This realtor just may have accomplished her most impressive and life-spanning goal yet.
Mikaela and I grew up together in Maine. We were two young, fun-loving dorks (still are, less young); see photo below for reference.
Boston Museum of Science photo booth, c. 1996.
Over the years, we’ve only grown closer. We visited each other at college, danced together at concerts, traveled 6 months through South America, been bridesmaids in our friends’ weddings, hiked through national parks and encountered bears, pampered ourselves in Hawaiian resort hotel rooms, and shared too many bottles of wine and hours of trash TV to count.
Problem was, we never lived in the same place. I uprooted from the East coast in 2008, drove cross country to Portland, and haven’t looked back. Mikaela has always lived for Big City Energy – first Brooklyn, then San Fran, and a very brief stint in Amsterdam. We visited each other as often as possible over the past 15 years, and it was always my grand plan to get all my Maine ladies out to Portland. I had succeeded with two so far, but Mik proved to be a more challenging convert.
Then 2020 happened. Life plans upended by COVID, Mikaela moved to Portland [tentatively] and into my house in April 2020. To be clear, this was for-the-time-being. But Portland – even during a pandemic – has its way of growing on you.
Slowly. It grew slowly. Mikaela toyed with putting down roots here, and made some offers on houses that received an ungodly amount of interest – 24 and 29 offers, respectively. But, as we realtors like to preach, things usually happen for a reason. As we turned the corner to summer 2021, life stuff started to fall into place, and Mikaela firmly dug in. A couple offers were made with more conviction, but alas – neither house was meant to be.
What WAS meant to be was the ABSOLUTELY MOST PERFECT CHARMER OF A BUNGALOW that happened to be…[honestly too good to be true]…four blocks from my house. We were stunned when we saw it hit the market. Bonus – it was listed by fellow Living Room agents Tracy Dau and Chris Speth. We revved up for what turned out to be one of the most intense down-to-the-last-minute, submit-your-absolute-highest-and-best-and-then-make-it-even-a-little-stronger, offer scenarios I’ve participated in.
Getting our offer accepted was truthfully biggest challenge – it didn’t really matter what happened after that. Of course, a 1909 bungalow will always come with its quirks and projects, but it had been well loved and cared for. Despite there being a very strong backup offer in place, the sellers were willing to work with us on a few age-related items, which sweetened the situation even more.
I could tear up thinking about how special it has been to have my best friend of 25+ years live with me during a very challenging time, but the waterworks really come on when I realize she is here to stay. Few transactions have felt as special as this one. I am overjoyed to officially welcome Mikaela to Portland (and to our beloved FoPo!) and congratulate her on independently purchasing her first home. Cheers to Mikaela, and cheers to many more hours of wine-sipping and TV-watching in her Living Room!
Two older fun-loving dorks, Portland OR, c. 2021.
