Over the last 11 years of blogging, I’ve shared our various fun-filled family trips to Martha’s Vineyard with you. As you may know, for over three decades, we rented an array of lovely summer homes there. But we always longed to own a little piece of MV heaven. Once our kids were done with college, we realized that we could finally afford to fulfill our dream. We searched in earnest for two years before we found the perfect place — a modest and well-kept cottage in the pastoral town of West Tisbury. Upon entering the house for the first time, both John and I knew it was “the one” because it ticked off each and every one of the boxes on our wishlist.
When we toured the house with our realtor Emma on that cold December morning, it was one of a long list of houses to see. And since we were on the island for only that one day, we had a lot to accomplish. After viewing all of the properties, we got a very good sense of how our favorite compared to others in its price range. In our eyes, there was really no comparison. It was exactly what we wanted! However, it was just above our maximum price. Isn’t that always the way?
We had a lot of thinking and financial calculating to do before we would feel comfortable putting in an offer. We toured the house for a second time that afternoon and then headed to the ferry landing. With a few minutes to spare before our boat home, we stopped by a nearby beach for a moment. It was blustery and I stayed in the car while John took a quick stroll to the water’s edge. When he returned, he was holding a small rock in his hand. We took it home to CT hoping that this little piece of the island would bring us luck in our upcoming negotiations.
Knowing how difficult it is to find desirable houses in our price range, time was of the essence. So the next day, we put in an offer. We also knew how competitive the MV market is and felt we needed something to help the sellers know more about us. We decided to include a letter written by John about his 50+ year connection to the island. Next came a bit of countering back and forth. We also learned that there were two additional offers from potential buyers on the table. Even so, they chose to accept our offer. We were told that it was John’s letter that tipped the scales in our direction!
After doing a happy dance, we placed our lucky rock on the windowsill above the kitchen sink where it still sits today.
Please stop by next time when I’ll invite you inside our new MV cottage.
Susan
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