After I wrote my first post on how I came to buy my home, some of my neighbors began sharing their experiences with me. I soon realized there is a good story behind almost all of our purchases. From time to time, I plan to share their stories with you. Here are the first two.

First, we have Art and Lynn, the couple I wrote about in an earlier post. Lynn remembers their many, many trips out here, dating back to the very early days of Maples at the Sonatas. When they first visited, our clubhouse had not been built. As a matter of fact, Jon’s sales office was in a trailer located on the exact spot where their new home stands today.

Lynn said, “We sat in the Canterbury and Abbey models for hours. I dreamed about my Canterbury, but Art wasn’t ready to live this lifestyle yet. It took us three years before we made our deposit. We made many trips to go through the models before it happened for us, but now we are moving in in a few short weeks.”

There was one more step on Art and Lynn’s journey—selling their current home. During that time, they leased their Canterbury back to Wilcox Communities for use as a model.

Though they weren’t here yet, they planted flowers in the spring and put up a Christmas tree for the holidays. They have been as active in our community as anyone who lives here.

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 Ollie also waited a long time—in fact, much longer—to move to her new Canterbury. About 10 years ago, before Maples at the Sonatas even existed, she visited the other Epcon community in Woodstock. She looked through all of the models, but she fell in love with the Canterbury, especially with its openness and its sunroom. She was ready to buy on the spot.

So she took her husband to see the Canterbury. While he liked it, he wasn’t at all ready to move. He didn’t want to leave their large, longtime home out in the country. She loved him, and that house too, so she was not unhappy staying there.

Here’s how Ollie continued the story. “But when my husband died several years later, I was left with 6+ acres, the house, the pastures, the lawn to mow, and the snow to plow. It was too much for me. I had to move.”

With sons in Wisconsin and the Quad Cities, and relatives in Florida, Ollie briefly considered leaving the area. But only briefly. Once she decided to stay here, she knew exactly where she wanted to live.

“I came here to the Maples and met with Jon,” she said. “I told him I wanted to buy a Canterbury. He asked if I didn’t want to look at others models too, and I said, sure, you can show them to me, and then you can sell me a Canterbury.”

And it wasn’t just any Canterbury that Ollie wanted to buy. She really wanted the one being used as the model. But it was already owned and not for sale. So she chose a location and had a new one built. “And I made this one darned near a twin to the other one,” she said.

While most of us spent months, if not years, deciding to move here, Ollie almost certainly holds the record for least time spent mulling things over. Has she ever regretted her haste? “Oh, Lord, no,” she said. “I’ve not regretted it for a moment. I’ve had no second thoughts. I truly love everything about my home.”