A new home, a new lifestyle at Brooksby Village

In early 2020, Nancy Marlowe knew change was on the horizon. “I decided I couldn't do the house anymore,” says Nancy, of her house in Ipswich, Mass., “I tried to keep up with it as best I could, but it was starting to show some age and costing me a lot of money.”

Still, Nancy thought long and hard about the possibility of leaving her family home. “My husband and I bought the property 40 years ago,” she says. “At first, we lived in a cottage, but then our family got bigger and the cottage got smaller. That's when we built the eight room, two-story house overlooking the ocean. I agonized over the decision to sell it, because we had so many memories there.”

Then, Nancy had a dream about her late husband. “In my dream, my husband told me, ‘You know, Nancy, you can pack your memories. They're portable,'” she says. “That gave me courage to move ahead.”

Forging ahead

Nancy made an appointment with Jane Kiegel, sales counselor at Brooksby Village, an Erickson Living managed community in Peabody, Mass., where three of Nancy's high school classmates already lived.

“I knew they were all happy at Brooksby, so I met with Jane and joined the priority list in January 2020,” says Nancy. Priority list members put down a fully refundable $1,000 deposit to reserve their place in the line for the apartment home of their choice. Priority list members enjoy exclusive invitations to special events, advance notice of new construction and sales promotions, as well as realty and moving assistance from Brooksby's Personal Moving Consultant Laurie Phillips.

“Laurie visited me in my Ipswich house twice,” says Nancy. “The first visit was a ‘get to know you' visit. Then she came again, after I reserved my apartment, to help me choose which items would work best in my new apartment. She brought a magnetic board and movable, to-scale furniture pieces. We played around with different furniture placements in the new apartment until we found just the right layout. Laurie was magic.”

Realty and moving assistance

As a personal moving consultant, Phillips also offers complimentary coordination of moving resources, including referrals to trusted real estate agents, senior move managers, and moving companies, all with experience helping people move to Brooksby.

“The best advice I can give is ‘start early, end happy,” says Phillips. “When I meet with clients, we talk about the timeline of their move to Brooksby and what the next steps will be. I tell them to think of me as their liaison between living in their current house and making the move to Brooksby.”

Nancy reserved a two-bedroom, two-bath Kingston-style apartment at Brooksby Village in March 2020 and prepared to list her home with Sonia Johnson, one of Brooksby's preferred real estate agents.

“I signed the contract to list my house with Sonia on March 16, 2020, and Massachusetts went under COVID-19 alerts one day later,” says Nancy. “I thought to myself, ‘What terrible timing. I'm never going to sell this house now.'”

Nancy's fears, while reasonable, proved unfounded, as limited housing inventory and low interest rates propelled the strong real estate market through the pandemic.

“The first person who walked through my house bought it,” says Nancy. “Sonia was wonderful. She set up all the appointments for inspections and did everything that needed to be done. It was like the sales team at Brooksby. They do as much for you as you need them to do.”

Making a new home her own

With her Ipswich house under contract, Nancy made an appointment with Brooksby's Custom Interiors department to personalize the interior of her new apartment.

“I learned all the things I could do, including new paint colors, new cabinets, new appliances, and new flooring,” says Nancy. “I chose two of the paint colors I had in my Ipswich home and one new paint color to bridge the old and the new. I picked hardwood floors for the living area. I've got to tell you, it looks lovely.”

 Nancy moved into her new apartment in September 2020 and didn't waste any time finding her way around the community.

“I can't tell you how wonderful it is to have all the buildings connected by the climate-controlled walkways, especially in the winter,” says Nancy. “They allow me to get to the fitness center without going out in the weather. I also appreciate the beautiful view from my patio. It's fabulous here.”

Written by Sara Martin

The first step to enjoying maintenance-free retirement living at Brooksby Village is to request a brochure.