Frederick and Michelle spent years building a rural oasis in the heart of Pasadena’s Kinneloa Mesa neighborhood. It was Frederick’s family home, and when he moved back with his wife, Michelle, to care for his mother, they expanded the vegetable garden and fruit trees, and even added a vineyard of 300 vines to the property!

“I think I was enamored with the romanticism of the whole thing,” said Frederick. “And the town around us kept getting busier and more hectic.”

“Early in our relationship, Fritz and I—that’s my name for Frederick—took a trip up the Central Coast, and it was so beautiful,” Michelle reminisced. “All the vineyards, rolling fields… we bought some cheese and a bottle of wine and found a spot overlooking Morro Bay. It was beautiful.”

Frederick agreed, “So we decided to build our own private vineyard right here in Pasadena. We grew Cabernet, Merlot… lots of different grapes, actually.”

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“It was a lot of work, you know. It would get really, really hot just as it came time to harvest,” he recalled. “So I installed these lights that shined down on the vines.”

“And we picked grapes at night, when it was the coolest,” Michelle added with a laugh. “We bottled about 30 cases a year.”

“But as we got older and our kids moved away, the work became too hard for just the two of us,” Frederick continued.

“Two days later the fire broke out.“

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“And I planned to retire at the end of the year anyway, so we made a decision to put my family home up for sale and move to the calm, rural beauty of the Central Coast.”

“We already knew Eva’s name because she’s sold so many homes in our neighborhood,” said Michelle.

“And she sold our friend’s house in San Marino,” added Frederick. “So we put our house on the market with Eva, and two days later, the fire broke out.”

“Our son called, saying, ‘Eaton Canyon is on fire. You need to get out,’” Michelle recalled. “As we evacuated, I remember seeing flames approaching. It was horrific. We were lucky to find a room and spent a week living at the Pasadena Hilton—just Fritz, me, and four family dogs. We took our home off the market.”

“After a week, we went back to our property, which thankfully had been spared. We moved into our camper in the driveway, since power hadn’t been restored yet, and stayed put,” Michelle said.

“They shielded us from all the chaos.”

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“While we were living in the camper, people began to express interest in buying the house. And some buyers and agents would just walk up to the property like we weren’t even living there. It was annoying, but it also made me realize that we could still sell the house. So we reached out to Eva again, and she put our home back on the market,” Frederick recalled.

“It was a difficult time for a lot of people,” Michelle explained. “And sometimes, when people are desperate, they may lie or attempt to skirt the rules. But Eva did an incredible job running interference and keeping our privacy and sanity intact.”

“If we had an issue with, say, someone on the property who shouldn’t be, she would straighten it out immediately,” Frederick added.

“It wasn’t just running interference, though. Eva has a staff that takes care of everything from cleaning to painting… everything,” Michelle continued. “At our age, when you’re thinking about all those windows to clean… she has a whole team that handles that. And they are so incredibly professional. They shielded us from all the chaos after the fire and made what should have been an overwhelmingly stressful experience almost easy.”

“Eva is just so honest and straightforward,” Michelle emphasized. “She told us right up front how much we would get for the house, and that’s exactly what we got. No games, no false promises. She has ethics, which is so important because this was our retirement on the line. Her response was always, ‘I’ll take care of it,’ and she did, every single time.”

“We finally found where we truly belong.”

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“We’re so happy here on the Central Coast,” Frederick said, his face lighting up. “I love driving down our road and seeing green fields everywhere. There are places where people are raising sheep and goats… it’s what I remember Pasadena being like as a child.”

Michelle nodded enthusiastically. “Our new neighbors have been so friendly. They even bring us fresh eggs! And we’re surrounded by this incredible natural beauty. We finally found where we truly belong.”

Helping Frederick and Michelle protect their retirement, especially amid the chaos of a wildfire, was a responsibility my team and I took to heart. I’m so grateful we were able to deliver the outcome they’d hoped for. Please join me in wishing them all the best as they enjoy their well-earned retirement, surrounded by the agricultural community they’ve always cherished.