Centers And Squares
Welcome to Centers and Squares
As a Cambridge real estate agent, the city squares of Cambridge, Somerville and Medford and the town centers of Arlington, Watertown and Belmont, Massachusetts are my home turf. And as a lifelong New Englander who’s lived within twenty miles of Boston most of my life, I can introduce you to other nearby towns as we search for your new home. If you’re planning to sell your home in Cambridge, MA or nearby you’ll find plenty of info about the home selling process here too. Questions? Send me an email or call me at 617-504-1737.
Houses Have Stories To Tell
Sometimes I look out the window of my old house and think about who stood here, looking out, decades ago.
Recently I made a point to vist an open house for brokers in Arlington Heights. The house was a beautiful Greek Revival, one of my favorite architectural styles, and I looked forward to seeing it.
I wasn’t disappointed. The house was filled with well preserved architectural details and a real treat to see. On the dining room table the agent had put out a number of pieces about the house’s history to share with buyers.
My favorite by far was a packet of letters that the homeowner had received from a member of the family that moved into the house more than a century ago. The letters were rich in detail about how the house looked decades ago and filled with stories about the author’s memories of her family and life over the years in the house.
The letters were mesmerizing – filled with tidbits that evoked the sights, sounds and smells of the early 1900s. I brought my mother a copy, knowing she would enjoy them as much as I did. “We’ve got to buy this house!” she exclaimed. “Let’s sell this one and move.”
That was not to be – the house sold that weekend to a someone more prepared than we were. But it was an example of how powerful sharing the stories of your house can be when it’s time to sell and pass the house on to new owners.
I love old houses and confess to sometimes feeling like an adopted member of the families that have lived in them before me. When it was time to sell my first house, a sweet little house circa 1865, I wrote a piece about what I had learned about the family that had owned it before me – just one family since it was new. My packet for buyers included vintage photos of the house that dated from the 1880s through the 1930s. It was important, I thought, to pass on that history, so the stories could be preserved for new owners. Several years later, when the house again exchanged hands, the vignette about the house was handed over to the next owners once again.
Chances are your house has stories to tell too. Whether you’re fortunate enough to have a former owner share memories with you, or you do the fun work of discovery through your own house history research, the stories your house has to tell can make you feel more connected to your old house.
When it’s time to move, make sure you pass on your house’s stories. You’ll be preserving history and may just hook a buyer at the same time.
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