Trimble says. While he hasn't sold an island listing in recent months, Trimble has seen other waterfront real estate go under contract recently. And he expects buyers soon may be putting down deposits on offshore properties as well.
Tools of the trade: boats and GPS
The LaRosas are textbook examples of people who embraced the do-it-yourself approach to island living. The couple took pride in transforming Wilderness Island from a neglected former sporting camp that was "knee deep in leaves" into an eight-cabin, 30-guest bed and breakfast where they lived off the grid six months out of the year and grew fresh flowers, fruits and vegetables. "We started out with overcoming obstacles and then got into beautifying the island," says Carol LaRosa. "Mike raised a cabin and put new sills in. We've done all sorts of things we didn't know we could do."
But not all island owners are interested in rolling up their sleeves (or paying someone else to do the work for them). Trimble recalls a client who uses the family island as a day-trip destination for private entertaining and boating. When night falls, the owners either sleep on their yacht or sail back to the mainland. LandVest's Sortwell calls these properties "picnic islands," and for many would-be island owners, the desire for privacy and autonomy is the primary reason they seek out a patch of land in the middle of a body of water.
"Islands excite the imagination in ways that regular waterfront cannot," says Redmond. "Being surrounded by water for 360 degrees creates a feeling of complete autonomy and control."
While there can be unique challenges to living on an island, the business of selling islands also comes with its particularities. For starters, there's the simple matter of showing a property. On the mainland, a broker might shuttle a client to a handful of properties during the workday. But for Trimble, a jaunt to one island necessitates a full day out of the office, not to mention some serious nautical abilities. Trimble keeps three different boats: a small one for ponds and lakes, a 22-foot boat docked on Moosehead Lake and a third oceangoing boat outfitted with GPS.
Trips out to view properties can sometimes get "a little dicey," he says, especially when he's steering through choppy waters with a prospective client's children on board. "You have to be very careful," Trimble says. "You have people's lives in your hands."
Trimble adds that it's impossible to make a living only selling islands in Maine, which is why his company also brokers properties on the mainland, as well as out of state. Besides the limited quantity, there's also the brief selling season: The market picks up in the summer and ends once the leaves start to turn, which means Trimble is gearing up to start showing island properties again. "We don't advertise these properties this time of year," says Trimble. "You don't want to show [a property] with the shutters closed."
The cost of buying boats, coupled with the danger inherent in taking people on them, are other factors that keep the number of real estate firms specializing in island properties relatively low, Trimble says. He cites three companies in the world that specialize in selling islands. Brokerages like LandVest also compete, but according to Sortwell island sales account for a tiny percentage of the company's business. It also can take anywhere between a few months to a few years for an island property to sell, depending on the price and the location. But given the extra costs and time involved, Trimble says brokers at his firm earn a 10% sales commission on an island property versus the six percent to seven percent a broker would normally get for selling a house.
And while the asking price of mainland properties can be calculated by evaluating comparable sales data for the neighborhood, assessing an island's value is sometimes more art than science. Factors such as distance from the mainland, acreage, topography, tree density, marina accessibility and wind exposure all contribute to an island's fair asking price. Existing infrastructure also can make an island more attractive on the market, says Redmond, because doing any kind of development on an island can cost almost double what a property owner would pay on the mainland.
But the golden rule of real estate seems to apply equally to offshore properties: location, location, location. Islands situated closer to Portland and Boston fetch a higher price tag than those near, say, Calais. Coastal properties generally command more than those in the middle of a lake. For example, Fog Island, a 60-acre property perched in the desirable stretch of water between Deer Isle and Blue Hill, is protected by a conservation easement that restricts development to a few buildings, but the property nevertheless is listed at $1.8 million. (For more on current island prices, see "Your own private island?" page 41.)
The conservation option
Island owners looking to sell their properties don't have to wait for a buyer with the right combination of independent spirit and deep pockets to emerge. In recent years, nonprofit conservation organizations like the Topsham-based Maine Coast Heritage Trust have emerged alongside private buyers to acquire selected island properties across the state. But spokesman Richard Knox says MCHT enters the open market infrequently, and only when it sees a strong reason to conserve a particular property that's for sale.
Instead, MCHT's primary strategy is to develop long-term relationships with island owners so that when the time comes for that owner to move on, he or she chooses to have MCHT conserve the island in perpetuity. In other cases, the organization works with owners to secure an easement that allows an island to still be privately owned but may restrict development, depending upon the terms of the easement. To date, MCHT says it has conserved roughly 260 Maine islands; it maintains outright ownership of less than 40.
But in a market with limited turnover, Knox says that conservation groups like MCHT are accused of making available island real estate even more expensive. "There's a perception out there that we're driving up the price of land or doing something that's not voluntary," he says. "[But] our window is to contact conservation-minded land owners before they decide to list [their properties]. We can't expect to compete for islands listed in Down East magazine.
Trimble is one broker who's concerned about the impact of Maine's conservation groups. Once an island comes under the stewardship of a conservation group, "they're never seen again," he says. He predicts that "one day you'll wake up and there aren't going to be any [for sale]."
But LandVest's Sortwell has a different take. "If you are an owner of an island, [conservation groups] are good for business," he says. "They are a buyer and they have cash."
Conservation isn't the only factor limiting the supply of islands for sale at a given time. Island buyers in emerging markets like Central America, for example, might flip their properties in hopes of scoring a profit, but Redmond says the Maine market is much less speculative. At the same time, all it takes is one hurricane or typhoon to spook an island owner in other parts of the world who expected to own a tropical paradise, Redmond adds, which also contributes to rapid turnover. The same can't be said for Maine. "The buyer profile is different in Maine than other parts of the world," Redmond says. "People from Maine take their island stewardship more seriously."
Trimble agrees, saying he rarely sees buyers flipping island properties in Maine. And when he does encounter buyers with unrealistic expectations, he says he tries to educate those customers. In general, Maine island owners tend to hold on to their properties as good long-term investments, he says.
That description rings true for Wilderness Island owners Mike and Carol LaRosa, who are now reluctantly selling their property for $795,000. Mike is battling an illness, and the couple decided they had no choice except to sell, choosing to list their property with Trimble in 2005. While no conservation groups have contacted the LaRosas about taking over their island, a prospective buyer from Europe is "nibbling," according to Trimble.
Until a buyer with an offer emerges, the couple plans to spend some quality time on Wilderness Island this summer, tending to their garden, and hopefully grooming the next generation of owners to take over their summer retreat. "We always felt that we were custodians of the island. It was our responsibility to nurture it and keep it the way it should be," says Carol LaRosa. "It's a different attachment than you have to home. You're surrounded by water. It gives you a sense of liberation from the rest of the world. It's hard to equate with any other kind of living."
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