Northern Maine: Take care of a beautiful home in exchange for housing and utilities.

Posted: 2/11/2025

I've accepted a job in New Mexico and I need to sell my home in Saint Francis, Maine. Saint Franics is an international border town across the river from Canada. You would live in the house and take care of it until it sells. The real estate agent would call you at least 24 hours before any showing takes place. 

You don't need to help directly with showings, just make sure the home is clean and tidy before any prospective buyer and the real estate agent arrives. During each showing you can go over to the next town (Fort Kent) for grocery shopping, visiting the bookstore, restaurants, etc., for 45 minutes to an hour, so the real estate agent and prospective buyer can have privacy to view all aspects of the property. The home has been on the market for two months and only one showing so far, so not a lot of action, but might be a bit more in the spring and summer. Houses sometimes sit for a year or more before selling in this area, but of course there are exceptions. It had been on the market for about 18 months when I bought it. So who knows. Could sell in 3 months or take more than a year, it's really hard to know.  

Utilities will be paid for:

Electric

Heating oil

High-speed internet

Water 

Saint Francis has a self-serve transfer station for garbage. There is a drop-off point about a 5 minute drive from the house. It is open on Saturdays. You can arrange for weekly garbage pickup at home, but I have never used that service. By the time you wheel the garbage bin to the end of the driveway (and then have to wheel it back after pick-up), you essentially could have driven to the transfer station and dropped it off yourself in a few minutes. However, to get to the transfer station, a 4x4 vehicle is recommended during the winter because it's at the top of a rather steep hill, so if you don't have a 4 wheel drive vehicle, the pick-up service is recommended. A few people do brave the hill with 2 wheel drive, but it can be pretty dicey depending on the amount of snowfall. The road is plowed every snowfall (local taxes hard at work) but the last bit of the road to the transfer station isn't salted because it's not paved so it amounts to driving on packed snow.  Some people who have 2 wheel drive stack garbage bags in the garage during winter and let them freeze, and then take it all to the transfer station in the spring. 

The house is partially furnished and it is being sold with the furniture in place, so no need to bring anything other than blankets and pillows. Furnishings are as follows:

Big screen smart TV (65") with internet

Recliner couch

Kitchen table and chairs

Refrigerator

Various kitchen appliances

Minimal / basic dishes and utensils 

Toaster

Microwave

Stovetop range and standard oven

Brand new large capacity Washer

Dryer

Lazy Boy reading recliner

Dresser

Bookshelf

Computer Desk with 21 inch monitors x 3

Console stand

Boot bench in the mudroom

Small couch in the all-season porch

2 cots in the master bedroom (a larger inflatable bed for better comfort is also available, but is not set up at present). 

The nearest town with a large grocery store is Fort Kent, about 20 minutes away. https://stores.hannaford.com/me/fort-kent/8453

Fort Kent also has a small ski area called Lonesome Pines: https://www.lonesomepines.org/

Because it's pretty remote up here, labor is in high demand and there are several places that are always looking for workers (grocery store, hotels, restaurants, gas stations, etc.). My wife got offered a job the same day she applied at the restaurant she works at. The home is also suitable for remote work. High speed internet 150MB download / 20MB upload is provided by Spectrum internet. There is a Wi-Fi router as well as hardwire ethernet. 

The house has a built-in dog door connected to a fenced kennel, and there is an amazing hiking trail right behind the house that has beautiful views of the Saint John river. https://www.mainetrailfinder.com/trails/trail/saint-john-valley-heritage-trail

Every year on March 1st there is a sled dog race on the trail, and it is super fun to watch. https://can-am-crown.net/home.php

Duties and expectations:

1. Shovel the driveway every time it snows, and keep the For Sale sign clear of snow. (snow shovels and rock salt are in the enclosed all-season porch)

2. Keep the entry ways clear of snow and periodically sprinkle rock salt so that prospective buyers can access the property safely (and for your own safety). 

3. Keep the home clean and tidy. Coordinate with the real estate agent for showings. 

4. Drip the faucets at night if the temperature is expected to drop below 20 F so the well inlet pipe doesn't freeze. 

5. Mow the lawn once per week in the spring/summer/fall months. Manual push mower is in the garage. It's a relatively small lawn and doesn't take much time. Alternatively, my neighbor 2 doors down to the east offers mowing service at 100 dollars per month (25 dollars per cut, so it's 125 dollars for months that have 5 Saturdays instead of 4). I'd like to avoid that cost if possible, but if you have health issues that would make manual mowing an issue, maybe we could split the cost or you could pay the neighbor to do it. 

6. Watch out for moose and deer on the roads. It is a relatively high-hit area. I've had three near misses the last two years. 

7. Enjoy the beauty of the area, explore the Heritage Trail, Togue Pond wilderness area, Saint John River, Can-Am Sled Dog Race, The Bogan Bookstore, Mount Katahdin, Baxter State Park; apply at post office in Fort Kent for international passports so you can explore Edmunston Canada, Quebec, Montreal, Nova Scotia, and other nearby attractions, to get the most out of the Northern Maine experience. 

8. Optional: if things turn out to be longer term, I might convert the shed behind the garage into a chicken coop to have seasonal fresh eggs during for Airbnb purposes, as well as putting in raised planters in the back yard for potatoes, green beans, tomatoes, onions, cucumbers, garlic, squash, strawberries, blueberries, blackberries, applies, plumbs, and a beehive. I would pay for materials, tools, livestock, and seeds, and you would do the labor. 

Potential conversion into an Airbnb approach:

If we get 3 to 6 months into the caretaking effort and the house hasn't sold yet, one idea is to list the house on Airbnb so the rental income could start helping me pay the monthly mortgage. In the summer and fall months there are quite a few hunters and fishermen that come north and short terms rentals are in relatively high demand for those months. In that case, you would be the Airbnb hosts who live in the house, and the guests would have the master bedroom and master bathroom + extra bedroom, and you would have the smaller guest bedroom and guest bathroom on rental nights. You would be the cleaning crew for the home after the guests leave, and I would pay you for that service as well as give you part of the profits from the rental, and you would also be free to use and live in all areas of the home during the days and nights when there isn't an active Airbnb reservation. 

However, I'm not entirely sure about the Airbnb idea. Might be more trouble than it's worth. Or it might be a really profitable and good way to have a long term caretaking situation, who knows. I am open to keeping the property long term if it turns out that the Aribnb idea works out. After 3-6 months we can discuss that option and see if you are liking the area and if you want the caretaking adventure to be long term+ Airbnb hosting. And if yes, we will test out the Airbnb for a season, and see if we can make a profit or at least break even on the mortgage vs. rental income, at which point I would make a decision whether to take the home off the market and do the Airbnd approach long term.

If you don't favor the Airbnb idea, we can keep it simple and just do the straightforward caretaking duties until the home sells.