Unaffordable houses in Maine

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I don’t know the answer to this one, but it’s a terrible trend for young people hoping to buy their first house; for that matter, it sucks for many would-be buyers of any age

Median home sale prices in every Maine county have more than doubled in the last decade, housing data show.

The median price for a single family home rose to $425,000 last month, the Maine Association of Realtors recently reported. That marks a more than 135 percent increase since 2015, when the average home in Maine sold for slightly more than $180,000.

Piscataquis County stood out as the Maine county with the sharpest spike in home prices since 2010. The average cost of a home there now sits at $255,000 compared with $75,000 in 2010 — a 240 percent increase in 15 years.

Androscoggin, Knox, Lincoln, Sagadahoc, Somerset and York counties also saw home price increases from 2010 to 2025 that outpaced the statewide average of 152 percent, data gathered from Maine Listings show.

The numbers illustrate how quickly home prices in Maine have risen to be out of reach for many homebuyers, even in the state’s more rural areas.

Jeff Harris, 2025 President of the Maine Association of Realtors, credited [attributed? — Ed] the rising prices to high demand for housing coupled with low inventory, though the number of properties available is slowly improving.

In Penobscot County, home prices rose nearly 67 percent from $170,000 to $283,700 between 2020 and 2025, versus a 28 percent bump in the five years before 2020.

In the decade before the pandemic, home prices in Cumberland County rose from $225,300 to $365,000 — a 62 percent increase. Since 2020, however, median home prices in Maine’s most populated county have nearly doubled, from $365,000 to $600,000, making it the most costly in the state.

The median household income in Vacation Land is about $75,000, which would probably buy a $300,000 home. Cumberland County residents earn far more, on average, and can afford more, but that’s not the case in the rest of the state.

Minnesota is the first; it surely won't be the last

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A female fencer took a knee instead of competing against a biological male, leading USA Fencing to disqualify and expel her from the college tournament, despite her opponent having played on the men’s team last year before switching to women’s.

If We Can't Have Men in Women's Sports, Then We Will Have No Women's Sports at All...

The USA Fencing Minnesota division announced plans to only sanction mixed-gender events moving forward in response to new policies that prevent biologically male trans athletes from competing in women's competitions. 

USA Fencing changed its policies to ensure that only biological females are able to compete in the women's category last month after the entire U.S. Olympic and Paralympic Committee (USOPC) updated its athlete safety policy to suggest compliance with President Donald Trump's "Keeping Men Out of Women's Sports" executive order. 

David Strom:

As a practical matter, of course, the real victims of Minnesota Fencing's decision are women who should be allowed to compete with other women. But that is no barrier to making this change to their policy, because these women are "cisgender," and hence lower on the intersectional ladder than transgender "women." 

This is what they call "equity."

Murder/suicide on Shorelands Place

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Two dead at 11 Shorelands Place, Old Greenwich

Word I’m hearing is the victim was the mother of the shooter, Stein Erik Soelberg.

I’ve written about this man’s troubles before; sad tale.

February 12, 2025: Multiple Charges for Greenwich Driver Who Blew Through Stop Sign, Fled from Police

Police said an Old Greenwich man faces multiple charges after an incident in the area of the Old Greenwich Civic Center on Feb 12 around 9:00pm.

That is when patrol officers were stopped at a stop sign when an oncoming vehicle blew through the opposing stop sign and crossed into the lane of travel where the patrol car was stopped, such that side view mirrors came into contact.

From there, police said the driver, later identified as Stein Erik Soelberg, 56, of Greenwich, fled the scene at a high rate of speed, disregarding officers signals to stop for some time.

Ultametely a motor vehicle stop was successful and on-scene investigation indicated that Mr. Soelberg was under the influence, displaying slurred speech, bloodshot eyes and was unable to focus on and answer questions.

Soelberg was unable to perform field sobriety tests to standard and was placed under arrest.

2019: Greenwich Man Accused [sic] Of Urinating In Woman's Duffel Bag

GREENWICH, CT — Police said an Old Greenwich man is accused of urinating in a woman's duffel bag outside Greenwich Police headquarters. Police said in a release they received a walk-in report Tuesday afternoon of a "disorderly male" in the lobby of the department.

According to police, a woman reported she has just witnessed Stein Erik Soelberg, 50, urinating inside her duffel bag right outside the department's entrance on Mason Street.

Police said officers subsequently approached the accused, who later admitted to urinating in the bag. He was arrested and charged with second-degree breach of peace and third-degree criminal mischief, police said.

