We buy houses in Washington County, ME
We buy houses in Washington County, ME, from Machias to Eastport, Lubec, Calais, for cash and in any condition. Below is what selling here actually involves: where the county records and taxes property, how its foreclosure and tax sales work, and the rural questions a buyer will ask.
Washington County in numbers
- Typical home value
- $200,000
- Median year built
- 1975
- Mobile homes
- 11.0%
- Median property tax
- $1,654
Down 0.1% in a year. Zillow, September 2026
Census ACS 2019-2023
Of all housing units, ACS 2019-2023
A year, ACS 2019-2023
Washington County in under a minute
Transcript
We buy houses across Washington County, Maine, from Machias to Eastport and Lubec, for cash and in any condition. In Maine, an unpaid tax becomes a lien on your home. Miss a payment, and a Maine lender must first send you a written notice of your right to cure. Call us or visit nikitabuyshouses.com to sell your Washington County house today.
Deeds and estates on Court Street in Machias
Machias is the county seat. The Registry of Deeds is at 85 Court Street, 207-255-6512. It records from 8:00 to 3:45 on weekdays.
Its land records go back to 1784, and you can search them online as a guest. Since January 2026, most deeds cost a flat $40 to record, no matter the page count.
The Registry also runs a free fraud alert. It emails you when a paper with your name on it is filed.
Estates go to the Washington County Probate Court. A part-time elected judge holds hearings on two Tuesdays a month. The Register can handle informal probate without a hearing.
Probate records reach back to 1785. Filings from 2007 on are online at maineprobate.net.
Sources: Washington County: Registry of Deeds; Washington County: Registry of Probate and Probate Court; Washington County: Hazard Mitigation Plan, 2018 Update (PDF).
Your town, not the county, sends the tax bill
In Maine, your city, town or plantation sets its own tax rate. Its tax collector bills you and chases unpaid taxes (36 MRSA 942).
Rates vary a lot. For 2024, the state's summary shows these, per dollar of assessed value:
- Calais, 0.01500 at a 100% ratio
- Machias, 0.01650 at a 100% ratio
- Lubec, 0.01900 at a 100% ratio
- Eastport, 0.02850 at a 65% ratio.
The ratio tells you how close assessments run to market value. Eastport's 65% means its values sat well below market in 2024. By our math, its rate works out to about 0.0185 of market value.
The county also has unorganized townships with no town government. There, taxes are paid to the state's Property Tax Division.
If the home is your main residence, Maine exempts $25,000 of its value. That is $10,000 plus a $15,000 add-on, by our math (36 MRSA 683). You must have owned a Maine home for 12 months, and you apply by April 1 (36 MRSA 684).
Sources: Maine Revenue Services: 2024 Municipal Valuation Return Statistical Summary (PDF); Maine Legislature: 36 MRSA 942, Tax lien certificate; Washington County: Hazard Mitigation Plan, 2018 Update (PDF); Maine Legislature: 36 MRSA 683, Exemption of homesteads; Maine Legislature: 36 MRSA 684, Application.
How a tax lien turns into a lost home
In Maine, an unpaid tax becomes a lien on your home. If it stays unpaid, the town can end up owning the home.
The steps run like this:
- 8 to 12 months after taxes are set, the collector sends a 30-day demand (36 MRSA 942)
- if it is not paid, a lien certificate is recorded at the Registry of Deeds
- 18 months after that filing, the lien forecloses on its own (36 MRSA 943).
The town treasurer must warn you 30 to 45 days before that date, with the exact day (36 MRSA 943).
If the town later sells to someone else, it must list the home with a licensed broker. It must also pay you what the sale brings above taxes, interest and costs (36 MRSA 943-C).
The town must mail you notice at least 90 days before it lists the home (36 MRSA 943-C).
Sources: Maine Legislature: 36 MRSA 942, Tax lien certificate; Maine Legislature: 36 MRSA 943, Tax lien mortgage and foreclosure; Maine Legislature: 36 MRSA 943-C, Sale of foreclosed properties.
Behind on the mortgage in Down East Maine
Miss a payment, and a Maine lender must first send you a written notice of your right to cure. It cannot demand the full balance until 35 days later (14 MRSA 6111).
