Finding (and Losing) the Captain Martin House: A Labor of Love Cut Short. A story of the purchase of the Martin House on Chappaquiddick Island.
In real estate, every sale, or “closing,” tells a story, and each closing has a beginning and an end.
The names for the participants might be conventional: buyer and seller, grantor and grantee. Or they might be different. Alive and Dead. Starter and Finisher. Prepared and Unprepared. Lucky and Unlucky. Sane and Kind of Crazy. In this story, I was a buyer and seller and many other terms above. I was a starter, and I thought I was prepared and lucky. Mostly I was sane.
But, in the end, I was unprepared, unlucky and definitely kind of crazy. How crazy? Real Estate Crazy. Crazy for a house. A house with a past; a house whose restoration offered a chance to connect with Martha’s Vineyard’s history and community.
It can happen.
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This I Believe Rhode Island (Radio Commentary): Caution
Most of us find that our perspectives change as we age. What was once a relatively trivial concern in our lives may begin to take on great meaning, or we may begin to relax about issues that once caused us great consternation and angst. Tom Doyle reflects on this very shift in his own life, and on its implications.
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The Long and Winding Road
Most foreign visitors come to Phuket, Thailand to escape from the world for a while by sitting on the beach and sipping pina coladas as the sun goes down. But once a year in July, a group arrives with a different idea of a tropical vacation.
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