“Wow!” I exclaimed. She beamed back at me proudly. “Beautiful isn’t it?”

I nodded and looked up at the glass-encased, multi-story home. Sheryl explained, “The lot’s about 2900 square feet but the living space of the house is now around 3700 square feet. We added two bedrooms and two baths to the original plan, and opened it up to make it an open-space home. I’d always thought Chris had been excited about the plans.”

She added, “The contractor did a great job, and it’s widely considered the most beautiful home in the Venice Canal area, just about.”

We both walked into the house slowly as Sheryl continued to point out other details of what was, basically, a new construction home. I noted the sliders that had been cleverly designed at strategic points, that, when opened, helped to create a nice indoor/outdoor flow from the firepit area in the patio to the luxurious living space.

“I love that 3^rd floor skylight up there,” I said as we paused by the stairs and looked up. Sunlight was pouring through, bathing all the walkways and stairs. “The UV rays are filtered out by special filters,” Sheryl explained. “If you’d like to take the stairs up to the third level you’re welcome to do so.”

“I’m taking the elevator,” she added.

“There’s an elevator?!” I exclaimed. She smiled back at me. “Helps with moving stuff and people. I thought it would be a good addition, especially if a family with older folk, like me, buys the place or visits with the family who’ll be buying this place.”

Later, as we gazed out into the canal from the wall to wall windows in the master suite, I turned to Sheryl and asked, “So who’s buying the place?”

“The lady who’d been renting it this whole time, actually,” Sheryl answered, with another smile.

“She was the second person who rented the house, back when it had been a plain old 3 bedroom house,” Sheryl said, and then took a seat in the corner of the king-sized bed.

“She never moved out, and continued to pay her rent even through the re-construction, moving her stuff from one finished section to the next, serving as another set of eyes all throughout. You could say she grew to be fully invested in the outcome of the remodeling, so she’s probably the only one, aside from the contractor, who paid attention to all the various details of the work that went into the place. Knows this house inside and out.”