b'A Couple Follows Their Heart to MaplewoodWorking with Jennifer McManusN G HBY ELLEN DONKER D I ON MIF ER ebeccaShapiroandZachfer in a multiple bid situation that was accepted Duganknewtheywouldthe following Tuesday. end up in SOMA. As newly- It was a sprint to try to then get everything weds in Hoboken, they wereready, says Dugan. Because mindset-wise, it forced to move when theirwas like, Okay, now were hunkering down for landlord put their buildingbaby. And instead, it was, Okay, lets figure upforsale.Thiswastheirout not only moving but then putting our old chance to go to a place their friends had enthu- house on the market. siastically recommended.McManus immediately went to work get-WiththeirsightsonMaplewood,theyting the house ready to show. I think she spent enlisted the help of Coldwell Banker real es- three hours with us doing a full walkthrough of tateagentJenniferMcManus.Theyfoundthe first home, says Shapiro, making a list of her through theinternal referral networks ofeverything we would need to do: furniture we Google, where Shapiro works. She says, Weneed to move, paint we need to fix, all of the were first-time home buyers and knew less thanthings we need to zhuzh. nothing about the whole process. When it was time to stage the home, Sha-L to R: Rebecca Shapiro with baby Emma, Zach Dugan, The couple started searching during the win- Jen McManus and Austin, the family dog, during a recentpiro says, Jen showed up with literally a car ter of 2021 and found the market in SOMA ex- snow storm. of pillows and rugs and dcor and all of these tremely competitive with record bidding wars.things to help with the beautification process, so We actually decided to pivot a little with herthey began touring homes again with McManusthat we didnt have to worry about that.guidance and open our searching radius a little bithelp. Shapiro was pregnant and now says, WeThe result of the preparation was that 45 groups to West Orange, says Shapiro. The couple closedhad to make a decision on whether or not we wereof people came through in three to four days. They on a Cape Cod there in January 2022, acceptinggoing to move before the baby came. received seven offers.that a move to SOMA would come further downJen was amazing, says Shapiro, sending usThe couple have been in their home for a year the road. A bonus was that Shapiros grandfatherlistings that fit our new list of criteria, bringing usnow and have added a baby girl to their family. They lived five minutes away, enabling them to spendto showings, bringing us off-market deals that shelove being in a 95-year-old home that was move-in more time with him before he passed. thought could be really good options for usbutready with original features such as a curved stair-Shapiro and Dugan stayed in their Cape for al- nothing felt super right. case, beautiful archways and dentil moldings. most three years, putting in hours of sweat equityThey decided to stay put and started makingLiving in Maplewood has given them ready ac-to make the house their own. Shapiro loves archi- updates and designing a nursery in their home.cess to the towns vibrant community. Were also tecture and design and enjoyed putting her touchThe weekend the contractors were finishing, Mc- both very into the arts, and so that was important on the dcor. Manus texted them that although it was past theirfor us, the diversity across the board, financially, Therewasalwaysstillthisheartpulltodeadline, she found a house on Collinwood Roadculturally,religiouslyandmakingsurewere SOMA, says Shapiro. We knew our whole planSouth in Maplewood that she thought would beraising our daughter in a well-rounded environ-was well stay in West Orange for a few years, andperfect for them.ment,saysShapiro.Allofthosereasonswere then eventually well move. Shapiro says, We walked through, and I re- why in the back of our minds we were always go-Shapiro continued to watch the market. Whenmember [Zach] looking at me afterwards, and heing to end up there. It happened sooner than we she and Dugan saw that it was starting to shiftwas like, I really wanted to not like it, but I lovedthought. withhigherinterestratesandlesscompetition,it.McManus helped them craft a winning of-finding home /29'