The Journey Begins

Not all journeys begin with a step...  Ours began with an invitation to listen to a Bell Choir and to attend a Tour of Homes.  This was in 2014 when Judith invited Susan and I to Madison United Methodist Church during the Christmas season to listen to the Bell Choir perform.  Travis Wilson, the pastor of the church gave a telling of the church's history, which dated back to the original congregation that built the main sanctuary in 1838.  The sanctuary was later moved via log rolling to its current location on Church Street in downtown Madison (what we would later learn is referred to as Madison Station).

Following the Bell Choir, church history and a tour of many of the homes in the historic district, we were able to meet with Pastor Wilson at the home of George and Judith and had a great conversation about churches, communities, and theology.  We decided to maybe attend the church on the following day which was a Sunday.

We continued to attend for several weeks, then one night Judith messaged Susan that a home was for sale on Church Street!  Soon, we were able to take a tour of the home with the listing agent, Bill Stewart with Century 21.  Bill gave us a great tour of the home and was able to share with us a little of the history.

It was during this time when we met Loree and Donnie Spencer at church.  Donnie grew up on Church Street and his father still lives in the family home built in the early 1900's.  We talked with them and after seeing the home on Church Street decided to talk with them more about the potential of selling our home and purchasing the home on Church Street.

I will fast forward through a long period of time where it seems we rode an emotional roller coaster of hope and frustration.  We listed our Bridge Arbor home in May of 2015, it would take until August of 2016 to get an offer that would eventually be negotiated to a contract and final sale.

The Church Street home had similarly sat on the market for a lengthy time.  At one point, it had even been removed from the market, but was placed back on the market again after a few months.  It was a comment.  In early August we had even walked into church one Sunday after discussing during the drive to church what we should do given the lack of movement.  We made a decision that we would just take our home off the market, do some renovations we had considered and be content.

By the time we left the church that day, we had planned another open house and resolved to give it one more push to sale.  This wasn't because of some change in our minds, but a well timed discussion with Ms. Pat, an heir to Nancy Thornton, the owner of the Church Street property.  I am not sure it was ordained by God, but I will say that the timing of Ms. Pat's comments could not have been more impeccable in encouraging us.  A quick discussion with Loree, it is an advantage when you see your realtor every Sunday and consider her a friend, and we planned an open house for a few weeks off and moved forward.

On they day of the open house, Susan and I attended Church and then spent the afternoon going through a home & garden show downtown.  We spoke with several contractors there about new countertops as that was one area that had drawn some comments and was a also something we had resolved that even if we did not sale the home, we would change.  We came home armed with some ball park numbers and leads for getting the work done.

That would prove to be unnecessary.  Talking with Loree, a couple had stopped in for the open house and were very interested.  We arrived home and discussed briefly with Loree the results of our effort and she talked about the couple.  She left and we went to pick up our pups that were being boarded during the open house.  Just when we returned home from picking up the hounds, we got a call that a realtor wanted to show the house.  Sure, no problem...what else were we to say.  So, at the appointed time, we loaded the hounds and I drove around while Susan did some shopping.

Showings typically didn't last too long.  This one would prove to be different.  We would all drive around then arrive back in the neighborhood and park down in a common area and wait for the agent and her clients to leave.  That would prove to be much longer than we anticipated.  Finally, they left. We were free to return to our home at last.  Little did we know that the couple was the same that had spoken with Loree and were writing an offer on our home while they were looking!  We got the great news that night.

Back and forth we would go to settle the details on the Bridge Arbor offer until finally having a final contract!  Then to putting together our offer on the Church Street house.  Finally, the offer was in Loree's hands and she would present to Bill.  Stressful?  Not really.  It seems it should have been, but this just didn't hit us that way, or at least not me.  Some more negotiation on details, and we had a final contract!!

There would next be a period that every home buyer just can't control their enthusiasm during -- the loan/underwriting process.  While this process is always somewhat painful, we discovered a true gem in Huntsville when we first moved back here in 2008.  Scott Pride with CB&S bank has become our go-to-guy for home mortgages.  We financed and refinanced our Bridge Arbor home with Scott and now the Church Street home.  Through all three transactions with Scott, he has never provided us with information that was not accurate and when he gives us a timeline, it has invariably been an accurate assessment.  There have been a number of times when I have emailed Scott about a topic and the replies are always quick.  One thing with CB&S, all of our mortgages have been sold which is something we were clearly told would happen.  Ultimately, it is a non-issue.  Most if not all mortgages today go through different hands.  I would prefer that we have a personal relationship with the guy taking us through the purchase rather than being concerned about who we will be mailing payments to later.

A few more adventures during the closing of both homes, but maybe more on that later.  We closed on our Bridge Arbor sale in late September and then just a week later we were able to close on Church Street -- what I will refer to in the future as Ms. Hessie's (more on that in the future too).

Let the adventure begin

Thanks to:

Loree Spencer

Scott Pride

Bill Stewart