Anne Martin with Sadie and Nino. She liked the small rental house in the Lakewood district so much that when the owner decided to sell, she bought it herself. | Photo by J. Adrian Wylie
The third time’s the charm? Anne Martin’s home-buying charm was the fourth.
After buying high and selling low on three homes over the years, Martin was resigned to renting. She had her eye on a two-bedroom Cape Cod with a basement, a fenced backyard for her dogs—Sadie is a pit bull mix, and Nino is a French Bulldog—and an upstairs level for a play space for her grandchildren. Then, while she was vacationing in Costa Rica, the home’s owner decided to sell.
Martin immediately made an offer. She credits “divine order” for getting her home at the end of a cul-de-sac in a neighborhood with dirt roads, towering trees, and a walking path around Dolph Park’s lakes. “I have the best of both worlds,” she says. “It feels like I’m in the country, but I’m close to downtown and the Old West Side.”
Her daughter and young grandchildren live within walking distance. Her son and older grandchildren are in Ypsi. One grandson walks her dogs three times a week.
She estimates the improvements she’s added over the last ten years—royal blue siding, a bright orange door, new windows, pool, and deck—have increased her home’s value by $70,000.
She loves her kind, generous, and reliable neighbors, especially the retired couple across the street who have been there for more than forty years. “They know I work long hours and frequently take my trash cans out for me and put them back. They lend me their power tools and equipment and cut my lawn with their riding mower when I can’t. I find bags of fresh fruit and other treats from them at my door.”
Heaven has its flaws. Her neighborhood has little traffic but endures the hum of cars from nearby Jackson Rd. The dirt roads make it hard to keep cars clean, but Martin has heard that paved roads would generate more stormwater runoff and higher bills. And the neighborhood was ground zero for Gelman Science’s 1,4-dioxane plume, which contaminated residents’ wells. Though annexation into Ann Arbor in 1986 brought the boon of city water, residents with long memories still use filters.
None of this lessens Martin’s resolve to stay in the home and neighborhood she adores. Pointing out all the qualities that render it ideal as she ages, she says,“This is my retirement home.”
