When I first knew I loved houses

I was five years old when my parents bought their house in suburban Austin, TX. We had moved from Dallas to Austin for my dad to attend the University of Texas @ Austin. We rented a house over the spring through the summer of '72. It must have been June or July when we started looking at the new construction house my parents ended up buying. I recall being so excited looking at all the houses, but I remember especially liking 2407 Sheri Oak Ln. We moved into our new home Labor Day weekend, 1972. To my five year old eyes it seemed so big and "rich" (the house is just over 1500SF). I loved the celery green shag carpeting, the large print bright yellow and green floral pattern wallpaper in the dining room, the big paisley pattern wallpaper in orange, gold and avacado green in my bathroom and the large corner stone fireplace in the livingroom. Thirty-three years later my mom still lives there (my dad moved after their divorce in the early 80s). The carpeting is gone and all the wallpaper, except the paisley, is gone too. My parents tell me they never dreamed that either of them would be there so many years later. Today, my mom can't imagine living anywhere else. The house has changed a lot over the years, but I remember it clearly the way it looked and smelled in the summer of 1972.

Through the 70s and part of the 80s our nieghborhood was surrounded by pasture and wood lands. Over the years new development after another changed the feel of our isolated streets. Today I wish it had developed differently, but as a kid I loved the sight of a bulldozer clearing land for new streets and houses. I loved the opportunity to look at the new homes and dream of living in one nicer than ours. I still remember prefectly the floorplans of my friends' houses and to a lesser degree, the "dream houses" my parents considered buying in the early 80s.

It took me a long time to figure out that I had a passion for houses. Today, I love showing houses and get great satisfaction in helping my clients buy and sell real estate, whether it's an investment or their's or their kid's dream home.