By Carolyn Crist
For the AJC
One month after they got married in October 2013, Jaime and Reid Wolfe decided to invest in a home. They searched in Smyrna several months before their wedding, for fun, but waited until after the honeymoon to make an offer. Following two offers that didn’t stick, the couple found an ideal floor plan in the neighborhood behind their townhome.
Jaime, 30, regional learning and development manager for Cogent, and Reid, 30, director of sales for Cbeyond, chatted about their new four-bedroom home in Smyrna’s Estates at Ellis Wade.
Q: What were you looking for in a home?
Reid: Space, especially in the master bedroom and bathroom and kitchen, was really important to me. I didn’t care about the color of the floors or if it came with crown molding. That’s where we differed.
Jaime: I’m a detail-oriented person, and I’d rather have smaller square footage with more detail, such as hardwood floors, crown molding and stainless steel in the kitchen. We agreed to go into every home open-minded and find the balance. We also grew to understand the difference that a larger lot size makes, and that ultimately became a deciding factor.
Q: What was the market like?
Reid: We looked for about six weeks before we found one we even wanted to make an offer on, but it went to a cash buyer. The second home was significantly out of our price range but had been listed for a long time, so we made an offer, but it ultimately didn’t work out.
Q: How did you move on this home?
Jaime: During the searching, we noticed new construction in the neighborhood behind our townhome and liked the builder, Traton Homes. We kept coming back to the floor plans but thought it was out of our price range. We had discussions about it and even wrote a pros and cons list on a whiteboard about expanding our budget.
Q: What did you love about the house?
Reid: The lot size, the floor plan, the curb appeal, the open concept. We like to entertain, and there’s a guest suite off the kitchen that will be great for family when they visit.
Jaime: The ceilings, large master bath and media room. It’s bigger than what two young people need right now, but we can see ourselves in this home for years. We’ll grow into it as our family grows.
Q: What was the closing process like?
Reid: The most challenging part was gathering the financial documentation. We were recently married, so not all of our money was in the same accounts. We also had to account for our wedding gifts — we created a huge master spreadsheet that identified all the files they needed. But thanks to that effort, the underwriter processed our application in four hours. Both the Realtor and mortgage broker said they never saw an application move that quickly.
Q: What was the relationship with your agent?
Jaime: Harriet Stopher (with Coldwell Banker Residential Brokerage) made sure we were on the same page in terms of the timeline, ensured we were doing the next steps in the right order and explained the entire paperwork process in terms we could understand. She wasn’t pushy, was always available and understands how to work with first-time homebuyers.
Q: What’s a tip for first-time buyers?
Reid: Have more money saved than you anticipate needing. Make sure you know your credit in great detail before you start looking to buy, and get all of your finances in order. Finally, there’s no such thing as a perfect house, but there is such a thing as the perfect compromise.
At a Glance
The Wolfes’ home, built in 2013, has four bedrooms, three baths and 3,500 square feet. They purchased it in February 2014 for $415,000. Homes in Smyrna’s Estates at Ellis Wade range from the low to high $400,000s.
