Maine

Land sold for back taxes

Maine towns do not auction tax liens. The tax collector records a lien certificate, which works as a mortgage to the town, and if the taxes, interest and costs are not paid within 18 months of filing, it forecloses automatically and the town owns the land. A town that then sells it to anyone but the former owner must list it with a licensed real estate broker at the highest reasonable price, sell by quitclaim deed, and pay the former owner whatever the sale brings above what was owed. Only if no broker will take it, or it does not sell within a year, can the town sell it some other way. In the unorganized territory the State Tax Assessor sells instead.

What to do: Look for tax-acquired land in brokers' listings and on town websites, not at an auction. A quitclaim deed promises nothing about title, so get a title opinion or title insurance before you pay.

Source: 36 M.R.S. §943; 36 M.R.S. §943-C

Septic before you build

A new septic system needs a permit from the town's Local Plumbing Inspector before work starts, on an application drawn up by a licensed site evaluator who has tested the soil and checked the setbacks. The system is inspected twice. The state has kept copies of the permits since 1974 and anyone can search them by town and year.

What to do: Search the state's records for the system on a lot with a house. On bare land, have a site evaluator test the soil before you close, because the permit depends on it.

Source: Maine CDC, Subsurface Wastewater System Permitting; Maine CDC, permit search

Being taxed as a farm

Five or more contiguous acres can be taxed as farmland if they produced at least $2,000 of farm income in one of the last two years or three of the last five, whether the owner farms them or a tenant does. Ten acres or more of woods can be taxed as Tree Growth with a forest management and harvest plan, renewed every ten years. Both are applied for on a schedule filed with the assessor by April 1. Taking Tree Growth land out, by building on it for instance, costs the owner a penalty: the greater of five years of the tax it escaped, with interest, or 30 percent of the gap between its market value and its Tree Growth value. The 30 falls a point for each year enrolled beyond ten, to no less than 20.

What to do: Ask whether the parcel is in Tree Growth or the farmland program before you plan a house on it. Whoever owns the land when it comes out pays the penalty.

Source: 36 M.R.S. §1102; 36 M.R.S. §1109; 36 M.R.S. §574-B; 36 M.R.S. §581

Old well records

Under the Water Well Information Law of 1987, drillers report each new well to the Maine Geological Survey. Its Water Well Database can be searched by town, address, owner and year, and a map shows each well's depth and yield.

What to do: Look up the wells on the neighbouring lots for their depth and yield. Wells drilled before the law may not be there at all.

Source: Maine Geological Survey, Water Well Database

Maine counties, cheapest farmland first

What farmland and its buildings were worth an acre in each of the 16 counties in the 2022 Census of Agriculture, with the median value of a home. These compare one county with another; they are not the price of any parcel.

Source: USDA, 2022 Census of Agriculture, Maine county data; Census Bureau, ACS 2020–2024, table B25077