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Soon, the Lemire family will leave
their house for one up the street. The reason? "We don't have
a basement in this house, and I don't want my sons at a party in
someone else's basement. I want them in our backyard, our basement."
Pursuit of security
That speaks to a second reason why people stay put: security. In
a world where folks increasingly distrust elected officials, Lemire
suggests they have to find something else to rely on. Enter hometowns.
"People have lost faith in their country or state and there's
a rising loyalty in the townships," he says. "I see it
within my own town. There's a lot of talk about how great it is
to live in Barrington, talk of 'our neighborhood is great.'"
Anthony Marguleas, a real estate broker with Amalfi
Estates in Los Angeles and a 13-year resident of the exclusive Pacific
Palisades community in California, thinks this distrust has heightened
since the cataclysmic events of Sept. 11. A house becomes a security
blanket, he says. "There's so much uneasiness in the world.
People want to feel the security of staying in the same community."
Secrets of a community
Another reason people plant themselves in a community is the schools.
If they're good, no one wants to leave, and if they're bad, it's
one of the biggest reasons people move, real estate experts concur.
"It takes a good few years of living anywhere
to know all the secret things about the community," says Marguleas,
"the special things, the farmer's markets, where the good places
are to take a walk, good hiking trails." Marguleas lived in
the Palisades for six months before discovering that the best one
was 50 yards behind his home.
In some communities, such contentedness can translate
into inflated prices and an inability to even find a house to move
to. That leaves word of mouth as the best way for folks to find
their next home.
"Two or three times in the last year, I've sold
houses that never went on the market," says Bill Golden, a
RE/MAX agent in Atlanta.
Inflated prices in Golden's neck of the woods and
also in Pacific Palisades and Huntington Woods, Mich., reflect that
they are neighborhoods where, once they settle in, people don't
want to leave. "Properties become more dear because people
aren't willing to let go of them," Golden says. Ultimately,
staying close to home even while moving up in real estate boils
down to quality of life.
"My children love to play in the brook behind
our house, and the local soccer fields, also behind the house, are
a wonderful destination by either foot or bike," says Fitzsimmons,
who now has four children, the oldest of whom is 9. Recently, Fitzsimmons
opened a knitting store in town with a friend.
"Our situation is very common," she says.
"Several of my friends have moved within Mendham. We couldn't
be happier."
Lynne Meredith Schreiber is a writer
in Southfield, Mich., who has owned two houses, a mile apart.
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