Foreclosure then goes through the courts. Maine runs a foreclosure mediation program for these cases (14 MRSA 6321-A).
After a judgment, you have 90 days to redeem on most loans made since October 1, 1975 (14 MRSA 6322).
Then the lender must advertise a public sale once a week for 3 weeks in a county paper. The sale comes 30 to 45 days after the first ad (14 MRSA 6323).
Sources: Maine Legislature: 14 MRSA 6111, Notice of right to cure; Maine Legislature: 14 MRSA 6321-A, Foreclosure mediation program; Maine Legislature: 14 MRSA 6322, Period of redemption; Maine Legislature: 14 MRSA 6323, Sale after redemption period.
Tides, barrens, wells and woodlots
The county plan says most flood damage here comes from spring snowmelt. Floods hit most often from December to May. In Machias, the plan lists Main Street to the causeway, Lower Court Street and Water Street.
Inland, the county grows more than 85% of the nation's blueberry crop on sandy, glacier-made barrens, the plan says.
When you sell a home with a private well or septic, Maine requires you to disclose details (33 MRSA 173):
- the water system type, location and any problems
- the date of the last water test
- the septic tank size, location and install date
- where the leach field is.
Land in Tree Growth carries a penalty if it is taken out. One measure is the taxes you saved over up to five years. The assessor charges the larger of two formulas (36 MRSA 581).
The transfer tax is $2.20 per $500 of value, split half and half between seller and buyer (36 MRSA 4641-A). By our math, that is $330 each on a $150,000 sale.
Sources: Washington County: Hazard Mitigation Plan, 2018 Update (PDF); Maine Legislature: 33 MRSA 173, Required disclosures; Maine Legislature: 36 MRSA 581, Tree Growth withdrawal; Maine Legislature: 36 MRSA 4641-A, Real estate transfer tax.
Towns across Washington County
Machias
Machias set a 2024 tax rate of 0.01650, or $16.50 per $1,000 of value, at a 100% certified ratio. By our math, that is $1,650 a year on a $100,000 assessment. Maine Revenue Services: 2024 Municipal Valuation Return Statistical Summary (PDF)
Eastport
Eastport had a 2024 rate of 0.02850 with a certified ratio of 65%, meaning assessments sat well below market value. The county plan lists Toll Bridge Road for repeated flooding. Maine Revenue Services: 2024 Municipal Valuation Return Statistical Summary (PDF)
Lubec
The county's 2018 hazard plan lists all of downtown Lubec as an area subject to flooding, along with South Lubec and the road to Quoddy Head. Washington County: Hazard Mitigation Plan, 2018 Update (PDF)
Calais
Calais set a 2024 tax rate of 0.01500, or $15.00 per $1,000, at a 100% certified ratio. Maine Revenue Services: 2024 Municipal Valuation Return Statistical Summary (PDF)
Jonesport
The county plan says the tall pilings at Jonesport, Lubec and Eastport reflect tides that average 18 feet and can reach 28 feet. Washington County: Hazard Mitigation Plan, 2018 Update (PDF)
Selling a house in Washington County
- Who collects property tax in Washington County, Maine?
- Your city, town or plantation does. In the county's unorganized townships, taxes are paid to the state's Property Tax Division.
- How long before a Maine tax lien takes my home?
- The lien forecloses 18 months after the lien certificate is recorded, unless you pay (36 MRSA 943). The town must warn you 30 to 45 days before that date.
- Do I get money back if the town sells my foreclosed home?
- If the town sells to someone else, it must pay you the sale proceeds above taxes, interest and costs (36 MRSA 943-C). It must list the home with a licensed broker first.
- Where do I record a deed in Washington County, Maine?
- At the Registry of Deeds, 85 Court Street in Machias, 207-255-6512. Since January 2026, most documents cost a flat $40 to record.
Local facts checked October 2026. Rates and rules change; the office named above or a real estate attorney can confirm them for your property.
Sell your Washington County house today
You do not need a number ready, or photos, or a plan. Want to know your real options, even the ones that do not involve us? Call and ask.
Sabrina usually picks up. (615) 576-8827