In this detailed first-person article about the desire to make one’s home into a cocoon, the author (my client) describes her own trials and tribulations while house hunting in the Bay Area. Veteran journalist Patricia Leigh Brown’s story highlights the unusual technique we used to help her land her dream home:
In desperation, we decided to write love letters to houses. Walking around the neighborhood with our son on his bicycle, we dropped love letters surreptitiously at the foot of driveways of houses we admired. ‘Dear Person With the Charming Dutch Colonial,’ they read, or, ‘Dear Neighbor With the Flawlessly Restored Victorian.’
Much to our amazement, the ploy, supplemented by a blitzkrieg of letters from our realtor, Mavis Delacroix, eventually worked. Miraculously, a Deep Throat — now our neighbor, Peggy — anonymously phoned Mavis to say that her neighbors were moving and that theirs sounded like the perfect house. It’s a brown shingle in a bastardized Prairie Style, situated between two redwood trees. Feathery light filters through the branches and into the living room. On an urban street, it feels as if we’re living in a forest.
Over the years, I have seen repeatedly how taking extra steps, making diligent efforts, and speaking from the heart can yield extraordinary results for my clients.