I just got back from a baby shower for Ashley where all of her guests( especially her mother) were praising me for helping Ashley and her husband find such a great home. As she toured people through the home she talked about all the plans they had – the best part of course was the baby’s room. At that moment I realized I was the one who should be thanking Ashley for letting me be a part of this great experience of truly finding a home to put down roots. Ashley and I met about 6-7 years ago when as a single girl she was buying a custom built home in South Decatur- it was a long and grueling process and one that I didn’t get to finish with her as the listing was taken over by an old business partner of mine- so we didn’t get to celebrate her first purchase but I did stay in touch with her over the years with emails and mailers about the market and such. Well when her and her husband were ready to sell her beautiful home and move to an area with better schools since they would be starting a family she called me! I was so happy to hear from her and couldn’t wait to work with her again and this new husband of hers! The bad part was I had to deliver the news that the home she had spent so much money to custom build had lost a lot in value due to the downturn in the market over the last few years. They weren’t happy with the news but really felt a comfort in the fact that they could see the logical statistics of the market and understand what to expect for the market. Plus they had been receiving all my emails and mailers so they weren’t totally surprised! They did exactly what was asked of them and we listed their home to get 2 offers right away- neither worked but they hung in there and one of the buyers that initially made an offer on their home came back and we were able to work out a deal.
That transaction proceeded to be very bumpy to say the least- but we communicated every step of the way and kept our calm and got to the closing table. During all of this they were looking at new homes – found the perfect one- to end up in a highest and best offer scenario and lost the home- dreams crushed and realizing they had no place to live in a few short weeks! But even worse realizing that starting a family might have to be pushed back with these new developments. We ended up getting them into a great rental home just north of Decatur so they could take a break and get re-focused. Over the next year we kept in touch and looked a few homes here and there. Then one day I received a text from Ashley- it had a picture of their new unborn baby- I screamed OMG in my office and everyone thought I was hurt or something. Nope just so excited to see that my friend Ashley was on a new journey to motherhood. The next text was please find me a home! My reply I am so happy for you and I will not let your new baby down!
So we looked at a home in Decatur and lost it within 3 days- this year has been the year for multiple offers in less than 2 weeks on the market- so they got very stressed and decided to wait until Ashley was further along in the pregnancy to handle the ups and downs of buying a home in 2012. We went back out looking in August and found the perfect home, made an offer, started negotiating and another offer came in so we were in another crazy spot. I asked lots of questions of the listing agent trying to understand what terms would be best for the seller- once I felt I knew all I could, we put in their best offer and ended up under contract!!!! We closed quickly without any bumps in the road and now the nursery is started and Baby H is due in December! I left that baby shower feeling like a proud mama- I had just had the privledge to be a part of helping a couple make a home for themselves and for their family- to enjoy baby showers, births, new job successes, dinner parties, birthday parties, first steps, sleepless nights and so many other events. How lucky am I to be able to have a job that allows me to be such a special part of people’s lives. WOW- very lucky!