Sadly, I know from personal experience that the same people who close their eyes to what went on in the Obama/Biden years will refuse to see this either

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hijacked food relief column

The Teeny, Tiny Problem With the UN Smack Talking Israel About Aid to Gaza

The problem is the United Nations being knee deep in the Hamas aid-looting and profit-boosting redistribution cycle. 

Sadly for the UN, the world is slowly but surely finding out about it despite all the UN's screeching efforts to paint the Israelis as, at best, obstructive and at worst, the evil villains in the 'But Gazans are starving' Pallywood saga.

Completely oblivious to the furor surrounding aid trucks and food deliveries, Hamas auxiliaries are still proudly producing and uploading their highway robbery videos.

Accompanied by quite a snappy background tune, you see weapon-waving, masked operatives aboard hijacked aid trucks, jauntily mugging for the camera, as their accomplices whiz on by on the side roads alongside the speeding trucks.

The production values that the stolen aid buys are quite high. I'm sure it makes every little boy watching want to be a hijacker.

…. [It''s] not a question of aid getting in, apparently. Videos of mountains of food already staged inside Gaza are everywhere.

The linked-to article provides many more examples of why and how food is not reaching the civilians, and the media’s complicity in Hamas’ propaganda campaign, but this video provides a good example:

Noted for the record

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But otherwise not of any particular interest except to the parties themselves:

7 Windsor Lane, Cos CoB $1.350 million; asking price $1.4 million

29 maplewood drive, cos cob. $1.595 million. Start price $1.950 (which proved a tad exuberant)

5 Jofran Lane $3.9 million. $4.195 ask.

25 Game cock road, byram. Full price: $7.495 million, 38 days on market. it would take an incredibly juvenile mind to suggest that, on this street, all that’s required to sell is finding another willing partner.

DANISH SMØRREBRØD

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“Mama, where is Solvej?” “Don’t worry dear, she’s having dinner at the zoo – well, actually, she is dinner.”

Denmark Zoo Wants to Feed Predators - People's Pets?

[A] zoo in Denmark, the Aalborg Zoo,  has come up with a unique solution to feed at least some of their predatory critters: They are asking people to donate their pets to serve as snacks.

The zoo in northern Denmark explained in a Facebook post that “if you have a healthy animal that needs to be given away for various reasons, feel free to donate it to us.”

…. “That way, nothing goes to waste — and we ensure natural behavior, nutrition and well-being of our predators,” the zoo said.

I second that emotion

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Did you see, by the way, the reports of this defund the police, end capitalism, eliminate millionaires, never-worded-a-day-in-his-life Mayoral candidate’s wedding celebration in Uganda last week? Armed, masked security guards were just part of the hypocrisy.

The celebration took place in Buziga Hill, one of Kampala’s wealthiest enclaves. It stretched over three days, from Tuesday through Friday. By all accounts, it was private, tightly controlled, and utterly extravagant.

Fortress on the hill

The Mamdani family estate was turned into a party zone. Fairy lights draped the garden trees, music poured out past midnight, and luxury cars like Mercedes and a Range Rover glided past heavily fortified security gates.

According to The New York Post, the house was guarded by "more than 20 special forces command unit guards, some in masks, and there was a phone-jamming system set up — all for the strictly invite-only Mamdani event... One gate had around nine guards stationed at it."

Military-style tents appeared within the grounds, only to be taken down once the party concluded. Mamdani’s own private security then resumed control at the entrances.

Guests were seen dancing to local DJs, sipping fruit juices—typical of Indian-style weddings—and soaking in views of Lake Victoria from a two-acre estate that sits behind three security gates.

Druid Lane

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35 Druid Lane’s closing price has been reported: $2,801,035, asking price $2.550. The sellers paid $1.8 for it in July ‘22 (on an asking price of $1.650) and at that time I speculated it was a land sale, but the new owners — wisely, it turns out — did not build new; they left it as a dump, and sold it again this year, for a cool million more. Sheesh.

I wrote about this house most recently March 14th of this year:

Riverside: 7 days, sealed bids, what else is new?

35 Druid Lane, $2.550 million and going for more. The owners paid $1.850 for it in ‘22 in another bidding war that had begun at $1.650), tidied it up and painted (although they appear to have retained for their rustic appeal the patched roof and crumbling driveway) and are ready to move on. 41.7% appreciation at the asking price, and sure to be more when the dust settles.

(Update: heard from an agent whose clients’ offer of $2.7+ “wasn’t even close” — sheesh. $2.850? Higher? Send in your guesses: winner gets to seal the drive, if not the deal.