CUSO Home Lending

CUSO Home Lending Maine: License Number SLM2427
Mortgage Banker no. 11760-MB. NMLS #: 54761

Maine's for-sale inventory just hit its highest level since December 2019, nearly seven years. In July, active listings ...
09/01/2026

Maine's for-sale inventory just hit its highest level since December 2019, nearly seven years. In July, active listings pushed past 6,200 while 1,697 single-family homes sold across the state, up 7.75% from a year earlier, the Maine Association of REALTORS reported.

Prices didn't ease to match. The statewide median sale price came in at $427,000, up 1.67% year over year, even after stepping back slightly from June's all-time high of $436,000.

More homes for sale and prices still running above last year sounds like it should cancel out.

What it reflects is a market where buyer demand has held even as supply catches up.

Maine Association of REALTORS 2026 president Judy Oberg addressed exactly that shift: sellers, she said, "should consider pricing to their current local market conditions and seasonal trends with the knowledge that buyers, in some markets, can be more discerning and have additional negotiating leverage."

More listings can mean more room to negotiate, especially heading into fall. Which town you're shopping in still matters more than the statewide number.

If you want to know what these conditions look like against your actual budget, that's a conversation worth having.

08/28/2026

When you’ve been watching mortgage rates since February and they’ve barely moved.

We get it. The rates are what they are right now. But inventory is better than spring. Competition is lighter. Sellers are more motivated.

Sometimes the best move is the one everyone else is still overthinking.

The median home sale price in Maine in May 2026 was $425,000..The median across the Northeast in early 2026 was $506,500...
08/25/2026

The median home sale price in Maine in May 2026 was $425,000..

The median across the Northeast in early 2026 was $506,500.

That gap of roughly $80,000 reflects a market that’s simply different from the rest of the region. Maine is still more accessible than most of the Northeast, and buyers comparing it to what they’d find in Massachusetts or Connecticut are often surprised by what’s possible here.

For buyers relocating from Boston, Connecticut, or New York, Maine’s numbers look different than they do for someone already priced out of Portland. For first-time buyers in Maine, the programs available here (MaineHousing First Home, CU Promise, USDA rural loans) are built around what these numbers actually mean in this market. That combination of relative affordability and targeted program availability doesn’t exist in most of the region.

Where you buy matters. The lender who knows that market matters more.

Sara Jandreau hits ten years with CUSO next month.She's a Senior Closing Specialist, she's from Millinocket, and after n...
08/24/2026

Sara Jandreau hits ten years with CUSO next month.

She's a Senior Closing Specialist, she's from Millinocket, and after nearly a decade of closings she still describes the work in terms of what she's learning. "This industry is always changing. I am continuously learning new things about it."

Ask her about a closing she remembers and she goes straight to 2025.

Sara worked with a loan officer at Maine Savings on a Habitat for Humanity loan, a first for CUSO. The credit union and CUSO had to coordinate every piece of it between them, and because the City of Bangor was also putting funds toward the purchase, the city had to give its approval too. A lot of moving parts, one closing date.

They held the date. The borrower got into their first home on schedule.

Away from work, Sara travels when she can and spends her time with her children and grandchildren. She left Maine for a stretch and made her way back, which she puts in three words: Maine is home.

Congratulations on ten years, Sara. Drop her a note below if you've worked with her.

08/21/2026

Today, Jack answers one of the most stressful questions in the homebuying process and walks buyers through the five options when the appraisal doesn’t match the offer.

The budget conversation usually starts with the mortgage payment and the down payment. Insurance shows up later, when th...
08/20/2026

The budget conversation usually starts with the mortgage payment and the down payment. Insurance shows up later, when the numbers are already set.

Recent buyers paid an average of about $2,887 a year for homeowners insurance. For someone putting together a first budget, that’s roughly $240 a month that’s easy to underestimate when you’re focused on the rate and the down payment.

The number has gotten harder to ignore. In a 2026 survey, nearly half of homeowners (47%) said that if their premium rises over the next year, they’ll have difficulty affording their mortgage. Insurance costs have been climbing across the country, particularly in areas with weather exposure, flood risk, or rising rebuilding costs.

