I have moved to Littleton, MA

It’s 6:18PM on January 25 and I’m working on this post while on a plane to Germany. 

My heart’s a little heavy. 

I had wanted to publish this on the first week of January as I’ve usually published something happy to start the year, but I canned that as my mother-in-law had a brain hemorrhage in December. 

December… December, my best month ever in real estate. I had over $3 million in closings; a good end to the year. December was supposed to be the month that I tell her about it and celebrate over Christmas in Germany. December was to be when my husband and I gift her and my father-in-law business class plane tickets to visit us this summer, but now December is just a vulgar word. December rocked my world in a bad way. December left a gash in my heart that is still mending. December was what caused me to board this last-minute plane in the middle of the week to be with my father-in-law because December broke him too.

So you see, it has taken me a while to scrap myself together for this post.

But I do have this update to share. 🙂

Now a Real Estate Agent in Littleton, MA

Goodbye, Boxborough.

Yes, I’m officially part of the bought-a-house-during-Covid cohort. 

My husband and I found ourselves a waterfront home in Littleton that we liked and moved here in late August 2021.

When I tell people that I live in Littleton, five out of ten times they’d go “Oooooo! Middleton!”.

I got less confusion than I did when I lived in Boxborough, but still, I sometimes wonder if my accent is that difficult to understand.

No man, Littleton! Not Middleton. I used to live in Boxborough and as I’m not that adventurous, I bought in the next town, okay?!

Big move. It was 12 mins away.

It was so close that we decided that we didn’t even need movers- we’d just do multiple trips with our cars. Multiple, multiple trips. 

Hindsight 20/20: should have just used movers instead. 

Buying a house and representing myself is the ultimate litmus test of my being a real estate agent. 

Do I truly know the market? Can I negotiate well? Can I tell my husband to calm the heck down and stop rushing me to make an offer because the house has been overpriced and we should just wait until the price drop? Do I know when to strike and waive all contingencies or hold and waive nothing?

Happy to announce that I passed that test with flying colors.

Yeah I did. Swimmingly. 

Nothing more affirming about that than buying at $100,000 below the original listing price, having a home inspection in place and having the previous sellers repair some items that came out of the inspection for us.

All unheard of terms in this crazy Covid market, so P.S., if you’re looking for an Agent to help you with your home search, please give me a call. 

Did we get our dream home, you ask?

No we didn’t.

A dream home to me meant that we got it at a price that was a sweet deal, that the interior was exactly as we wanted, and the size, features and location meant that we could live there happily ever after.

No such thing in this market, and definitely no sweet deals, guys. It’s all about the compromise.

I’ll be honest, I think we got it at $30,000 above what I think it’s worth. But I’d gone ahead to place the offer anyway because my husband and I were up to our breaking point living in a tiny rental apartment that was without any sunlight and a neighbor across the hallway that regarded us as 2nd class people just because we were renters (shame on you sir!). “Anywhere with a nice waterfront” was our only criteria to justify a worthy move.

Our house is small. We got a 2 bedroom that we know won’t last us for long once we have a kid with tiny legs.

Our house needs work. Quite a bit, actually. Comment if you’d like me to do a post about the renovation, because I’ve got some tips to share.

But you know what, I’m a firm believer that happiness need not be rooted in material things. I have learnt from traveling to some of the poorest countries – and actually being born of a lower-middle income household myself – that happiness can be found in the ordinary if only I open my heart to seek. 

I found happiness in the freedom to play loud music late into the night and not worry that I’m bothering a neighbor. 

I found it in the simple fact that because I now have a place to call my own, I allow myself to buy furniture that I like instead of temporal ones that I would eventually throw.

I now have sunlight and could keep plants.

I found contentment floating on the water with my husband, our day seemingly transformed into a vacation.

My neighbors, by some godsend fortune, are some of the kindest and warmest people whom we’ve met and we settled into our neighborhood in no time. 

All in all, I’m very thankful to be here in Littleton, right on Spectacle Pond. ❤️