New Martha’s Vineyard Home Owners: Part 1

One of the gratifying aspects of being in real estate on the Vineyard is watching new home owners plunge into island life. Often focused on making changes to their new property, they need recommendations for builders, landscapers, or painters, and have an excited energy in making the property “theirs”.

It’s amazing how homes are transformed, sometimes literally with serious and complicated renovations but often more subtly with different paint colors, fixtures and furnishings. In either case there is great enthusiasm that is fueled by the owners and their joy. They are smiling and laughing about their discoveries- that the fireplace simply needed the bricks to be painted or the darkly colored walls needed to be lightened so the wood beams could stand out.

They’ll also add what they’ve learned about the professionals who helped them. How they know that the gentleman who designed their water filtration system composed symphonies, or that their builder spent ten years on an ashram in Pondicherry India, or that their arborist went back to school later in life and earned a degree in landscape architecture at Harvard.

These connections mean a lot. To be on this island without knowing many people can be daunting, especially if there are tasks and work to be done. There’s a feeling of comfort knowing that there are good people to turn to and that, generally, people like to be helpful. Maybe it’s an island thing…