Matt Ostapowicz has spent nearly three decades fighting crime as a member of the Grand Rapids Police Department.
Now, he’s turning in his badge to enjoy a much-deserved retirement filled with his family and the great outdoors. Retiring as a captain, Matt has served in a number of roles with the department including overseeing the Special Operations Division and SWAT team along with serving as a lieutenant.
Serving in law enforcement was always his dream after growing up and watching his father and brother also serve on the Grand Rapids Police Department.
After his years of dedicated service, Matt is ready for some relaxation, and he has the perfect place to do it – his new outdoor getaway just outside of Lake City, Michigan.
Matt has known for years that, when he retired, he wanted a cabin up north to escape to. He looked for years to find the perfect paradise where he could both hunt and lay back, but nothing felt quite right until he found this renovated cabin on more than forty acres of land in August 2022.
“My sons Tyler and Braden have been hunting their whole life, it’s something we love to do together, so we wanted to have a place where we had our own piece of property to hunt on,” said Matt. “It was also important for it to be a place for my wife Amy to just hang out, not just a place for us to spend deer season. We found this place and it checked all of the boxes.”
The place has everything he was looking for including a pole barn and a garage.
A Familiar Face
When Matt made the decision to buy it, he worked with GreenStone to secure the funding he needed to make it his own. Little did he know that the help he would get from GreenStone was from a neighbor and former high school acquaintance living half a mile down the road – Financial Services Office Joel Norkus.
“I reached out to GreenStone and soon realized I was going to be working with someone I already knew from high school,” said Matt. “I thought that was pretty cool.”
That professional partnership soon turned into a friendship.
“It was kind of a funny initial call because I remembered the name from high school,” said Joel. “We didn’t know each other well back then, but we have certainly become friends over this process.”
Joel was thorough and used his resources to help Matt get this dream property.
“The cool thing was that he was very creative as far as figuring out the easiest way to secure the loan,” said Matt. “He was very responsive. I could text him a quick question and he always emailed over the options we have. He made it comfortable, as scary as it is buying another property.”
A Cabin Filled with Family Love
By October, Matt closed on the property and has spent several weekends there already.
“Since we bought it, I think we have been up there almost weekly. I spent a lot of time there during hunting season,” said Matt. “My sons have been up there this winter riding snowmobiles with their friends.”
In January, Matt’s family surprised him with a celebration at the cabin with all three of his children, including his daughter Calli who lives in Nashville, Tennessee.
“That was the first time we were all there together,” said Matt. “That was awesome to have my whole family up there.”
An Outdoor Paradise for Years to Come
And Matt is glad that his family enjoys this outdoor getaway because that was always the goal – to keep this property in the family.
“His big plan was to have a getaway place with lots of land where his family could hang for generations, and I was happy to help him do that,” said Joel.
That’s why Joel loves being a part of the GreenStone team – because many of his customers aren’t looking for a temporary place to hang their hat, but rather a long-term family heirloom.
“I’ve been in the business for 25 years, and before I got to GreenStone, it was always about buying a house that people would be in for a few years. GreenStone clientele is noticeably different where they are trying to buy an asset that hopefully stays in the family for a long time, if not forever. Knowing I can help someone do that is extremely rewarding,” Joel reflected.
And there’s not many people more rewarding than someone like Matt and his family. As far as the future, he hopes to spend even more time up north, now that he’s officially retired, and he has some other ideas in mind that could help his bottom line.
“I’m just happy it’s a place we can spend a long weekend. My wife can even work remotely there, so we like to go up on a Thursday and come home on Sunday or Monday,” said Matt. “I’m considering taking some timber from the land, and hopefully improving the habitat a little for hunting, too.”
Matt knows that if he ever decides to expand his retirement getaway, his friend Joel at GreenStone will be there to help him every step of the way.
“There are a lot of benefits of my job, but helping the members will always be my favorite part of this gig,” said Joel.
To view the article in the online 2023 Spring Partners Magazine, click here.