What that means practically: if you’re building a monthly budget around your mortgage, the insurance estimate belongs in that same conversation. Not as an afterthought after you’re already under contract.

When you work with a CUSO loan officer, we build the real monthly number with you from the start. The rate, the taxes, and the insurance line. All of it, before you’re under contract.

The final numbers are in from the Maine Association of Mortgage Professionals - MAMP charity golf tournament, and they a...
08/19/2026

The final numbers are in from the Maine Association of Mortgage Professionals - MAMP charity golf tournament, and they are worth celebrating.

This year's event raised $25,000 for Camp Sunshine, the Casco retreat that gives children with life-threatening illnesses and their families a place to rest, play, and just be a family again.

CUSO was proud to sponsor the tournament and play alongside so many others in the Maine mortgage community who showed up for this one. A round of golf turns into real support for families facing some of the hardest moments imaginable.

Thank you to Kayley Walker (Camp Sunshine), Ashley Bourassa, and MAMP for putting it together, and to every sponsor, golfer, and donor who made this total possible. Taking care of each other is what the Maine credit union community does best.

Meltiah G. drives a truck for a living. The hours are irregular, availability is unpredictable, and returning calls mid-...
08/17/2026

Meltiah G. drives a truck for a living. The hours are irregular, availability is unpredictable, and returning calls mid-route is rarely an option.

Meltiah left CUSO a review. The short version: “fantastic job dealing with my busy schedule, keeping me informed.” Maggie and Alisha were mentioned by name.

Buying a home with a complicated schedule doesn't simplify the paperwork or move the deadlines. CUSO stayed in contact throughout the process and made it work.

If your schedule has kept you from starting this conversation, it’s worth the call.

A lot of buyers are waiting for the Federal Reserve to cut rates before they buy. There’s a problem with that strategy.M...
08/14/2026

A lot of buyers are waiting for the Federal Reserve to cut rates before they buy. There’s a problem with that strategy.

Mortgage rates don’t move when the Fed moves. They move when the 10-year Treasury yield moves. The two are related, but they’re not the same thing, and in 2026 they’ve been telling different stories.

The Fed’s June projections moved in the opposite direction from what most buyers are hoping for. The committee’s median outlook for where rates land by year-end was revised upward, not down. Policymakers expect to hold the line longer, not ease. Mortgage rates, meanwhile, have sat around 6.5% for months. The market has already absorbed that outlook. Buyers waiting for the Fed to force rates lower have been waiting most of the year. The market isn’t watching the same clock.

The buyers making moves right now aren’t waiting for perfect conditions. They’re entering a market with more inventory than spring, less competition, and sellers who are ready to negotiate. That math is different than April.

The actual relationship between Fed policy and mortgage rates is worth one conversation. If you want to talk through what current rates mean for your specific budget, that’s what we’re here for.

Some of the most important financial conversations in Maine happen years before anyone applies for a mortgage.OTIS Feder...
08/12/2026

Some of the most important financial conversations in Maine happen years before anyone applies for a mortgage.

OTIS Federal Credit Union, a Maine credit union based in Jay and part of CUSO’s network, turned Credit Union Youth Month into something kids actually remember. The theme: “Be a $uper $aver.” Every Friday, a caped “$uper $aver” superhero showed up at the branch handing out comic books and stuffed animals. There was a Wheel of Fun, whoopie pies and popcorn, and a hands-on budgeting activity where kids ran a pretend trip to the mall and had to make their money stretch. The whole thing wrapped with a baked-potato food truck and free meals for every young member who stopped in.

The fun had a structure behind it. Every new youth or Teen Flex account opened that month started with a $25 deposit and an “I’m a $uper $aver” shirt. A first savings account and a first lesson in what it means to build one.

That’s the credit union difference. Showing up for families early, right in the community, long before anyone needs a mortgage. It’s the same reason CUSO is proud to work alongside partners like OTIS.

Nice work, OTIS team!

Credit: https://www.otisfcu.coop/updates/otis-fcu-celebrates-cuna-youth-month/

Address

101 Western Avenue
Hampden, ME
04444

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+18003602876

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