By Living Room Realty, June 11, 2018
Russell signed early the day before closing and after, in the title company parking lot, we chatted for a while. The gentlest of souls, Russell looked at me and simply said “I can feel it now–the house isn’t ours anymore”. He wasn’t referring to the signing of papers or the impending ownership transfer but to the actual sense that the home energy had shifted. His in laws, Jim and Lois had lived in the ranch house on Madras Ct since 2003 when I had the honor of of helping them relocate here from Denver. From there they watched their two grand-daughters grow, living out their lives surrounded by family until sadly, they both passed on in the last few years. In the time since Lois left us in 2017, Russell has nurtured the house along, making beautiful improvements to ensure that when the time came to market the property, the house would show in it’s very best light.
I first met Russell and Ann in 2001 when a great mutual friend referred them for help with “crossing the river” from Westmoreland to close-in SW. Five years (and a second daughter) later we moved them again, this time a little further west, closer to employment and to a home that better suited their evolving family life. In the years since, they have entrusted me with helping extended family, having worked with Russell in 2016 to navigate the sale of Uncle Phil’s Cedar Hills mid-century, a home that had been in the family for some 50+ years. When you help sell a home that’s been tethered to one clan for many decades, you carry a great responsibility for respecting this vessel of memories. Condition and dated fixtures matter not when people relinquishing a treasured place reflect on happy times spent there.
And now, as they pass on ownership of Madras Ct to a lovely young family, I feel that same sense of duty and gratitude. It is a soul warming experience to work with good people and the very best part of my job. Extraordinary humans like Russell and Ann are a blessed reminder of all that is good in this business (and frankly, in our crazy world). Here’s to them and a toast to the rich lives of sweet Lois and Jim.
