Maribeth & John Haynes

Maribeth, recently divorced, lonely and hadn’t been kissed in 5 years, was living in Morristown NJ. With her last daughter heading to college, the house would have to be sold as part of the divorce settlement. She wanted to head south, both for the friendlier weather and also to get away from the crazy NJ taxes. The initial cities of interest were Charlotte, Williamsburg and Richmond as good friends from college lived there

In the meantime here was John, also a 54 years old, LIVING WITH HIS MOTHER (scary thought), was commuting to JMU, working on his tenure package and dreaming about this girl he meet the first week of college WAYYYYY back in 1977 (when disco was hot )

Trying to make a long story short & interesting, I reconnected with John (while arranging a college reunion) and we started dating at the same time as I started house hunting. After I discredited Charlotte and Williamsburg (the realtor said I was way too young to move to Williamsburg), she directed me to Richmond. But here too, it was just not my style. While it was a nice size city that offered culture, good restaurants and activity (sort of like NYC) the city neighborhoods just blended into each other and now, as a single person, the ‘burbs were not for me. . So this Richmond realtor gave me Sasha card and pointed me west to Charlottesville.  I liked Charlottesville as a town right away. On my bucket list I needed a town with a good university which would attract plays, lecture series and young life. Also needed easy access to an airport as I travel a lot for business, access to at least 1 good hospital and have the town size not too large but not rural. I also just loved having the mountains nearby and finding out about all the vineyard was just great… as was all the fabulous Friday after Five experience.

But I was not going to purchase a house here unless John was going to commit to us and propose.   (BTW John’s sister Barbie had to hit him over the head with that concept “she is not going to move here until you give her a ring”) And yes he did propose

Poor Sasha, I looked for housing for over 2 years, Every time I can to visit John,   I dragged Sasha out house hunting. I needed to get are real good feel for the lay of the land and realized that while I thought I knew exactly what I wanted it wasn’t until I visited many, many homes did I come to understand my priorities. .

We found the Stillmeadow neighborhood by accident. At the time I was still thinking of a brand new house but the lot we were looking at was not ideal. However, the Still meadow neighborhood was just a stone throw away.

We drove thru and immediately I liked the look of the homes, the size of the lots and that there were mature trees. However no home was available at that time

So I continued to use the website which Sasha gave me to comb through listings. The next time we came down we knew there were a few listing in this neighborhood.

Luck was with us, in that the house (we eventually bought) had been under contract but the deal just fell through. And we almost didn’t even look at it as the listing detail & photos really didn’t give an accurate description. The kitchen was far larger that described (ideal for us), and the FROG was great!! It really could become another bedroom. For us, this house was ideal: master on the first floor, office for me, screened in porch, lovely backyard and upstairs for our guests, and another space for john’s office area

Fantastic. She was so patient helping me really understand neighborhoods and guiding me as so much had to be done remotely. Sasha also had to delicately manage 2 people expectations. John initially had his sights on getting an old home close to town so we could walk everywhere. While I thought I wanted to be farther out of the city.   We ended with a house that was the best location for us

This is a 2 part story. Sasha made it really easy to close on the Stillmeadow house. Her team was great. They guided me through all the VA paperwork, which is far different than that in NJ. And the resources at her disposable helped- the inspector, legal staff, and the closing process. etc.

We were so delighted with the quality of the services Sasha provided that we knew she would be the right person to help John’s mom when it was time to sell her home. Sasha has the energy, the drive and creativity to get the best for you- whether you are buying or selling.

All the paperwork, it seemed never ending

Getting that phone call that the offer was accepted.

One recommendation that I would like to pass on the home owner –regardless if it is your first or your 50^th home:   Once you know you are putting an offer in on the house & they accept it, write a personal note to the current owners. First tell them that you plan to keep the house filled with happy memories, and ask them if there are any quirky things you should be aware of.   You might never meet the current owners but the house is a bond between you