Move-In Day

Julia Martin Frazier

A native of Omaha, Nebraska, Julia has been a resident and lover of Baltimore and the Mid-Atlantic region for the better part of 25 years. After graduating from Oberlin College and Conservatory of Music with degrees in both Art History and Music Performance, Julia moved to Maryland to pursue a master’s degree in harp performance at the Peabody Institute of the Johns Hopkins University. Now a full time Realtor with Monument Sotheby’s International Realty, a wife and mother of 2 young boys and an Airedale named Ivy, Julia delights in all aspects of a life well lived.

Date

11.08.20

This is a very satisfying post to write. I love a project, and I’ve just wrapped up a BIG one, and a true labor of love. This is a follow-up post to my previous entry called “Keep it Moving“. Serendipity is a lovely thing, and if you keep yourself open to chance happenings, good things tend to come. Thankfully, one sunny Sunday morning, I stood on my sidewalk, open to meeting some new friends. What came next, NO ONE could have predicted.

So, that happened this week. Now let’s back up a moment. It was strange enough that these people were walking by and randomly asked if I knew a great Realtor in the neighborhood … but little did any of us know that a world pandemic would come crashing in, and change our relationships, our views of where and how we want to love, our business models, our comfort levels with taking huge leaps of faith, and so much more, completely.

MARCH, 2020. The news came, to all of us. There were my clients, in Florida, knowing they would never feel comfortable in their high rise building again. I got the call – “pack it up and sell it”. Ok then. Step one: know what you know, without knowing the next step. Step two: Act on that knowledge. Our trust had been established, and we stepped out onto the dance floor – Let the dance begin. Keep it Moving. The packers and movers came, and after a day or two, my friends were free of the home they left a few months back, not knowing then that they would never see that home again. Just like that. That’s how things are now.

I look back at that meeting on my sidewalk, just about a year ago, and smile at those people, who had no clue what a COVID world felt like, or even was. We are different people now. We are people who once looked forward to enjoying all the wonderful travel that retirement might afford – but now see that much of that is now impossible, maybe forever. We were people who didn’t guess that conducting business would mean learning how to use a steady-cam, and that virtual showings would be the way we assist people in their search for a home. We were people who would never have thought about the possibility of buying a home, without ever stepping foot in it, in person. We are people who would never have wanted to assume the responsibility and liability of completing such a transaction! But now, bravely, we have become – those people.

So with everything in storage, and the virus raging, we waited, as sometimes you just have to do, when the path is totally unclear. We danced a little more. We ventured out to find the next place to call home. What did it look like? Where would it be? Would it be a place holder? Would it be the place to stay for a while, to wait out the situation, reevaluate, and then eventually find something else? As we planned times to call each other over the internet, and met inside numerous different kinds of homes together with my steady cam, nothing felt quite right.

Until it did. They saw something online that looked really good – a gem of a house popped up – and it had strong allure. Secluded, beautiful grounds, practical in size and location – and they went for it. Offer submitted – offer accepted. Can we do this? Is it right for us? How does it smell? We’ve never bought a house without being in it! I was their eyes and ears and noses, and we all took the gamble.

Remember that part about learning to dance? How getting back into the swing of things, and fashioning a new normal will be a give and take – and none of us will know exactly how to stumble through it correctly? Well, it’s happening. And what I know is this – the relationship that blossomed after we met that fateful day on my sidewalk has truly been a dance – a back and forth of ideas, options, and learning to trust one another in a vulnerable and scary time. My clients and I have practiced our new COVID skills with each other, and I believe both sides are better for it.

First showing – virtual. Inspections – virtual. Settlement – virtual. Apparently, you can fall in love with a house remotely, and buy property safely and informed, from the comfort of your living room, from many miles away. Amazing. Here are some glimpses of the product of our efforts… and home for my clients and friends. I hope they like it.