We were in Melbourne, Australia, when we decided to make
an offer to the owner of this one-acre lot on Orchard Avenue in Wolfville, Nova Scotia. That was in mid-April
2011.
By then, we already had our sights on Wolfville as the next
destination on our journey together – a journey that started in a corporate boardroom
in Vancouver in 1995 and that, nine years later, took us to New
Zealand - initially to Arrowtown and, after a few years, to our current nest in Wellington.
I don’t recall when we settled on Wolfville as our next
destination. But that decision was followed by countless hours trolling through listings on mls.ca and Property Guys
looking at houses, none of which stirred us. We had renovated two nests
already, so knew that what-you-see doesn’t have to be what-you-get. But even
renovations have to live within the existing bones of a nest.
We were ready for a fresh start. For a nest where no nest
currently existed. I don’t know which of us came to the light bulb moment first
– why not build our own nest from scratch? – but it immediately energized us. No
more peeking through listing windows. Just show us the wide open spaces, thank
you very much.
And that’s what happened on Orchard Avenue. It began as a
Property Guys listing, followed by email exchanges with the owner; exchanges
that continued while we were on our Melbourne holiday. Then an offer, a
counter-offer and then an accepted offer. All by email.
Technology had taken us this far, but a real
journey was required to complete the deal. Actually, we could have closed the
deal long-distance, but for one tiny detail – neither of us had actually stood
on this land, had not walked it, nor gazed up from under the tree (actually two
intertwined trees) that dominated the posted images. That was a journey I needed
to take.
