By the point Maria Francis started trying to find a house for herself and her husband, she was virtually resistant to the notion of problem. A decade of emotional churn and disaster administration had seen to that.
Ms. Francis as soon as assumed that the couple have been completely settled in Central Florida, the place her husband, Mike Francis, was the senior pastor at a Presbyterian church. However that was earlier than Memorial Day in 2015, when he had a coronary heart assault whereas biking alongside a rustic street. Mr. Francis endured a grueling rehabilitation, however the oxygen deprivation through the incident had left him with extreme amnesia — a continuing presence within the couple’s life ever since.
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“Every part modified. Every part,” mentioned Ms. Francis, 62. “Mike is ambulatory, and he can deal with himself in fundamental methods, however he’s not going to work once more.”
With the assistance of associates, household and the church group, Ms. Francis soldiered on in Florida for 5 extra years, appearing as a caregiver and dealing at an area school. In 2020, she determined to maneuver them throughout the nation to Berkeley, Calif., the place the couple had met and married within the Nineteen Eighties, to be close to one in every of their daughters and different relations.
Ms. Francis took a church administrative job in Berkeley and located a cheap dwelling area for the couple at a transformed convent in close by El Cerrito. In 2024, they moved right into a rental supplied by an aged couple within the church, however inside a 12 months, the house owners knowledgeable them that they have been going to promote the property.
That’s when Ms. Francis made what she referred to as a surprising discovery: An funding account, created by associates within the months after Mr. Francis’s coronary heart assault, had made enormous market positive aspects by means of the years. Along with some financial savings and an inheritance from Ms. Francis’s mom, they’d sufficient cash to purchase a house in Berkeley.
“I don’t even know all of the individuals who contributed to that fund,” Ms. Francis mentioned. “That’s why I name this a miracle. It was all due to their generosity.”
Elated, she resolved to make a one-time, “final home” transfer — for her sake, but additionally for her husband, 63, who doesn’t deal with such modifications effectively. She enlisted the assistance of her niece, Sophia Johnson, an agent with Intero Actual Property in Cupertino, Calif.
Ms. Johnson felt the accountability deeply. “My aunt is a outstanding individual — an expert at making lemonade out of lemons,” she mentioned. “No one deserved a win greater than they did.”
They started with a price range of about $1.6 million, with some wiggle room. Ms. Francis hoped for an simply accessible dwelling with a lot of gentle, close to their church if doable however walkable to outlets and eating places regardless. A way of group was a plus. Ms. Johnson warned her aunt to brace herself: Berkeley houses, already costly, have been usually underpriced in an effort to spark bidding wars.
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